Exploring the Relationship of Customer Loyalty with Customer Value based on Trust, Customer Satisfaction and Switching Costs in a B2B Market

Abstract

Customer loyalty significantly impacts upon the success of business organization and it is considered an important source of competitive asset. Earlier, researchers have studied the relationship of customer loyalty, both patronage and recommend, with switching cost, customer satisfaction, customer value constructs in the context of business to consumer (B2C). This research study extends the previous research studies by relating these constructs in a business to business (B2B) environment. It aims to empirically test the relationship among these constructs and develops a framework for a B2B environment. The research methodology is quantitative in nature whereas convenience sampling method is adopted from a target population. A questionnaire is developed by using 31 items on a five-point Likert scale. Total 350 questionnaires are distributed during only 92 valid questionnaires are received thus the response rate is observed as 26.28%. The results of the research study show that the five  independent variables (customer satisfaction, customer value, switching costs, trust and prices) are significantly correlated with each other. Therefore, B2B marketing professionals should devise their marketing strategies accordingly.