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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing field of membership research by applying a relationship marketing perspective on members in tourism settings. Focus is on exploring why consumers are members (motivational dimensions) and how motivations are related to member behaviours (retention, participation and co-creation), and to member demographics (gender, age, distance between the member's home and the supported organization).

A survey was conducted among members of a nonprofit tourist attraction (n=755). Classical chi-square tests, t-tests and multivariate analysis using logistic regression were used to analyze data and to test eight hypotheses on member demographics, member motivations and member behaviours.

Findings show that among the three motivational dimensions, altruism, i.e. doing good for others, was the strongest motive, followed by self-interest, i.e. doing good for yourself, and then the social motive, i.e. doing good with others, which scored lowest. Furthermore, findings show that gender, age and distance were significantly related to member motivations and member behaviours. Member behaviours were significantly related to motivations.

This study was conducted at a single nonprofit tourist attraction. However, it provides insights into different motivational dimensions for why people pay to become members and what kind of member behaviour they demonstrate. This topic calls for further research to explore the complex membership phenomenon such as extending this study by identifying member motives and behaviour in other contexts.

This explorative study of members of a nonprofit tourist attraction contributes insights into why consumers are members (motivational dimensions), how motivations are related to member behaviours in a membership relationship context, and how member demographics are related to motivations and behaviours. Findings have implications for membership managers and the development of memberships in terms of giving a deeper insight into members as consumers in order to develop memberships as strategic resources and hence use the full potential of memberships especially vital to non-profit organizations. Several aspects of memberships are discussed that may inspire the development of member offerings. The present study contributes to the developing field of membership research as it is a response to the calls for more empirical studies of members to develop an integrated understanding of motivations of memberships. Furthermore it contributes with research of co-creation in customer relationships linking the co-creation concept to research of members in tourism settings.

This study contributes to the developing field of membership research and furthermore gives insights into consumer motivations and behaviours that may inspire development of innovative and competitive membership offerings building membership relationships in tourism settings.

Relationship marketing (RM) studies have produced a range of conclusions that are attributed to the different exchange contexts, strategies and constructs used for analysis. This study aims to explore RM within the context of a membership association to gain insights into membership maintenance, customer advocacy and association performance.

The exploratory, qualitative research conducted draws on existing relationship marketing constructs. Six focus groups with current and former members of an Australian wine club provide insights regarding factors that influence their membership experience.

The results show that satisfaction of membership benefits and confidence in the association's expertise are essential in strong relationships. Moreover, member commitment to the relationship appears to be multidimensional, with affective commitment in particular leading to member retention and advocacy. The results also indicate that trust, satisfaction and commitment can be combined as an overall assessment of relationship quality. Desire for recognition, the social nature of wine and product involvement all emerge as important to the membership context.

This research provides valuable insights into relationships in membership associations and is a strong foundation for future confirmatory research regarding relationships between associations and their members.

Membership maintenance is vital to the survival and profitability of membership-based associations. By determining the benefits and factors that foster strong relationships, management can create marketing strategies and programs aimed specifically at influencing the key drivers of strong relationships.

Although relationship marketing has gained prevalence in recent times across a number of industries, research into membership contexts is limited.

To provide a theoretic framework of the development of customer capital and an empirical verification using Taiwanese multilevel firms.

The authors used survey research to collect data from members of four Taiwanese multilevel companies. They explored the mediating roles of the drivers of customer equity in the “relationship marketing activities‐customer capita” effect. A total of 306 valid responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling analysis.

Four types of relationship marketing activities – core service performances, recognition for contributions, dissemination of organization knowledge, and member interdependence enhancement – have significant influences on relationship equity. Relationship equity in turn affects customer capital. Value equity and brand equity respectively have significant effects on customer acquisition and customer retention. Customer acquisition has a significant “feedback” effect on value equity, and relationship equity affects brand equity positively.

The generalizability of this research is constrained due to a non‐probability sample of firms being used to verify the theoretic framework. It is also constrained due to the fact that only customer‐side data were collected and proxy measures of customer capital were used.

