IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v48y2020i3d10.1007_s11747-019-00701-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding and managing customer relational benefits in services: a meta-analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Dwayne D. Gremler

    (Bowling Green State University)

  • Yves Vaerenbergh

    (KU Leuven)

  • Elisabeth C. Brüggen

    (Maastricht University)

  • Kevin P. Gwinner

    (Kansas State University)

Abstract

Recent meta-analyses provide clear insights into how service firms can benefit from relationship marketing, whereas investigations of customers’ relational benefits (1) are unclear about the absolute and relative strengths by which different relational benefit dimensions induce different customer responses and (2) have not simultaneously examined the various mediating processes (including perceived value, relationship quality, and switching costs) through which relational benefits reportedly affect customer loyalty. To consolidate extant research on the benefits of relationship marketing for customers, this meta-analysis integrates 1242 effect sizes drawn from 235 independent samples across 224 papers disseminated in the past two decades. The results reveal that all three relational benefits affect loyalty, though confidence benefits and social benefits have the strongest effects. Among the three identified mediation paths through which relational benefits influence customer loyalty, the sequential path through perceived value and relationship quality is the strongest. From a service research perspective, this study provides novel empirical generalizations; managerially, the findings suggest that a primary goal for service managers should be strengthening confidence and social benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Dwayne D. Gremler & Yves Vaerenbergh & Elisabeth C. Brüggen & Kevin P. Gwinner, 2020. "Understanding and managing customer relational benefits in services: a meta-analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 565-583, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:48:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11747-019-00701-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-019-00701-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-019-00701-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-019-00701-6?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Peterson & Dwight Merunka, 2014. "Convenience samples of college students and research reproducibility," Post-Print hal-01822317, HAL.
    2. Yves Van Vaerenbergh & Simon Hazée & Annelies Costers, 2018. "Customer participation in service recovery: a meta-analysis," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 465-483, December.
    3. Fournier, Susan, 1998. "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 343-373, March.
    4. Lars Meyer-Waarden & Christophe Benavent & Herbert Castéran, 2013. "The effects of purchase orientations on perceived loyalty programmes' benefits and loyalty," Post-Print halshs-00914619, HAL.
    5. Gilly, Mary C & Zeithaml, Valarie A, 1985. "The Elderly Consumer and Adoption of Technologies," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 353-347, December.
    6. Herr, Paul M & Kardes, Frank R & Kim, John, 1991. "Effects of Word-of-Mouth and Product-Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(4), pages 454-462, March.
    7. V. Kumar & Werner Reinartz, 2018. "Customer Relationship Management," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 3, number 978-3-662-55381-7, December.
    8. Jones, Michael A. & Mothersbaugh, David L. & Beatty, Sharon E., 2002. "Why customers stay: measuring the underlying dimensions of services switching costs and managing their differential strategic outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 441-450, June.
    9. Ruiz, David Martín & Gremler, Dwayne D. & Washburn, Judith H. & Carrión, Gabriel Cepeda, 2008. "Service value revisited: Specifying a higher-order, formative measure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 1278-1291, December.
    10. Varsha Verma & Dheeraj Sharma & Jagdish Sheth, 2016. "Does relationship marketing matter in online retailing? A meta-analytic approach," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 206-217, March.
    11. Wolfgang Ulaga & Andreas Eggert, 2006. "Relationship value and relationship quality: Broadening the nomological network of business-to-business relationships," Post-Print hal-00482522, HAL.
    12. Peterson, Robert A. & Merunka, Dwight R., 2014. "Convenience samples of college students and research reproducibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 1035-1041.
    13. Chang, Yu-Hern & Chen, Fang-Yuan, 2007. "Relational benefits, switching barriers and loyalty: A study of airline customers in Taiwan," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 104-109.
