How Do Firms Manage Their Long-term Customer Relationship? The Role of Customer Experience and Constructive Mechanism on Customer Commitment from Utilitarian and Hedonic Perspectives

Customer commitment has garnered the attention of industries and academics. Prior studies indicated that utilitarian and hedonic values are strongly connected to customer experience; they can offer a novel comprehension of how customer commitment is established. However, few studies unveiled such constructive mechanisms, and the scarcity of such studies has created a theoretical gap. Considering the research gap, this study explores a constructive mechanism, proposing a theoretical model from the utilitarian and hedonic values aspects. After collecting responses to 405 questionnaires from the majority of target customers and adopting several statistical methods to examine the theoretical model, this study reveals the concrete and constructive mechanism of customer experience on customer commitment from the utilitarian and hedonic value perspectives. The findings show that customer commitment is constructed from utilitarian and hedonic perspectives, mediated by customer experience. This study contributes to the customer relationship management research wherein we can better understand the roles played by customer experience in this constructive mechanism, and comprehend the function of utilitarian and hedonic values. Several practical implications are proposed. However, the scarcity of further studies on the distinction between utilitarian and hedonic aspects and a detailed discussion on customer commitment are limitations of this study, creating a new research gap and necessitating future studies to fill this gap.