Effects of store loyalty on shopping mall loyalty

The key purpose of this paper is to bridge a research gap in shopping mall literature by investigating the relationship between store loyalty and shopping mall loyalty. The paper also examines the effects of perceived store value and store relationship commitment on store loyalty en-route to loyalty towards the shopping mall hosting the stores. The study shows that store loyalty influences shopping mall loyalty under certain conditions and that such an influence is moderated by the geographic distance between the consumer and the shopping mall. Further, the study found that distance has a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived store value and store loyalty, but not on the association between relationship commitment and store loyalty. The insights provided by this study offer academics, retailers and shopping mall managers a richer understanding of the relationships between store loyalty and its antecedents, customers' distance from the mall, and shopping mall loyalty.     

中国市场关系投资对顾客忠诚影响的实证研究——来自四川、云南和浙江三省酒店业顾客赢回管理的研究

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among Guanxi investment, affective commitment and customer loyalty. A customer win-back model is proposed, including Guanxi investment strategies, customer perceptions (price sensitivity, trust and affection), affective commitment and customer 1oyalty(i.e., true loyalty, latent loyalty, spurious loyalty, non loyalty). The fieldwork was conducted in the hotel industry in China (N=1074). Results show that Guanxi investment strategy has significant effects on customer’s loyalty. This study hence contributes to the literature on customer win-back strategy and provides useful suggestions for managers in charge of customer relationship management.     

An empirical study of the effects of Guanxi investment on customer loyalty in Chinese market

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among Guanxi investment, affective commitment and customer loyalty. A customer win-back model is proposed, including Guanxi investment strategies, customer perceptions (price sensitivity, trust and affection), affective commitment and customer 1oyalty(i.e., true loyalty, latent loyalty, spurious loyalty, non loyalty). The fieldwork was conducted in the hotel industry in China (N=1074). Results show that Guanxi investment strategy has significant effects on customer’s loyalty. This study hence contributes to the literature on customer win-back strategy and provides useful suggestions for managers in charge of customer relationship management.     

Investigation of the relationship between service values and loyalty behaviors under high commitment

The aim of this study is to investigate to relationship between service values, commitment, and customer loyalty. Based on self-administrated survey from 440 mobile service users in South Korea, the proposed model was estimated by a hierarchical regression. First, the price and the quality values have a positive effect on repurchase intention under high calculative commitment. Second, price value also has a positive effect on positive word of mouth under high calculative commitment. Finally, and social value has a positive effect on positive word of mouth under high affective commitment. We discuss the implications of these findings for commitment management strategies on the relationship between service values and customer-loyalty link. Limitations and recommendations for future research are also presented.     

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.     

Is small business better than big business for marketing managers?

This survey of marketing managers compares small business firms with large ones in relation to explicit and implicit ethics institutionalization, quality of work life (QWL), job satisfaction, esprit de corps, and organizational commitment. The results reveal that large firms tend to have a higher degree of explicit ethics institutionalization than smaller firms but not in relation to implicit ethics institutionalization. The results also reveal that marketing managers in small firms report higher levels of job satisfaction, esprit de corps, and organizational commitment compared to marketing managers in large firms. The study findings also show that marketing managers in small firms report higher levels of overall QWL, particularly higher-order QWL than managers in large firms.     

An Examination of the Relationship Between a Firm's Offerings and Different Customer Loyalty Segments

Purpose: Loyalty reflects the highest state in the buyer–seller relationship and occurs when repeat patronage and commitment are both high. One generally accepted model of segmenting the customers by degree of loyalty includes 4 categories of loyalty: no loyalty, latent loyalty, spurious loyalty, and loyalty. This study examines the relationship between these 4 customer segments and their evaluation of the firm's offerings.

Methodology/approach: This study uses self-reported purchase behaviors and attitude toward the seller for segmentation. Buyers report the importance of and satisfaction with 15 different offerings or processes. The mean scores for the 4 different groups are compared and tested for statistical significance.

Findings: The loyalty segments differed in the importance placed on customized products. The loyalty and spurious loyalty groups placed a higher importance on receiving customized products from the seller. The loyalty segments also differed in their levels of satisfaction, but these differences did not fully explain repeat patronage behavior. The latent loyalty group, despite their higher levels of satisfaction with standardized offerings, purchased less than the spurious loyalty group.

Originality/value/contribution: The implication for managers is that, if properly identified and managed, understanding these differences could lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. Managers can build loyalty by applying specific tactics tailored to the customer segment.     

