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1 – 10 of over 10000
Article
Publication date: 2 August 2011

Li‐Wei Wu

Empirical studies investigating the antecedents of customer loyalty typically focus on satisfaction. This study aims to develop and test a more comprehensive model of the…

7222

Abstract

Purpose

Empirical studies investigating the antecedents of customer loyalty typically focus on satisfaction. This study aims to develop and test a more comprehensive model of the antecedents of customer loyalty, including satisfaction and inertia. In addition, this study also considers how the effects of satisfaction and inertia on customer loyalty vary with differing levels of the zone of tolerance (ZOT), and how these are likely to change due to customers' alternative attractiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

Hierarchical moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that a wider level of the ZOT strengthens the positive effect of inertia on customer loyalty, while also reducing the positive effect of satisfaction. The results also indicate that the negative moderating effect of the ZOT on the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty will reduce as alternative attractiveness increases. In contrast, the positive moderating effect of the ZOT on the relationship between inertia and customer loyalty will reduce as alternative attractiveness increases.

Originality/value

This study is a first attempt to integrate the ZOT to determine the relative importance of satisfaction and inertia in determining customer loyalty. In addition, this study suggests that customers with higher perceptions of alternative attractiveness are more likely to experience changes in the influence of the ZOT on their loyalty decisions.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 25 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 August 2018

Stephanie Hui-Wen Chuah, Philipp A. Rauschnabel, Ming-Lang Tseng and T. Ramayah

The purpose of this paper is to propose a dedication-constraint-temptation (DCT) model to study the factors influencing customers’ loyalty to mobile data service (MDS) providers…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a dedication-constraint-temptation (DCT) model to study the factors influencing customers’ loyalty to mobile data service (MDS) providers. The DCT model explicitly explores the important yet overlooked role of alternative attractiveness (the temptation-based mechanism) as a mediator and the boundary condition of their interrelationships (e.g. relationship length). The model also integrates new and established antecedents of customer-based brand equity (C-BBE) (the dedication-based mechanism) and switching barriers (the constraint-based mechanism).

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed model is tested using partial least squares–structural equation modeling with a sample of 331 MDS users.

Findings

The results indicate that C-BBE has an indirect effect on customer loyalty (via alternative attractiveness) in both relationship groups (shorter- vs longer-term). However, the indirect effect of switching barriers on customer loyalty only exists in longer established relationships. The results from multi-group analysis reveal that the effect of switching barriers on alternative attractiveness significantly differs across groups. In addition, customer value anticipation and procedural switching costs appear to be the most salient antecedents of C-BBE and switching barriers for both groups.

Originality/value

This study makes an incremental contribution by incorporating the temptation-based mechanism as a mediator and relationship length as a moderator into the dedication-constraint model. This study also extends the information systems and brand management literatures by demonstrating the strategic importance of customer value anticipation in the information and communication technology brand equity-building.

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2017

Christopher Sibona, Jeff Cummings and Judy Scott

Social networking sites (SNSs) continue to grow in popularity with competition in the market growing as well. The purpose of this paper is to examine three research questions to…

Abstract

Purpose

Social networking sites (SNSs) continue to grow in popularity with competition in the market growing as well. The purpose of this paper is to examine three research questions to determine how competition within the SNS area may affect the continuance intention on the incumbent SNS, Facebook. The first question examines the relationship between having an account on one of the four different SNSs and the impact on continuance intention. The second question examines attitudes toward specific alternatives and continuance intention on the incumbent SNS. The third question takes a broader examination of general attitudes about alternative attractiveness and attitude toward switching to predict continuance intention. A post hoc analysis was conducted to further understand the impact of specific SNS alternative attitudes on general attitudes.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a survey of 918 users, this research examines the three questions using various methods including ANCOVA to examine question 1 and multiple structural equation models to examine questions 2, 3 and the post hoc analysis.

Findings

The analysis of the models suggests that both alternative attractiveness and attitude toward switching have the greatest impact on the continuance intention of the incumbent site. Specific sites were found to be complements or substitutes for the incumbent. The viewing of the specific alternative site as an alternative to Facebook had a negative impact on continuance intention. The general model of alternative attractiveness and attitude toward switching explained a moderate to substantial amount of continuance intention.

