Introduction
Studies | Main effects | Moderators | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VE | BE | RE | Customer characteristics | Firm characteristics | Industry characteristics | Country characteristics | |
Mittal and Kamakura (2001) | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
Verhoef et al. (2002) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Nijssen et al. (2003) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Gustafsson et al. (2005) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Seiders et al. (2005) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Bell et al. (2005) | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
Cooil et al. (2007) | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
Chandrashekaran et al. (2007) | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
Verhoef et al. (2007) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
Voss et al. (2010) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Eisenbeiss et al. (2014) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Frank et al. (2014) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Nagengast et al. (2014) | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
Ou et al. (2014) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
Keiningham et al. (2015) | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
Summary of previous studies | 14/15a
| 3/15a
| 7/15a
| 12/15a
| 2/15a
| 5/15a
| 1/15a
|
Current study | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
×
|
Theoretical background and hypotheses
Moderator selection and conceptual model
Moderators | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Industry-level moderators from Rust et al. (2000) | ||||
Customer involvement | Excluded: included as a customer-level variable | – | – | – |
Benefits associating with loyalty programs | Excluded: tend to be relevant to RE | – | – | – |
Strong communities associating with goods/ services | Excluded: tend to be relevant to RE | – | – | – |
B2B settings | Excluded: not our focus | – | – | – |
Recycling of products in the mature stage | Excluded: more important in product industries | – | – | – |
Inter-generational brands | Excluded: more important in product industries | – | – | – |
Presence of differences between competitors | Included | Included | Excluded: a characteristic of competitive intensity | – |
Importance of customer learning | Included | Included | Excluded: related to difficulty of evaluating quality prior to consumption | – |
Difficulty of evaluating quality prior to consumption | Included | Included | As a control variable because we aim at existing customers | – |
Innovative markets
| Included | Included | Included | Included |
Contractual settings
| Included | Included | Included | Included |
Visibility to others
| Included | Included | Included | Included |
Complexity of purchase decisions
| Included | Included | Included | Included |
Industry-level moderators from the CRM literature | ||||
Competitive intensity
| – | Included | Included | Included |
Market dynamics | – | Included | Excluded: related to innovative markets | – |
Firm-level moderators | ||||
Market position
| – | – | – | Included |
Advertising expenditures
| – | – | – | Included |
Industry characteristics
-
H1ve: The relationship between VE and loyalty intentions is weaker in more competitive industries than in less competitive industries.
-
H2ve: The relationship between VE and loyalty intentions is stronger in more innovative markets than in less innovative markets.
-
H2be: The relationship between BE and loyalty intentions is stronger in more innovative markets than in less innovative markets.
-
H3re: The relationship between RE and loyalty intentions is stronger in contractual than in non-contractual settings.
-
H4ve: The relationship between VE and loyalty intentions is stronger for visible than for less visible services.
-
H4be: The relationship between BE and loyalty intentions is stronger for visible than for less visible services.
-
H4re: The relationship between RE and loyalty intentions is weaker for visible than for less visible services.
-
H5ve: The relationship between VE and loyalty intentions is stronger for complex purchase decisions than for less complex purchase decisions.
-
H5be: The relationship between BE and loyalty intentions is stronger for complex purchase decisions than for less complex purchase decisions.
-
H5re: The relationship between RE and loyalty intentions is stronger for complex purchase decisions than for less complex purchase decisions.
Firm characteristics
-
H6ve: The relationship between VE and loyalty intentions is weaker for firms with higher advertising expenditures than for firms with lower advertising expenditures.
-
H6be: The relationship between BE and loyalty intentions is stronger for firms with higher advertising expenditures than for firms with lower advertising expenditures.
