How quality, value, image, and satisfaction create loyalty at a chinese telecom

How quality, value, image, and satisfaction create loyalty at a chinese telecom Customer satisfaction

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JBR-06699; No of Pages 7

Journal of Business Research xxx (2008) xxx-xxx

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ELSEVIER

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Research

gounmes OF USINESS RESEARCH

How quality, value, image, and satisfaction create loyalty at a Chinese telecom

Fujun Lai*', Mitch Griffin®*, Barry J Babin °?

Ww

* College of Business University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast, Long Beach, MS 39560, United States

> Department of Marketing, Foster College of Business, Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625, Bradley University, United States

Article history:

Received 1 August 2007

Received in revised form 1 September 2008

Accepted 1 October 2008

Available online xxxx

This study proposes and tests an integrative model to examine the relations among service quality, value, image, satisfaction, and loyalty in China Analysis of survey data from 118 customers of a Chinese mobile communications company reveals that service quality directly influences both perceived value and image perceptions, that value and image influence satisfaction, that corporate image influences value, and that both customer Satisfaction and value are significant determinants of loyalty Thus, value has both a direct and

Keywords: indirect (through satisfaction) impact on customer loyalty Other variables mediate the impact of both service

Satisfaction

Loyalty

Image

Mobile communications

China

1 Introduction

Telecommunication companies are advancing technology tremen-

dously As a result, they face intense competition, including competi-

tion from sources not previously existing Perhaps nowhere is this

competition more challenging than in China The Chinese mobile

communications market is now the largest total market and remains

fast-growing, dynamic, and vibrant (Nie and Zeng, 2003) Over half a

billion Chinese consumers own and use a mobile phone (Nie and Zeng,

2003) The Chinese government's recent restructuring of state-owned

monopolistic telecommunication system and further deregulation has

led to a more open and free market system (Wang et al., 2004) In

January 2002, the Chinese government changed policy, allowing four

major telecommunication companies (China Mobile, China Netcom,

China Telecom, and China Unicom) to offer fixed network telecom-

munication, mobile communication, and other basic communication

services Today, the Chinese telecommunication industry is intensely

competitive (Loo, 2004)

How does a firm survive under such turbulent conditions? Tradition-

ally, mobile and land phone providers competed fiercely for new

customers In the U.S., customers were provided with financial incentives

*® The authors appreciate the reviewers’ comments and Michel Laroche's guidance

throughout the revision process,

* Corresponding author Tel.: +1 309 677 2287; fax: +1 309 677 3374

E-mail addresses: fujun.lai@usm.edu (F Lai), mg@bradley.edu (M Griffin),

bbabin@latech.edu (B,J Babin)

1 Tel; +1 228 865 4529; fax: +1 228 865 4588,

2 Tel.: +1 318 257 4012; fax: +1 318 257 4253

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.10.015

to sign up or switch service from one provider to another Over time, and

with the increased saturation of the market, companies have come to

realize their performance can improve by focusing more on retaining customers than constantly acting in a conquest mode As the Chinese market provides an increasing range of opportunities for consumers, how can telecommunication service providers maintain customer loyalty? The present study tests a model of customer loyalty among customers of a telecommunications firm in a collectivist society The model examines the inter-connections among evaluation of service quality, customer perceived value, perceptions of corporate image, customer satisfaction, and loyalty The research offers theoretical contributions and extends our understanding of consumer loyalty Additionally, those providing technological services in collectivist cultures will find practical insight

2 Background, theoretical development, and research hypotheses 2.1 The need for the study

Although customer loyalty is increasingly seen as a prime determi- nant of long-term financial performance in competitive markets (Jones

and Sasser, 1995; Reichheld, 1996), there are clear gaps in our knowledge

of the antecedents of loyalty First, and the primary purpose of this research, is to examine an integrated model of loyalty While quality, consumer satisfaction, and value are viewed as key building blocks of

customer loyalty (Babin and Attaway, 2000; Bolton and Drew, 1991;