Originality/value

Although use and abandonment of SNSs have been examined extensively, minimal attention has been given to the impact that alternative SNSs have on continuance intentions of a user’s primary SNS.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 117 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2016

Yong Liu, Hongxiu Li, Xiaoyu Xu, Vassilis Kostakos and Jukka Heikkilä

The purpose of this paper is to model the effect of alternative products in motivating consumers’ e-service switching behavior in the context of the social network game (SNG…

2684

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to model the effect of alternative products in motivating consumers’ e-service switching behavior in the context of the social network game (SNG) industry. In particular, the effects of both alternative attractiveness and change experience on switching behavior are quantified.

Design/methodology/approach

With the aid of a leading e-service provider in China, 220,000 questionnaires were distributed to the players of a SNG. Valid responses from potential switching users are included in the data analysis. Structural equation modeling technique is utilized to test the research framework.

Findings

The study found that alternative attractiveness negatively affects both the perceived service quality and individual users’ satisfaction with their current SNG. Additionally, alternative attractiveness has a strong and positive impact on both switching intention and behavior. The results show that users’ satisfaction and perceptions on service quality deteriorate significantly when faced with the presence of attractive SNG alternatives. The effect is stronger for the customers used to switching.

Originality/value

The study is among the first to introduce cognitive dissonance theory to explain e-service switching behavior. A number of new hypotheses are proposed, tested and supported. The results of the study illustrate the use of cognitive dissonance as an alternative perspective of understanding users’ switching behavior in a real-world free-choice situation.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 116 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2023

Ho-Taek Yi, Minkyung Lee and Fortune Edem Amenuvor

This study which is positioned in the ambit of control research investigates the impact of ex ante contractual completeness on opportunistic behaviors and ex post transaction…

Abstract

Purpose

This study which is positioned in the ambit of control research investigates the impact of ex ante contractual completeness on opportunistic behaviors and ex post transaction costs, while assessing how these affect relationship termination intention. This study aims to examine alternative attractiveness as a necessary moderator of the nexus between transaction cost and relationship termination intention.

Design/methodology/approach

Data gathered from 211 companies in South Korea that have installed and run outsourced vending machines are analyzed and used to validate the study’s theoretical and empirical contributions.

Findings

The findings, which rely only on data from companies that outsource and those that run outsourced vending machines, show that contractual completeness negatively affects both active and passive opportunism. The study also discovers that active opportunism positively affects both bargaining costs and monitoring costs, whereas passive opportunism has a positive and direct effect on maladaptation costs but a negative effect on monitoring costs. It further finds that both bargaining and maladaptation costs have positive and direct effects on relationship termination intention, while monitoring costs have a negative effect on the same. Furthermore, it is observed that alternative attractiveness moderates the relationships between bargaining costs and relationship termination intention, as well as maladaptation costs and relationship termination intention.

Practical implications

This study demonstrates that contractual completeness can serve as an important ex ante control mechanism, whereas the two types of opportunism can raise transaction costs. Furthermore, alternative attractiveness is identified as a driver of the impact of transaction costs on relationship termination intention.

Originality/value

A key point of the departure of this study is that it examines the moderating role of alternative attractiveness in the relationship between transaction cost and relationship termination intention. The paper also advances the control literature by emphasizing the critical role that contractual completeness plays in reducing the occurrence of (both active and passive) opportunism in business relationships (especially companies that outsource).

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 57 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 July 2015

Chia-Ying Li

By expanding on the work of White and Yanamandram (2007), the purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect influences of switching barriers on the relationship…

4410

Abstract

Purpose

By expanding on the work of White and Yanamandram (2007), the purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect influences of switching barriers on the relationship between recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions in an online auction environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 272 customers who had experienced online service recovery in the past six months. Partial-least squares and mediated moderation analysis are employed to test the research model.

Findings

The interrelationships among recovery satisfaction, relationship quality, and repurchase intentions are confirmed. Both lost benefit switching costs and inertia moderate the relationship between recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions. Attractiveness of alternatives mediates the moderating effect of inertia on the relationship between recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions.

Originality/value

Unlike previous studies, which have treated switching cost as a switching barrier, or used various components to represent switching barriers, this study incorporates switching cost, relationship quality, inertia, and attractiveness of alternatives as four switching barrier factors. This study further examines the direct and indirect effects of switching barriers on the relationship between recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 25 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 October 2020

Jihye Kim, Hyung-Min Kim and Minseong Kim

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between a sense of virtual community (SOVC), community satisfaction, community involvement, community…

1467

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between a sense of virtual community (SOVC), community satisfaction, community involvement, community commitment and alternative attractiveness in the online fan community context.

Design/methodology/approach

This study gathered and empirically analyzed data from 277 members of the online Super Junior fan community with frequency, reliability, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 and AMOS 24.0.

