Abstract
With increasing product homogeneity and global competition, buyers can select similar products from a number of sellers. As a result, firms have recognized the significance of creating a loyal customer base. While much of marketing research defines loyalty as repeat purchases (Gustafsson, Johnson and Roos 2005), this research offers a more complex and causal view of loyalty, and proposes that loyalty is created by the seller’s ability to connect emotionally with their customers through affective commitment, which then influences purchase behavior (Dick and Basu 1994). While affective commitment considers the sense of liking and emotional attachment to the relationship (Wetzeis, Ruyter, Birgelen 1998), firms also engage in purchase behavior for more rational, economic reasons. According to social exchange theory, a customer may remain in a less rewarding relationship because of lack of alternatives or because the costs associated with leaving the relationship are too high (Thibaut and Kelly 1959). This research also examines the influence of calculative commitment (the “need” to remain in a relationship) on purchase behavior. Finally, in order for firms to impact customer loyalty, customers must trust a seller’s ability to consistently deliver the right amount of the right product at the right place at the right time in the right condition (Stock and Lambert 2001), so one powerful source of differentiation is in a firm’s order fulfillment service (Mentzer, Flint and Hult 2001). The final objective of this research is to empirically test the significance of operational and relational order fulfillment service as a source of differential advantage by gauging their effects on satisfaction, and ultimately, customer loyalty.
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© 2015 Academy of Marketing Science
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Davis-Sramek, B. (2015). “Unbundling” Customer Loyalty: The Relationships Among Affective Commitment, Calculative Commitment and Purchasing Behavior. In: Sharma, D., Borna, S. (eds) Proceedings of the 2007 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11806-2_67
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11806-2_67
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