IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rbs/ijbrss/v12y2023i2p01-14.html

Loyalty program benefits and their effect on relationship quality and loyalty to the retailer

Author

Listed:
  • Karen M. Corbishley

    (Department of Marketing & Retail Management, Durban University of Technology, PO Box 1134, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

  • Corné Meintjes

    (Department of Strategic Communications, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa)

  • Roger B. Mason

    (Department of Marketing & Retail Management, Durban University of Technology, PO Box 1134, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Abstract

Loyalty Programs (LPs) aim to increase profit by rewarding, with various benefits, customers who patronize the retailer. This study investigated the benefits LPs provide in the South African Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) marketplace and how these influence relationship quality and loyalty between retailer and customer. How the perceived benefits of LPs contribute to relationship quality (satisfaction, trust and commitment), and how they lead to loyalty are examined. To illustrate these relationships, a model showing three independent (perceived benefits, namely altruistic, consumeristic, and egoistic) and three dependent variables (relationship quality, namely trust, satisfaction, and commitment), plus customer loyalty, was developed. A quantitative survey was administered electronically over 11 days to a randomly selected sample of 5000 consumers per day from a commercial database, resulting in 1944 responses. After the deletion of incomplete or inappropriate responses, 479 usable replies remained. Since this sample was self-selected, it should be considered a convenience sample. Structural equation modelling (SEM) with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to test the hypotheses and develop the model. SEM indicated that respondents consider egoistic and consumeristic benefits as the same. Furthermore, trust and satisfaction manifest as a single construct. Both consumeristic and altruistic benefits had a significant positive relationship with this unified construct of trust/satisfaction, and the relationship between altruistic benefits and commitment was also positive and significant. Finally, although neither altruistic nor consumeristic benefits appeared to contribute directly to loyalty, a positive relationship existed between the new construct of trust/satisfaction and those of commitment and loyalty. The pathway to loyalty is indirect, and to reach this sought-after goal, relationship quality constructs must first be achieved. Key Words:consumeristic, altruistic, egoistic, satisfaction, commitment, trust, Customer Loyalty Programmes

Suggested Citation

  • Karen M. Corbishley & Corné Meintjes & Roger B. Mason, 2023. "Loyalty program benefits and their effect on relationship quality and loyalty to the retailer," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 12(2), pages 01-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:01-14
    DOI: 10.20525/ijrbs.v12i2.2320
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/2320/1689
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v12i2.2320
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.20525/ijrbs.v12i2.2320?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wu, Lei-Yu & Chen, Po-Yuan & Chen, Kuan-Yang, 2015. "Why does loyalty–cooperation behavior vary over buyer–seller relationship?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2322-2329.
    2. Salihah Khairawati, 2020. "Effect of customer loyalty program on customer satisfaction and its impact on customer loyalty," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 9(1), pages 15-23, January.
    3. Eason, C. Clifton & Bing, Mark N. & Smothers, Jack, 2015. "Reward me, charity, or both? The impact of fees and benefits in loyalty programs," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 71-80.
    4. Sharma, Dheeraj & Verma, Varsha, 2014. "Psychological and economic considerations of rewards programs," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 924-932.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Yanyan & Mandler, Timo & Meyer-Waarden, Lars, 2021. "Three decades of research on loyalty programs: A literature review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 179-197.
    2. Narwal, Preeti & Rai, Shivam, 2022. "Individual differences and moral disengagement in Pay-What-You-Want pricing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 528-547.
    3. Crespo, Cátia Fernandes & Crespo, Nuno Fernandes & Silva, Susana C., 2025. "Unveiling the power of supplier-country image on B2B customers' perceptions: Beyond the product’s beauty," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(3).
    4. Matti J. Haverila & Kai Haverila & Caitlin McLaughlin & Hailey Tran, 2022. "The impact of tangible and intangible rewards on online loyalty program, brand engagement, and attitudinal loyalty," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 64-81, March.
    5. Chen, Kuan-Yang & Huan, Tzung-Cheng, 2022. "Explore how SME family businesses of travel service industry use market knowledge for product innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 519-530.
    6. Zhan, Mengmeng & Huang, Minxue & Li, Aoqi & Yang, Yvmeng, 2023. "The role of impulsive behaviour and meta-perception in referral reward programs," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Gong, Heming & Bian, Xuemei & Zheng, Chundong, 2024. "Leveraging celebrities with inconsistent attractiveness and credibility for charitable endorsement: A cue diagnosticity perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Chen Qian & Stefan Seuring & Ralf Wagner, 2021. "Reviewing interfirm relationship quality from a supply chain management perspective," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 625-650, July.
    9. Wu, Lei-Yu & Chen, Kuan-Yang & Chen, Po-Yuan & Tung, Pei-Ju, 2016. "Revisiting associations between specific asset investment and loyal and cooperative behavior: A complexity theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3545-3552.
    10. Lyu, Chongchong & Yang, Jianjun & Zhang, Feng & Teo, Thompson S.H. & Mu, Tian, 2020. "How do knowledge characteristics affect firm’s knowledge sharing intention in interfirm cooperation? An empirical study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 48-60.
    11. Torsten Bornemann & Martin Klarmann & Martin Moosbrugger, 2020. "Verhaltenswissenschaftliche Forschung zum organisationalen Einkaufsverhalten: Überblick über die Marketingliteratur [Behavioral B2B Buying Research—An Overview of the Marketing Literature]," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 72(4), pages 447-478, December.
    12. CRISTACHE, Nicoleta & PRICOPOAIA, Oana & NĂSTASE, Marian & ȘIȘU, Julia-Anamaria & TÎRNOVANU, Andrei-Constantin & MATIȘ, Cosmin, 2024. "The metaverse, a new frontier for innovative business models," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    13. Tiphaine Gorlier & Géraldine Michel, 2020. "How special rewards in loyalty programs enrich consumer–brand relationships: The role of self‐expansion," Post-Print hal-02494605, HAL.
    14. Raed Ibrahim Mohamad Ibrahim & Pelin Bayram, 2024. "The effect of customer engagement on customer loyalty: indication from the insurance industry in Jordan," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(2), pages 406-422, June.
    15. Padgett, Daniel & Hopkins, Christopher D. & Williams, Zac, 2020. "Buyer dependence in B2B relationships: The role of supplier investments, commitment form, and trust," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 13-24.
    16. Hyeon Jo & Do-Hyung Park, 2024. "Exploring loyalty drivers for smartphone and mobile carriers," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Jiang, Kan & Mo, Silan & Qin, Meilian, 2024. "Descriptive or injunctive? The effect of sustainable normative appeals and advertising orientations on environmentally responsible consumption behavior in a collective action perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Fadhil Muhammad & Fatkhur Rozi & Achmad Sani Supriyanto, 2021. "The influence of membership program on customer loyalty mediated by customer satisfaction," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(6), pages 34-41, September.
    19. David Gligor & Christopher Newman & Saim Kashmiri, 2021. "Does your skin color matter in buyer–seller negotiations? The implications of being a Black salesperson," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 969-993, September.
    20. Mimouni-Chaabane, Aida & Parguel, Béatrice, 2025. "How to build CSR image with mixed-reward loyalty programs," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:01-14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Umit Hacioglu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ssbffea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.