Research design
Data
Measurement of variables
Main variables | M | SD | Sample size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loyalty intentions | 42.81 | 29.76 | 8924 | .30** | .34** | .39** | .13** | .003 | .01 | −.01 | .06** | −.08** | .11** | .14** |
1. VE | 4.98 | 1.09 | 8924 | .73c
| .58** | .55** | .03** | −.04** | .13** | −.01 | .09** | .10** | −.08** | −.17** |
2. BE | 4.75 | 1.09 | 8924 | .70 | .60** | .11** | −.07** | .03** | −.02+
| .08** | .04** | −.01 | −.03** | |
3. RE | 4.11 | 1.24 | 8924 | .85 | .04** | −.02 | .04** | −.04** | .07** | .05** | −.02* | −.06** | ||
4. Advertising expenditures | 0.2a
| 0.16 | 94d
| n.a. | −.20** | −.07** | −.06** | .07** | .21** | −.11** | −.13** | |||
5. Market position | n.a. | n.a. | 75b, d
| n.a. | .13** | .23** | −.26** | −.07** | −.03** | .04** | ||||
6. Competitive intensity | 5.59 | 0.74 | 18 | .89 | .44** | .03** | .06** | −.28** | −.20** | |||||
7. Innovative markets | 3.86 | 0.72 | 18 | .85 | −.14** | −.26** | −.01 | −.08** | ||||||
8. Complexity of purchase decisions | 4.38 | 0.9 | 18 | .87 | .30** | −.20** | −.13** | |||||||
9. Visibility to others | 3.63 | 1.10 | 18 | .94 | −.30** | −.59** | ||||||||
10. Difficulty of evaluating quality | 4.43 | 0.63 | 18 | .77 | .31** | |||||||||
11. Contractual settings | n.a. | n.a. | 18 | n.a. |
Model specification
-
Level one$$ {\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{ijmn}}={\pi}_{0\mathrm{j}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}} + {\mathrm{e}}_{\mathrm{ijmn}}. $$(2)
-
Level two$$ {\pi}_{0\mathrm{j}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}={\beta}_{0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}+{\beta}_{1\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{VE}}_{\mathrm{jmn}}+{\beta}_{2\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{BE}}_{\mathrm{jmn}}+{\beta}_{3\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{RE}}_{\mathrm{jmn}}+{\beta}_{4\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{CV}}_{\mathrm{jmn}}+{\eta}_{\mathrm{jmn}}. $$(3)
-
Level three$$ {\beta}_{0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}={\gamma}_{00\mathrm{n}}+{\gamma}_{010}{\mathrm{FV}}_{0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}+{\mu}_{0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}; $$(4.1)$$ {\beta}_{1\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}={\gamma}_{10\mathrm{n}} + {\gamma}_{110}{\mathrm{FV}}_{0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}+{\mu}_{1\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}; $$(4.2)and$$ {\beta}_{2\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}={\gamma}_{20\mathrm{n}}+{\gamma}_{210}{\mathrm{FV}}_{0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}+{\mu}_{2\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}; $$(4.3)$$ {\beta}_{3\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}={\gamma}_{30\mathrm{n}}+{\gamma}_{310}{\mathrm{FV}}_{0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}+{\mu}_{3\mathrm{m}\mathrm{n}}. $$(4.4)
-
Level four$$ {\gamma}_{00\mathrm{n}}={\alpha}_{000}+{\alpha}_{001}{\mathrm{IV}}_{00\mathrm{n}}+{\nu}_{00\mathrm{n}}; $$(5.1)$$ {\gamma}_{10\mathrm{n}}={\alpha}_{100}+{\alpha}_{101}{\mathrm{IV}}_{00\mathrm{n}}+{\nu}_{10\mathrm{n}}; $$(5.2)and$$ {\gamma}_{20\mathrm{n}}={\alpha}_{200}+{\alpha}_{201}{\mathrm{IV}}_{00\mathrm{n}}+{\nu}_{20\mathrm{n}}; $$(5.3)where$$ {\gamma}_{30\mathrm{n}}={\alpha}_{300}+{\alpha}_{301}{\mathrm{IV}}_{00\mathrm{n}}+{\nu}_{30\mathrm{n}}. $$(5.4)LIijmnloyalty intentions for firm m evaluated by customer j in industry n, where i denotes the number of firms in industry n that customer j evaluateslogit(Uijmn)the logit link function transforming loyalty intentions into values on a logit scale ranging from –∞ to ∞ (i.e., Uijmn)VEjmnVE for firm m evaluated by customer j in industry nBEjmnBE for firm m evaluated by customer j in industry nREjmnRE for firm m evaluated by customer j in industry nCVjmncustomer-level control variables—a row vector of gender, age, income, relationship length, switching costs, involvement, and consumer confidenceFV0mnfirm characteristics—a row vector of market position and advertising expendituresIV00nindustry characteristics—a row vector of competitive intensity, innovative markets, contractual settings, visibility to others, complexity of purchase decisions, and difficulty of evaluating quality prior to consumption (as a control)eijmnlevel-one residuals (repeated level)ηjmnlevel-two residuals (customer level)μymnlevel-three residuals (firm level), y = 0,1, 2, 3; andνz0nlevel-four residuals (industry level), z = 0, 1, 2, 3.