Findings

The findings of SEM indicated that community satisfaction was significantly influenced by the four dimensions of SOVC, while community involvement was significantly affected by membership and fulfillment of needs. Also, community commitment and alternative attractiveness were significantly impacted by community satisfaction and community involvement. Lastly, privacy concern moderated the paths from influence to community satisfaction and from community satisfaction to community commitment, respectively.

Practical implications

The findings of this study should help online fan community administrators to reduce members' perception of alternative attractiveness (other fan communities) and to understand how privacy concern influences members' attitudes toward the online community.

Originality/value

In light of the findings, a greater understanding of the determinants of community commitment and alternative attractiveness along with privacy concern is critical in retaining virtual fan communities' members over the long-term.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Mahafuz Mannan, Md. Fazla Mohiuddin, Nusrat Chowdhury and Priodorshine Sarker

The purpose of this paper is to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness in the context of the…

1952

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness in the context of the Bangladeshi mobile telecommunications market (MTM). In addition, this study develops three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction: financial factor, technological factor, and customer service factor.

Design/methodology/approach

A model is developed and tested using PLS-SEM with a sample size of 442 respondents. The three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction were developed using a panel of five industry experts.

Findings

Financial, technological, and customer service factors were found to have significant positive effects on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction and perceived switching costs were found to have a significant direct effect on switching intentions, and perceived switching costs and perceived alternative attractiveness were found to have significant moderating effects on switching intentions through customer satisfaction. However, no significant direct effect of perceived alternative attractiveness on switching intentions was found.

Originality/value

This is the first study to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness using structural equation modeling in the context of the Bangladeshi MTM. In addition, three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction are developed.

Article
Publication date: 19 May 2020

Jacques Nel and Christo Boshoff

Shopping statistics indicate that online shoppers prefer purchasing products using the desktop website of the retailer, rather than using the mobile website on a mobile phone to…

1819

Abstract

Purpose

Shopping statistics indicate that online shoppers prefer purchasing products using the desktop website of the retailer, rather than using the mobile website on a mobile phone to purchase products (mobile website purchasing). Therefore, using status quo bias theory, this study aims to investigate mobile website purchasing resistance of those customers using only desktop website purchasing.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the conceptual model an online questionnaire was used to collect data from customers purchasing products using only the desktop website on a computer (n = 484) and not the retailer’s mobile website.

Findings

Due to cognitive dissonance, customers using only desktop purchasing trivialize mobile website purchasing perceived attractiveness while perceiving more cognitive effort in mobile website purchasing to maintain consonance with their inertia. Further, relative advantage perceptions of mobile website purchasing lead to more trivialization of mobile website purchasing attractiveness perceptions. Desktop purchasing inertia enhances resistance through alternative attractiveness and cognitive effort perceptions, respectively, and cognitive effort and alternative attractiveness perceptions in serial. Desktop purchasing habit has the strongest positive influence on desktop purchasing inertia.

Research limitations/implications

This study was conducted in a high-involvement product context. Replication in a low-involvement product context is necessary to confirm the robustness of the results.

Practical implications

Retailers can use the findings to develop strategies to lower mobile website purchasing resistance in an online-mobile concurrent channel environment.

Originality/value

The study provides novel insights into mobile website purchasing resistance in an online-mobile concurrent channel environment. Further, the study addresses the gap in research on inertia and switching costs in the adoption of concurrent channels.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2000

Neeru Sharma and Paul G. Patterson

To date, empirical and conceptual models of relationship marketing have focused almost exclusively on a range of direct antecedents and mediator variables to explain variations in…

10567

Abstract

To date, empirical and conceptual models of relationship marketing have focused almost exclusively on a range of direct antecedents and mediator variables to explain variations in a dependent variable – usually relationship commitment. No attempt has been made to examine under what conditions these various antecedents have a stronger/weaker impact on relationship commitment. This paper extends the relationship marketing literature by testing a contingency model to assess the impact of trust and service satisfaction on relationship commitment under conditions of varying switching costs, alternative attractiveness and experience‐based norms, in the context of a professional consumer service. Employing a sample of 201 clients of financial planning services, we test 11 hypotheses formulated on the basis of a review of the services and relationship marketing literature, and a series of qualitative interviews with clients. The results clearly indicate that the impact of trust and satisfaction vary according to contingency conditions of switching costs, attractiveness of alternatives and client experience.

Details

International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 11 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0956-4233

Keywords

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