The impact of quality on store loyalty: a contingency approach
Odekerken-Schröder, Gaby De Wulf, Kristof Kleijnen, M.
Odekerken-Schröder, Gaby
De Wulf, Kristof
Kleijnen, M.
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Publication Type
Journal article with impact factor
Editor
Supervisor
Publication Year
2001
Journal
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence
Book
Publication Volume
12
Publication Issue
3
Publication Begin page
307
Publication End page
322
Publication Number of pages
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Abstract
This study's prime interest is to assist retail managers in deciding where they are likely to get the greatest response to their expenditures on quality improvement. An empirical test involving 287 consumers reporting on a wide array of stores assesses whether the relationship between three quality dimensions (technical quality, functional quality, and relational quality) and store loyalty is moderated by age, gender and store size. The structural equation model indicates that relational quality is the prime driver of store loyalty, seemingly overruling the impact of technical quality and functional quality. Most importantly, the results suggest that older consumers are relatively more strongly affected by technical quality than younger consumers. Another interesting finding is that retailers reap more benefits from their quality investments if they offer relational quality to female as opposed to male consumers. Store size was not found to mitigate the impact of the quality dimensions investigated.
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Keywords
Customer Satisfaction