A contingency model of behavioural intentions in a services context

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown customer satisfaction to be the crucial antecedent of perhaps the most important constructs in marketing – loyalty and customer retention. However the satisfaction→customer retention linkage is not as simple as it might first seem. This study examines the impact of switching barriers as potential moderators of the satisfaction→customer retention linkage. The results show that across each industry studied, the satisfaction→repeat purchase link is stronger under conditions of low switching barriers, and weaker when switching barriers are perceived to be higher, thus supporting a contingency model of customer retention.