On the relationship between perceived service quality, service loyalty and switching costs
Abstract
In the services marketing literature it has been argued that the concept of service loyalty needs further conceptual and empirical investigation. In this paper a theoretical framework for service loyalty consisting of three dimensions: preference loyalty; price indifference loyalty; and dissatisfaction response is developed. We subsequently focus on the role of service quality and switching costs as antecedents to these types of service loyalty. The results of an empirical study of a large sample of customers from five different service industries provide support for service loyalty as a three-dimensional construct. Moreover, we find that the influence of service quality on service loyalty varies significantly per industry and that, hence, findings from one industry cannot be generalised to other industries. Furthermore, we establish that in industries characterised by relatively low switching costs, customers will be less loyal as compared to service industries with relatively high switching costs.
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Higher perceived switching costs make changing service providers costly and create customer dependency on the provider.
“Increased level of perceived switching costs makes altering service providers costly and ensures a dependency of the customer on the service provider (Ruyter et al. 1998; Weerahandi and Moitra 1995).”
From Health insurance policy renewal: an exploration of reputation, performance, and affect to understand customer inertia (2022) · cites this paper as Ruyter et al. 1998
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- Authors
- de Ruyter, K., Wetzels, M., & Bloemer, J.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Transnational University Limburg (BE)
- ORCID
- Wetzels, Martin
- Venue
- International Journal of Service Industry Management
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 1998-12-01
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 436-453
- ISSN
- 0956-4233 (ISSN-L)
- 1758-6704
- OpenAlex
- W2124815418
- Cited by
- 564
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 42
- FWCI
- 8.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Service Industry Management (publishedVersion)
- TU/e Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- TU/e Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- Document Server@UHasselt (UHasselt) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Service and Product Innovation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Customer churn and segmentation
- Keywords
- service loyalty, perceived service quality, switching costs, customer dissatisfaction, service sector, industry differences
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