A Cross-national Investigation of the Satisfaction and Loyalty Linkage for Mobile Telecommunications Services across Eight Countries

Improving customer satisfaction has become a strategic imperative for managers and researchers given the benefits of developing customer loyalty for long-term financial success. Creating these linkages becomes even more important in the context of mobile telecommunications due to the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones and the potential this creates to engage in interactive marketing for firms. Further, with increased global penetration of mobile telecommunications, examining cross-national differences in consumer attitudes and behaviors has become critical. Most studies that examine customer satisfaction and loyalty linkages however have traditionally focused on single countries and/or single industries. This study extends the literature by testing the moderating impact of cultural variables on the impact of satisfaction on loyalty intentions using data from 3,393 mobile telecommunications customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Spain, UK, and USA. Our findings reveal that the impact of satisfaction on loyalty in the mobile telecommunications context depends on cultural differences. The results demonstrate non-linear threshold effects where managers operating in countries characterized by self-expressionist values will have an easier time creating satisfaction and loyalty with mobile customers compared to those operating in cultures dominated by high survivalist values.     

High commitment work system,transactive memory system,and new product performance

Although scholars find that the transactive memory systems can improve new product performance, few studies have empirically examined how managers can induce a transactive memory system in new product development teams with a set of systematic management practices. Based on the theoretical argument about human resource system in the strategic human resource management literature, this study proposes that implementing a set of coherent human resource management practices with workers in new product development teams can induce a transactive memory system in the team. Following previous scholars, this study calls this set of coherent human resource management practices as the high commitment work system. With survey data collected from 336 new product development engineers of 73 new product development teams in 73 firms, this study finds that transactive memory system mediates the positive relationship between the high commitment work system implemented with workers in new product development teams and new product performance.     

Customer loyalty through social networks: Lessons from Zara on Facebook

Companies’ escalating investment in social media—in particular, in Facebook—has become reality. However, most firms still do not see social networks as a vehicle for cultivating and winning customer loyalty, but rather as a resource for creating brand awareness. In this article, we offer a different view. By examining fans and non-fans of the Zara brand on Facebook, we discovered that Facebook enhances the relations that increase loyalty via trust, customer satisfaction, perceived value, and commitment. Our results revealed that these relations are stronger for fans of the brand than for non-fans, and suggest that customer satisfaction is the strongest determinant of loyalty. This indicates a new opportunity for marketing managers to achieve customer loyalty: Facebook.     

Using work design to motivate customer-oriented behaviors

Front-line employee (FLE) attitudes and behaviors while interacting with consumers largely determine the success or failure of service organizations. To better understand how this happens, this research moves beyond the oversimplified argument that managers either must hire or specifically train for workers to be customer oriented and to perform customer-oriented behaviors (COBs). A third path is proposed and empirically explored that suggests managers use work design to influence FLEs at work motivation to perform COBs. Specific work design levers managers can employ – manager support and serial/investiture socialization – are shown to impact FLE organizational commitment and role clarity with customers. Through these individual internal processes service organizations motivate front-line workers to perform desired COBs.     

The link between customer satisfaction and loyalty: the moderating role of customer characteristics

This research examines whether trust and commitment mediate the extent to which satisfaction influences loyalty, and whether such mediation is conditional on certain demographic or situational customer characteristics. The findings suggest that assuming homogeneity supports the general notion that trust and commitment partially mediate the extent to which satisfaction influences loyalty. FIMIX-PLS and PLS-MGA analyses substantiate that this mediation differs between two distinct customer segments. The two segments reveal heterogeneity in how trust and commitment partially mediate the link between satisfaction and loyalty. That is, the effect of satisfaction on loyalty is fully mediated by trust and commitment in the segment of customers with high education, whereas satisfaction is partially mediated by trust, but not by commitment, in the other segment of customers with less education.     

The service quality–loyalty relationship in retail services: does commitment matter?

The marketing literature has produced two schools of thought on the cause of customer loyalty in services industries. The service quality perspective puts forward that service quality evaluations substantially drive customer loyalty in services industries. The relationship marketing perspective puts forward that customer commitment to the service provider substantially drives customer loyalty in services industries. In addition, commitment is a complex construct with at least two forms, one based in liking and identification (affective commitment) and one based in dependence and switching costs (continuance commitment). These positions were examined in an integrated model of retail–service relationships. It was found that affective commitment and continuance commitment were mainly partial mediators of the service quality–loyalty relationship. It was also found that affective commitment to the retailer had a positive impact on customer loyalty while continuance commitment in marketing relationship had a deleterious effect on customer loyalty.     

