Customer‐service firm attachment: what it is and what causes it?
International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences
ISSN: 1756-669X
Article publication date: 30 August 2013
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to: conceptualize customer‐service firm attachment; as well as to propose a theoretical framework that provides insights into the formation and development of affectionate ties in customer‐service firm relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Toward these two goals, the authors integrate conclusions from a multidisciplinary literature that covers attachment theory, brand attachment, and place attachment.
Findings
The authors formally define customer‐service firm attachment as the emotional bond connecting a customer with a service firm. They offer a conceptual framework that assumes that customer satisfaction, service quality, customer trust towards the service firm and its personnel, customer‐firm image congruence, and positive emotions felt during the service experience are the main drivers of customer‐service firm attachment.
Research limitations/implications
Notwithstanding the fact that this article remains conceptual in spirit, it provides several theoretical and managerial implications.
Originality/value
This article reviews and merges the latest insights from diverse attachment theories and concepts in diverse disciplines (i.e. social psychology, environmental psychology, leisure science, consumer behavior, and marketing). It also presents attachment styles as a new consumer segmenting criteria.
Keywords
Citation
Moussa, S. and Touzani, M. (2013), "Customer‐service firm attachment: what it is and what causes it?", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 337-359. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-01-2013-0002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited