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Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to revisit the 1998 paper (“Why do customers switch [. . .]”) published in this journal with the goal of documenting
research progress since then and identifying gaps still present in the knowledge base on the relevant key issues.
Design/methodology/approach – The method is literature review, theoretical scrutiny and critical reflections on the findings of the research
studies over the past two decades that deal with customer satisfaction, loyalty and switching behaviors, with particular emphasis on service
businesses.
Findings – The core issue of why satisfaction may not explain loyalty has been examined by positing other co-predictors and moderators of loyalty
such as relationship quality, price value, trust, image, etc. These predictors have been found significant, implying that satisfaction is not the only
driver of customer loyalty. Additionally, other drivers of switching and staying behavior have been established such as attraction of the alternatives
and switching costs, respectively. This paper points out, however, that the gains of the new research literature are attenuated due to assumption
of linearity in the loyalty effects of satisfaction and due to a lack of separate analyses of customer segments who defy the satisfaction–loyalty logic.
Research limitations/implications – The relevant literature is so vast that any account of it within the scope of this paper had to be by design
delimited. The paper not only sampled the literature selectively but also summarized the principal findings of the selected papers over-simplistically.
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Introduction finance, health care, education, etc. (Taylor and Baker, 1994;
Ruyter et al., 1997). A number of impressive papers and a
This is a 20-year retrospective on a research study that was
seminal book by Berry and associates were published during
published in this journal in 1998. I summarize the central
this decade (Berry and Parasuraman, 1994). On the
theme and main findings of that paper, review research
practitioner side, measurement of satisfaction was becoming
progress over the past two decades on that theme, identify
an industry in itself. In parallel, an influential paper published
gaps in the knowledge on the topic area and set some
in Harvard Business Review had brought attention to applying
directions for future research.
quality principles to achieve zero defections in services
(Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). In tandem, the economics of
Motivation for the original paper customer loyalty and retention had also become a high-value
The study for our 1998 paper (Mittal and Lassar, 1998) was topic (Rust and Zahorik, 1993). With all these developments
carried out during 1996-1997. The 1990s decade was a prime around us, we were fascinated by services research.
time for services marketing research. The landmark scale of We had observed, in particular, that measurement of
service quality (SERVQUAL) was published in 1988 satisfaction as a research stream (Oliver, 1996) and customer
(Parasuraman et al., 1988), with refinements continuing loyalty and retention (Reichheld, 1996) had been pursued
through mid-1990s (Parasuraman et al., 1994), which served independent of each other. Often it was assumed that
as a catalyst for many applications to diverse industries, e.g. satisfaction implied loyalty. In research studies where both
satisfaction and loyalty were measured, loyalty was viewed and
analyzed as an outcome of satisfaction. In data analyses in
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on these studies, a statistically significant correlation was taken to
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm imply that satisfaction was a precursor of loyalty, or more to
the point, that satisfaction produced loyalty, inevitably! This
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Dynamics of satisfaction versus loyalty Journal of Services Marketing
Banwari Mittal Volume 30 · Number 6 · 2016 · 569 –575
made us curious, naturally, as to whether, among some the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. However, as
consumers, contrarian behavior existed, i.e. whether some I elaborate below, the core issue of why there is, for a
customers switched service providers despite being satisfied, significant proportion of consumers, a disconnect between
or, alternatively, they stayed loyal despite being dissatisfied. satisfaction and loyalty still remains far from settled. Past
This then was the motivation for our study. research has covered the following issues:
It is a privilege to be invited by the editors of this journal to 1 A large body of studies continues to assume a relationship
write a 20-year retrospective. My coauthor, Walfried Lassar, between satisfaction and loyalty, with satisfaction
was a valuable partner in envisioning and executing the modeled as a predictor of loyalty. Although, these studies
original paper. Unfortunately, he was unable to participate as do not assume that the correlation between satisfaction
co-author due to the demands of his position as the Associate and loyalty is near 1.0 or that satisfaction and loyalty are
Dean at Florida International University. This paper here has one and the same, few studies formally test for
proceeded with his goodwill, but, alas, I alone shoulder blame discriminant validity between the two constructs.
for any shortcomings. Moreover, in industry research, firms typically measure
satisfaction and assume that loyalty will inevitably follow.
Disconnect between satisfaction and loyalty: Against this backdrop, Bennett and Rundle-Thiele (2004)
the 1998 paper demonstrate [in a business-to-business (B2B) directory ad
space buying context] that satisfaction and loyalty
For our 1998 paper, we had conducted a consumer survey in (measured as attitude toward next repeat purchase) are
which we assessed both satisfaction and willingness to switch. correlated (r ⫽ 0.72) but are also discriminated
In addition, we had measured, of course, the five dimensions (correlation ⬍ 1.0). Many studies do not report this
of SERVQUAL and, separately, an alternative measure of correlation, but in studies that do report it, this correlation
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technical and functional qualities. We also wanted to seldom exceeds 0.7, signifying that the two concepts are
understand the dynamics of the switching behavior for service unlikely to be mutually redundant. Among studies that
industries that were high contact and low contact services, so use multi-item measures, some (but not all) perform a
we chose health care and car repair as our industries. formal test of discriminant validity of their measures and
Our main findings were: find support for it (Lai et al., 2011). If a discrimination test
1 Dissatisfied customers will almost certainly switch their were performed on the data in any study, it is highly likely
service companies (in our data, 100 per cent). On the
that the two constructs would prove to be distinct.
