Necessary and sufficient antecedents of customer loyalty to logistics service providers

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically study the necessary and sufficient antecedents of customer loyalty to logistics service providers (LSPs). Despite the abundance of loyalty studies, few studies have empirically examined the complex causal relationships between loyalty and its antecedents using the appropriate research methods. Design/methodology/approach The study uses fuzzy sets qualitative comparison analysis (FsQCA) to uncover the antecedents and antecedent configurations of customer loyalty. This study examined the necessity and sufficiency of five antecedents (operational collaboration, strategic collaboration, trust, service satisfaction and price satisfaction) and on five dimensions of loyalty (repurchase intension, switching costs, exclusiveness, referrals and overall loyalty). This study developed six research hypotheses based on existing literature and tested them empirically in a manufacturing context. This study compared results from FsQCA with regression analysis. Findings The findings reveal that only a few antecedent configurations lead to customer loyalty, including a combination of strategic and operational collaboration, bundling of service offerings and combining competitive price with strategic collaboration. Further, the absence of trust negatively affects loyalty, but the presence of trust does not lead to loyalty. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to business to business literature by demonstrating how to use FsQCA analysis to test the presence of equifinality, conjunction and causal asymmetry of complex relationships. This study applies FsQCA between antecedent factors and customer loyalty. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to compare and integrate FsQCA with conventional regression analysis which is based on correlation-bounded logic. Practical implications This study shows that no single antecedents that can generate loyalty, yet, few antecedent configurations work better than others: collaborating at both strategic and operational level with your partner has the highest impact on loyalty. Another configuration that leads to loyalty is to combine competitive prices with strategic collaboration, which particularly stimulates repurchase decisions. Price is are not sufficient enough to lead to customer loyalty. Originality/value This study applied a novel analysis to uncover necessary and sufficient conditions that conventional methods such as regression analysis and structural equation modelling have limited power.

Survival strategies of SMEs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: application of SEM and fsQCA

“…Till now, only a few empirical research of SME’s survival strategy in the context of COVID −19 pandemic have applied multi-method to study the necessity and sufficient condition despite many studies arrive assertions base on single method only (Juergensen et al , 2020; Omar et al , 2020; Fabeil et al , 2020). Thus, the research is one of the timely contributions in the literature that not only explain the causality but also established “equifinality”, “multiple conditions” and “causal asymmetry” (Vlachos, 2021) to explain SME’s survival strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…The symmetric association assumptions include the interaction effect between independent and dependent variables (Skarmeas et al , 2014). The asymmetric association specifies the causal settings, which comprise more than one group, that prove different results (Ragin, 2008; Woodside, 2014; Vlachos, 2021). The research design includes appropriate planning for sampling and data collection, data analysis processes and interpretation of the results.…”

Addressing how small suppliers cope with large customers: using the dual dimension of a product portfolio and customer buying center

“…This data was retrieved from the qualitative data to investigate how product typology influences suppliers' relational strategies with their large customers. We decided to apply the well-established fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach for business-to-business studies (Ferrigno et al, 2021;Ho and Plewa, 2020;Vlachos, 2021). This method was appropriate for our study because we sought correlation relationships, not a cause-and-effect relationship (see Appendix 2 for a detailed overview of the fsQCA approach).…”

“…As Vis (2012) indicates, correlation conditions and outcomes in fsQCA analyses are, respectively, similar to the input variables and the output variables in a regression analysis. A correlation condition is necessary if its occurrence is a prerequisite for an outcome.…”

If you don't care, I will switch: online retailers' behaviour on third-party logistics services

“…Creating loyalty among Logistics Service Providers (LSP) customers is highly challenging. Although many empirical studies have highlighted the subject, LSP managers still require direction and insight on how to build and maintain loyal customers (Vlachos, 2020). Due to intense competition, customer retention has become a significant concern in numerous service industries (Mosavi et al ., 2018).…”