Suchergebnisse

To manage their competitive goals, e-tourism service companies, in direct and in indirect channels respectively, need to know the antecedents of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty, generated by satisfaction in its various forms, is the cornerstone of the company's assets and financial sustainability. Current literature does not provide a comparative analysis on this issue. To fill this gap, this research presents a model that includes customer satisfaction and participation as the main drivers of customer loyalty. The empirical research relies on one survey conducted by a market research company addressed to Internet users in Spain with experience in online purchases of tourism products. The estimation method is 3SLS (Three-Stage Least Squares), a simultaneous equations model applied to the database obtained. The results reveal a different potential of the two types of e-channels in producing higher levels of loyalty through customer participation. Increasing the participation of customers in indirect e-tourism channels results in higher returns on loyalty while the impact is lower in the direct channels. These findings are especially interesting for tourism service providers. ; The empirical work for this paper was also greatly facilitated by the group CREVALOR, supported by the DGA and the ESF, and co-funded by the European Investment Bank and the European Social Fund. Also supported by the Spanish Government funds ECO2015-65393-R.

This paper addresses two issues empirically that have been somewhat neglected in the marketing literature. The first one is whether or not basic marketing relationships at the establishment level are robust or stable to the realization of major events that change the market environm ent. The second one is whether after these events take place the marketing relationships for new establishments are the same or different from those of existing establishments. What allows us to address these issues is a combination of factors af fecting the operation of gas stations in Pamplona, Spain. We conducted a survey of gas stations in 1998 when prices of gasoline products were fixed by the government and a similar survey in 2007 when gas retail prices were set by market participant. This major change in market environment was the result of a price liberalization law. A comparison of the same establishments in the two surveys allows us to address the first issue identified above. A comparison of new establishments and existing ones in the most recent survey allows us to addr ess the second issue identified above. Briefly put, customer satisfaction and its determinants prove to have a robust, stable relationship with respect to the changed market environment during this nine year period. On the other hand, some aspects of the relation between future patronage intentions and its determinants are subs tantially altered by the changed market environment. The aspects that remain the same in both comparisons are, thus, geographically as well as inter-temporally stable. Those that change often can be associated with specific changes in the nature of the market for gas stations in Pamplona during this nine year period. ; The authors acknowledge financial support for this research from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science: Project SEJ2005-0663/ECON.