The influence of relationship quality and switching costs on customer loyalty in the Malaysian hotel industry

The intense competition among hotels in Malaysia means that there is a larger demand for service outsourcing. Hotels are now exposed to a wider choice of service providers that are willing to provide services.As a result, hotel managements are more inclined to switch to other service providers if the current service providers are unsatisfactory.This paper aims to investigate the effect of relationship quality and switching costs on business customer loyalty from the customers’ perspective in the context of hotel service outsourcing.This study is important considering the economic advantages of retaining current customers as opposed to searching for new customers.Partial Least Squares was adopted as the data analysis methodology.Results of the study show that relationship quality positively and significantly influences customer loyalty. However, switching costs does not influence customer loyalty

Predictors and customer loyalty in the Malaysian hotels' outsourcing relationships

The success of a firm in an outsourcing relationship depends on the loyalty of a business customer towards its service providers. Therefore, it is crucial for service providers to focus on relationship marketing strategies to increase their customers’ loyalty. However, there is little agreement as to which relationship marketing strategies that should be used to maintain customer loyalty. This study intends to examine the relationships between relational norms, relationship quality, and customer loyalty. Data collected from 159 hotel managers were analyzed using Partial Least Squares. Results of this study revealed that relational norms and relationship quality are positively related to customer loyalty

The adoption of internet shopping for travel services

The study explores consumers' adoption of Internet shopping in the context of UK travel services. The key objective is to identify the profile of Internet shoppers and the antecedents of Internet shopping adoption for travel services. The study proposes a model for the prediction of Internet shopping adoption, drawing upon Davis' (1989) Technology Acceptance Model with the inclusion of individual characteristics, perceived risk and trust. The model identifies the structural relationships among the eight constructs (i.e. perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use, innovativeness, involvement, opinion leadership, perceived risk, trust and adoption), which were examined through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with AMOS. The study employs a multi-methodology approach, which involves focus group discussions at the exploratory stage and a questionnaire survey in the data collection stage. The final survey was of a screened sample of 500 respondents who had purchased travel services online. A total of 299 qualified respondents from all over the UK completed the online survey. The descriptive results present a profile of travel e-shoppers in terms of demographic, geodemographic and buying patterns. The SEM tested the hypothesised relationships among the constructs, as postulated in the model. Nine of the hypothesised links were supported and six were rejected. Eventually, a robust model that has statistical and explanatory power was confirmed. The results explicitly clarified several key contributions to marketing theory and for the travel and tourism industry. For example, it was demonstrated that perceived usefulness is the key determinant of Internet shopping adoption decisions. Also, consumer innovativeness is the key influence on Internet shopping adoption at the personal level, followed by consumer involvement in the shopping process. The study also reveals three new relationships, between opinion leadership and perceived ease-of-use, consumer involvement and ease-of-use and consumer innovativeness and trust, which have not been examined empirically by previous research. By identifying the primary drivers of Internet shopping adoption for travel services, the study contributes to and extends the understanding of the Internet as a medium for commercial use in the B2C arena as well as expanding the literature on new technology adoption

Does Need for Cognition, Need for Affect and Perceived Humour Influence Consumers’ Brand Attitude?

Cognition has long been known as a mechanism to process message besides forming desirable attitude. However, the engagement of emotions that has been limited in its discussions to the message processing theory such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) could also function as influencer to message processing and contributor to attitude formation. Hence, the purpose of this research is to examine the effects of need for cognition (NFC), need for affect (NFA) and perceived humour on consumers’ attitude towards the brands advertised. The research engaged three main studies and has adopted a quantitative basic experimental design with a random selection and distribution of participants into treatment groups. Result of study 1 showed that advertising attitude mediates between NFC and brand attitude. Study 2 found that NFA moderates between NFC and brand attitude. Study 3 revealed that NFA moderates between perceived humour and brand attitude. Finally, the results also determined that NFC, NFA, and perceived humour influence the processing of advertising message in the low and high involvement conditions of message elaborations. The findings encourage future researchers to further assess consumers’ attitude towards brand in various advertising contexts in more detail. The study contributes to the advertising guidelines for advertising firms and policy makers. In addition, the study contributes to the theoretical establishment of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) that can be used for future research extension

Humour advertising: a review and a bibliometrics citation analysis

The purpose of this paper is to present review and analysis of citations by journals, papers and authors, co-occurrences of keyword and sub-keywords, and the co-authorship between authors, institutions as well as countries in the field of humour advertising. The number of journal publications in humour advertising has increased and expanded over the years in the field of marketing, communication and business research, but are less being discussed in relation to its citation’s analysis. Therefore, the study has been conducted using a review and a bibliometrics analysis approach. A total of 2300 articles for the study has been extracted from the Web of Science database and reviewed using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysed). However, only 1500 were screened and selected for use for the citation analysis. This study contributes in a sense that it provides future researchers with knowledge and information about the worldwide citation’s linkages, and networking between authors, institutions, and research interest in the field of humour advertising. This study also provides insights for researchers to engage in developing novel research ideas that may contribute to expanding the engagement of marketing of humour advertising worldwide