Zeithaml, 1988), research generally considers only the simple bivariate links between service evaluation (quality, satisfaction, and value), image, and loyalty which may mask true relationships

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.10.015

Please cite this article as: Lai F, et al., How quality, value, image, and satisfaction create loyalty at a Chinese telecom, J Bus Res (2008),

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7

hà

Image

Fig 1 Conceptual model,

Second, research examining corporate image focuses mostly on goods

producing firms and on retail stores (e.g Bloemer and Ruyter, 1997;

Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Dowling, 1988; Mazursky and Jacoby, 1986;

Nguyen and LeBlanc, 1998) Little work reports on customers’ image

assessments of service firms Further, researchers have not integrated the

role of corporate image into customer loyalty, especially among high-

tech service firms or service firm consumers outside the U.S.A

Third, most previous service research examines a western cultural

context U.S and European consumers participate in and are socialized

within a predominantly capitalistic marketplace (Trompenaars, 1994)

Applying western-developed theory and theoretical inter-connections

between consumer service evaluations and true customer loyalty may

not be universally appropriate Researchers argue that cultural idiosyn-

cratic characteristics may result in different relationship patterns and

different strengths of relationships across cultures (Clark, 1990;

Dabholkar, 1995) Limited evidence suggests that consumers do not

become loyal the same way in different cultures For example, one study

of German mobile communication consumers finds service price, phone

number portability, and benefit perception most affect loyalty (Gerpott

et al., 2001) A study of Korean consumers, on the other hand, reports

brand image, perceived service quality, and the perceptions of switching

costs better determine loyalty (Kim et al., 2004) Research examining

Turkish mobile communications consumers suggests service quality is

necessary, but insufficient, to create loyalty (Aydin and Ozer, 2005) Lee

et al (2001) find that switching costs strongly affect the satisfaction >

loyalty relationship for French mobile consumers Finally, Lee and

Ulgado (1997) find corporate image, low price, and consistent quality

affect U.S consumer loyalty Generally, Asian cultures see the less

tangible characteristics of service as more important (Mattila, 1999)

Marketers face a challenge in applying western-derived theory in

China where rapid economic growth, social transition, and a unique

culture shape consumer behavior (Zhao et al., 2006a) Thus, Chinese

consumers’ reactions to service providers and loyalty formation may be

quite unique On the other hand, the core constructs are likely universal

and the relationship among them could remain reasonably consistent

across cultural and structural contexts To summarize, the current study

simultaneously examines the relationship among service quality, per-

ceived value, customer satisfaction, corporate image, and customer loyalty

among Chinese consumers Fig 1 displays the proposed model

2.2 Service quality, value, and satisfaction

Several researchers examine links between and among service

quality, value, and satisfaction (e.g Cronin et al., 2000; Garbarino and

Johnson, 1999; Spreng et al., 1996) Not surprisingly, they find that high

service quality and high value correlate with relatively high customer

satisfaction (e.g Cronin et al., 2000) While some suggest that satisfaction drives quality, the preponderance of evidence indicates that quality drives satisfaction (Dabholkar, 1995) The basis of links from service quality and value to satisfaction is Bagozzi's (1992) and Lazarus’ (1991) framework of appraisal — emotional response — coping Adapting the framework to a service context suggests that the more cognitively-oriented service quality and value appraisals may lead to emotive satisfaction, which in turn drives loyalty (e.g Chenet et al., 1999;

Ennew and Binks, 1999; Woodruff, 1997) Overall the service quality >

satisfaction causal order receives considerable support and empirical

validation (Brady and Robertson, 2001; Gotlieb et al., 1994) Further, the

quality — satisfaction link holds up across different cultures and explains more variance in customer loyalty (Brady and Robertson, 2001) Therefore, the first hypothesis is:

H, Service quality has a significant, positive effect on customer satisfaction

In addition to the studies above, Fornell et al., (1996) report that the top two determinants of customer satisfaction are perceived quality and perceived value Thus, the second hypothesis is:

