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11 – 20 of over 5000Harsandaldeep Kaur and Harmeen Soch
The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the factors influencing Indian consumers’ loyalty toward mobile phone service providers by exploring the mediating…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the factors influencing Indian consumers’ loyalty toward mobile phone service providers by exploring the mediating roles of commitment, corporate image and switching costs on causal relationships between customer satisfaction, trust and loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 855 Indian mobile phone users was carried out to test the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling. The results support most of the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The direct linkages in the model are found to be statistically significant. Of these relationships, corporate image emerged as the strongest determinant of attitudinal loyalty. Calculative commitment and corporate image are found to be partial mediators between satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty. Calculative commitment and switching costs are each proven to be partial mediators between trust and attitudinal loyalty, while corporate image is proved to be a complete mediator.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to examining the impact of relationship variables on Indian consumers’ loyalty toward mobile phone companies. Future research can examine the impact of variables such as rate plans, value-added services, billing experience and voice quality on customer loyalty.
Practical implications
The results have implications for retaining customers in highly competitive and maturing Indian mobile telecommunications. The research provides some initial insights into corporate brand building as an important area for mobile phone companies.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to test the mediating role of commitment, switching costs and corporate image in the relationship between satisfaction, trust and loyalty in the Indian context.
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Jochen Wirtz, Chris Tang and Dominik Georgi
Referral reward programs (RRPs) incentivize existing customers (inductors) to refer new customers (inductees). The effectiveness of RRPs is not well understood as previous studies…
Abstract
Purpose
Referral reward programs (RRPs) incentivize existing customers (inductors) to refer new customers (inductees). The effectiveness of RRPs is not well understood as previous studies either focused on referral intent and/or ignored inductee responses. However, an RRP is only effective if inductors recommend and inductees respond with buying the service. The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers of existing customers’ successful referral behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
This study combines a bank’s customer relationship management (CRM) data which were used to identify successful inductors and non-inductors. Then, observed behavioral and customer background data from the CRM database (including successful referrals, deposits in euros, number of products held, relationship duration, income, age, and gender) were combined with survey data capturing attitudinal variables (i.e. perceived relationship quality, reward attractiveness, referral metaperception, opportunism, and involvement). This approach allowed for the simultaneous testing of all hypothesized drivers of successful referral behavior.
Findings
Metaperception (i.e. the process by which individuals determine the impressions other might form of them and their behavior) was the strongest and most significant driver of successful RRP participation, followed by attractiveness of the reward. That is, inductors recommended successfully when they believed that their incentivized referral did not look bad (or even looked good) and incentives were perceived as attractive. This finding is important as metaperception so far has only been examined in theoretical and experimental studies with intent as dependent variables. Second, latent class analysis (LCA) revealed that there were two segments of inductors of which one was opportunistic. Opportunism as a driver of referral behavior has not been shown in past research using more traditional analyses, whereas LCA uncovered it as a driver for one-third of all respondents.
Practical implications
The findings offer managers a better understanding of the key determinants of successful referral behavior with important RRP design implications that counter frequent practice (e.g. designing RRPs with high face value but then reducing its usefulness through terms and conditions). Furthermore, managers may consider segment-specific reward structures to improve the effectiveness of their RRPs.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine inductor determinants of successful referral behavior and identify inductor segments.
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Mohammed B. Alyousef, Welf H. Weiger and Abdelmonim Shaltoni
This research examines the drivers of electric vehicle (EV) acceptance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by applying the unified theory of acceptance and use of…
Abstract
Purpose
This research examines the drivers of electric vehicle (EV) acceptance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by applying the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, contextualized for the EV setting. The study aims to provide insights supporting the transition to sustainable transportation and identifying consumer perceptions and behavioral intentions toward EV adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on survey data from a convenience sample collected from undergraduate and MBA students in a major university of KSA, the authors use seemingly unrelated regressions to provide novel insights on electric vehicle acceptance.
Findings
The study shows UTAUT constructs influence purchase intentions and attitudinal outcomes. Results indicate that perceived EV sustainability plays an important role in the relationship between UTAUT constructs and purchase intention alongside attitudes toward EV technology. Technological innovativeness enhances the impact of EV attitude and weakens the effect of perceived EV sustainability on purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
The study benefits researchers on sustainable technology acceptance and stakeholders facilitating sustainable transportation shifts. The insights guide the promotion of eco-friendly transportation solutions.
Originality/value
The research contextualizes and extends the UTAUT model constructs to understand drivers of EV acceptance. The study contributes to understanding sustainable innovation acceptance, considering the mediating role of perceptions of EV sustainability and the moderating role of technological innovativeness in driving purchase intentions.
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Sam Van der Linden, Stef Nimmegeers, Kristof Geskens and Bert Weijters
To investigate if online TV content platforms create value for consumers (and increase use) by offering its users the possibility to self-invest in the service (by giving personal…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate if online TV content platforms create value for consumers (and increase use) by offering its users the possibility to self-invest in the service (by giving personal content preferences). We link demographic and attitudinal antecedents to the relation between self-investment and use.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected together with a Belgian media company (N = 4,136). To test the effects a latent growth model was composed in a multigroup setting with gender as the grouping variable. The model is analyzed through structural equation modeling in Mplus 8.0.