Effective and ineffective types of relationship marketing activities have been identified. The causal paths between relationship marketing and customer capital have been illustrated.

This paper sheds light on the approach to building customer capital for membership‐emphasized organization.

The purpose is to review literature on sports season ticket subscriptions to distil current knowledge and guide future research and practice.

A systematic literature review is conducted of research on sports season tickets, a long-established and innovative subscription category.

In-depth examination of 28 papers showed a focus on drivers of satisfaction, churn and renewal causes, and product utilisation rates. Subscription markets typically involve many “solely loyal” consumers, most purchasing one or two subscriptions in a category. From reduced barriers to entry and exit to “curated” subscriptions, subscription marketing is changing very quickly. Sports marketers build relationships with subscribers using behavioural data, tier benefits to distinguish between casual and subscribing customers, and create recall and scarcity around key aspects of subscription to combat churn and increase utilisation.

Scarce research on subscription marketing practices remains the primary limitation. Existing research suggests that strong connections between subscriber and organisation, heavy product utilisation and/or strong barriers to switching drive customer satisfaction and retention.

Rapid expansion of subscription products should reduce “excess loyalty”, meaning that subscription models' main benefit will be limited to reoccurring revenue. Exceptions occur when consumers are heavily connected to the product or have little provider choice, so allocate their category buying exclusively. New subscription products face myriad challenges. Guidance on effective subscription marketing from sports marketing research and practice is outlined.

By combining research on market structure, marketing empirical generalisations and subscription marketing, this paper guides future research and practice.

This paper aims to examine call center satisfaction in an escalated call center context where callers are organization members of the primary/leveraged brand and have purchased additional co‐branded services as part of their membership. It also aims to examine the relationship between call center satisfaction and actual retention of both the co‐branded service offered and the primary brand (call center operated by the membership organization).

The survey data used in the analyses involve a sample size of 88 respondents, all members of a large, national nonprofit organization in the USA. Factor analysis and logistic regression were used to test the propositions.

The results indicate that caller satisfaction has four dimensions similar to those found in SERVQUAL. Although call center satisfaction dimensions are not significant for co‐branded service retention, the empathy dimension is most important to primary/leveraged brand retention.

One of the limitations of this research is that it tests the propositions within a single firm regarding calls concerning a single category (insurance). Future research should attempt to replicate these findings in other call center contexts.

Caller perceptions of service quality (specifically empathy) in the wake of a perceived service failure, while not very helpful to co‐branded service retention, actually mitigate primary/leveraged brand membership loss.

This study addresses the lack of research tying escalated call center satisfaction and both retention of the co‐branded service in addition to retention of the primary leveraged brand using actual retention data.

This study aims to examine the drivers of membership at the micro-level to influence club retention rates and promote positive health-related behaviours through encouraging active member participation.

The data for this study (n = 197) was obtained from four martial arts groups in Melbourne, Australia. Self-administered questionnaires assessed the importance of personal benefits, risk taking, personal values and enjoyment of specific benefits.

Hierarchical analysis identified shared values, excitement (ß = −0.066, p < 0.05), sense of belonging (ß = 0.644, p < 0.05), enjoyment of activities (ß = 0.179, p < 0.05), fitness level (ß = 0.564, p < 0.05), belt status (ß = 0.466 p < 0.05) and the expectations of instructor (ß = 0.144 p < 0.05) and others (ß = 0.483 p < 0.05) as predictors in attracting and retaining club membership. Adult Australians share socio-demographic characteristics and common desires to attain specific benefits which appear to evolve, as membership is not perceived as an interim engagement but rather as a lifelong lifestyle choice.

By advocating positive associations between lifetime membership and active participation, social marketing campaigns can inform and contribute towards a knowledge base for sports clubs to develop targeted strategies and practices towards membership retention.

This study contributes to evidence-based social marketing approaches in an era of ageing demographics, where there remains a need to learn more about how to manage active memberships to promote healthy lifestyles and well-being at a national, community and individual level. The approach of exploring club membership at micro-level to inform tailored macro-level strategic health-related messages is also novel.