Hp Perceived value has a significant, positive effect on customer satisfaction

Value is at the heart of what consumers pursue from a marketing exchange While value is operationalized in different ways, the general definition of value is a consumer's perception of the subjective worth of some activity or object considering all net benefits and costs of consumption (Babin et al., 1994) In the present study, the relevant consumption act is the overall service received from atelecommunication provider Perceived quality will positively influence value, while price/ cost will negatively influence value (Chang and Wildt, 1994; Hellier

et al., 2003) Logically, high quality is not a prerequisite for value because a reduction in quality can be offset by lower overall costs However, research supports a positive relationship between quality

and value (e.g Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998; Choi et al., 2004; Cronin et al., 2000; Zins, 2001) Therefore, the third hypothesis is:

H; Service quality has a significant, positive effect on perceived value 2.3 Corporate image

Corporate image is another important factor in the overall service

evaluation (Bitner, 1991; Grénroos, 1988; Gummesson and Grénroos,

1988) According to Grénroos (1988) and Keller (1993), corporate image

is a perception of an organization held in consumer memory and works doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.10.015

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as a filter which influences the perception of the operation of the

company

Attitude theory suggests that service evaluations are the leading

cause of corporate image and that these attitudes increase in predictive

value as they become more accessible in memory (Fazio, 1989; Fazio

and Zanna, 1978) Direct experience makes attitudes more accessible

and more predictive of future behaviors Oliver (1980) claims that a

consumer's attitude towards a product/service choice is a function of

the consumer's initial attitude at the time of purchase/encounter and

his or her satisfaction with a particular consumption experience

Selnes (1993) posits that performance quality affects a global,

more general, evaluation of the brand Along the same line, Ostrowski

et al (1993) examine airline service and arguing that “positive

experience over time (following several good experiences) will

ultimately lead to positive image” (p.23) Corporate image stems

from all of a customer's consumption experiences, and service quality

is representative of these consumption experiences Hence, the

perception of service quality directly affects the perception of

corporate image (Aydin and Ozer, 2005):

Hạ Service quality has a significant, positive effect on corporate

image

Andreassen and Lindestad (1998) posit that corporate image,

through a filtering effect, impacts a customer's evaluation of service

quality, value, and satisfaction In other words, corporate image

creates a halo effect on customer satisfaction In this study, a

cumulative or relational level measure reflecting a customer's overall

impression and mental picture of the firm represents corporate image

(Bloemer et al., 1998; Zimmer and Golden, 1988) Consumers who

develop a positive mental schema of a brand will tend toward high

customer satisfaction through a halo effect where all things associated

with the brand are similarly valenced As such:

Hs Corporate image has a significant, positive effect on customer

satisfaction

Value extends in its conception beyond the functional aspect to

include the more hedonic, social, emotional, and experiential compo-

nents (Babin et al., 1994; Holbrook, 1994) A positive image makes a

consumption experience more gratifying, thus helping customers

experience pleasurable social and emotional benefits Therefore:

Hg Corporate image has a significant, positive effect on perceived value

2A, Loyalty

Although ample evidence suggests significant, bivariate relation-

ships between service evaluations and their outcomes such as word-

of-month, referral, and retention, the links between these three

service evaluation variables (i.e quality, value, and satisfaction) and

outcome measures are still unclear Cronin et al.'s (2000) review

reveals little uniformity concerning which of the three variables of

service evaluation, or their combinations, directly affect outcome

measures The model structure appears highly dependent on the

nature of the study and the time period of the paper

The extant studies are categorized into one of three model structure

types (Cronin et al., 2000): a satisfaction model, a value model, or an

indirect model In satisfaction models, the primary and direct linkis from

customer satisfaction to consumption outcome (consequences like

behavioral intentions) measures (e.g Ennew and Binks, 1999; Fornell

et al., 1996; Hallowell, 1996) Value models feature perceived value,

rather than satisfaction, as the primary and direct mechanism linking

service perceptions to consumption outcomes (e.g Chang and Wildt,

1994; Cronin et al., 1997) Indirect models posit that service quality

influences customer loyalty only through value and satisfaction (e.g

Gotlieb et al., 1994; Patterson and Spreng, 1997; Roset and Pieters, 1997)