Findings
In general, strong relations between self-investment and increased use were found, although the effect of self-investment on use was stronger for female consumers. Furthermore, we established strong hedonic effects on using and investing in the service. For men, easy to use platforms lead to less self-investment.
Research limitations/implications
Our findings are restricted to free services. Furthermore, attitudinal variables are antecedents of behaviors. However, a more complex interplay between behavioral and attitudinal variables is possible. Further research could use repeatedly measured attitudinal measures and link these to behaviors over time.
Practical implications
Service developers could offer different platform interactions to different segments to create consumer value. Women seem more receptive for extra functionalities, such as the possibility to indicate preferences. Men mainly focus on the content offered.
Originality/value
This study focuses on a new form of media distribution, online TV content platforms, where we investigate two related behaviors of users over time (self-investment and use) instead of a general approximation of use. Multi-source data were used.
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This study seeks to investigate the benefits that trigger exporters' attitudinal commitment and examines their effects by taking into account the temporal dynamics of cross‐border…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to investigate the benefits that trigger exporters' attitudinal commitment and examines their effects by taking into account the temporal dynamics of cross‐border interfirm relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative field study led to the generation of hypotheses that were subsequently tested with structural equations modeling using data collected during two consecutive surveys of exporters.
Findings
The economic benefits that foster exporter's commitment include importer's specific investments, importer role performance, and exporter economic performance.
Practical implications
Importers can secure their foreign suppliers' commitment by investing in their business relationships and improving their distributive performance. They also need to monitor exporters' economic performance. The study highlights the importance of exporters' perceptions in building their commitment. Thus, importers need to communicate intensively about their actions to promote exporters' brands.
Originality/value
Unlike previous research, which has focused mostly on behavioral antecedents of commitment, this study depicts the exporting context using the exporter perspective and highlights the importance of economic benefits in shaping their attitudes. A mixed design involving both qualitative and quantitative methodologies facilitates this approach. Relational exchange theory's temporal assumptions about business relationships are reflected by the use of longitudinal data.
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Although the benefits of customer loyalty are well researched and understood, a clear explication of how customer attitudinal loyalty evolves is lacking. Cultural discrepancies…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the benefits of customer loyalty are well researched and understood, a clear explication of how customer attitudinal loyalty evolves is lacking. Cultural discrepancies across contexts are also argued as restraining the search for universal and dominant antecedents of loyalty. As a result of the high collectivistic ranking of the Nigerian culture, the purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of attitudinal loyalty within the Nigerian telecom market.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on survey data obtained from 138 informants who are experienced users of telecommunication services in Nigeria. The cross-sectional data were examined for internal consistency using Cronbach α internal consistency measure whereas the proposed hypotheses were tested using a multiple regression technique after conducting series of validation tests to ensure that none of the assumptions of regression was violated.
Findings
The results indicate that service reliability and customer commitment explains 65 per cent of the total variance in attitudinal loyalty. Additionally, customer commitment was established as a stronger predictor of attitudinal loyalty than service reliability.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to the extent that it used a convenience sampling approach which may not have allowed for a fully matched profile of the respondents. But the satisfactory fit of the regression model allows for the research to be a basis of a reliable comparison for future studies. Additionally, due to the limited evidence on how attitudinal loyalty evolves in the telecommunication sector, the results that emerged from this research should only be compared cautiously to the findings of previous studies.
Practical implications
For users of telecommunication services to become attitudinally loyal, telecom firms must get customers to become committed to their brands and also deliver reliable services. Consequently, capacity building investments that enable reliable services to be delivered and creative pricing structure and information sharing as well as promise fulfilment which attract customers’ commitment are therefore at the core of developing attitudinally loyal customers’ pool.
Originality/value
Although studies on customer loyalty are not new, the fact that this paper examined how attitudinal loyalty evolves in a saturated telecommunication context with a high collectivistic cultural ranking makes it a significant contribution to customer loyalty research because of the concentration of most studies in the western markets, the likelihood of disparities across markets influencing the antecedents of the construct and the absence of such research in the Nigerian telecom setting.
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Bodo Steiner and Moritz Brandhoff
This paper aims to explore the role of configurations of relationship quality dimensions for explaining sources of behavioral outcomes in the globalized manufacturing industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the role of configurations of relationship quality dimensions for explaining sources of behavioral outcomes in the globalized manufacturing industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A joint analysis of behavioral and objective performance data from globalized manufacturing links perceptual customer metrics that relate to dimensions of relationship quality (i.e. attitudinal loyalty, perceived customer orientation, customers’ perceived innovativeness of the supplier and perceived customer influence on supplier innovation) with behavioral outcomes (i.e. share of wallet (SOW) and customer account profitability). Using data from a global business-to-business (B2B) customer survey together with archival performance data from a multinational mechanical engineering firm, a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is performed.
