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The impact of service characteristics on the switching costs–customer loyalty link

Blut, M.; Beatty, S.E.; Evanschitzky, H.; Brock, C

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Authors

S.E. Beatty

H. Evanschitzky

C Brock



Abstract

This research investigates the interrelationship between service characteristics and switching costs and makes two contributions to the service retailing literature: (1) As a means of better understanding the effectiveness of switching costs, the study suggests a two-dimensional typology of switching costs, including internal and external switching costs and (2) it reveals that the effect of these switching costs on customer loyalty is contingent upon four service characteristics (the IHIP characteristics of service). We carried out a meta-analytic review of the literature on the switching costs–customer loyalty link and created a hierarchical linear model using a sample of 1,694 customers from 51 service industries. Results reveal that external switching costs have a stronger average effect on customer loyalty than do internal switching costs. Moreover, we find that IHIP characteristics moderate the links between switching costs and customer loyalty. Thus, the link between external switching costs and customer loyalty is weaker in industries higher in the four service characteristics (as compared to industries lower in these characteristics), while the opposite moderating effect of service characteristics for the internal switching costs–loyalty link is noted.

Citation

Blut, M., Beatty, S., Evanschitzky, H., & Brock, C. (2014). The impact of service characteristics on the switching costs–customer loyalty link. Journal of Retailing, 90(2), 275-290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2014.04.003

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date May 17, 2014
Publication Date 2014-06
Deposit Date Jun 19, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Retailing
Print ISSN 0022-4359
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 90
Issue 2
Pages 275-290
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2014.04.003
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1268093

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