The reward gap in hierarchical loyalty programmes: how to enhance bottom-tier customers’ loyalty without alienating top-tier customers

Aïda Mimouni Chaabane and Virginie Pez ()
Additional contact information
Aïda Mimouni Chaabane: THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise - Université Paris-Seine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Virginie Pez: LARGEPA - Laboratoire de recherche en sciences de gestion Panthéon-Assas - UP2 - Université Panthéon-Assas, CRG I3 - Centre de recherche en gestion i3 - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - Université Paris-Saclay - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Reward gap is the difference in the number and nature of rewards allocated to specific customer groups (or tiers) in a hierarchical loyalty programme. Building on the social comparison, equity and attribution theories, and two experiments conducted in a retailing context, we investigate the effect of reward gap size and visibility on both bottom-tier (BT) and top-tier (TT) customers. Findings from Study 1 show that a large reward gap reduces loyalty to the programme in BT customers, while it enhances it in TT customers. These effects are mediated by perceived fairness and perceived control. Findings from Study 2 show that a non-visible large reward gap increases loyalty to the programme in BT customers without affecting it in TT customers. This effect is mediated only by perceived fairness. Altogether, the findings highlight the mechanisms that explain the effect of the reward gap on BT and TT customers' loyalty to the programme.

Keywords: Hierarchical loyalty programmes; bottom-tier customers; top-tier customers; reward gap; perceived fairness; perceived control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-01-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of Marketing Management, 2020, 36 (1-2), pp.51-71. ⟨10.1080/0267257X.2019.1694565⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:hal:journl:hal-02533311

DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2019.1694565

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().