Revisiting the Inter-relations of Service Quality & Customer Loyalty: An Empirical Examination of Effects on Two Dimensional Model of Loyalty

Abstract

The extensively researched and refined relationship between service quality and customer loyalty has found recognition under a wide variety of colloquiums and contexts. Service quality is conspicuous for its eminence in customer loyalty formulation in marketing literature rich with both relevant theoretical and empirical evidences (Boulding et al., 1993; Parasuraman et al., 1991; Zeithaml et al., 1996). Studies have primarily investigated and established its impact over various dimensions of loyalty manifesting into repurchases, revisits, recommendations, etc. However, investigations into the association of service quality with individual dimensions of customer loyalty and the probable interaction effects affecting the shape or strength of such associations are clearly sparse.
The present paper aims at exploring and establishing the link between service quality and a two dimensional model of customer loyalty with reference to the life insurance industry in India. Further, it intends to review the relationship of customer loyalty with its prominent precursors - trust and customer satisfaction with a new perspective. A conceptual research proposition encompassing the effect of service quality on attitudinal
and behavioral dimensions of customer loyalty along with the potential interaction effects of trust and customer satisfaction in these relationships has been tested and presented by the study with intent to bring in fresh propositions and perspectives. The findings support the presence of these effects and call for approaching the goal of customer loyalty development with due consideration to the desired outcomes and the conditions required for cultivating them.