Creating An Environment Conducive For Developing Customer Commitment: Does Shock Intensity Make A Difference?

Customer relationship management has become more important than ever before, especially since service providers are faced with increased competition. It is not surprising to find that both marketing academics and practitioners are progressively confronted by the challenge to create new and innovative ways to manage relationships with customers. Although relationship management entails managing a vast number of dimensions, customer commitment is often viewed as one of the most important elements of any marketing relationship. Given this importance, service providers need to provide services in line with the promises made to customers. Service providers also need to strive towards creating an environment in which customers feel comfortable and free from unexpected changes. The reality is that no service is fail-safe, resulting in a situation where customers are frequently confronted with negative experiences. These negative experiences are often referred to as relational shocks.It was against this background that this study investigated the influence that varying levels of relational shocks might have on customer commitment. Three experiments were conducted. In each of the experiments, respondents were exposed to a different shock scenario, namely a low, a medium or a high shock scenario. A total of 372 Generation Y respondents participated, and the mobile phone industry was selected as context for the study. Data were analysed by means of SPSS Statistics version 25, and a one-way ANOVA was performed to examine possible differences. The results of the study revealed that the three different levels of relational shocks indeed influenced customer commitment, but not all three types of commitment (affective, calculative and normative) were influenced equally. The study also highlighted the importance of limiting relational shocks in general to improve customer commitment. However, the major contribution of the study is that it is the first of its kind, as far as could be ascertained, to investigate the effect of different levels of relational shock on customer commitment, specifically from a mobile phone perspective.