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This paper examines the relationships between bank switching and both customer vulnerability and consumer-oriented policies (financial education and disclosure practices).

The analysis employs microdata from the Special Eurobarometer on Financial Products and Services, for 24 European nations. It carries out a probit estimation on the factors explaining propensity of bank switching, focusing on three characteristics associated with customer vulnerability: an advanced age, low educational attainment and residence in a rural or a relatively poor region.

The authors report that the probability of bank switching is significantly lower for three groups of vulnerable customers: the elderly, the less educated and those living in deprived regions. Further the authors identify that national financial education policies and disclosure practices have no significant effects on bank switching.

Based on these results, the authors propose more targeted policies recognising customers' heterogeneity are required to increase bank switching behaviour.

This paper exploits a unique source of information on bank switching behaviour and customer characteristics across European nations. These data are complemented with information about consumer financial education policies and disclosure practices from the World Bank and geographical, market and regulatory factors at the regional and national levels. The paper contributes to two academic areas. First, it presents further evidence on heterogeneity of bank customer switching behaviour, addressed at improving the understanding of customer vulnerability in banking services. Second, it examines the efficacy of consumer-oriented policies (financial literacy and disclosure practices) in encouraging bank switching.

Much research looks at why customers switch service organizations but there has been less focus on why customers do not switch service organizations, even though they have seriously considered doing so. In light of this, we present an analysis of the literature and develop a list of potential switching barriers. These switching barriers are then empirically tested within two financial services industries. Results from over 400 consumers enable us to ascertain not only the importance of each switching barrier but also to develop a more parsimonious understanding of these barriers, through factor analysis. The results reveal similar patterns in the two industries in respect to switching barriers. The first of the four factors contains reasons related to apathy, the second factor contains negative reasons for customers staying with their current service provider, the third factor relates to relationship variables and the final factor relates to service recovery. Results clearly indicate that the first two factors are far more important than the latter two in terms of why customers stay even when they seriously considered leaving.

The purpose of this research is to show how relationship marketing has recognized the importance of building long‐term relationships in increasing firms' profitability and guaranteeing their future viability. Owing to the damaging effects that customer switching behavior could have on the development of successful relationships, understanding customers' switching decisions can represent a key step in the process of establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges. The current study aims to contribute in this direction by introducing the heterogeneity of customers in their relationship characteristics (depth, length and breadth) into the analysis of customers' propensity to switch service providers.

The data set used to carry out this study has been obtained from a panel survey (Home Online) of technology users in the United Kingdom, and the proposed hypotheses are tested on the fixed‐line telephone sector using logistic regression. This technique associates the relationship characteristics with the probability that a switch in suppliers will take place.

The results obtained show that the length, depth and breadth of relationships help to determine customers' propensity to switch fixed‐telephone suppliers. Customers who maintain a long‐lasting relationship with the firm (length), use the service more (depth), and invest in complementary services (breadth) will be less predisposed to switch.

With regard to recommendations for practitioners, the paper highlights the need for firms to renew both acquisition and retention strategies in order to take individual customer information into account. This should help them to identify and retain the most valuable customers and to optimally allocate marketing resources (from switching‐prone to non‐switching‐prone customers).

The main contribution of the paper is to consider relationship characteristics in the analysis of customer switching behavior. This research shows that the heterogeneity observed in the depth, length and breadth of customer‐firm relationships explains the differences in the propensity to switch service providers.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between active/passive customer behavior and loyalty (responses to switching triggers) in customer relationships.

A longitudinal study (seven years) is undertaken of the roles of various triggers and active/passive customers in analyzing the processes that lead to customers changing their service provider in the context of the Swedish telecommunications retail industry.

Triggers affect customers' evaluations of service in different ways and cause varying kinds of behavior, depending on whether the customers are active or passive in their customer relationships.

The study offers new insights into the difference between active and passive customers, which facilitates the design of loyalty‐enhancing communications between providers and their customers.

This study aims to analyze and explain the characteristics and findings in previous studies of switching behavior and identifies the developments within this topic in order to improve its current understanding.

The authors construct a literature database of studies published in prominent business and management journals from 1996 to 2013 and conduct an analysis using the variables in the data fields. Furthermore, we execute meta-analysis to combine the research goals of tracing the history of customer switching behavior studies.

Satisfaction switching costs and attractiveness of alternatives are the most commonly used predictor variables to explain switching intentions. Switching costs subjective norms and interpersonal relationships moderate the relationship between switching intentions and its antecedents. Customer switching behavior in mobile telecommunication services has received a lot of attention.

This study assists researchers by examining the type and topic of these studies and the research tools and findings reported in theory. The authors ultimately identify the developmental trend in the literature on switching behavior and propose a direction for future studies.

This study clarifies the characteristics and findings of previous studies on switching intention from a literature review and improves the current understanding.

The development and maintenance of a long-term relationship with customers are essential for banks to bolster their profits and thrive in a competitive environment. This study aims to explore the key factors that influence individuals' bank-switching behavior in the Malaysian retail banking industry to provide insights to bank managers to develop effective customer retention strategies.

A convenient sampling technique was used to distribute questionnaires to bank customers in Malaysia. A total of 312 utilizable questionnaires were obtained for further analysis. For the data analysis, the authors used explanatory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and logit and probit models to identify the determinants of bank-switching behavior of bank customers in Malaysia.

This study revealed that switching costs, effective advertising from competitors, inconvenience, price factor and service failures significantly influence customers' retail bank-switching behavior in the Malaysian context. The findings bring some significant policy implications for bank management decisions.

