Title: The drivers of customer satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty among Chinese consumers

Authors: Yun Chu; Arturo Z. Vasquez-Parraga; Jianyu Ma

Addresses: School of Business, Robert Morris University, 6001 University Boulevard, Moon Township, PA 15108-1189, USA ' Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 1201 West University Drive, Edinburg, Texas 78539-2999, USA ' School of Business, Robert Morris University, 6001 University Boulevard, Moon Township, PA 15108-1189, USA

Abstract: This study: 1) investigates key factors driving customer satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty among Chinese consumers; 2) builds a model that reflects the way Chinese consumers develop and maintain customer satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty; 3) tests hypotheses representing the relationships in the model. A cross-sectional survey method is employed to study the impact of nine factors identified as consumer characteristics reflective of the Chinese value system on four key variables in customer relationships: customer satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty among Chinese consumers. The results show that three drivers have a significant effect on customer satisfaction or trust, and that other drivers, including two unique Chinese characteristics, Ren Qing and Mian Zi, do not convey a significant influence on trust or the other measures of customer relationships. The implications for both academia and practitioners are presented.

Keywords: Chinese customer loyalty; satisfaction; trust; commitment; Ren Qing (reciprocal obligation); Mian Zi (face); systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2021.118775

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2021 Vol.15 No.6, pp.807 - 821

Received: 19 Jan 2020
Accepted: 28 Jan 2020
Published online: 06 Nov 2021 *

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