by : Ko de Ruyter & Josee Bloemer
Published : International Journal of Service No. 3, 1999, pp. 320-336
Abstract In research on customer loyalty in services, satisfaction has often been mentioned as an important determinant. However, empirical evidence concerning the relationship between loyalty and satisfaction has remained equivocal. This may be even more so for services that are delivered over an extended period of time in which consumers actively take part. We propose that for the extended service experience consumers are motivated by the realisation of values and that attainment of these values affects patronage decisions. Moreover, as the service delivery process is extensive we argue that consumer mood during the service delivery is another important factor that may have an impact on loyalty deliberations. Therefore, in this paper we examine the simultaneous effect of satisfaction, value attainment and positive mood in an extended service setting. The results reveal that the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty with respect to extended services is moderated by value attainment and positive mood. More specifically, the satisfaction-loyalty association is strongest when consumers perceive that the service does not help them in the attainment of instrumental values and when low positive moods are experienced. In contrast, the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is weakest when the service helps consumers in attaining their values and when they experience a positive mood. This signifies that value attainment and positive mood do indeed play an additional role in explaining customer loyalty. An important implication is that value attainment and positive mood may function as a buffer for diminishing loyalty as a result of lower levels of service satisfaction.
Keywords : Customer Loyalty, Satisfaction, Value
IntroductionCustomer loyalty in service industries has received considerable attention in both marketing and management theory and practice. As customer loyalty may act as a barrier to customer switching behaviour it has an impact on the development of a sustainable competitive edge, (Keaveney, 1995; Gremler and Brown, 1996). During past decades, customer satisfaction has frequently been advanced to account for customer loyalty (Newman and Werbel, 1973; Oliver and Linda, 1981; LaBarbera and Mazursky, 1983; Bearden and Teel, 1983; Bitner, 1990; Fornell, 1992; Anderson and Fornell, 1994; Dick and Basu, 1994; Oliver, 1996). Here, an implicit theme is that positive evaluations on the basis of expectancy disconfirmation of service providers will instigate customers to favour them with their patronage. However, the direct relationship between customer evaluations of services and loyalty has remained somewhat equivocal. For instance, Bloemer and Kasper (1995) demonstrate that the satisfaction-loyalty relationship is not simple and straightforward as the level of elaboration on the part of the customer may act as a moderator between satisfaction and loyalty. Furthermore, Oliva et al. (1992) argue that the
relationship between service satisfaction and loyalty is non-linear, meaning that in case satisfaction increases above a certain level, customer loyalty will increase rapidly. However, it is also shown that ............................(
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Artikel lengkap dikompilasi oleh/hubungi :
Kanaidi, SE., M.Si (Penulis, Peneliti, PeBisnis, Trainer dan Dosen Marketing Management). e-mail ke : kana_ati@yahoo.com atau kanaidi@poltekpos.ac.id
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