other hand, satisfaction deterred customer defections but
2 Many studies simply assume a close and determinant
not entirely. In our data, the top-two box raters (on a
impact of satisfaction on loyalty, take comfort in the
five-point scale) on the satisfaction measure were willing
obtained significant empirical correlation and proceed to
to switch services to the extent of 38 per cent for health
shine light on other goals of the study. A typical case is
care and 58 per cent for car care. Even those who scored
where attributes of service (e.g. performance, service
the highest (i.e. top box) on satisfaction expressed a
quality and service value) are modeled as antecedent to
willingness to switch – as many as one-in-five customers of
satisfaction, and, in turn, satisfaction is modeled as
health care and as many as one-in-three customers of car
predictor of loyalty. These studies confirm their principal
repair services.
hypothesis that satisfaction is a mediator of service
2 For a high contact service (in our study, health care), in
attributes in producing loyalty (Baumann et al., 2012;
explaining satisfaction, functional quality of services
Bowen and Chen, 2001; Brunner et al., 2008; Caruana,
played a more significant role than did technical quality;
2002; Čater and Čater, 2009; Taylor and Baker, 1994;
for a low contact service (in our study, car repair),
Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006; Yüncü, 2015). But
technical quality of services played a more significant role
investigating the satisfaction–loyalty disconnect has not
than did functional quality. Technical quality pertains to
been their goal.
“what” is delivered, i.e. whether the principal tangible
3 More relevant are studies where other variables
problem was solved (e.g. car was repaired well or the
(comprising service factors, customer factors and
patient got well), whereas functional quality refers to
relationship factors) are added to the model as
“how” the service is delivered, i.e. the care and manners of
co-predictors of loyalty. In these studies, it has been found
the service delivery personnel.
3 The relative roles of functional and technical quality were that, to varying degrees, such factors as service quality,
reversed in securing customer loyalty beyond satisfaction. relationship quality, relationship value, service values,
Once customer satisfaction was achieved (with high store image, involvement, trust, commitment, etc., also
functional quality in high contact and with high technical contribute to loyalty. This implies that customers may
quality for low contact services), among the satisfied switch despite being satisfied because these other drivers
customers, the willingness to switch was depressed by high of loyalty are lacking (Bloemer and Ruyter, 1998; Cheng
technical quality for high contact services and by high et al., 2008; El-Manstrly et al., 2011; Pollack, 2015).
functional quality for low contact services. 4 While some studies use these other factors merely as
co-predictors, others use them also as moderators. This
makes good sense, as it is sensible to hypothesize, for
Research progress since then example, that the satisfaction to loyalty link might be
Since the publication of our study, a plethora of studies have stronger (weaker) for high (low) involvement customers or
been published that, in one way or another, seek to illuminate for customers perceiving high (low) switching costs
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Dynamics of satisfaction versus loyalty Journal of Services Marketing
Banwari Mittal Volume 30 · Number 6 · 2016 · 569 –575
(Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003; Jones et al., 2007; Lai arduous research to ground the predictive power of NPS,
et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2001). it behooves all satisfaction–loyalty researchers to:
5 As opposed to research studies focused on loyalty, a ● ensure that in their measure of loyalty, both
stream of research has focused on switching (Capraro repatronage intention and likely-to-recommend are
et al., 2003; Skogland and Siguaw, 2004; Vyas and included; and
Raitani, 2014; Walsh et al., 2006; Wirtz et al., 2014). ● further tease out the satisfaction–loyalty linkage in terms
Although switching is merely the flip side of loyalty, of any disconnect that might exist (but was hitherto
making switching as the focal variable helps explore unexplored) between satisfaction and repurchase intent
variables that motivate switching as well those that on the one hand and NPS on the other.
motivate staying. Indeed, antecedent variables proposed
When the additional variables introduced in the satisfaction–
and tested in the studies of switching have been, by and
loyalty relationship emerge as significant factors either as
large, different from those explored as co-predictors of
co-predictors or as moderators or both, and in most studies
loyalty. And in the studies of switching, both sets of
they do – not all of them in any single study, but collectively
variables have been examined – those that motivate
across the spectrum of studies, it is natural for readers to
switching (namely, attraction of the alternatives or value
surmise that the enigma of satisfaction–loyalty disconnect has
in switching, variety seeking, etc.) and those for staying been solved. Such comfort is, however, premature because the
(e.g. relationship value, switching costs and inertia). complex dynamics of interrelationship between these other
Depending on which and how many such antecedents are explanatory variables on the one hand and satisfaction on the
included and whether satisfaction also is included, other has itself not been teased out theoretically or tested
different variables emerge as significant co-predictors of empirically. I elaborate below, enumerating still unanswered
switching versus staying. Of course, their predictive
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Dynamics of satisfaction versus loyalty Journal of Services Marketing
Banwari Mittal Volume 30 · Number 6 · 2016 · 569 –575
Second, while for many consumers, satisfaction may be a effects, but here too, all co-predictors were lumped together in
solo or high-influence driver of loyalty, for other consumers, a single step, whereas what is needed is to maintain a
other factors may be more powerful. There might be a distinct sub-hierarchical primacy of satisfaction.