Cognition and emotion : exploration on consumers response to advertisement and brand

Cognition and emotion are known to be drivers of information and message processing, leading to attitude formation. This research hypothesises that emotion, specifically intense positive mood, would elicit better ad and brand evaluations. This paper examined the role of the Associative Network Theory of Memory and Emotion (ANTME) within the framework of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). Adopting experimental method, the results confirmed most of our hypotheses. In four experimental studies via the purposive sampling method, undergraduate students were invited to volunteer in the experiments (N = 389). Study 1 (n = 60) established ELM as a framework within the sampling frame. The results indicate that individuals' difference in the need for cognition (NFC) evaluate both ad and brand differently. In study 2 (n = 131), despite having elicited positive and negative mood valence, none of the moods successfully boost the evaluations of ads and brands for either low or high NFC individuals. In study 3 (n = 129), the results indicate that only intense positive mood successfully garner favourable brand evaluation. Lastly, in study 4 (n = 69), the results reveal that prior exposure to a humourous stimulus (i.e., comic strip) affects ad evaluation only. This research offers some theoretical contributions to the establishment of cognition as drivers to information processing and ELM attitude formation; and insights into consumers' cognitive-emotional attempts in response to advertising and brands which may become an input for advertisers, brand builders and marketing firms to design more innovative and impactful advertising campaigns for a sustainable IMC. Further, it could assist policymakers and regulators in improving the existing advertising guidelines and policies in Malaysia

A framework of outsourcing relationship marketing: a focus on the Malaysian hotel industry

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by examining the antecedents of outsourcing relationship quality among the management of Malaysian hotels and their service providers. This study is important considering that the quality of relationship between client firms and their service providers adds positive image to the entire system and is crucial for the delivery of the benefits of outsourcing arrangement. Identifying the determinants of the outsourcing relationship quality is important due to its effect on outsourcing ventures. A firm should have a strong relationship with its service provider since a high relationship quality has been proven to provide positive impact on outsourcing. This study examines the effect of relational norms on the quality of relationship among hotel managements and their service providers.Hotel industry has been the focus of this study due to its significant contribution to the service sector as the largest contributor of the Malaysian economy

The influence of relationship quality on customer loyalty in the context of outsourcing relationships in the Malaysian hotel industry

Securing loyalty and creating long-term relationships with existing customers has emerged as an important marketing agenda to service providers.It is more cost effective to remarket to the existing customers rather than attract, educate, and convert new ones.Thus, customer retention has been suggested as an easier and more reliable source of superior performance and long-term profitability.The increase in competitions in the hotel industry has made it crucial for service providers to retain the customers as well as the personnel.There are customers who remain loyal because of the value received from the services or high quality relationships demonstrated by the service providers.While relationship quality has been identified as an important predictor of customer loyalty, perceived value is also likely to influence customer loyalty. However, limited research has been conducted and minimal attention has been given to the relationships between perceived value, relationship quality, and customer loyalty in the context of outsourcing relationship.Therefore, this study intends to investigate the influence of perceived value and relationship quality on customer loyalty in the context of outsourcing relationships in the Malaysian hotel industry.Results of the study show that relationship quality mediates the relationship between perceived value and customer loyalty

DOES THE NEED FOR COGNITION, NEED FOR AFFECT AND PERCEIVED HUMOUR INFLUENCE CONSUMERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ADVERTISED BRANDS?

Cognition has long been known as a mechanism to process message besides forming desirable attitude. However, the engagement of emotions that has been limited in its discussions to the message processing theory such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) could also function as influencer to message processing and contributor to attitude formation. Hence, the purpose of this research is to examine the effects of need for cognition (NFC), need for affect (NFA) and perceived humour on consumers’ attitude towards the brands advertised. The research engaged three main studies and has adopted a quantitative basic experimental design with a random selection and distribution of participants into treatment groups. Result of study 1 showed that advertising attitude mediates between NFC and brand attitude. Study 2 found that NFA moderates between NFC and brand attitude. Study 3 revealed that NFA moderates between perceived humour and brand attitude. Finally, the results also determined that NFC, NFA, and perceived humour influence the processing of advertising message in the low and high involvement conditions of message elaborations. The findings encourage future researchers to further assess consumers’ attitude towards brand in various advertising contexts in more detail. The study contributes to the advertising guidelines for advertising firms and policy makers. In addition, the study contributes to the theoretical establishment of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) that can be used for future research extension