An Investigation of Mediating and Moderating Variables in Service Quality – Customer Loyalty Relationship: A Research Agenda

Customer Loyalty: Conceptual Dimension

Marketing literature has largely used the terms customer retention and customer loyalty to explain the same phenomenon (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990; Zeithaml et al., 1996). A quick observation of customer loyalty is repeat buying (Ball et al., 2004; Copeland, 1923; Newman & Werbel, 1973; Tellis & Chandy, 1998). Firm would want repeat purchases mainly because such behaviour in consumers can:

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  Apparently show the customer preference for a brand or product (Bowen and Shoemaker, 1998);

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  Reflect a customer’s purchase intention (Mellens et al., 1996); and

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  Presumably secure profitability (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990; Rust et al., 2004; Reinartz et al., 2005) by increasing market share (Chaudhuri & Holbrook 2001).