Are reward cards just a business deal? The role of calculative versus emotional card commitment in driving store loyalty

Recent research has challenged the wide-spread use of reward cards in the retail/service sector by arguing that in many cases, they offer rewards that fail to add value and increase loyalty to the store (Leenheer et al., 2007, Meyer-Waarden, 2015). Consequently, researchers have examined a variety of loyalty programs in order to determine which specific designs have a greater impact on the program's performance (Breugelmans et al., 2015, Meyer-Waarden, 2015). The underlying assumption of this view is that consumers will favour those programs which offer the “best deal”, potentially excluding the role of consumers’ affects in forming loyalty. In contrast to this view, this research draws on attachment theory to develop and test a more integrative model which concurrently assesses how consumers’ emotional, normative and calculative commitment to the card impacts store loyalty. We demonstrate that it is not calculative but emotional commitment that drives store loyalty in the long term. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings, which collectively call managers to rethink current CRM practices that emphasizes rewards as a driver of customer loyalty.     

What drives customer loyalty in grocery retail? Exploring shoppers' perceptions through associative networks

Mental associations play a key role in shaping customer-brand relationships and are critical to the development of favourable attitudes and emotional attachment towards a brand. By exploring shoppers’ knowledge structures, this study identifies what drivers of customer loyalty are more relevant to customers in the context of grocery retail. A mix-method study on shoppers’ perceptions and values associated to their most patronised grocery store is presented. Through focus group discussions, concept maps and associative network analysis, three types of associations are identified: functional, relational and premium store associations. Salience and relationships among these dimensions are also discussed.     

What drives content creation behavior on SNSs? A commitment perspective

We investigate the mind-sets driving users' content creation behavior on social network sites (SNSs) and antecedents of these mind-sets. The results of our survey of 1242 Renren users in China indicated that affective and continuance commitments are the main drivers of users' content creation behaviors on SNSs, while normative commitment has little influence on content creation behaviors. Further, informational support and emotional support from the social support perspective, reputational capital and relational capital from the sunk cost theory, subjective norm and perceived critical mass from the social influence perspective perform well as antecedents of affective, continuance, and normative commitment, respectively.     

The growing popularity of spiritual brands: What drives purchase intent?

In this study, we investigate the reason for the growing popularity of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) household products branded, promoted and sold in India by local spiritual leaders. We find that religiosity and normative community pressure are important purchase drivers for such products. Surprisingly, pragmatism in the presence of normative pressure also contributes to demand. We argue that self-identity theory provides a contextualized explanation in association with social identity theory to explain the influence of normative pressure on increased demand. The results of the study suggest that integrating social and self-identity theories provides a fuller insight into consumer behaviour in a complex social context.     

What drives diners' eco-friendly behaviour? The moderating role of planning routine

Research focusing on diners' intentions towards leftovers, which are considered one of the main sources of consumer food waste in restaurants, is still at a nascent stage and requires further investigation. The present study attempts to address this gap by investigating the antecedents of diners' intentions to take away leftovers and thereby mitigate food waste in an out-of-home setting. Towards this end, we examined the role of personal and social norms as antecedents of the facilitators, inhibitors, and intentions of taking away leftovers. Using the theoretical lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) paradigm, we tested the proposed hypotheses by analysing data collected from 281 diners residing in the United States through a cross-sectional survey on Prolific Academic. The findings indicate that personal norms are positively associated with facilitators and intentions. In comparison, social norms are positively associated with facilitators but negatively associated with inhibitors. The results also confirmed the mediation effect of facilitators and inhibitors and the moderation effect of planning routine to provide valuable insights into the drivers of pro-environmental/eco-friendly behaviour in out-of-home dining to thus aid strategy formulation and future research.     

How special rewards in loyalty programs enrich consumer–brand relationships: The role of self-expansion

Although brands offer different kinds of rewards through their loyalty programs, little is known about how they can impact consumer–brand relationships and brand attitude. How do loyalty program rewards influence the consumer–brand relationship? And which kinds of rewards establish or maintain closer relationships between consumers and brands than others? To answer these questions, the present research makes use of self-expansion theory (Aron & Aron, 1986) and two experiments that manipulate the extraordinary character of rewards offered to consumers. Our findings show that special rewards produce higher self-expansion than mundane rewards. Moreover, the positive effect of the rewards’ extraordinary character on brand evaluation, recommendation, and identification is sequentially and fully mediated by self-brand inclusion and self-expansion. Finally, we show that consumer satisfaction moderates the impact of special and mundane rewards on self-brand inclusion.     