The non-probability, convenience online sampling method may not be generalized to the population. However, the descriptive demographic statistics show that the findings provide a reasonable representation of the Malaysian population.

This study empirically investigates the determinants of individual customers' retail bank-switching behavior in the Malaysian context. This study is the first of its kind to observe the unique feature of price factor as a determinant of individual customers' switching behavior in the Malaysian retail banking industry, contrasting previous similar studies in different countries.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of staged customer experiences on customer switching costs in the banking industry.

Brand touchpoints in the banking industry are identified by exploratory research using focus group sessions with bank customers and staff and refined by exploratory factor analysis using an independent sample of bank customers to form the staged customer experience construct. The proposed research model is then validated by confirmatory factor analysis with an independent sample using structural equation modeling.

Customer experience in the banking industry consists of four related but distinct stages (i.e. pre-touch, in-touch, post-touch and service failure). The first three stages have direct and indirect effects on switching costs that are partially mediated by relationship quality.

Customer experience is an industry-specific construct with complicated effects on switching costs. Thus, the staged customer experience construct should be examined in different industries and applications to understand its implications.

Bank customers demand experiences that achieve desirable results in everyday situations and switch to other service providers easily if this demand is not met. Banks should focus on brand touchpoints that are both important to customers and increase switching costs to keep customers from defecting.

This research expands upon findings in the customer experience literature by exploring factors that link staged customer experiences with switching costs in the banking industry. In addition, a paradox is identified in the staged customer experience model that requires managers’ attention in order to design an effective customer experience strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to go beyond satisfaction as an indicator of customer loyalty and propose a holistic model of service switching in a mobile internet setting. The model, which reflects both barriers and inducements of switching, is developed based on the “mooring” and “pull” concepts in the migration literature.

Focusing on Generation Y mobile internet subscribers, the study analyzed a total of 417 usable questionnaire responses. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the research model.

The results show that first, satisfaction and switching barriers (i.e. a focal firm’s marketing innovation initiatives, switching costs, inertia, and local network effects) are positively related to customer loyalty; second, switching barriers have a stronger influence on customer loyalty compared with satisfaction; third, switching inducements (i.e. competitors’ marketing innovation initiatives, alternative attractiveness, variety-seeking tendencies, and consumers’ susceptibility to social reference group influence) is negatively related to customer loyalty and the relationship is weaker when perceived switching barriers are high.

This study empirically validates multidimensional scales of switching barriers and inducements from a more nuanced perspective, and specifies them as reflective-formative type II models. This study is among the first to use opposing dimensions to measure switching barriers and its counterpart. Hence, it illustrates how the two contrasting mechanisms can coexist in the minds of mobile internet subscribers.

Service research typically relates switching costs to customer loyalty, and portrays them as effective switching deterrents that engender harmful word‐of‐mouth (WOM). Rather than to customer loyalty, this paper aims to relate switching costs to consumer inertia, and show that while switching costs may result in customer retention, they can engender positive and negative WOM. This depends on whether the inertia stems from satisfaction or indifference.

A mall‐intercept survey investigated 518 customers' perceptions of their mobile phone service providers. Structural equation modelling fitted the data to the conceptual model.

Switching costs deterred switching and engendered negative WOM, but only with low‐inertia customers. With high‐inertia customers, retention and WOM behaviours depended on whether the inertia stemmed from satisfaction or indifference. Satisfied customers with high switching costs tended to stay, gave more positive and less negative WOM. With indifferent customers, switching costs were unrelated to retention or WOM behaviours.

While they may be perceived negatively, switching costs can engender PWOM. Hence, research should not consider switching costs alone without considering the context that produces them.

Service providers should segment their customers into low‐inertia, high‐inertia/satisfied and high‐inertia/indifferent, and target each segment differently. By converting customers into the high‐inertia/satisfied segment, service providers can make the best use of switching costs – not only in the traditional sense as a barrier to defection, but also as a way of generating positive WOM.

This study is the first to consider the role of inertia with switching costs, positive WOM, and negative WOM. The findings suggest that past studies portraying switching costs as negative impediments that evoke only negative WOM might be misleading.

There is intense competition and increasing globalisation in financial markets. Bank management must develop customer‐oriented strategies in order to compete successfully in the competitive retail banking environment. The longer a bank can retain a customer, the greater revenue and cost savings from that customer. China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has resulted in the liberalisation and deregulation of China's financial services market. Chinese customers now have greater choices between domestic and foreign banks. This study aims to identify and analyse the factors that influence bank customers' switching behaviour in the Chinese retail banking industry.

The data for this analysis was obtained using a convenience sample of 421 bank customers in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, China. The decision to switch banks is hypothesised to be a function of price, reputation, service quality, effective advertising competition, involuntary switching, distance, switching costs, distance, and demographic characteristics. Factor analysis and logistic regression are used to analyse the data and identify and rank the factors that impact on the bank switching behaviour of customers.

The research findings reveal that price, reputation, service quality, effective advertising, involuntary switching, distance, and switching costs impact on customers' bank switching behaviour. The findings also reveal that the young and high‐income groups are more likely to switch banks.

The results of this research allow service marketers and practitioners to develop and implement service marketing strategies to decrease customer defection rates, and in turn, increase bank profits. Furthermore, this research provides useful information for future researchers investigating customer switching behaviour in the retail banking industry.

This paper provides an empirical analysis of Chinese bank switching behaviour and provides a framework for future studies on the behaviour of bank customers.