Empirical results
Model fit
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coeff. | S.E. | Coeff. | S.E. | Coeff. | S.E. | |
VE | 1.86** | .14 | 1.84** | .19 | 1.95** | .20 |
BE | .66** | .12 | .49** | .14 | .56** | .18 |
RE | 1.79** | .11 | 1.69** | .13 | 1.07** | .16 |
Industry-level moderators | ||||||
VE × competitive intensity (H1ve: −) | −1.62** | .44 | −1.02** | .33 | ||
BE × competitive intensity (exploration) | .06 | .34 | .32 | .27 | ||
RE × competitive intensity (exploration) | .12 | .26 | −.10 | .25 | ||
VE × innovative markets (H2ve: +) | .74** | .28 | .33 | .30 | ||
BE × innovative markets (H2be: +) | .91** | .33 | .67* | .28 | ||
RE × innovative markets (exploration) | −.45* | .23 | −.73** | .21 | ||
VE × contractual settings (exploration) | .22 | .41 | .35 | .40 | ||
BE × contractual settings (exploration) | .34 | .38 | .11 | .36 | ||
RE × contractual settings (H3re: +) | .99** | .28 | .70* | .31 | ||
VE × visibility to others (H4ve:+) | .80* | .38 | 1.88** | .38 | ||
BE × visibility to others (H4be:+) | .35 | .35 | −.34 | .36 | ||
RE × visibility to others (H4re: −) | −1.45** | .31 | −1.57** | .31 | ||
VE × complexity of purchase decisions (H5ve: +) | −.68** | .19 | −.40* | .20 | ||
BE × complexity of purchase decisions (H5be: +) | .31+ | .18 | .44* | .19 | ||
RE × complexity of purchase decisions (H5re: +) | .55** | .15 | −.08 | .17 | ||
VE × difficulty of evaluating quality prior to consumption (control) | −.18 | .33 | .11 | .28 | ||
BE × difficulty of evaluating quality prior to consumption (control) | .21 | .27 | .33 | .27 | ||
RE × difficulty of evaluating quality prior to consumption (control) | −.92** | .22 | −.89** | .25 | ||
Firm-level moderators | ||||||
VE × market position (exploration) | .14+ | .08 | .12 | .08 | ||
BE × market position (exploration) | −.08 | .08 | .04 | .08 | ||
RE × market position (exploration) | .21** | .07 | .07 | .07 | ||
VE × advertising expenditures (H6ve: −) | −1.59 | 1.01 | −4.64** | .96 | ||
BE × advertising expenditures (H6be: +) | .91 | 1.02 | 2.30* | 1.05 | ||
RE × advertising expenditures (exploration) | .59 | .90 | −1.59+ | .89 | ||
Customer-level moderators | ||||||
VE × female (1, vs. male: 0) | .72* | .28 | ||||
VE × age | .13 | .12 | ||||
VE × income | −.09 | .16 | ||||
VE × relationship length | .20* | .08 | ||||
VE × switching costs | .08 | .08 | ||||
VE × involvement | .01 | .10 | ||||
VE × consumer confidence | −.78** | .15 | ||||
BE × female (1, vs. male: 0) | −.23 | .26 | ||||
BE × age | −.42** | .12 | ||||
BE × income | −.08 | .14 | ||||
BE × relationship length | .04 | .07 | ||||
BE × switching costs | −.05 | .07 | ||||
BE × involvement | .30** | .11 | ||||
BE × consumer confidence | .12 | .14 | ||||
RE × female (1, vs. male: 0) | 1.37** | .25 | ||||
RE × age | .30** | .10 | ||||
RE × income | .59** | .12 | ||||
RE × relationship length | −.38** | .07 | ||||
RE × switching costs | −.05 | .06 | ||||
RE × involvement | −.08 | .09 | ||||
RE × consumer confidence | −.24* | .12 | ||||