What drives product involvement and satisfaction with OFDs amid COVID-19?

Online food delivery services (OFDs) have gained the attention of researchers due to the rapid growth of society. With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on markets worldwide, it compelled retailers and service providers to adjust their way of doing business drastically. OFD's emerged as an option either due to consumers' inability to cook, fear of exposure to Covid if they leave the house, monotony of eating home-cooked meals, and safety measures practiced by them. Hence, during this pandemic, the OFDs created a win-win situation for restaurant owners and consumers. However, the current literature does not clearly picture the factors influencing customers' behavioural intentions while using hospitality services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary objective of our study is to understand the factors influencing customer satisfaction during the pandemic. In addition, explore the mediating role of consumer resilience and consumer attitude to strengthen the relationship between product involvement and customer satisfaction in the OFDs context. We have used the social cognitive theory as the theoretical framework for framing our hypotheses. The present study focuses on Indian consumers who have used OFDs during the pandemic. We employed a cross-sectional survey method to test the proposed research model. Two hundred forty valid questionnaires were collected to empirically test the research model using tools like confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS-28, direct and indirect relationships were tested using SPSS PROCESS macro. The results indicate that all the proposed hypotheses were supported. Theoretical and Practical implications of the study along with limitations are discussed.     

What drives financial crises in emerging markets?

The study examines the causes of financial crises in 31 emerging market countries during 1980–2001. It estimates a probit model using 23 macroeconomic and financial sector variables. Traditional variables such as unemployment and inflation, as well as several indicators of indebtedness such as private sector liabilities and the foreign liabilities of banks explain currency crises rather well, and it appears currency crises occur in tandem with banking crises. Indeed, in emerging market countries the vulnerability to crisis is exacerbated by situations involving large liabilities that permit sudden capital outflows. Increases in indebtedness followed the liberalization of capital flows and domestic financial sectors.     

What drives customers toward proximity payment services? An integrated theory of planned behavior perspective

Proximity mobile payment (PMP) services facilitate mobile payments between payer and payee who are at same location thorough a proximity technology such as QR codes, Bluetooth, and near-field communication. It has potential to drastically change consumers' payment methods in developing countries where traditional finance infrastructure is lacking. However, there are various challenges to adopting PMP in such countries. This study aims to explore users' opinions on and motivations for using PMP by proposing an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model. It also seeks to resolve inconsistencies in PMP adoption studies regarding the role of user's trust in PMP services. A survey instrument was used to collect data from PMP users in a developing country. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. This study highlights trust as a mitigator of the negative effect induced by the perceived risk of using PMP services. It also validates that the TPB, coupled with other contextual factors, explains the adoption of PMP services in developing countries.     

What drives Gen Y loyalty? Understanding the mediated moderating roles of switching costs and alternative attractiveness in the value-satisfaction-loyalty chain

Generational theory presumes that generational cohorts develop similar attitudes and beliefs with regard to their market behaviors. This study examined the attitudes and beliefs of the Gen Y members towards mobile Internet service providers (MISPs). Gen Yers have the highest adoption of mobile Internet. They are also the most value-conscious, least satisfied and loyal customers compared with all other generations. This study therefore proposed a research model to elucidate the relationship between perceived value, satisfaction, switching costs (SC), alternative attractiveness (AA) and loyalty, and tested it using empirical data collected from 417 Gen Y mobile Internet subscribers. The results indicated that perceived value significantly influenced the satisfaction of Gen Y customers and, in turn, their loyalty towards MISPs. The results also confirmed the existence of mediators and moderators in the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Both SC and AA proved to be partial mediators, whereas AA was a moderator. Further, it was found that the moderating effect of AA on the association between customer satisfaction and loyalty was contingent upon the mediating effect of SC. Finally, the implications of these findings are delineated.     

