Executive Summary
This study extends the existing satisfaction–trust–loyalty paradigm to investigate how customers’ affectionate ties with firms (customer–firm affection)—in particular, the components of intimacy and passion—affect customer loyalty in services. Applying Sternberg’s triangular theory of love in a bilevel model, the authors consider customer–staff and customer–firm interactions in parallel. Through a netnography study and survey research in two service contexts, this study reveals that customer–firm affection complements satisfaction and trust in affecting customer loyalty by mediating the effect of satisfaction on firm trust and firm loyalty intentions. Sternberg’s triangular theory of love and its constituent components are found to apply to exemplary services on the transactional–relational continuum. In general, relational services exhibit more affection than transactional services. Regarding the nature of customer–firm affection, relational services tend to be commitment driven, whereas transactional services are more passion driven. This study also confirms the salience of affect transfers from the customer–staff to the customer–firm level even though the effects may differ across contexts. Customer–staff relationships affect customer–firm relationships in the hair salon but not in the fast-food context, suggesting that the “rub-off effect” of positive customer–staff relationships may not occur in transactional services.
The findings also provide several implications for researchers and managers regarding how intimacy and passion might enrich customer service interactions and how to manage customer–staff relationships properly. Currently, most service loyalty programs follow the satisfaction paradigm: monitor satisfaction levels, reduce service failures, and promote programs to “lock in” customers. This study suggests another path: build loyalty by cultivating affectionate ties that comprise both intimacy and passion. In contrast to most service firms, famous global brands, such as Louis Vuitton and Armani, invest heavily and effectively in promoting customer passion for their brands. Managers of relational services should also pay particular attention to cultivating intimacy to maintain highly committed relationships with customers. Credit cards and health clubs that rely on excitement-oriented promotions with extravagant sign-up prizes to gain new customers often find out that a stable and committed customer relationship is what really matters in the end. Because strong customer–staff relationships benefit customer–firm relationships, cutting off customer–staff relationships because of an unnecessary fear of the hostage effect is unnatural and may perpetuate a new service error. When a staff member with a strong sense of customer loyalty wants to leave, it is more likely due to something fundamentally wrong with the service. Pushing customers to use impersonal interfaces rather than contacts with employees may reduce service costs but might also lose an opportunity for differentiation by building emotional connections with customers. Finally, firms’ intentions to standardize services and develop good social rapport simultaneously may backfire. Programmed greetings delivered by employees only suggest indoctrination by the training manual, not sincerity. The salience of intimacy indicates that firms must restrategize or redesign their customer–staff interactions to stress “serving from the heart.”
Biography
Chi Kin (Bennett) Yim is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business at the University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD in Management from the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University. His areas of marketing expertise and interest include services marketing, China marketing, and brand choice and purchase behavior modeling. His articles have appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of World Business, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Business Research. In his current research, he is exploring customer–firm affection, customer–staff proximity, customer participation in services, and coalignment of service strategy.
David K. Tse is Chair Professor of International Marketing in the School of Business at the University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD in Marketing from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include marketing and consumption issues in China, services marketing, and marketing strategy. He publishes in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Business Research. His current research projects center on marketing channels, consumption in the Internet, and sociorelational processes.
Kimmy Wa Chan is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management and Marketing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her areas of research interest include services marketing, customer relationship development in services, customer coproduction, cross-cultural marketing, and service failure and recovery. Her articles have appeared in Journal of Retailing and Journal of Customer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior. She is currently working on examining customers’ relationship developments with different parties, including affectionate ties with company, proximate relationship with staff, relationship closeness with other customers, customer coproduction in services, and coalignment of service strategy.
J Marketing Research, Volume 45, Number 6, December 2008
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