The Cumulative Effect of Transaction-Specific Satisfaction on Share of Wallet: A Longitudinal Investigation

Marketing scholars traditionally regard satisfaction as an important determinant of customer loyalty (Oliver, 1999; 2010). The relevance of the satisfaction- loyalty link to managers is that changes in customers’ levels of satisfaction are expected to correspond to changes in customers’ share of category spending (i.e., share of wallet, SOW). In fact, Jones and Sasser (1995, p. 94) assert, “the ultimate measure of loyalty, of course, is share of purchases in the category.” While this may be an overstatement, since SOW is not as forward looking as other measures of loyalty (Oliver, 1999), it is frequently used by researchers to opera- tionalize loyalty behavior (e.g., Bowman et al., 2000; Bowman and Narayandas, 2004; Brody and Cunningham, 1968; Cunningham, 1956; Tellis, 1988; Wind, 1970).