دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی تاثیر احساسات مثبت و منفی بر اهداف وفاداری - الزویر 2017

ABSTRACT

Customer equity drivers (CEDs) include value, brand, and relationship equity, which have a strong link with loyalty intentions. This study aims to examine the incremental effects of positive and negative emotions on loyalty intentions and to determine whether these emotions moderate the positive link between CEDs and loyalty intentions. We use customer data with 102 leading firms across eighteen services industries in the Netherlands. The results show that (1) positive and negative emotions have incremental effects on loyalty intentions, (2) positive emotions weaken the positive link (negative interaction), and (3) negative emotions strengthen the positive link, but only for brand and relationship equity (positive interaction). Thus, positive and negative emotions also explain loyalty intentions. However, managers should be cautious when combining CEDs with positive and negative emotions. We provide a strategic matrix to help managers arrive at effective combinations.

Discussion

Theoretical implications

This study investigates the incremental effects of positive and negative emotions on loyalty intentions and their moderating effects on the links between CEDs and loyalty intentions. The results show that (1) positive and negative emotions incrementally influence loyalty intentions when accounting for the effects of CEDs, (2) positive emotions weaken the effects of CEDs (negative interaction), and (3) negative emotions strengthen the effects of BE and RE (positive interaction).

Incremental effects of customer emotion

Integral emotions are relevant to the focal firm because they are generated by the focal firm and more likely to be perceived as a valid source of customer decisions (Pham, 2007). Consistent with the studies in Table 1, we found that short-lived emotions evoked from recent experiences influence loyalty intentions. The data further confirm that positive and negative emotions are two independent loyalty drivers, which are also distinct constructs from CEDs. This is consistent with the notion that positive and negative emotions are independent dimensions (e.g., Diener & Emmons, 1985). Emotions should be measured in unipolar scales to better capture how positive and negative emotions influence customers' loyalty decisions. However, research knows little about why positive and negative emotions are independent (Warr et al., 1983). A potential explanation lies in desired and undesired events generating positive and negative emotions, respectively, which may not be related to each other (e.g., Warr et al., 1983). For example, a customer can be annoyed by a firm's noisy store but impressed by its frontline employees who patiently help customers, thus showing that the undesired (noisy store) and desired (helpful frontline employees) events are not exactly correlated. In the end, generated positive and negative emotions may independently co-exist within this customer and jointly explain the variance of loyalty decisions. This explanation needs to be empirically tested to provide further insights into and solid evidence of the independence of positive and negative emotions.