Exploring two explanations of loyalty in application service provision

Sigi Goode, Chinho Lin, Walter Fernandez and James J. Jiang

European Journal of Operational Research, 2014, vol. 237, issue 2, 649-657

Abstract: While the application service provider (ASP) market continues to grow, it is fiercely competitive, and ASPs encounter difficulties in retaining customers and achieving long-term profitability. One stream of prior literature suggests that customer loyalty is driven by service quality, while another argues that loyalty is driven by partnerships between the firms. However, to date these competing explanations have not been tested together in the ASP context. This empirical study contributes to the literature by unifying these two previously separate streams of research on customer loyalty. Using a survey of 135 ASP clients, we find a significant relationship between the service quality perspective and the partnership perspective. We thus argue that service loyalty models ought to include both of these constructs in order to effectively explain service loyalty.

Keywords: OR in service industries; Application service provider; Partnership; Service quality; Trust; Loyalty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ejores:v:237:y:2014:i:2:p:649-657

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2014.02.003

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