What drives consumers to customize products? The mediating role of brand experience

Brands are increasingly seeking ways to engage consumers in deep and meaningful brand experiences. As technological advances have developed, brands have an increasing arsenal to draw on in creating brand experience. One increasingly common tactic is product customization, whereby consumers are provided the ability to create their own products from a set of options. With this study, we seek to understand the mediating role of brand experience in consumer decisions to customize products. Specifically, we investigate the interplay of non-brand drivers (those intrinsic to the consumer) and brand drivers (those extrinsic to the consumer) in the context of customization. In doing so, we develop an understanding of consumers' intention to use a customization toolkit and their subsequent intention to purchase customized products. We find brand experience drives intention to use a customization toolkit, mediating the relationship between individual factors and usage intentions. A customer's prior experience and their intention to use a customization toolkit are also direct drivers of customized product purchase intention.     

What drives brand love for natural products? The moderating role of household size

Natural products, including food, cosmetics, and other fast-moving consumer goods, are becoming increasingly popular, and their health-related benefits are widely recognized. Despite the growing awareness and use of natural products, little is known about the enablers and barriers that influence consumers' brand love toward them. The present study attempts to address this gap and better explain consumer behavior toward natural products by utilizing the stimuli-organism-response (S–O-R) theory. The study rests on the premise that certain stimuli influence the internal state of consumers (i.e., the organism), which, in turn, shape their response to products and services. This study uses health consciousness and environmental concern as the stimuli, both facilitators (natural content and regional product) and inhibitors (usage and image barriers) as the internal state of the ‘organism’, and brand love as the response. Based on analysis of 720 responses, the study empirically reveals that health consciousness and environmental concern significantly influence the consumers' internal state, as represented by the identified facilitators and inhibitors . Three of these, namely, regional product, image barriers, and usage barriers, are found to shape brand love for natural products. The moderating role of household size on brand love is also confirmed.The findings of the study contribute to the literature on consumer behavior and practice.     

What drives retailer loyalty? A meta-analysis of the role of cognitive,affective, and social factors across five decades

Today's retailers face significant competition due to the proliferation of both retail formats and channels. It is crucial for retailers to understand how to develop a loyal customer base for competitive advantage. To this end, we conducted a meta-analysis of 1,908 effect sizes from 319 studies on retailer loyalty over the last 50 years, to examine the impact of cognitive, affective, and social retail experience on customer loyalty toward a retailer. Our analysis shows that affective experience became more important over time and had the highest impact on retailer loyalty, 24% more than that of social drivers and 50% more than cognitive drivers. Affective experience is particularly impactful online and for retailers of hedonic or low-involvement products. Social drivers increased significantly in impact over time too. Its effect was particularly strong on attitudinal loyalty, for studies with a higher proportion of females, and surprisingly, in utilitarian rather than hedonic retail contexts. Taken together, our findings suggest that traditional cognitive differentiators such as price and product assortment are no longer sufficient for maintaining customer loyalty to a retailer. Positive affective and/or social experience represent a more defensible path toward customer loyalty.     

What drives customer engagement after a service failure? The moderating role of customer trust

This study investigated the relationships between complaint handling, customer experience, and customer engagement, as well as the moderating effect of customer trust prior to a service failure. The results were obtained from 320 Indonesian consumers of courier, express, and parcel services. Favourable employee behaviour was found to be the most effective complaint handling effort that influenced customer experience, followed by organizational procedures and then compensation, indicating that positive customer experience led to customer engagement. Additionally, this study revealed that higher levels of customer trust prior to a service failure reduced the positive effects of complaint handling efforts on customer experience. This finding suggests that customers with higher levels of trust in a firm are less sensitive to that firm's complaint handling and recovery efforts. This article contributes to the literature on customer engagement in the service failure and recovery contexts, especially in developing countries. It examines the most influential complaint handling dimensions for predicting customer engagement following service failures. Furthermore, this study is one of the first to explore the moderating role of customer trust in service failure and recovery literature.     

