Understanding the psychological process underlying customer satisfaction and retention in a relational service
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
11-1-2009
Abstract
This paper reexamines the psychological process underlying the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer retention in a relational service context. It is based on a composite model of the attitude-behavior relation, which takes both attitude toward target and attitude toward behavior into account. Data were collected from a survey with a sample of 209 clients from a major credit counseling organization in the USA. Account data indicating those clients' actual retention behavior were matched with the survey data. A two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure was employed to establish the construct validity and test the hypotheses. The results revealed that the effect of customer satisfaction on retention is mediated by the more proximal determinants of the actual retention behavior. Specifically, customer satisfaction has both direct and indirect effects on customers' attitudes toward remaining in the Debt Management Program (DMP), which is the proximal predictor of customer retention. In addition, satisfaction alone cannot guarantee customer retention. Customers' perceived behavioral control exerts direct effects on their intention to remain and retention. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Journal of Business Research
Volume
62
Issue
11
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Guo, Lin, Jing Jian Xiao, and Chuanyi Tang. "Understanding the psychological process underlying customer satisfaction and retention in a relational service." Journal of Business Research 62, 11 (2009): 1152-1159. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.10.020.