Pillars of Customer Retention in the Services Sector: Understanding the Role of Relationship Marketing, Customer Satisfaction, and Customer Loyalty

Mazhar Hussain, Asad Javed (), Samar Hayat Khan () and Muhammad Yasir ()
Additional contact information
Mazhar Hussain: Hazara University
Asad Javed: Hazara University
Samar Hayat Khan: Galiyat Development Authority
Muhammad Yasir: Hazara University

Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, No 71, 2047-2067

Abstract: Abstract This research aims to examine the impact of relationship marketing on customer retention, as well as the moderating role of customer loyalty and the mediating role of customer satisfaction by means of relationship marketing theory. In today’s business climate, companies of all sizes and types prioritize customer retention and acquisition. Customer retention, satisfaction, and loyalty are essential for a company’s profitability and growth, whereas building strong, long-term relationships with customers is at the core of relationship marketing. Developing trust, commitment, communication, and conflict management skills are all essential components of fostering these relationships, which ultimately result in increased customer satisfaction and retention. The study population consisted of 5276 employees working at different courier services offices across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. A sample size of 385 was calculated using the Krejcie and Morgan sampling formula, and data were collected through self-administered questionnaires adapted from previous studies. The data-driven results indicate a positive relationship between relationship marketing, customer satisfaction, and customer retention in the services sector of Pakistan. Additionally, customer satisfaction mediates this relationship, while customer loyalty moderates it. These results have significant implications for companies seeking to retain and satisfy their customers.

Keywords: Relationship marketing; Customer retention; Customer loyalty; Customer satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13132-024-02060-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-024-02060-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/13132

DOI: 10.1007/s13132-024-02060-2

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Knowledge Economy is currently edited by Elias G. Carayannis

More articles in Journal of the Knowledge Economy from Springer, Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().