Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of the relationship between an individual’s relative attitude and repeat patronage. The relationship is seen as mediated by social norms and situational factors. Cognitive, affective, and conative antecedents of relative attitude are identified as contributing to loyalty, along with motivational, perceptual, and behavioral consequences. Implications for research and for the management of loyalty are derived.

Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework:

A typology of service organizations is presented and a conceptual framework is advanced for exploring the impact of physical surroundings on the behaviors of both customers and employees. The abili...

Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees:

Two meta-analyses were conducted to Investigate the effectiveness of the Fishbein and Ajzen model in research to date. Strong overall evidence for the predictive utility of the model was found. Although numerous instances were identified in which researchers overstepped the boundary conditions initially proposed for the model, the predictive utility remained strong across conditions. However, three variables were proposed and found to moderate the effectiveness of the model. Suggested extensions to the model are discussed and general directions for future research are given.

/pdf/the-theory-of-reasoned-action-a-meta-analysis-of-past-t6n1gxvrlh.pdf

The Theory of Reasoned Action: A Meta-Analysis of Past Research with Recommendations for Modifications and Future Research

Electronic word-of-mouth in hospitality and tourism management

Customers often react strongly to service failures, so it is critical that an organization's recovery efforts be equally strong and effective. In this article, the authors develop a model of custom...

http://www.ruthnbolton.com/Publications/ServiceFailureandRecovery.pdf?origin=publication_detail

A model of customer satisfaction with service encounters involving failure and recovery

Examines the relative importance of service recovery in determining overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Recommendations include suggestions for implementing a service recovery program and for encouraging dissatisfied customers to complain.

Service recovery: Impact on satisfaction and intentions

This article reports the development and testing of a theoretical model of the initial stages of recommendation-based decision making by consumers. Although consumers use a variety of recommendation sources, they have different motivations for the use of different sources. The model focuses on the factors that influence the likelihood of consumers using strong-tie sources (e.g., friends and family) and weak-tie sources (e.g., acquaintances or strangers) or recommendations. The factors used in the model are the prior knowledge level of the consumer about the product being considered, the perceived decision task difficulty level, and the type of evaluative cues sought by the consumer. Hypotheses are tested using data collected in an extensive field study with consumers. Two paths or routes of influence on the use of recommendation sources are proposed and confirmed in the study.

Influences on consumer use of word-of-mouth recommendation sources

By use of path analysis on data from 600 shoppers, the authors explore the sequential relationships among several variables pertinent to retail crowding. Results furnish evidence that perceived cro...

Path Analysis of Buyer Behavior under Conditions of Crowding

This research examines the role of buyers' confidence in the formation of attitudes and purchase intention. It supports current buyer behavior theory which postulates a positive relationship between overall confidence in a brand and intention to purchase the brand. It also examines buyers' confidence in their own ability to judge attributes of brands.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2488752.pdf

The Role of Confidence in Understanding and Predicting Buyers' Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

The ways consumers dispose of usable but no longer wanted products has become an increasingly important issue. While consumers select, acquire, use, and dispose of products, most researchers have focused on the first part of the cycle, limiting attention to brand choice and product acquisition (Rassuli and Harrell 1990). A few consumer theorists have noted that usage and disposition are both important aspects of consumer behavior (Holbrook 1987; Jacoby 1976; Nicosia and Mayer 1976), and the last phase of the process is now receiving increasing public attention. Recently, disposal has been added to definitions of consumer behavior in textbooks and has been highlighted as a relevant topic for research. Consumer researchers introduced disposal as an important topic in the late 1970s (Jacoby, Berning, and Dietvorst 1977); Hanson (1980b) developed a useful model of several salient factors involved in the disposition decision process. After a flurry of interest in consumer disposal in the early 1980s, research attention appears to have faded, although disposal has grown to be of considerable consequence to business, government, and consumer groups. Clearly, in light of current public concern about recycling and the worldwide landfill crisis, research in this area is both intellectually relevant and operationally timely. This study investigates the rationales consumers use when selecting prevalent disposition options (keep, throw away, sell, donate with tax deduction, donate without tax deduction, and pass along) and continues the research stream initiated by Hanson (1980a). Essentially, a field study was conducted with consumers to learn more about how their characteristics relate to the selection of several important disposition options. Before presenting the research, a background discussion of disposal issues and research helps position this study. Secondly, a modified taxonomy and several research propositions are offered. Next, the study design and its findings are presented, followed by implications and directions for future research. BACKGROUND Post consumption impact of trashing products has become a grassroots public concern, encompassing issues such as disposal of goods, environmental protection, and recycling in an era of diminishing landfill capacity. Corson (1990) reported that in 1978 the United States had 20,000 landfills; by 1988, the number had dropped to 6,000 with 80 percent of solid waste going into landfills. In the past five years, 3,000 of these have been closed; by 1993, about 2,000 more will cease operations. While waste management organizations are constantly seeking sites for new landfills, the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome makes it difficult to expand. Although consumers have many disposal options, disposal by trashing carries few negative consequences. Useful resources go unconsumed; with antiquated landfills not governed by recent regulations for clay or plastic liners, contaminants may seep into the water table (Commoner 1971), excrete noxious fumes, and/or spontaneously combust (Boraiko 1985; Corson 1990; Nichols 1988). Little wonder why landfills, which are often unsightly and expensive to build and maintain, are in limited supply (Corson 1990; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1988; White 1983). Pollock (1987) has pointed out the difficulties municipalities face in attempting to manage the burgeoning solid waste created by consumers. She further notes that the recycling solution depends upon the cooperation of consumers as well as on the availability of markets for recovered materials. There is evidence that curbside recycling programs can be extremely expensive to taxpayers, relative to dumping, and are economically wasteful (Wiseman 1991). A number of new enterprises have arisen, directly or indirectly, from the trash that threatens to overwhelm us (Brammer 1986). Combined with manufacturer attention to eliminate product waste (Center for National Policy 1988), extending product life through disposition alternatives could reduce waste and resource depletion (Box 1983). …

Gilbert D. Harrell

Papers

Service recovery: Impact on satisfaction and intentions

Influences on consumer use of word-of-mouth recommendation sources

Path Analysis of Buyer Behavior under Conditions of Crowding

The Role of Confidence in Understanding and Predicting Buyers' Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

Personal Factors Related to Consumer Product Disposal Tendencies