Table 1

Respondent profile

Male 66.9% <1000 27.3% Middle school 7.6% <3 months 172% Female 30.5% 1000- 15.1% High school 28.8% 3~6 months 6.0%

2000

Missing 2.5% 2000- 33.0% Tertiary 38.1% 6~12 months 8.6%

3000- 9.5% College (4 years) 23.7% 1-3 years 36.2%

4000

>4000 15.1% Graduate 1.7% >3 years 32.0%

Partial examination of the simple bivariate links between any of the three constructs and loyalty may either mask or overstate the true

relationship due to omitted variable bias To address this issue, Cronin

et al (2000) propose a model in which all three variables (quality, value, and satisfaction) directly lead to loyalty simultaneously:

Hy Customer satisfaction has a significant, positive effect on loyalty

Hg Perceived value has a significant, positive effect on loyalty

Hạ Service quality has a significant, positive effect on loyalty Corporate/brand image can also affect customer loyalty Andreas- sen and Lindestad (1998) examine the role of corporate image in the formation of customer loyalty in the service sector and find both an indirect and direct influence of image on loyalty Hart and Rosenber- ger (2004) replicate the Andreassen and Lindestad study in Australia

In their paper, Hart and Rosenberger report that image has a

“marginally significant” direct effect on customer loyalty, but a substantial effect mediated by customer satisfaction

Therefore, a positive corporate image appears to stimulate loyalty for

a company While the indirect effects may be greater, a direct relationship between image and loyalty remains even in their presence: Hip Corporate image has a significant, positive effect on customer loyalty

3 Methodology 3.1 Sampling and data collection The survey sample is from customers of one of China's largest telecommunications providers Due to research budget constraints, 1000 customers were randomly selected from the company's database, excluding customers contacted in the pilot test (see below) A questionnaire, cover letter, and postage paid return envelope were mailed to these 1000 individuals Following Dillman's (1999) total design method, reminder postcards were sent out approximately two weeks after the initial mailing, followed by a second survey mailing approximately one month later to those who had not returned questionnaires

In total, the mailings yielded 137 responses There were 19 unusable questionnaires due to relatively high portions of missing data within these cases Subsequent data analyses were conducted on the 118 usable questionnaires, representing an 11.8% response rate While certainly lower than hoped for, this response rate is comparable to other studies

conducted in China (cf Lai et al., 2007; Zhao et al., 2007, 2006b) These

low response rates are common in South-East Asia and are attributable to

numerous structural and cultural factors (see Harzing, 2000; Zhao et al.,

2006a) Table 1 shows key demographic characteristics of the customers 3.2 Measures

To enhance the content validity of the measures, a number of steps were taken Wherever possible, existing measures were adopted To

assist with translation, the measures were first discussed with a panel of

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Table 2

Measurement model

Fit indexes:

NFI=0.97; NNFI=0.98; CFI=0.99

RMSEA =0.081

* Standardized factor loading, all are significant at 0.05 level

17 managers (Zhao et al., 2006a) Managers were interviewed

individually and asked to review the questionnaire and assess the

suitability, readability, and ambiguity (see Dillman, 1999) The ques-

tionnaire was iteratively revised based on feedback received from the

managers

The revised questionnaire was then pilot tested Questionnaires

were mailed to 150 randomly selected customers and 20 useable

responses were received The questionnaire was further revised

according to the preliminary analysis based on the pilot data The

final version of the questionnaire is discussed below

The five elements of Parasuraman et al (1988) SERVQUAL: tangible

(SQ1), responsiveness (SQ2), reliability (SQ3), assurance (SQ4), and

empathy (SQ5), assess overall service quality However, these items

capture a customer's perception of service performance rather than

the expectations-gap score approach (Babakus and Boller, 1992;

Cronin and Taylor, 1992, 1994; Dabholkar et al., 2000) These items

are on a 7-point Likert scale

Perceived value is an overall tradeoff of “get” versus “give-up”

(Zeithaml, 1988) Two items measure value — “Overall, the service |

receive from company X is valuable” (VA1) and “The service quality |

receive from company X is worth my time, energy, and efforts” (VA2) -

adapted from Choi et al (2004) Both items are on a seven-point Likert

scale, ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.”

