Title: Investigating the consumer-brand relationships' development for technology-mediated self-services using the relationship commitment paradigm

Authors: Apostolos N. Giovanis; Dimitris Zondiros; Petros Tomaras

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Agiou Spiridonos Str., 12210 Athens, Greece ' Department of Marketing, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Agiou Spiridonos Str., 12210 Athens, Greece ' Department of Marketing, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Agiou Spiridonos Str., 12210 Athens, Greece

Abstract: The current study proposes the combination of two well-established theoretical streams of the relationship commitment paradigm: the relationship investment model and the commitment-trust theory to explain brand loyalty of technology-mediated self-services users. Data were collected from a survey of 573 customers of mobile internet service providers and were analysed using PLS. The results indicated that brand loyalty is determined by commitment towards the provider, which, in turn, is influenced by the consumer-brand relationship components of trust, satisfaction, investment size, and quality of alternatives. Finally, both trust and investment size enhance the impact of customer satisfaction on relationship commitment, meaning that satisfied customers have confidence to their providers, and they are willing to invest and become committed to this relationship. Theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and suggestions for further research are provided at the end of the study.

Keywords: brand loyalty; relationship investment model; commitment-trust model; relationship management; mobile broadband; internet services; mobile internet; consumer-brand relationships; technology-mediated self-service; relationship commitment; trust; investment size; customer satisfaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2016.080167

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2016 Vol.10 No.3, pp.186 - 206

Received: 27 Mar 2015
Accepted: 20 Apr 2016

Published online: 06 Nov 2016 *

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