Can economic bonus programs jeopardize service relationships?

Research findings on the impact of economic bonus programs on service relationships are contradictory. While some studies find positive effects of economic bonus programs on customer’s relational behavior, other studies demonstrate negative effects. Building on self-determination theory, Dholakia (J Market Res 43(2):109–120, 2006) points at a possible explanation for these conflicting results, arguing that economic marketing programs have negative effects on self-determined customers when the program is perceived as controlling by them. By testing the effect of four different kinds of economic bonus programs on loyalty in an experimental setting using a nationwide representative sample of 768 participants, this research is the first that provides empirical evidence that economic bonus programs can indeed endanger service relationships by reducing customer’s self-determination. Implications of our findings for the abundance of economic bonus programs offered to service customers these days are highlighted.     

A Framework for Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility Programs as a Continuum: An Exploratory Study

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs are increasingly popular corporate marketing strategies. This paper argues that CSR programs can fall along a continuum between two endpoints: Institutionalized programs and Promotional programs. This classification is based on an exploratory study examining the variance of four responses from the consumer stakeholder group toward these two categories of CSR. Institutionalized CSR programs are argued to be most effective at increasing customer loyalty, enhancing attitude toward the company, and decreasing consumer skepticism. Promotional CSR programs are argued to be more effective at generating purchase intent. Ethical and managerial implications of these preliminary findings are discussed. Julie Pirsch, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Villanova University. She researches in the areas of cause-related marketing, corporate social responsibility, and new product development. Shruti Gupta, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Management at The Pennsylvania State University at Abington, in Abington, Pennsylvania. Dr. Gupta’s research interests lie in the area of corporate social responsibility, cause-related marketing, environmental consumerism, and social marketing issues. Stacy Landreth, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of North Texas. She researches in the areas of cause-related marketing and social marketing alliances, as well as advertising source effects.     

Reviving brand loyalty: A reconceptualization within the framework of consumer-brand relationships

This paper uses the perspective of interpersonal relationship theory to critically examine, reposition, and extend the notion of brand loyalty. Depth interviews among eight coffee-consuming adults who qualified as brand loyal by traditional criteria provide the data. The result is a deeper appreciation of the character of loyal consumer-brand relations and a sharper awareness of the limitations to understanding that current theoretical frameworks impose. Specifically, the authors suggest that: (1) not all loyal brand relationships are alike, in strength or in character; (2) many brand relationships not identified as ‘loyal’ according to dominant theoretical conceptions are especially meaningful from the cunsumer's point of view; and (3) current approaches to classification accept some brand relationships that, upon close scrutiny, do not possess assumed characteristics of ‘loyalty’ or ‘strength’ at all. Ideas stemming from a reframing of loyalty as one component in a multifaceted construct of relationship strength are put forth, encouraging a move from the metaphor of ‘loyalty’ to the broader notion of ‘relationships’ that encompasses it.     

基于口碑效应的客户终身价值改进模型

本文认为,客户终身价值(CLV)模型是客户关系管理的核心,企业决策者应将有限的资源投放到最有价值客户身上,保持和提高这些客户的价值,为企业赢得长远利益。文章在剖析前人客户终身价值模型的基础上,建立了基于口碑效应的客户终身价值改进模型,更客观地反映了客户消费行为,提高了客户终身价值模型预测的准确性。通过改进模型计算可以知道,满意客户因为积极的口碑效应使自身客户价值放大,不满意客户因为消极的口碑效应使自身客户价值缩小。     

Understanding Active Loyalty Behavior in Hotel Reward Programs Through Customers’ Switching Costs and Perceived Program Value

Whether loyalty programs have become part of the lexicon of buzzwords or not, the hotel industry continues to adopt loyalty/rewards programs as a major channel to nurture customers’ active loyalty as well as to reap return business. This study examins the structural relationships among perceived program value, switching costs, and active loyalty. The proposed model is supported by an online survey dataset collected from United States (US) tourists. The findings show that perceived program value is less effective in driving active loyalty compared with switching costs. This implies a need for strategic thinking on the part of hoteliers and the industry. Rather than aggressively spending money or copying schemes used by competitors to gear up program value, the value of a defensive tactic of increasing switching costs should be considered.     