segment of consumers who stay despite dissatisfaction, and Here, our intent is not to deny the due contribution of these
likewise, there may be a segment that is prone to switching other predictors. In fact, our expectation is that even when
despite satisfaction. Only a handful of studies have examined satisfaction is modeled with a hierarchical primacy, the
these “off pattern” segments. A recent exception is Lonial and direct-predictive role of such variables as service quality, trust
Raju (2015)’s analysis of the customer base of a healthcare and relationship value is likely to emerge. But it is important to
service provider. These researchers examined high satisfaction separate this contribution, without confounding it with the
versus low satisfaction groups, and, separately, low and high more proximate contribution of satisfaction.
loyalty groups and found that although one of the service At the theoretical level, it is important to interpret both indirect
attributes played a role in both satisfaction and loyalty, other and direct contributions with sharp theoretical acumen. Indirect
service attributes that drove satisfaction were different from and mediated contribution will support the theory that
those that drove loyalty. That is why in their research, satisfaction is a global appraisal, coded (by the consumer) as a
satisfaction mediated the effect of service quality on loyalty but feeling, and being both global and a feeling, it should be most
only partially; service quality also had a direct effect on loyalty. influential and most proximal driver of customer loyalty. In
contrast, direct effects of the co-predictors would imply that
Confounding variables as co-predictors while some of their influence is captured in and mediated by
Some of the variables included as co-predictors and moderators satisfaction, some attributes of service do impact customer
are confounded either with satisfaction or with loyalty. For loyalty directly. That is, not all of the experienced service
attributes are transformed in the consumer mind as a feeling (of
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Dynamics of satisfaction versus loyalty Journal of Services Marketing
Banwari Mittal Volume 30 · Number 6 · 2016 · 569 –575
In examining diverse studies where satisfaction is measured satisfaction and also the inclusion of additional variables such
as an enduring feeling, the diverse and differing measures of as perceived switching costs, price value, relationship value,
satisfaction need to be taken note of. Some studies measure inertia, etc. In terms of analyses, survey data should be
satisfaction as fulfilment of expectations, in which case, it is analyzed not merely for the aggregate sample as a whole but
more apt to deem it as a “cognitive view” of satisfaction. Many also for subgroups that are broken down by range of
studies measure it as an “overall satisfaction” typically by satisfaction scores, and, separately, by a disjunction between
items drawn from Oliver (1996), which by and large is also the satisfaction and loyalty ratings. This re-analysis can be put
“cognitive” in nature. to advantage even for data that these firms already have.
In contrast, some studies have explicitly measured affective
satisfaction (e.g. delighted, pleasantly surprised, angry, upset). Conclusion
Measuring satisfaction more comprehensively (incorporating
Over the past 20 years, an impressive body of research on
both cognitive and affective) will likely improve the strength of
satisfaction, loyalty and switching in services has happened. It
satisfaction–loyalty link. This was the case in Caro and Garcia
is tempting to usurp credit for it to the presumed generative
(2007) and Hartono and Raharjo (2015). It stands to reason
power of our 1998 paper. The credit belongs, however,
that in future research, it would be advisable to measure
elsewhere, the achieved status of our 1998 paper as “one of the
satisfaction more richly.
ten most cited” notwithstanding. The truth is that the loyalty
and switching topics have an intense belly fire of their own to
Call for future research inspire a treasure chest of research studies. This research
First, our call is for distilling the true role of satisfaction in stream must continue unabated, albeit with a renewed
customer loyalty. Toward this goal, satisfaction needs to be redirection of focus on the gaps identified above. These gaps
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measured more richly (delight beyond satisfaction) and evoke a crying need for illuminating two interrelated issues:
more comprehensively (encompassing both cognitive and one, nonlinearity – how satisfaction’s loyalty payoff varies
affective facets). Note that when satisfaction is measured so across different zones of satisfaction – and two, satisfaction–
richly, the link between satisfaction and loyalty is bound to loyalty disconnect – why exactly do some satisfied customers
show up stronger – contrary to the premise of our 1998 paper. still harbor an intent to switch. In measure immense and
Ours is thus a value-neutral call, valuing equally the findings consequential, answers to these questions will enrich theory as
that may support the main thesis of our 1998 paper (which well as enlighten practitioners.
had spotlighted the disconnect between satisfaction and
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customer defection? A study of private energy customers in
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