Customer satisfaction is an overall global reaction to the

consumption experience (Stank et al., 1999) The present study uses

two items, “How satisfied are you with the services you receive from

company X” (SA1) and “Overall, how satisfied are you with company

X” (SA2) Both items are on a seven-point scale from “Very

Dissatisfied” to “Very Satisfied.”

Corporate image has four indicators Three reflect the company's

overall reputation, prestige, and brand reputation (Zeithaml, 1988; Selnes,

1993) — “Please rate Company X's reputation” (IM1), “Please rate Company

X's prestige” (IM2), and “Please rate the reputation of Company X's

products and services” (IM3) A fourth item compares reputation of the

target firm vis-a-vis the competitors (IM4; Selnes, 1993) All items are on a

seven-point scale, with the first three items anchored with “Very Low” and

“Very High” and the fourth item with “Much Worse” and “Much Better.”

Customer loyalty is measured with two items, one assessing

intention to repurchase and the other the willingness to recommend

to others (Zeithaml et al., 1996) The items asked “How probable is it

that you will switch to another mobile communication company in

the future” (LO1) and “How probable is it that you will recommend

company X's service to your friends and relatives” (LO2) In essence,

these items capture behavioral intentions or continuance commitment Both items are assessed on a seven-point scale ranging from

“Very Unlikely” to “Very Likely.”

4 Data analysis and results 4.1, Measurement model Results of the measurement analysis are shown in Table 2 The 7? statistic (110.1, 80 df; p=0.114) indicates the overall fit Thus, the measurement model fits well enough to suggest adequate validity and warrant a closer look

Item reliability and composite reliability estimates both assess reliability Factor loading estimates assess item reliability Generally, items with loadings of 0.7 or more have adequate item reliability (Hair

et al., 2006) As shown in Table 2, all standardized loading estimates

are above the 0.70 threshold The composite reliabilities for each dimension range from 0.84 to 0.94 Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) establishes the construct validity of the proposed measurement model (Gerbing and Anderson, 1988; Hair et al., 2006) The indexes suggest a reasonable fit, as would be expected given the model 7 (NFI=0.97; CFI=0.99; RMSEA=0.08) Overall, the results support the theoretical measurement model

Comparing the variance extracted (AVE) estimates for each construct with the squared inter-construct correlations between the relevant constructs gives an indication of discriminant validity (see Table 3) The results in Table 3 show that the AVE is greater than the squared correlation estimate for each construct pair, providing additional support of discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) Common method variance (CMV) is also assessed (Zhao et al., 2006a) A worse fit for a one-factor model with all items loading on a single construct suggests that CMV does not pose a serious threat In this case, the one-factor test yields a y* of 170.6 with 90 df(p<0.001) Obviously, the one-factor fit is much worse than the proposed measurement model (difference in y?=60.5, df=10, p<0.0001) Overall, the results indicate that the study measures possess adequate fit, reliability, and validity Thus, the following section presents the structural results

4.2 Structural model testing Estimating a structural model corresponding to the hypothesized relationships assesses the research model (Fig 1) The + goodness-of- fit statistic is 110.1 with 80 df Estimates are shown in Fig 2 along with other fit indexes, all indicating an acceptable fit

4,3 Individual hypothesis testing Individual path estimates and the variance explained in the endogenous constructs (R”) provide a test of the research hypotheses

As shown in Fig 2, our model has high predictive power For value,

satisfaction, image, and loyalty, 71.4%, 87.3%, 62.5% and 37.7% of

variance is explained, respectively

Table 3 Construct correlation

Quality 0.885!

