Title: An empirical investigation of the mediating role of relationship marketing skills on the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty

Authors: Mamoun N. Akroush; Amjad A. Abu ELSamen

Addresses: Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business Administration, The German-Jordanian University, P.O. Box 921951, Amman, 11192, Jordan. ' Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11192, Jordan

Abstract: The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction dimensions (overall, functional, and technical customer satisfaction) and customers' loyalty through examining the mediating role of relationship marketing skills in mobile service operators (MSO) in Jordan. Data were collected from 1,350 mobile service subscribers from which 1,007 were valid for analysis. Structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed model. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the customer satisfaction construct consists of three dimensions (overall satisfaction, functional satisfaction, and technical satisfaction). We found that customer satisfaction dimensions positively affect customer loyalty. Technical customer satisfaction and overall customer satisfaction dimensions exert the strongest influence on customer loyalty, respectively. It was also found that relationship marketing skills partially mediate the relationship between customer satisfaction dimensions and customer loyalty. Managerial implications were also addressed indicating that achieving customer satisfaction is not sufficient to enhance customer loyalty; employees should have relationship marketing skills to enhance customer loyalty. Our research is the first attempt to investigate the relationship between customer satisfaction dimensions and customer loyalty through the mediation role of relationship marketing skills either in Jordan or other developing countries.

Keywords: customer satisfaction; internet marketing; customer relationship management; CRM; mobile communications; customer loyalty; Jordan; mobile services; m-services; structural equation modelling; relationship marketing skills; developing countries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2012.044956

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2012 Vol.7 No.1, pp.1 - 30

Published online: 04 Sep 2014 *

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