Findings
The fsQCA results suggest that perceptual customer metrics related to innovation can be relevant aspects of relationship quality, in line with Anderson and Mittal’s (2000) satisfaction-repurchase-profitability chain framework and its adaptation to SOW. However, the underlying complexities in the different combinations of attributes in the recipe are such that they are not equifinal in leading to higher SOW or higher profitability. This paper finds indications for non-linearities between perceptual measures investigated and profitability of customer accounts, with particular relevance for the role of perceived customer orientation, perceived product innovativeness of the supplier and attitudinal loyalty.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis faces a number of limitations, starting with its reliance on cross-sectional survey data, which does not enable us to account for feedback mechanisms, for example, arising from customer perceptions regarding innovation aspects. The lack of a multidimensional conceptionalization of the perceptual customer constructs may have limited the analysis, considering also recent evidence from retail companies in the furniture sector in Spain, suggesting that the multidimensional conceptualization of relationship value explained satisfaction and loyalty levels to a greater extent than the one-dimensional conceptualization (Ruiz-Martínez et al., 2019).
Practical implications
In terms of managerial implication, the results suggest that customers perceive limited value in participating in the focal firm’s innovation value chain funnel, hence customer loyalty cannot be bought using simple incentive strategies. The results with regard to customer account profitability suggest that B2B customers investigated here may distinguish when interacting with their globalized supplier in the innovation funnel: they may see a positive customer value when the innovation is a product, and thus, relation-specific, whereas they may see limited customer value when innovation is considered in more generic terms (customers’ perceived influence on supplier innovation in general).
Originality/value
This paper starts from the premise that perceptual customer metrics can matter for supplier performance, as the customer relationship and customer value management research has shown. However, there is limited empirical evidence from globalized manufacturing sectors incorporating perceptual constructs in behavioral outcomes, and limited evidence assessing customer-perceived value in such sectors through alternate approaches to main-effects focused analyzes. We employ qualitative comparative analysis using fuzzy sets (Russo et al., 2019) to address these gaps, focusing on two key behavioral outcomes, namely, customer account profitability and SOW.
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Brighton Nyagadza, Gideon Mazuruse, Asphat Muposhi and Farai Chigora
This study aims to examine the influence of service quality, satisfaction, trust, value and commitment on hotel customers’ attitudinal and behavioural loyalty.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of service quality, satisfaction, trust, value and commitment on hotel customers’ attitudinal and behavioural loyalty.
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Amer Jazairy, Timo Pohjosenperä, Jaakko Sassali, Jari Juga and Robin von Haartman
This research examines what motivates professional truck drivers to engage in eco-driving by linking their self-reports with objective driving scores.
Abstract
Purpose
This research examines what motivates professional truck drivers to engage in eco-driving by linking their self-reports with objective driving scores.
Design/methodology/approach
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is illustrated in an embedded, single-case study of a Finnish carrier with 17 of its truck drivers. Data are obtained through in-depth interviews with drivers, their fuel-efficiency scores generated by fleet telematics and a focus group session with the management.
Findings
Discrepancies between drivers’ intentions and eco-driving behaviors are illustrated in a two-by-two matrix that classifies drivers into four categories: ideal eco-drivers, wildcards, wannabes and non-eco-drivers. Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are examined for drivers within each category, revealing that drivers’ perceptions did not always align with the reality of their driving.
Research limitations/implications
This study strengthens the utility of TPB through data triangulation while also revealing the theory’s inherent limitations in elucidating the underlying causes of its three antecedents and their impact on the variance in driving behaviors.
Practical implications
Managerial insights are offered to fleet managers and eco-driving solution providers to stipulate the right conditions for drivers to enhance fuel-efficiency outcomes of transport fleets.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to give a voice to professional truck drivers about their daily eco-driving practice.
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Julie Rachel Adams-Guppy and Andrew Guppy
The purpose of this study is to compare driver knowledge, attitudes and perceptions (in terms of hazard, risk, accident, offence detection and driving skill perceptions) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to compare driver knowledge, attitudes and perceptions (in terms of hazard, risk, accident, offence detection and driving skill perceptions) and self-reported driving style in a sample of 461 drivers before and after attending a UK driver improvement scheme for culpable collision-involved drivers, to inform future directions in the design of driver retraining programmes.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were a sample of 461 drivers attending a UK 1.5 day driver improvement scheme course for culpable collision-involved drivers. The course contained classroom-based training and a practical driving component. Participants completed a driver improvement scheme questionnaire before and immediately after attending the 1.5-day course and again 3 months later.
Findings
Results indicated significant pre- and post-course effects in terms of increased driving safety with respect to driving knowledge, perceptions of control, perceived likelihood of accident-involvement, hazard perception and reported risk-taking. Key positive effects of reduced risk-taking and near-misses persisted three months after course completion.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation of this study is that at the 3-month follow-up there was a reduction in the response rate (44.69%) which included significantly fewer young drivers.
Practical implications
Results indicate positive behavioural, perceptual and behavioural changes, along with specific age, gender and driving experience effects which have implications for the design of future driving courses.
Social implications
This study has implications for community safety through enhanced road safety training measures.
Originality/value
The analysis of age, gender and driving experience effects of the impact of this driver improvement scheme will allow targeted training methods for specific groups of drivers.
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