Image 0.790% 0.899

Square root of average variance extracted (AVE) is shown on the diagonal and in bold; Correlation coefficients are shown in the off diagonal; all correlations are significant at

the 0.05 level

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: z Qe *p<0.05; **p<0.01;

NFI = 978; NNFI = 987; CFI = 99] Image Ự

Fig 2 Structural model with parameter estimates

The research model proposes that service quality has a direct,

positive relationship with perceived value, customer satisfaction,

and corporate image The path estimates in Fig 2 show service

quality is a significant predictor of both value (Hs; ö=0.370, p<0.01)

and corporate image (Hy; B=0.790, p<0.01) Service quality,

however, does not have a direct link with customer satisfaction

(H;; 6=0.018, p>0.05), but does influence customer satisfaction

indirectly, as both perceived value (H2; 6=0.436, p<0.01) and

corporate image (Hs; B=0.528, p<0.01) are significant predictors of

customer Satisfaction

The model also proposes that corporate image influences

perceived value directly (Hg) The data support this relationship

(B=0.522, p<0.01)

Four factors (quality, value, image, and satisfaction) are proposed

to simultaneously influence customer loyalty However, only the

coefficients from satisfaction (H7) and value (Hg) to loyalty are

significant (G=0.392 and 0.310; p<0.01 and 0.05, respectively) The

path coefficients from quality (Hg) and image (Ho) to loyalty are not

significant (B=0.107 and 0.009; p=0.901 and 0.419, respectively)

Thus, the data support H7 and Hg, but do not support Hg and Ho

The total effect of service quality on loyalty can be broken down

into an indirect component, working through value, and a direct

component, represented by Hg In this case, the indirect component is

0.42 (p<.001) and the direct component is 0.11 (ns) Therefore, the

mediated relationships through value, account for practically all of the

explained variance in loyalty attributable to service quality

4.4 Loyalty drivers

Satisfaction and value are the two significant, direct determinants

of loyalty (G=0.392 and 0.310, respectively—see Fig 2) A comparison

of total effects indicates that value affects loyalty more strongly than

does satisfaction (0.48 vs 0.39)

5 Discussion

The key objective of the study is to simultaneously examine the

relationship among service quality, perceived value, customer

satisfaction, corporate image, and customer loyalty In addition, the

study (1) tests the applicability of the model among Chinese

consumers and (2) extends the loyalty model into the service sector

Overall, results generally support the model Further, the model

appears both applicable in China and in a service setting

5.1 Satisfaction

In this study, examining the mediating role of customer satisfaction between other service evaluations and customer loyalty

is a key issue Results reveal customer satisfaction has significant mediation effects for relationships from perceived value and corporate image to loyalty In addition, while no direct link from service quality to satisfaction is present, satisfaction does mediate the quality — loyalty relationship through other variables Thus, the majority of the effect of both quality and image on loyalty is indirect (see Table 4)

The mediating power of satisfaction may be based on recency Customers feeling highly satisfied with an exchange may over- emphasize the influence of service quality, value, and image on loyalty (Peterson and Wilson, 1992) These results are also consistent with empirical studies showing that satisfaction has a mediating effect

on customer loyalty behavior (Caruana, 2002; Lu and Tang, 2001; Stank et al., 1999; Zins, 2001) Like other affect variables, satisfaction

helps link more cognitively oriented constructs to behavioral outcomes

5.2 Value

Service quality and corporate image both have significant, direct effects on perceived value Value then predicts both customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, directly Thus, perceived value plays both an important mediating role between service quality and loyalty and corporate image and loyalty Value actually has the

Table 4 Standardized effects

(0.790P, 0°) Value 0.782 0.522 (0.522, 0) - -

(0.370, 0.412)

(0.018, 0.759)

(0.107, 0.420)