Relationship Marketing and Customer Loyalty in a Retail Setting: A Dyadic Exploration

Customer loyalty is increasingly seen to be crucial to the success of business organisations, with the growing realisation that attracting new customers is far more expensive than retaining existing ones. It has been suggested that a way of increasing customer retention is through secure relationships between buyers and sellers. Surprisingly, however, and despite the growing body of literature on relationship marketing issues, little empirical research has been conducted on the link between relationship marketing and customer loyalty in a retailing context. This paper attempts to address this gap by presenting and testing a conceptual model of the process by which the implementation of relationship marketing can enhance such loyalty. A dyadic exploratory study of clothing store managers and their customers was conducted. Findings reveal that customers' perceptions of clothing stores' relationship marketing efforts are crucial to enhanced commitment and loyalty. Implications are drawn from these results, and future research directions are discussed.     

Key drivers of services website loyalty

The ease of website comparison and strong price competition encourage users to constantly switch tourism service providers. The present work analyses how satisfaction, trust, and commitment can help to strengthen loyalty towards websites selling accommodation services. Moreover, special attention is paid here to evaluate the moderating effects of gender on the relationships between these variables. Structural equation models were used to test the hypotheses on a sample of 230 Mexican Internet users, online purchasers of tourist accommodation services. The results show significant differences between men and women's post-purchase behaviour with a higher influence in women of trust on commitment and of commitment on loyalty towards accommodation services websites. Managerial implications for accommodation websites are provided.     

Commitment,satisfaction, and customer loyalty: a theoretical explanation of the ‘satisfaction trap’

This paper examines the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty and the moderating effects of affective and calculative commitment. The results suggest that while customer loyalty increases monotonically with the enhancement of satisfaction, the marginal effect of satisfaction on customer loyalty actually decreases. Calculative commitment positively moderates the curvilinear relationship of satisfaction and customer loyalty, i.e. enhancing calculative commitment could intensify the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty. Affective commitment has no significant moderating effect on the relationship of satisfaction and customer loyalty, but it can directly enhance the customer loyalty. The research findings can help us to explain the phenomenon of the ‘satisfaction trap’.     

The Relationship between Consumers' Unethical Behavior and Customer Loyalty in a Retail Environment

This paper investigates the relationship between two outcomes of relationship marketing – affective commitment and behavioral loyalty – and consumers' unethical behavior. The main objective of the study is to assess whether affective commitment and behavioral loyalty to a store translate into more ethical behavior towards that store, controlling for the variables of age, gender, and ethical beliefs. The study does not rely on a single measurement tool, but is based on ten months' panel data and three different mail surveys targeted at 359 Belgian households. The results provide support for our hypothesis that affective commitment is indeed negatively correlated with consumers' unethical behavior. The same conclusion could not be drawn for the relationship between behavioral loyalty and consumers' unethical behavior. No significant relationship was detected, not even in situations where affective commitment was high. The results hold major implications for retailing practice.     

How does shopper-based mall equity generate mall loyalty? A conceptual model and empirical evidence

Understanding the antecedents of shopper mall loyalty remains one of the crucial issues for both mall managers and retailing researchers. We propose a conceptual model that explains the psychological process by which shopper-based mall equity (e.g., the perceived mall value) generates mall loyalty. We collected data from shoppers in two urban North-American shopping malls (N=905). The empirical results were generally supportive of the model: Mall loyalty was significantly predicted by the commitment that shoppers held toward the mall; and that commitment, in turn, was significantly predicted by shopper's positive awareness of the mall's characteristics, and shopper's self-congruity. The latter construct, in turn, was significantly predicted by mall image dimensions such as the mall's environment and the quality of the products and services found in the mall. We also found the model to be invariant between female and male shoppers. Theoretical and managerial implications of the model and the findings were also discussed.     

在线品牌社群成员关系如何促进品牌忠诚——基于强弱连带整合的视角

文章从强弱连带整合的视角,探讨在线品牌社群成员强关系和弱关系数量对品牌忠诚的促进机制。借鉴社会资源理论的研究框架,基于品牌社群相关理论,本文提出了研究假设,并采用偏最小二乘法进行实证检验。结果显示：弱关系数量不会增强品牌社群信息价值和社群社交价值;强关系数量则对两种社群价值都有促进作用;品牌社群信息价值只能促进持续性社群承诺,而品牌社群社交价值会促进持续性社群承诺、情感性社群承诺和规范性社群承诺;情感性社群承诺和持续性社群承诺都会促进品牌忠诚,规范性社群承诺则不能。研究结论从连带强度的视角丰富了品牌社群理论,同时对在线品牌社群建设具有指导意义。