A model of customer retention of dissatisfied business services customers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework of the factors that potentially influence dissatisfied customers to continue purchasing from their existing service provider in the business-to-business (B2B) services sector. This review paper synthesises the findings from previous studies on switching barriers, and relationship variables, dependence, and calculative commitment. Five major factors deter customers from switching to an alternative service provider: (i) switching costs; (ii) interpersonal relationships; (iii) the attractiveness of alternatives; (iv) service recovery; and (v) inertia. These factors are mediated by dependence and calculative commitment. This is the first comprehensive study of the factors that potentially influence dissatisfied customers to remain behaviourally loyal to a service provider in the B2B services sector. This important study has significance for marketers in developing strategies for customer retention and service recovery. A Model of Customer Retention of Dissatisfied Business Services Customers AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework of the factors that potentially influence dissatisfied customers to continue purchasing from their existing service provider in the business-to-business (B2B) services sector.Design/methodology/approach: This review paper synthesises the findings from previous studies on switching barriers, and relationship variables, dependence, and calculative commitment.Findings: Five major factors deter customers from switching to an alternative service provider: (i) switching costs; (ii) interpersonal relationships; (iii) the attractiveness of alternatives; (iv) service recovery; and (v) inertia. These factors are mediated by dependence and calculative commitment.Originality/value: This is the first comprehensive study of the factors that potentially influence dissatisfied customers to remain behaviourally loyal to a service provider in the B2B services sector. This important study has significance for marketers in developing strategies for customer retention and service recovery.

Electricity Supplier Switching: A Conceptual Model Based on Migration Theory

“…Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 1(3), 217-227. Loyalty satisfaction | B2C: Rust and Zahorik (1993), Jones and Sasser (1995), Gremler and Brown (1996), Mittal andLassar (1998), Oliver (1999) Repurchase behavior value | B2B: Molinari et al (2008) 5 Authors study the the probability of a firm reacquiring a customer according to the lapse duration 6 Authors don't directly mention the related construct as a factor, but group customers accordingly and identify their differences 7 Authors don't directly mention the related construct as a factor, but group customers accordingly and identify their differences White and Yanamandram (2007) 9 Apathy has two measures; (A) relating to switching costs and (B) relating to attractiveness of alternatives 10 White and Yanamandram (2007) define two dimensions of inertia: "(A) Inertia as the outcome, the customer thinks that the alternatives are unattractive due to switching costs), (B) Inertia as a behavioural characteristic defined as "the customer is lazy, inactive, or passive" 11 Matthews et al (2008) found out that "switching costs on the relationship between a person's desire to switch banks and the likelihood that they will actually do so", however in the table it is located under switching behaviour column for the sake of the presentation 12 Relationship investment has two parts of measures; A relating to switching costs and B relating to social bonds Gremler and Brown (1996)0 special treatment | B2C: Gremler and Brown (1996) …”

“…In terms of switching, Roos (1999)'s study is identified as an example where variation is revealed as a switching factor. White and Yanamandram (2007) also developed two dimensions for inertia; one of which is a behavioural characteristic defined as "the customer is lazy, inactive, or passive", similar to the variety-seeking construct (Colgate & Lang, 2001) and handled as a repurchase intention factor. Table 13 summarizes mentioned studies and the related constructs.…”

Antecedentes da Retenção de Clientes Pós-Falha e Recuperação de Serviços de Tecnologia da Informação em Ambientes Business-To-Business

“…Tax et al (1998) avaliam as considerações feitas por clientes em situações de reclamação de serviço. Nestas situações os clientes têm opções de deixar o provedor de serviços, fazer boca-a-boca negativo, não reclamar ou reclamar com o provedor de serviços (Haverila & Naumann, 2010;Tax et al, 1998;White & Yanamandram, 2007).…”

“…Diferentemente de relações pessoais, nos ambientes empresariais o término de uma relação sempre está associado ao início de uma nova relação com um novo fornecedor (White & Yanamandram, 2007).…”

A Qualitative Analysis of Customer Repeat Purchase Behaviour in the UK Mobile Phone Market

“…mobile phones or credit cards), but nevertheless, he will frequently renew subscriptions to these services. The factors that affect consumer/supplier relationships and customer retention have been studied (White & Yanamandram, 2007). Understanding how consumers respond to a supplier's offering of reinforcements and utilities in the contractual behaviour context will define the main factors that maintain retention behaviour (Beckett et al, 2000;Choi et al, 2006;Pearlman, 2007).…”