* standardized total effect

> Standardized direct effects,

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greatest total effect on customer loyalty (see Table 4) Other research

suggests that perceived value only indirectly influences loyalty

through satisfaction (Patterson and Spreng, 1997; Zins, 2001) Here,

perceived value serves in an important mediating capacity but also

directly influences loyalty

5,3 Image

Service quality explains 63% of the variance in corporate image

Higher service quality significantly enhances corporate image, which

in turn improves customer satisfaction and perceived value Image

also has an indirect effect on satisfaction through value While not

showing a significant direct effect on loyalty, corporate image does

have a significant mediated effect on loyalty (see Tables 3 and 4)

Our finding is consistent with other research (Aydin and Ozer,

2005, see p 921) suggesting that corporate image has no direct effect

on mobile customers’ loyalty Similarly, Bloemer and Ruyter (1997)

report that store satisfaction acted as mediator between store image

and customer loyalty Overall, while not directly linked to loyalty,

corporate image plays a critical role in enhancing customer value and

satisfaction

6 Implications, limitations, and conclusions

6.1 Implications for practitioners

The study should help marketing practitioners better understand

the inter-relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction,

perceived value, corporate image, and loyalty, as well as the

mechanism for enhancing loyalty While the context of the study is

limited to a single Chinese mobile communications company, the

results generally reinforce previous research involving goods and

services in western cultures

First, service quality affects both satisfaction and loyalty indirectly

with no direct influence in either case In addition, service quality

significantly affects value and image, two critical factors determining

satisfaction and loyalty Thus, service quality is a key building block to

improving value and image, which determine service satisfaction and

loyalty

Second, customer satisfaction and perceived value are direct

determinants of customer loyalty Obviously, service providers are

concerned with these outcomes and this mobile communications

company needs to build and monitor both satisfaction and value In

fact, value has a greater total effect on service loyalty than does any

other construct

Third, and less obvious, is the role of corporate image in customer

loyalty formation Consistent with other studies, no direct link from

image to loyalty is suggested Nonetheless, in the current setting,

image is a very efficient vehicle to improve customer value and

satisfaction, and in turn, customer loyalty

6.2 Implications for researchers

In this study, image plays a role in creating value and building

customer satisfaction, and in indirectly enhancing loyalty Researchers

should consider the role of image in service loyalty, particularly for

technologically oriented products Most importantly, the results

indicate value may play a very important role in producing positive

outcomes for service firms

In addition, the research context provides a contribution Despite

being the largest single market in the world, knowledge about Chinese

consumers remains limited (Zhao et al., 2006a) While a full cross-

cultural assessment is beyond the scope, the present study adds

insight into one aspect of Chinese buyer behavior Certainly building a

knowledge base regarding the Chinese market is an increasingly

important frontier for marketing academicians

6.3 Limitations and future research directions

Several limitations of the study should be noted First, some

important factors are not integrated into the model For example, possible factors which may significantly influence customer loyalty include number portability between various cellular operators (Gerpott et al., 2001) and other switching barriers (Kim et al., 2004; Jones et al., 2002) Second, one of the strengths of the study can also be considered a limitation The model is tested in a Chinese telecommunications setting in which cultural and economic factors are embedded Therefore, the findings may not be fully applicable in

other settings Third, the response rate, while consistent with other studies of Chinese consumers, is quite low As a result, the sample size

is small and caution should be taken in generalizing the results beyond the firm studied here Future studies should seek more efficient methods of data gathering and use more objective measures

to reduce the potential of self-reporting bias

6.4 Conclusions

This study examines a model incorporating service quality, value, image, satisfaction, and loyalty Among this Chinese firm's telecom-

munication customers, customer satisfaction and perceived value

directly influence customer loyalty and play important mediating roles In most aspects, evidence suggests the loyalty model in China is similar to what researchers have found in western cultures

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doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.10.015

Tiêu đề	How quality, value, image, and satisfaction create loyalty at a Chinese telecom
Tác giả	Fujun Lai, Mitch Griffin, Barry J. Babin
Trường học	University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast; Bradley University; Louisiana Tech University
Chuyên ngành	Marketing
Thể loại	Journal article
Năm xuất bản	2008
Thành phố	Amsterdam

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Số trang	7
Dung lượng	281,31 KB