The contribution of emotional satisfaction to consumer loyalty

Abstract

Many customer satisfaction studies have concluded that there is a significant relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty, but this finding has been questioned in that most of the studies focus on measuring the cognitive component of customer satisfaction. This study includes the cognitive component, but focuses on the affective component. It explores the role of emotions in satisfaction, and then compares the predictive ability of the cognitive and affective elements. Key findings are that both positive and negative emotions, and the cognitive component of satisfaction correlate with loyalty. Regression analysis indicates that the affective component serves as a better predictor of customer loyalty than the cognitive component. Further, the best predictor of both overall loyalty and the most reliable dimension of loyalty, positive word of mouth, is positive emotions. Thhe theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Food store loyalty: Application of a consumer loyalty framework

“…52,53 Positive emotions demonstrate stronger predictive ability of loyalty than do cognitive processes. 54 Elements of the shopping experience will produce emotions that consumers may unconsciously connect to a shopping experience or to a store; 55,56 for example, hearing piano music playing in the background while shopping in an immaculately clean store (eg 'the Nordstrom experience') might generate feelings of joy or contentment, and a generally positive feeling towards a store. Emotional loyalty toward services and multi-format retailers reflect consumer satisfaction, and result in positive word-of-mouth -indicating that emotional loyalty precedes loyalty behaviour.…”

Urban destination loyalty drivers and cross-national moderator effects: The case of Barcelona

“…However, some studies have identified an asymmetrical and non-linear relationship between satisfaction and loyalty (Bowen & Chen, 2001;Gómez, McLaughlin, & Wittink, 2004) and argue that increasing customer satisfaction does not mean producing higher levels of loyalty (Bennett & Rundle-Thiele, 2004;Wu, Zhou, & Wu, 2011). Other authors affirm that the consumer's ambivalence moderates the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty (Olsen, Wilcox, & Olsson, 2005) and still others that the antecedent of loyalty is the affective or emotional component of satisfaction and not the cognitive component (You & Dean, 2001). It is necessary to underline that in the marketing of products and services, trust is an antecedent that moderates the relationships between satisfaction and loyalty.…”

Logistics service quality: a new way to loyalty

“…Analysis of the most recent contributions shows a certain convergence towards understanding satisfaction as a phenomenon linked to cognitive judgments and affective responses (Oliver et al, 1997;Phillips and Baumgartner, 2002;Wirtz and Bateson, 1999). Some studies share this dual focus, assuming that satisfaction is an affective response arising from a cognitive judgment (Halstead et al, 1994;Giese and Cote, 2000;Yu and Dean, 2001). Satisfaction can also be interpreted from the point of view of a specific transaction or from an accumulative view (Boulding et al, 1993).…”