    14. Lena Steinhoff & Robert W. Palmatier, 2016. "Understanding loyalty program effectiveness: managing target and bystander effects," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 88-107, January.
    15. Brown, Steven P. & Lam, Son K., 2008. "A Meta-Analysis of Relationships Linking Employee Satisfaction to Customer Responses," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 243-255.
    16. Blut, Markus & Frennea, Carly M. & Mittal, Vikas & Mothersbaugh, David L., 2015. "How procedural, financial and relational switching costs affect customer satisfaction, repurchase intentions, and repurchase behavior: A meta-analysis," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 226-229.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hechmi Najjar & Chaker Najar, 2023. "From relational benefits to consumer loyalty across international perspective: a meta-analytic structural equation modeling," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(3), pages 470-489, September.
    2. Utkarsh, & Gupta, Roopak Kumar, 2022. "Effects of confidence and social benefits on consumers’ extra-role and in-role behaviors: A social identity and social exchange perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Pradeep Kautish & Arpita Khare & Rajesh Sharma, 2022. "Health insurance policy renewal: an exploration of reputation, performance, and affect to understand customer inertia," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(3), pages 261-278, September.
    4. Wenli Zou, Lili & Kin (Bennett) Yim, Chi & Wa Chan, Kimmy, 2022. "How firms can create delightful customer experience? Contrasting roles of future reward uncertainty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 477-490.
    5. Janine Hobeika & Insaf Khelladi & Mehmet A. Orhan, 2022. "Analyzing the corporate social responsibility perception from customer relationship quality perspective. An application to the retail banking sector," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(6), pages 2053-2064, November.
    6. Alexander B. Pratt & Stacey G. Robinson & Clay M. Voorhees & Joyce (Feng) Wang & Michael D. Giebelhausen, 2023. "Unintended effects of price promotions: Forgoing competitors’ price promotions strengthens incumbent brand loyalty," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1143-1164, September.
    7. S.Sarifah Radiah Shariff, 2023. "Conceptualising Loyalty Benefits as the Relational benefits perceived by Malaysian Automotive manufacturers," GATR Journals gjbssr634, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    8. Vieira, Valter Afonso & Rafael, Diego Nogueira & Agnihotri, Raj, 2022. "Augmented reality generalizations: A meta-analytical review on consumer-related outcomes and the mediating role of hedonic and utilitarian values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 170-184.
    9. Leckie, Civilai & Dwivedi, Abhishek & Johnson, Lester W., 2023. "Credibility and price premium-based competitiveness for industrial brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Mortimer, Gary & Fazal-e-Hasan, Syed Muhammad & Strebel, Judi, 2021. "Examining the consequences of customer-oriented deviance in retail," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    11. Alex Belli & Anne-Maree O’Rourke & François A. Carrillat & Ljubomir Pupovac & Valentyna Melnyk & Ekaterina Napolova, 2022. "40 years of loyalty programs: how effective are they? Generalizations from a meta-analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 147-173, January.
    12. Desveaud, Kathleen & Mandler, Timo & Eisend, Martin, 2024. "A meta-model of customer brand loyalty and its antecedents," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    13. John Hulland & Mark B. Houston, 2020. "Why systematic review papers and meta-analyses matter: an introduction to the special issue on generalizations in marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 351-359, May.
    14. Afonso Vieira, Valter & Wolter, Jeremy S. & Falcão Araujo, Clécio & Saraiva Frio, Ricardo, 2023. "What makes the corporate social responsibility impact on Customer–Company identification stronger? A meta-analysis," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 475-492.
    15. Phuong T. Nguyen & Hieu V. Cao & Hiep M. Phuoc & Phong T. Tran, 2022. "Effects of Relational Benefits in the Model of Customers’ Benefits and Relationship Quality in Vietnam," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.
    16. Miao, Yumeng & Du, Rong & Ou, Carol, 2022. "Guanxi circles and light entrepreneurship in social commerce : The roles of mass entrepreneurship climate and technology affordances," Other publications TiSEM f19a203f-abb6-4835-9c34-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Krishen, Anjala S. & Berezan, Orie & Agarwal, Shaurya & Kachen, Sheen, 2023. "Affective commitment recipes for wine clubs: Value goes beyond the vine," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