Customer-level drivers | ||||||
Female (1, vs. male: 0) | −.17 | .20 | −.07 | .20 | .40 | .26 |
Age | .15+ | .09 | .13 | .09 | .16 | .11 |
Income | −.05 | .11 | −.00 | .11 | .17 | .14 |
Relationship length (RL) | .14* | .06 | .07 | .06 | .02 | .08 |
Switching costs (SC) | −.22** | .07 | −.08 | .07 | −.13+ | .07 |
Involvement | −.61** | .08 | −.50** | .09 | −.37** | .11 |
Consumer confidence (CC) | −.45** | .12 | −.34*** | .13 | −.89** | .17 |
Industry-level drivers | ||||||
Competition intensity | 2.73** | .39 | 3.73** | .42 | 1.32** | .43 |
Innovative markets | −2.61** | .26 | −2.77** | .34 | −1.37** | .31 |
Contractual settings | −1.40** | .48 | −.67 | .55 | −1.64** | .59 |
Visibility to others | −.53 | .36 | −.45 | .50 | .48 | .47 |
Complexity of purchase decisions | 1.53** | .17 | 1.78** | .23 | 1.67** | .25 |
Difficulty of evaluating quality prior to consumption | .25 | .43 | −3.19** | .45 | −1.94** | .60 |
Firm-level drivers | ||||||
Market position | −.13 | .08 | −.20* | .08 | −.55** | .09 |
Advertising expenditures | 3.65** | 1.0 | −.16 | 1.10 | −3.43** | 1.22 |
Intercept | 13.10** | .60 | 10.92+ | 5.96 | 23.34** | 1.02 |
Log-likelihood | −2757.04 | −2684.76 | −2631.04 | |||
Akaike information criterion | 5552.08 | 5455.52 | 5390.08 | |||
R2 | .26 | .28 | .28 |
Main effects of CEDs
Moderating effects of industry characteristics
Moderating effects of firm characteristics
Explained variance of the effects of CEDs at the industry and firm level
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coeff. | S.E. | Coeff. | S.E. | Coeff. | S.E. | |
(Explained) variance of CEDs effects across industries | ||||||
VE | 1.66** | .43 | .07 | .30 | .02 | .29 |
Explained variance of VE effecta
| 95.8% | 98.7% | ||||
BE | 1.48** | .36 | .39 | .28 | .34 | .22 |
Explained variance of BE effecta
| 73.6% | 77.0% | ||||
RE | 2.45** | .49 | .53 | .43 | .19 | .15 |
Explained variance of RE effecta
| 78.4% | 92.2% | ||||
(Explained) variance of CEDs effects across firms | ||||||
VE | 1.21** | .46 | .97* | .47 | .87+
| .51 |
Explained variance of VE effecta
| 19.8% | 28.1% | ||||
BE | 1.86** | .35 | .65 | .67 | .57 | .76 |
Explained variance of BE effecta
| 65.1% | 69.4% | ||||
RE | 1.34** | .36 | 1.29** | .34 | 1.13** | .36 |
Explained variance of RE effecta
| 3.7% | 15.7% |
Robustness checks
Discussion
Summary of findings
VE | BE | RE | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hypoth. | Result | Hypoth. | Result | Hypoth. | Result | |
Industry characteristics | ||||||
Competitive intensity | H1ve (−) | − | Explore | 0 | Explore | 0 |
Innovative markets | H2ve (+) | 0 | H2be (+) | + | Explore | − |
Contractual settings | Explore | 0 | Explore | 0 | H3re (+) | + |
Visibility to others | H4ve (+) | + | H4be (+) | 0 | H4re (−) | − |
Complexity of purchase decisions | H5ve (+) | − | H5be (+) | + | H5re (+) | + |
Firm characteristics | ||||||
Market position | Explore | 0 | Explore | 0 | Explore | 0 |
Advertising expenditures | H6ve (−) | − | H6be (+) | + | Explore | −a
|