Customer satisfaction, loyalty and commitment in service organizations: Some evidence from Greece

Abstract

Purpose

The present study attempts to contribute to the knowledge of how customer satisfaction, loyalty and commitment are defined and relate to each other in the Greek context.

Design/methodology/approach

It is based on 200 responses collected from 20 service providers in four service settings: financial services, retailing, entertainment and transportation services.

Findings

Both factor‐ and reliability analyses provided satisfactory results. Surprisingly, company satisfaction was not interpreted as a conceptually distinct construct from customer loyalty; a conceptual overlap also emerged between attitudinal loyalty and loyal behavioral actions such as word of mouth; whereas customer commitment was highly positively associated with loyalty (and satisfaction), according to expectations. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate potential moderating effects of gender and service setting on the satisfaction‐commitment and commitment‐loyalty relationships. Although significant differences were identified, both gender and service setting did not moderate the relationship between satisfaction and commitment and between commitment and loyalty in the sample studied.

Research limitations/implications

It may be relevant for future research to replicate the present study utilizing transaction‐specific and/or facet satisfaction measures instead of the overall, cumulative satisfaction construct employed in the present investigation. Moreover, incorporating measures of purchase loyalty and instrumental commitment as well as financial performance indices and use of longitudinal approaches in different sub‐sectors may also lead to an enhanced understanding of the dynamic nature of the variables analyzed.

Originality/value

While the relationship between customer loyalty and satisfaction as well as between commitment and customer loyalty are well understood in the literature, the inter‐relationships among these constructs are not so well illustrated. The discriminant validity of satisfaction and loyalty needs to be further investigated – highlighting potential effects of culture, method and measure variance. To the knowledge of the researcher no prior study has attempted to address these issues in the Greek context, unfamiliar to many readers.

Citation

Dimitriades, Z.S. (2006), "Customer satisfaction, loyalty and commitment in service organizations: Some evidence from Greece", Management Research News, Vol. 29 No. 12, pp. 782-800. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170610717817