The purpose of this paper was to better understand motivations for CSA participation with an emphasis on membership retention. Food-related and community-related motivations for participation were examined.

Current and former CSA members across Wisconsin completed an online survey. Participants were grouped based on their CSA membership status. The four groups were as follows: Keepers (current members planning to renew their membership with their current farm); Switchers (current members planning to switch their membership to a new farm); Stoppers (current members planning to stop purchasing a CSA share from any farm) and Formers (former CSA members). The groups were compared through ANOVA.

Keepers had stronger community-related motivations, and they had more favorable perceptions about communication with their CSA farm. Food-related motivations were reduced among Stoppers but were similar among Keepers and Switchers.

This study used online purposive sampling; thus, generalizability of results is limited. Switchers were identified as a distinct group that trends younger and appears more willing to change CSA farms but is committed to CSA because of food-related motivations.

Investment by CSA farmers in community building may improve member retention. They may achieve this, in part, through communication with members that taps into factors related to community, such as offering support and making emotional connections. Offering exemplary product is broadly important to keep individuals committed to CSA, but it does not uniquely keep individuals invested in a particular CSA farm the way community-related motivations may.

This is the first analysis to highlight differences between individuals who plan to renew their membership with their current CSA farm, those who plan to switch CSA farms and those who plan to stop purchasing CSA.

By 1980 unemployment was an important social, economic and political issue. Also by 1980, trade unions were experiencing membership losses for the first time in half a century.

Purpose – We explore two characteristics of groups in today's work environments, membership dispersion and geographic dispersion, and the effects that these conditions have on group and organizational learning.

Approach – We integrate findings on group membership dispersion and geographic dispersion and develop predictions of dispersion's effects on group learning, incorporating the literature on knowledge transfer, transactive memory, turnover, and communication.

Findings – Members in multiple work groups, while exposed to knowledge from different areas, have weaker group identities and are more adversely affected by time constraints than members who belong to only one group. Group members can be dispersed sequentially through turnover, which creates more knowledge-retention problems than those experienced by stable groups. Members of geographically dispersed groups are in positions to integrate novel knowledge. The necessary use of technology to communicate, however, reduces the ability of geographically dispersed group members to convey ideas as effectively as their collocated counterparts. Geographically distributed group members experience less common ground and more difficulty in transferring knowledge, especially tacit knowledge, than their collocated counterparts.

Originality/value – We discuss how membership and geographic dispersion pose challenges to and provide opportunities for group learning. We suggest how learning within dispersed groups can be supported as well as what the future holds for the role of these groups in the new economy. The chapter concludes that although membership and geographic dispersion pose challenges to learning at the group level, these conditions enable learning at the level of the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the response of members to a rebranding strategy implemented by a member‐owned organisation. More specifically, the authors examine the impact of rebranding awareness and attitude towards rebranding on the members' perceived value of their memberships, their satisfaction and, subsequently, their commitment to the organisation.

The research employed in‐depth interviews followed by a quantitative survey. Data were collected online from 264 current members of Dogs SA and data analysis employed SEM principles.

Findings demonstrate that the members' awareness of a rebranding attempt can significantly enhance perceived membership value, leading to increased levels of satisfaction. With both perceived value and satisfaction antecedents of membership commitment, the importance of such improvements cannot be underestimated.

Despite a high response rate of 88 per cent, only ten per cent of the membership base was included in the initial sample. Limitations relate to the single context, a canine association, and single rebranding attempt examined in this paper. Only three outcome measures were included, namely membership value, satisfaction and commitment.

While non‐profit member‐owned organisations play an increasingly important role in our economic and social environment, participation rates are dropping in many such organisations. If they are to remain viable, the commitment of existing members must be improved. The study provides managers with important insight into a potentially powerful strategy to increase underpin membership dedication by means of satisfaction and enhanced perceived value.

This paper successfully integrates relationship marketing and rebranding literature domains, producing significant implications for non‐profit membership organisations.