earticle

영어

The importance of customer retention has been mentioned by several researchers and marketers. In recent years, loyalty programs using switching barriers are adopted widely. However, these programs based on switching cost are not always efficient and effective. This study attempts to identify the situational influence of switching cost on customer loyalty, especially focused on the moderating role of customer satisfaction and attractiveness of alternatives. The results show that switching costs influence significantly the customer loyalty in the situation which both customer satisfaction and attractiveness of alternatives are low. On the other hand, switching costs play a limited role to customer retention in the situation which customer satisfaction is low and attractiveness of alternatives is high.