服务业顾客忠诚的驱动因素研究

服务业顾客忠诚一直是营销理论界高度关注的热门话题之一,借鉴西方学者对服务业顾客忠诚基本概念的界定,在考察服务产品质量、情境设计等有形利益对顾客忠诚的影响的同时,将无形驱动因素纳入影响服务业顾客忠诚的分析中,通过国内外现有的研究成果分析这些驱动因素对服务业顾客忠诚的影响,阐明服务业顾客忠诚的形成机理,从而为该领域提供新的研究思路,为服务业提升竞争力提供管理决策的参考依据。     

Is your brand''s loyalty too much, too little, or just right?: Explaining deviations in loyalty from the Dirichlet norm

This paper formally investigates the factors that relate to the deviations of brand's actual loyalty levels from theoretical norms in packaged goods markets. An aggregate measure of brand loyalty, share of category requirements, commonly tracked by marketing managers is used for this analysis. The comparison is conducted against the estimated share of requirements provided by the well established Dirichlet model of purchasing behavior. We posit that a brand's positioning strategy and marketing mix can influence the magnitude and the direction of the deviation from the norm. We use a two step modeling procedure where we first compute the deviation from the norm for each brand and subsequently conduct a regression analysis of this brand-level data to test the proposed hypotheses. We find that on average, brands that cater to some market niche, are bought in higher quantities, have lower prices, promote to a lesser extent, and have shallower price-cuts and enjoy higher than expected loyalty levels. We discuss possible implications of these results and offer guidelines that managers can use to better assess both the actual and the theoretical loyalty levels of their brands.     

The erosion of repeat-purchase loyalty

A large-scale longitudinal analysis is used to study the repeat-purchase rates of brand buyers in stationary markets. The data cover the leading brands in a number of frequently purchased grocery categories in three countries. We find that, in the medium term, there is a systematic but limited loss of repeat-purchase loyalty; across nine markets, erosion (the proportionate fall in repeat-purchase loyalty) averages 15 percent in the first year for the brands studied. Erosion does not differ by weight of purchase: similar rates are found for light, medium, and heavy buyer-segments. Brand leaders are found to have a lower erosion than smaller brands.     

消费者对大型超市的商店印象与其忠诚行为关系实证研究

商店印象对消费者购物行为有重要的影响。本文在我们先前对商店印象与顾客忠诚关系研究的基础上,将商店印象与顾客忠诚的构面展开,进一步研究了商店印象的实体、经济、时间与便利性和社会心理构面与顾客认知忠诚、情感忠诚、意向忠诚和行为忠诚之间的关系,并通过在全国收集的803份有效样本,运用结构方程模型对理论模型进行了实证检验,全面揭示了商店印象各构面与四类顾客忠诚之间的关系。     

Brand Loyalty Versus Store Loyalty: Consumers’ Role in Determining Dependence Structure of Supplier–Retailer Dyads

Purpose: This article aims to integrate consumers into a channel dependence framework and explores the influence of consumers’ brand loyalty and store loyalty on the dependence structure within the supplier–retailer relationship. It also examines effects of the dependence structure on perceived conflict.

Methodology/approach: The authors test the proposed triadic relationship model among department store, supplier, and consumer by collecting matched data from both retailers and consumers in a Chinese retailing channel of sports and leisure apparel. Polynomial regression in conjunction with a response surface analysis (RSA) approach is used to test the hypotheses.

Findings: The results indicate that consumers’ brand loyalty positively affects retailer’s dependence on supplier, while consumers’ store loyalty positively affects supplier’s dependence on retailer. In addition, the retailer’s dependence is higher when consumers’ brand loyalty is higher than store loyalty; the supplier’s dependence is higher when consumers’ store loyalty is higher than brand loyalty; and the retailer’s dependence increases with the increase of both consumers’ brand and store loyalty when consumers’ brand and store loyalty are equal. Moreover, supplier’s dependence has a negative linear effect on retailer’s perceived conflict, whereas retailer’s dependence has an inverted U-shape effect on perceived conflict. A retailer would perceive more conflict when the retailer is relatively more dependent on the supplier; but the symmetrical interdependence has no significant effect on retailer perceived conflict.

Research implications: Researchers are encouraged to explore channel behaviors from a network perspective. Consumers, in particular, should be included in research frameworks related to channel dependence and behaviors. Suggestions for further research on the effects of dependence on the conflict are also proposed.

Originality/value/contribution: This study goes beyond the dyadic paradigm by integrating consumers into the framework of the channel dependence structure. It develops and tests a mechanism of consumers’ brand and store loyalty influencing dependence structure within a supplier–retailer dyad. It also enriches the literature of channel conflict by exploring the effects of retailer and supplier unilateral dependence on retailer perceived conflict with RSA methods.

Practical implications: The article provides several insightful implications for managers in understanding and managing interdependence structure in business-to-business marketing, especially in supplier–retailer relationships.