Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

Over the last few years, the concept of online loyalty has been examined extensively in the literature, and it remains a topic of constant inquiry for both academics and marketing managers. The tremendous development of the Internet for both marketing and e-commerce settings, in conjunction with the growing desire of consumers to purchase online, has promoted two main outcomes: (a) increasing numbers of Business-to-Customer companies running businesses online and (b) the development of a variety of different e-loyalty research models. However, current research lacks a systematic review of the literature that provides a general conceptual framework on e-loyalty, which would help managers to understand their customers better, to take advantage of industry-related factors, and to improve their service quality. The present study is an attempt to critically synthesize results from multiple empirical studies on e-loyalty. Our findings illustrate that 62 instruments for measuring e-loyalty are currently in use, influenced predominantly by Zeithaml et al. (J Marketing. 1996;60(2):31-46) and Oliver (1997; Satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. New York: McGraw Hill). Additionally, we propose a new general conceptual framework, which leads to antecedents dividing e-loyalty on the basis of the action of purchase into pre-purchase, during-purchase and after-purchase factors. To conclude, a number of managerial implementations are suggested in order to help marketing managers increase their customers’ e-loyalty by making crucial changes in each purchase stage

The effect of corporate social responsibility on customer loyalty in mobile telephone companies

Purpose: The present study aims at developing and empirically testing a research model that presents the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on corporate image, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, demonstrating the direct and indirect effects among these structures. Design/Methodology/Approach: The examination of the proposed research model was carried out using a structured questionnaire completed by 358 mobile users in the city of Kavala. The validity and the reliability of the questionnaire were examined, while for the data analysis the Structural Equation Modeling Technique was used with LISREL 8.80. Findings: The findings of this study indicate that Corporate Social Responsibility have not a significant direct effect on customer loyalty, while corporate image and customer satisfaction have a significant positive effect on customer loyalty. Moreover, the findings provide practical new insights in understanding how a mobile company’s CSR policy could be developed and implemented to help enhance customer loyalty through the mediating effects of customer satisfaction. Practical Implications: The companies would like to understand the implications of its CSR policy implementation, especially in enhancing its corporate image and customer satisfaction in terms of reputation and impression. Originality/Value: This study is a pioneer research in addressing the mediating role played by customer satisfaction for strengthening the relationship between CSR and customer loyalty in mobile phone companies.peer-reviewe

Analysis and optimization of distribution logistics for Just Water Company

This report details the various factors that affect the operational efficiency of distribution logistics. The research aimed at studying the existing components involved in the distribution logistics of Just Water. Distribution logistics begins at the end of the production line where the finished product is emerged until it reaches the customers. The literature review explains the key components of distribution logistics in an organisation. This research analyses the existing components of the distribution logistics of Just Water and discusses possible improvements that can be adapted to increase the overall efficiency of the distribution logistics operation. The background of the research is that Just Water faces difficulty with delivering its products on time during peak seasons. The research tries to unveil the reason for this delay and finds that the demands for extra water-out deliveries are interfering with the normal runs of the trucks, therein delaying their regular schedule. One another cause was found to be the shortage of supplies due to slow or less return logistics. The research suggests a change in the existing drop shipping distribution model and recommends the adaptation of intermediary or multi-stage distribution networks, possibly the ‘Last Mile Delivery’ configuration in order to reduce delivery lead-time, reduce transportation costs and improve customer satisfaction

Expanding the education role to narrow the audit expectation gap: exploring the expectation gap’s existence among accounting students

Society perceives and expects more from auditor’s than what auditors can actually achieve. Society has been found to misperceive the role of an auditor, in particular, in regards to fraud, internal controls and going concern issues. Society’s differing perceptions and expectations of the auditing profession is known as the audit expectation gap. This study aims to explore the audit expectation gap’s existence among Wintec accounting students and the effect that education has on the audit expectation gap. This research intends to answer two research questions. First, does an audit expectation gap exist among Wintec accounting students? Second, what is the effect of education on the audit expectation gap? To answer these research questions, 20 Wintec accounting students have been interviewed. Ten students who have received an audit education, and ten students who have not received audit education. Qualitative data was collected from these interviews and analysed using a mixed methods approach. This study found that an audit education exists among Wintec accounting students. This study also found that education reduced the audit expectation gap, in particular, the deficient performance gap and the communication gap. However, while education did reduce the audit expectations gap, it was not eliminated. This study recommends that Wintec provides a more basic auditing education during introductory accounting papers, educating students on the role of an auditor. This study also recommends that education focuses on the practical use of an audit report, to increase student’s understandings of the information in the audit report, and how this information is communicated. Thus, the researcher believes that these recommendations will help to further reduce the audit expectation

