Curvilinear Effects of Consumer Loyalty Determinants in Relational Exchanges

Abstract

Drawing from need, motivation, and social exchange theories, this study conceptualizes and empirically examines the differential curvilinear effects of multiple determinants of loyalty intentions, including transactional satisfaction, trust, and value for relational exchanges. The authors conceptualize trust as a “motivator,” satisfaction as a “hygiene,” and value as a “bivalent” factor in consumer loyalty mechanisms. Using consumer data on relational exchanges in two different service contexts—retail clothing and nonbusiness airline travel—and accounting for different sources of error—namely, measurement, common method, and response style—the authors empirically investigate the hypothesized mechanisms. The data support the motivator, or the enhancing role of trust, and the hygiene, or the maintaining role of satisfaction, on loyalty intentions in both contexts. Although the authors also obtain consistent results for the influence of value, its role is aligned with a hygiene mechanism, not a bivalent mechanism. The authors contribute to the study of loyalty antecedents by (1) theoretically proposing the nature and shape of the influence of different loyalty determinants, (2) considering the simultaneous and differential effects of multiple determinants, and (3) drawing implications from the results for theory and managerial practice.