    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. Joana César Machado & Beatriz Fonseca & Carla Martins, 2021. "Brand logo and brand gender: examining the effects of natural logo designs and color on brand gender perceptions and affect," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 152-170, March.
    2. Nadeem, Waqar & Al-Imamy, Saifeddin, 2020. "Do ethics drive value co-creation on digital sharing economy platforms?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    3. Nadeem, Waqar & Juntunen, Mari & Shirazi, Farid & Hajli, Nick, 2020. "Consumers’ value co-creation in sharing economy: The role of social support, consumers’ ethical perceptions and relationship quality," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Ming-Hui Huang & Roland T. Rust, 2017. "Technology-driven service strategy," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 906-924, November.
    5. Cristina Robledo-Ardila & Juan Pablo Román-Calderón, 2022. "Potential: in search for meaning, theory and avenues for future research a systematic review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 149-186, February.
    6. 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.
    7. Mohammad Nurul Alam & Osarodion Ogiemwonyi & Ibrahim. E. Hago & Noor Azlinna Azizan & Fariza Hashim & Md Sazzad Hossain, 2023. "Understanding Consumer Environmental Ethics and the Willingness to Use Green Products," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440221, January.
    8. Mireia Ercilla-Montserrat & David Sanjuan-Delmás & Esther Sanyé-Mengual & Laura Calvet-Mir & Karla Banderas & Joan Rieradevall & Xavier Gabarrell, 2019. "Analysis of the consumer’s perception of urban food products from a soilless system in rooftop greenhouses: a case study from the Mediterranean area of Barcelona (Spain)," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(3), pages 375-393, September.
    9. Inman, J. Jeffrey & Nikolova, Hristina, 2017. "Shopper-Facing Retail Technology: A Retailer Adoption Decision Framework Incorporating Shopper Attitudes and Privacy Concerns," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 7-28.
    10. Shyh-Ming Huang & Shyh-Rong Fang & Shih-Chieh Fang & Chao-Chin Huang, 2016. "The influences of brand benefits on brand loyalty: Intermediate mechanisms," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(1), pages 141-160, February.
    11. José M. Ramírez-Hurtado & Alfredo G. Hernández-Díaz & Ana D. López-Sánchez & Víctor E. Pérez-León, 2021. "Measuring Online Teaching Service Quality in Higher Education in the COVID-19 Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-14, March.
    12. Aysun Ata Aktürk & Hasibe Özlen Demircan, 2018. "Development of Preschool Children Sibling Rivalry Scale (PSRS)," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(1), pages 117-136, February.
    13. Lena Steinhoff & Denni Arli & Scott Weaven & Irina V. Kozlenkova, 2019. "Online relationship marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 369-393, May.
    14. Agnieszka Zablocki & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Michael J. Houston, 2019. "How valence, volume and variance of online reviews influence brand attitudes," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77, June.
    15. Bartikowski, Boris & Richard, Marie-Odile & Gierl, Heribert, 2023. "Fit or misfit of culture in marketing communication? Development of the culture-ladenness fit index," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    16. Simon, Françoise, 2017. "Relationship norms and media gratification in relational brand communication," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 12-22.
    17. Lucinda Austin & Barbara Miller Gaither, 2019. "Redefining fit: examining CSR company-issue fit in stigmatized industries," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(1), pages 9-20, January.
    18. Christenson, Brett & Ringler, Christine & Sirianni, Nancy J., 2023. "Speaking fast and slow: How speech rate of digital assistants affects likelihood to use," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    19. Grigorios, Lamprinakos & Magrizos, Solon & Kostopoulos, Ioannis & Drossos, Dimitrios & Santos, David, 2022. "Overt and covert customer data collection in online personalized advertising: The role of user emotions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 308-320.
    20. Nogata, Daisuke, 2022. "Determinants of household switching between natural gas suppliers: Evidence from Japan," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    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:spr:joamsc:v:48:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11747-019-00701-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.