Research in multi-cultural relationship building

This study aims to explore the ‘missing gap' between the values of an Accounting firm and the preference shown by Maaori on how they would like to be approached when wanting to build a trusted relationship within a business sense. This study makes use of qualitative approaches in which data is collected primarily through interviews and analysed to produce results and recommendations. The study found that Maaori would like to be approached in a way that makes sense to them and also identifies with their cultural proceedings. It also provides insight into how important trust is when establishing a relationship with Maaori. The study recommends that further studies conducted should interview a wider variety of focus groups to add different elements to this research and that FIRM A's small business department's offerings do not align with what Maaori want so need to be rethought to adapt to Maaor expectations

Industrial maintenance service quality evaluation and improvement strategies: A case study of a corporation

Improving industrial maintenance service quality is not only essential for service providers to acquire and retain customers, but also plays a critical role in the shift from “Made in China” to “Intelligent Manufacturing in China”. The study focuses on the case of Company A to explore how to boost industrial maintenance service quality. Firstly, factor analysis is used to construct an industrial maintenance service quality scale, which is adopted to evaluate the service quality through analytic hierarchy process. Secondly, taking repurchase intention and recommendation intention as the measurement dimensions of customer behavioural intentions, structural equation model is used to explore the effect of industrial maintenance service quality on customer behavioural intentions. Last but not the least, the study explores the key factors that affect the quality of industrial maintenance service, and offers suggestions on how to improve industrial maintenance service quality. The study develops the industrial maintenance service quality scale with four dimensions, namely service professionalism, service reliability, service customization, and service digitization, all of which have direct, significant and positive effects on repurchase intention and recommendation intention. It is also found that industrial maintenance service quality can be improved through successful customer relationship maintenance, brand-building management, and information technology upgrading. Such improvement will contribute to the development of industrial maintenance service providers and promote their transformation and upgrading.A melhoria da qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial é não só importante para as empresas fornecedoras destes serviços como também desempenha um papel crítico na mudança da política “Produzido na China” para a política “Manufatura Inteligente na China”. Esta tese tem como objeto de estudo a empresa A e analisa o modo de impulsionar a qualidade de serviço de manutenção. Primeiramente, a análise fatorial é utilizada para construir uma escala de qualidade de serviço de manutenção industrial, que será adoptada para avaliar a qualidade do serviço segundo o processo analítico hierárquico. Seguidamente, tomando a intenção de recompra e intenção de recomendação como dimensões de medida das intenções comportamentais dos clientes, utilizamos o modelo de equações estruturais para estudar o efeito da qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial nas intenções comportamentais dos clientes. Por último, mas não menos importante, este estudo explora os fatores chave que afetam a qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial e propõe sugestões para melhoria da qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial. Esta tese desenvolve a escala de qualidade de serviço de manutenção industrial com quatro dimensões, nomeadamente profissionalismo do serviço, confiabilidade do serviço, serviço personalizado e digitalização do serviço, todas estas dimensões têm efeitos positivos diretos e significantes nas intenções de recompra e recomendação. Esta tese concluiu também que a qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial pode ser melhorada através da manutenção de relacionamento com o cliente, a gestão de construção da marca e atualização da tecnologia de informação. Estas melhorias irão contribuir para o desenvolvimento das empresas de serviços de manutenção industrial e promoverão a sua transformação e atualização

An investigation of key determinants of customer loyalty : evidence from Ghana’s mobile telecommunication industry

In a fiercely competitive business environment such as the mobile network services setting, it is a marketplace reality that the ability of firms to attract and retain customers ultimately determines their growth and survival prospects. This study, therefore, investigates how customer satisfaction, perceived service quality, perceived value, corporate image and switching cost determine customer loyalty in the mobile network services setting of Ghana. A total of 140 respondents completed an online survey via emails and social media platforms in Ghana. The results of the empirical study reveal that customer satisfaction had the greatest impact on loyalty. Service quality and perceived value are both directly and indirectly related to loyalty through satisfaction. The results also show that corporate image is a direct antecedent of customer loyalty. The role of image as a key factor in mobile network services marketing is thus confirmed. However, the influence of switching costs on customer loyalty was not corroborated in this study. We suggest that managers should emphasize service quality and perceived value as core elements for building satisfaction and loyalty. In regard to Mobile Number Portability (MNP) intentions, the study found that there were as many customers who were likely to port their numbers as there were those who might not. Notwithstanding, those with porting intent were fairly larger. Some customers also reported indecisiveness with MNP. As such, brand managers should design unique marketing strategies aimed at each of these consumer groups

The role of CSR perception in consumer behaviour : the influence of perceived value in Saudi banking industry