The effect of credit card versus mobile payment on convenience and consumers’ willingness to pay

Extant literature on payment methods has focused on comparing cash and credit cards and emphasized the lower pain of paying (i.e., fewer negative consequences) for the latter. This finding, in turn, explains why consumers express higher willingness to pay (WTP) when paying with credit cards. The current study introduces mobile technology as a new payment method to this literature. Specifically, it highlights convenience as a positive driver of increased WTP for mobile payment. However, for consumers to perceive mobile payment as convenient, a personal adoption (enabled through an existing system in the respective country market) is necessary. A set of three studies across several country markets tests these assumptions empirically. Convenience emerges as a new mediator between mobile payment and increased WTP, contingent on personal adoption. These findings thus extend extant literature on the mechanisms consumers use with different payment methods, and they offer differentiated recommendations regarding payment channels for country managers.     

What makes crisis response strategies work? The impact of crisis involvement and message framing

This study investigates the moderating impact of crisis involvement and message framing on the effect of crisis response strategies on post-crisis attitude toward an organization. In the experiment, 274 respondents participate in a 2 (crisis response strategy: match vs. mismatch) × 2 (crisis involvement: low vs. high) × 2 (message framing: emotional vs. rational) between-subjects factorial design. The results show that in the case of high crisis involvement or in the case of rational framing of crisis communication, crisis response strategies that match the crisis type increase the post-crisis attitude toward the organization. In the case of low crisis involvement or in the case of emotional framing of crisis communication, the impact of a matched or mismatched crisis response strategy on the post-crisis attitude toward the organization does not differ. In addition, the study suggests that crisis involvement has a moderating impact on the efficacy of message framing in terms of post-crisis attitude toward the organization, which depends on whether the crisis response strategy matches the crisis type or not.     

What factors determine e-satisfaction and consumer spending in e-commerce retailing?

Evidently, the Internet has resulted in a fundamental shift in retailing practice, creating a shift in both consumer and business behavior, which has been compared to that of the Industrial Revolution. The purpose of this paper is to analyze customer satisfaction in e-commerce market. In particular, we determine the factors that affect customer e-satisfaction and the relationship between customer satisfaction and consumer spending in e-commerce retailing. We focus on how American based e-commerce firms are impacted by these developments and how marketing practices have reflected the developing e-commerce situation. The results show that customer satisfaction does have an impact on consumer spending in American based e-commerce retailers. Further, the relationship between customer satisfaction and consumer spending is positive, where higher e-satisfaction results in more spending in e-commerce. The results also show that there is a direct relationship among e-service quality, e- satisfaction and e-loyalty in terms of online spending by consumers. However, the analysis shows that e-commerce still faces challenges compared with traditional offline retailers since customers cannot feel and try the products, and may end up choosing the products that they do not want.     

What characterizes Chinese consumer behavior? A cross-industry analysis of the Chinese diaspora in Japan

In order to profit from China??s enormous business opportunities, international firms need to know Chinese consumer preferences. To learn more about intrinsic Chinese consumer preferences and their distinction from other Asian consumer preferences, this study analyzes differences in the formation of customer satisfaction, repurchase intent, and word-of-mouth intent between Chinese-born and locally born consumers in Japan. Verifying culture-based hypotheses, cross-industry analyses show that Chinese-born consumers pay less attention to the public brand image and risk-related switching costs, but more attention to quality expectations, perceived value, experienced usefulness, and financial switching costs than Japanese consumers. Marketing strategies should account for these preference structures.     

Understanding consumer decision making in grocery markets: does attitude-behaviour consistency vary with involvement?

The paper reports on an empirical study of purchase decision making in grocery markets. Against the central research question, 'Does decision making become more extensive with more involved product purchases?', measurements of attitude- behaviour consistency were made in three product fields which are known to engender significantly different levels of consumer involvement. The extended Fishbein model was used as the metaphor for purchase decision making and models were estimated for each product field using LISREL VII to determine the fit between product and normative beliefs, behavioural intention and actual purchasing behaviours. The results of our analysis are consistent with prior theory and support the hypothesis that the efficacy of the model in grocery markets increases as the purchase involvement increases. The implications for marketing communications within each market are discussed and the limitations of our research design are highlighted.