外文翻译--在线和离线环境下客户的满意度和忠诚度(2)

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Keywords: Online markets; Satisfaction; Loyalty; Services, Internet; E-Commerce

1.Introduction

The rapid growth of online transactions in service industries raises important research questions about the levels of satisfaction and loyalty in the online environment, and the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty online relative to offline. Compared to the offline environment, the online environment offers more opportunities for interactive and personalized marketing (Wind and Rangaswamy, 2001). These opportunities may influence customer satisfaction and loyalty differently in the online environmentvis-a`-vis the offline environment.

Managers are concerned about how the online medium influences satisfaction and

loyalty and the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. Typically, online customers can more easily compare alternatives than offline customers, especially for functional products and services. A competing offer is just a few clicks away on the Internet. Because of these properties of the Web, many managers fear that the online medium may induce lower customer satisfaction and loyalty compared to the offline medium, and that increased satisfaction with a service may not lead to higher loyalty when that service is chosen online.

Some recent studies show that there may be systematic differences in customer attitudes and behavior for products and services chosen online versus offline. For example, price sensitivity may actually be lower online than offline (e.g., Degeratu, Rangaswamy,& Wu, 2000; Lynch & Ariely, 2000; Shankar,Rangaswamy, & Pusateri, 2001). Brand names (brand equity) could also have higher impact online than offline (Degeratu et al., 2000). Collectively, these studies suggest that a priori, customer satisfaction and loyalty for services may be different online (compared to offline), and not necessarily lower online. However, we do not know of any academic research that has carefully explored whether the online medium positively or negatively impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty (other things equal) and why.

Satisfaction and loyalty are not surrogates for each other (Bloemer & Kasper, 1995; Oliver, 1999). It is possible for a customer to be loyal without being highly satisfied (e.g., when there are few other choices) and to be highly satisfied and yet not be loyal (e.g., when many alternatives are available). Firms need to gain a better understanding of the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty in the online environment to allocate their online marketing efforts between satisfaction initiatives and loyalty programs. If, for example, the firm finds that loyalty is associated with increased satisfaction, it could directly focus on enhancing its loyalty programs. In this paper, we address the following questions: (1) For a given service, other things equal, are the levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty different when the service is chosen online as compared to offline? If yes, what factors might explain these differences? (2) Is the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty stronger or weaker online compared to the offline environment? To answer these questions, we develop a set of hypotheses based on a conceptual framework. To test the hypotheses, we formulate simultaneous equation models and estimate them using data from two sets of online and offline samples in the lodging sector of the travel industry. An important characteristic of industries such as online travel, entertainment (e.g., movie, theater, and concert tickets), and restaurant is that regardless of whether customers choose the service provider online or offline, the actual service is experienced by the customer

offline. This characteristic enables us to isolate the effects of the medium on satisfaction, separate from the effects of service attributes.

Prior research studies on satisfaction and loyalty have primarily been conducted in the offline environment. We extend previous research in many ways. First, to our knowledge, ours is the first empirical study to compare the effects of the medium (online versus offline) on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. Second, we study the reciprocal relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty that offers the potential for deeper insights into the nature of the relationship between these constructs. We also empirically test this reciprocal relationship. Much prior research has focused on the impact of customer satisfaction on loyalty, but not vice-versa. Third, unlike previous studies that have generally focused on action/behavioral loyalty, we focus explicitly on attitudinal loyalty to the service provider. Attitudinal loyalty is similar to affective/conative loyalty proposed by Oliver (1999) and represents a higher-order, or long-term, commitment of a customer to the organization, which cannot be inferred by merely observing customer repeat purchase behavior. Customer retention can occur without attitudinal loyalty, if for example, the customers are indifferent, or there are no other viable choices in the market.

2. Conceptual framework and research hypotheses

Consistent with Oliver (1999), we define satisfaction as the perception of pleasurable fulfillment of a service, and loyalty as deep commitment to the service provider. We focus on attitudinal loyalty, rather than on behavioral loyalty (Day, 1969; Dick & Basu, 1994) for the following reasons. A behaviorally loyal customer may be spuriously loyal, that is stay with an organization or service provider until he/she can find some better alternative in the marketplace (Dick & Basu, 1994). An attitudinally loyal customer, on the other hand, has some attachment or commitment to the organization and is not easily swayed by a slightly more attractive alternative. Attitudinal loyalty …… 此处隐藏：6200字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……