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has received increasing attention and is thought to have a significant impact on consumer behaviour. Many businesses consider this an important factor in maintaining strong relationships with their customers. A considerable amount of attention has been given to the perception of CSR, but a number of theoretical gaps have been identified for further research. First, previous studies of CSR either explored the perception of CSR or examined the limited aspects of CSR on consumer behaviour, so there is a theoretical gap in examining the full construct of CSR on consumer behaviour. Second, the perceived value of CSR has been implicitly assumed and, therefore, neglected in previous studies. Third, only a limited number of studies have measured consumers’ CSR awareness levels before investigating consumers’ perceptions of CSR. Fourth, the majority of CSR studies examined the concept within the manufacturing industry, while studies in service industries are scant. Fifth, the majority of CSR studies examined the concept within developed countries, so there is a lack of research investigating this perception in developing countries.This study investigated the CSR perception of socially responsible banks in Saudi Arabia and examined how this influences customer loyalty; examined the perceived value of CSR and its influence on customer loyalty; and then analysed customer CSR awareness levels and how this impacted customer support or scepticism. The dyadic nature of this study advances CSR knowledge by investigating CSR from the perspectives of both banks and customers. A mixed method approach was adapted to gather the required data. First, the CSR managers in Saudi Arabian banks were interviewed to understand their perceptions of CSR and the motives and challenges they face, and to identify the constructs necessary to examine the influence of CSR on consumer loyalty. A thematic analysis technique was employed to achieve these goals. The identified constructs included customer expectations, awareness, support, and satisfaction. The perceived value was added to these constructs because of the contradictory findings among these relationships and a lack of studies that fully examined the perceived value of CSR. Second, an online survey was conducted to examine the proposed hypotheses, and this generated a total of 418 responses. The online survey was distributed by three large databases: CSR in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Banks customers, and Saudi Abroad. The link was sent through their Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts, and email databases. An SEM-PLS technique was employed to analyse the data, and the findings were classified into three groups: descriptive, casual, and structural. The findings of this study confirmed that Saudi CSR perceptions follow Carroll’s (1979) model. It also found that Islam has an influence on the understanding of CSR. The structural analysis showed that CSR consists of two dimensions: economic and non-economic responsibilities (legal and ethical). It also showed that customers have a low level of CSR awareness, but they are willing to support responsible businesses. It also demonstrated that customers are generally neutral about dealing with socially responsible businesses, and the only value they perceive is emotional.Two frameworks were generated from this study. First, based on the qualitative research, a presentation of banks’ CSR perceptions was developed. This framework has advanced the body of knowledge in a number of ways: it describes structural levels and relationships between the CSR domains; it identifies the key themes used to analyse CSR; it reports the complexity of CSR; it provides a blueprint for understanding how perception emerge and the implications of these new perceptions; and it draws the findings together in a holistic view. Second, based on an extensive review of literature and the extracted constructs from the qualitative study, a new conceptual model was developed. This model is one of the first to examine CSR perceptions, starting from awareness and ending with loyalty. Previous models have not explained the relationships between CSR perceptions and expectations. This study also investigated the full construct of the perceived value, which had not been investigated before. Finally, this model responded to the calls to investigate customer awareness and their support towards responsible businesses in the same context.This study contributes to our understanding of the perception of CSR by examining the perceived value of CSR. It also contributes to the methodology by employing a mixed method research and adopting the pragmatic approach, which has not been widely used in examining CSR perceptions. The dyadic nature of this study allows the researcher to investigate the phenomenon from two different perspectives. This study is one of a few studies to employ the SEM PLS to examine the structural nature of CSR and the construct of perceived value. Finally, it provides insights for policymakers and CSR managers to better embed CSR in the Saudi banking industry

Hotel service quality assessment: the generation z perspective

The main purpose of this study was to define the assessment of hotel attributes by Generation Z, which comes to the tourist market as the most popular customers in this area. Targeting Generation Z tourists is one of the newest trends abroad. Such travellers adhere to the thought of “YOLO”, that is, “you only live once”. The questionnaire was created as a knowledge of the collection method, within which 412 participants took part. The questionnaire was divided into three main sections: sociodemographic and general section, assessment of service quality and assessment of hotel attributes divided into hotel departments section. All data collection and obtained statistical results were analysed and presented by the program SPSS V.28 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The research has found that the most important three attributes for Generation Z while booking a hotel are location, comfort, and wi-fi. And the least three important are staff, facilities, and cleanliness. As well were identified the attributes with the highest agreement on importance in five parameters of service quality, which are criteria for evaluating hotel attributes, such as tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Such as the attributes that were divided into departments’ performance: the front office, food and drink, cleaning, entertainment, and widespread characteristics of the hotel. The main value of this study is its contribution in terms of the characteristics of generation Z, their behaviour during hotel booking, and their assessment of hotel attributes