Inger Roos

The Effects of Customer Satisfaction, Relationship Commitment Dimensions, and Triggers on Customer Retention

In a study of telecommunications services, the authors examine the effects of customer satisfaction, affective commitment, and calculative commitment on retention. The study further examines the potential for situational and reactional trigger conditions to moderate the satisfaction–retention relationship. The results support consistent effects of customer satisfaction, calculative commitment, and prior churn on retention. Prior churn also moderates the satisfaction–retention relationship. The results have implications for both customer relationship managers and researchers who use satisfaction surveys to predict behavior.

Service portraits in service research: a critical review

Purpose – Focusing on one main research question: how is the phenomenon “service” portrayed within service research?, the aim is to describe and analyze how the concept of service is defined, how service characteristics express the concept, the relevance of the existing “service portraits”, and to suggest a new way of portraying service.Design/methodology/approach – A literature search was carried out in order to find definitions of the service concept and expressions about the service characteristics. Databases were searched and 34 articles were used for further analysis. The same procedure was carried out for service characteristics. The articles that were chosen by the databases were reviewed thoroughly and those most relevant to the search topic were chosen. Sixteen leading scholars who had been shaping the service research field were also asked two basic questions.Findings – The analysis of the concept of service and service characteristics shows that the definitions are too narrow and the characteri...

Switching Processes in Customer Relationships

The importance and difficulty of keeping customers constantly features in the marketing literature. However, customer studies have generally focused on loyal customers and loyalty rather than on reasons for switching service providers. The aim of this article is to present a model for studying customers’ switching behavior as processes by extending the Critical Incident Technique in a relationship direction. By using the new technique, an analytic framework was developed that identifies three different kinds of switching determinants: pushing determinants, pulling determinant, and swayers. The new technique captures the configurations of the underlying factors that lead to revocable or irrevocable switching decisions. The study shows that these configurations are signals of switching, which provide useful knowledge for management and staff for policy and training purposes.

Critical incident techniques: Towards a framework for analysing the criticality of critical incidents

The traditional critical incident technique (CIT) and variants of the same have frequently been applied in service research for several decades. The technique has often been used to capture data on and analyse both negative and positive critical incidents. While one technique displays hosts of critical incidents in benchmark‐type series (SIT), another variant describes the dynamism in one discrete critical incident and a third the dynamism of the configuration of critical incidents (SPAT). In this article the different variants are discussed in relation to psychological theory focusing on the concepts of time, history and memory. To be able to analyse the criticality from the individual customer’s perspective, we argue that one must understand the significance of critical incidents in the light of human memory mechanisms and judgement processes. The discussion forms the basis for suggesting a new, tentative framework for analysing the criticality of critical incidents. We call this criticality critical incident technique (CCIT).

Customer Switching Patterns in Competitive and Noncompetitive Service Industries

This article is about behavioral change in customer relationships. Changes in customer switching behavior are compared in five different service industries. Switching barriers and the competitive industrial situations in the comparison between industries also revealed changes in behavior in an industrial monopoly in which switching to alternative external service providers was not an option. This kind of switching was articulated as internal switching. The behavioral change was therefore assessed in terms not only of frequency but also of type of change. The switching ability to cause change, called configuration energy, even caused a change in behavior at the highest level in a noncompetitive industry in which there was a lack of switching alternatives. Total change was considered to be a result of the higher energy level driving the switching configuration than when the change was partial.

Methods of Investigating Critical Incidents A Comparative Review

The methods used for analyzing customer relationships have traditionally focused exclusively on service encounters. Recently, researchers have presented these service encounters as a flow or process, although without taking time into account. Both of these perspectives on customer relationships have provided the means for developing a process-based method that does take time into account. This makes it possible to analyze and describe a customer relationship in which effects and consequences can be represented and the influenced and influencing factors prioritized. Given that the domain for analyzing the customer relationship is a switch from one service provider to another, the consequence is clear. The switch is identical to the consequence. The consequence, again, defines the criticality. Criticality and context are key concepts in the search for a deeper understanding of customer relationships, and efforts are made to include them in the development of the methods put forward in this article.

Emotional experiences in customer relationships – a telecommunication study

Purpose – This study aims at deepening understanding of the role of emotion in customer switching processes and identifying the relative frequency of negative discrete emotions in terms of different triggers.Design/methodology/approach – Customers of Swedish telecommunications services were interviewed about their switching processes. The interviews were analyzed according to switching path analysis technique, which divides relationships into different stages in accordance with their relevance to the relationship strength. The ultimate focus is on self‐reported emotions embedded in the switching process.Findings – The main finding was that the identified emotions were located in the trigger part of the relationship, and was expressed by the respondents during the switching process in form of annoyance, anxiety, disappointment, dissatisfaction, distress, depression, rage, stress and tension.Research limitations/implications – The empirical study is conducted within the telecom industry which may influence ...

Customer clubs in a relationship perspective: a telecom case

Companies in the telecom industry – and in many other consumer markets – have introduced customer or loyalty clubs over a number of years. Customer clubs have been used as a loyalty‐building measure following the deregulation of telecom markets in Europe. They were introduced as a strategic instrument intended to foster customer retention and to contribute to increased sales and profitability. These clubs are the most recognizable part of many CRM strategies. Their short‐ and long‐term effects on loyalty are not obvious, however. The aim of this article is to explore the effects of the customer club on customer relationships in telecommunications by presenting results from two qualitative studies, which are quantified and reported in terms of responses to the club. The results of this empirical study in a Swedish telecom company reveal that the majority of customer‐club members do not perceive their membership as adding value or contributing to higher commitment and improved loyalty. Nevertheless, there are differences between non‐members and members regarding their perceptions of the service provider. The target group of club members has significantly higher satisfaction with the company than the non‐member customers.

Customer Complaints and Switching Behavior—A Study of Relationship Dynamics in a Telecommunication Company

Abstract Data on customer complaints and switching behavior provide us with important information about customer relationship dynamics. Studying customer complaints and switching behavior, i.e., crossroads in a relationship, will help us better understand the consequences of customer dissatisfaction and what erodes loyalty and has a negative impact on profitability. This understanding will help manage complaints proactively rather than reactively and help prevent switching. It will also improve quality and support service development.

The Role of Customer Clubs in Recent Telecom Relationships

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of the clubs role in the customer relationships of a telecommunications company by re‐considering the concepts of frequency and commitment in a telecom‐customer club.Design/methodology/approach – We interviewed telecom customers that were members of a Swedish telecom companys customer club. The approach was to understand the customer evaluation of the customer club. We conducted 44 in‐depth interviews with members of the loyalty club.Findings – We found an umbrella concept for the club regarding loyalty: a keeping function, which divided the customer club in two ways: the affective role makes the customer stay with the company and the calculative role with a more inferred loyalty function. The expressions that were not connected to loyalty is the attracting function.Research limitations/implications – The limitations of our qualitative study include the small sample size, and it represents only one kind of industry and one company.Originali...