The Dimensions of Pet-Owner Loyalty and the Relationship with Communication, Trust, Commitment and Perceived Value

Abstract

Loyalty is one of the greatest intangible assets that any organization can possess and improving client loyalty is a primary marketing goal that can have a significant financial impact on any business. This quantitative study examined the mediating role of communication on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty (attitudinal and behavioral) in veterinary clinics, along with the moderating roles of trust, commitment, perceived value, and relational characteristics. Responses collected from 351 pet-owners through social media were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that attitudinal loyalty (AL) has a strong positive relationship with communication at multiple points in a veterinary clinic, whereas the relationship with behavioral loyalty (BL) was not as clear. Additional findings suggest that AL, which is influenced by trust in the veterinarian, communication from staff members and commitment, has a strong positive relationship with behavioral intentions, increases the number of products and services that a pet-owner consumes at his or her primary veterinary clinic, and attenuates the role of cost in receiving veterinary care. These findings can help veterinary clinic owners and managers in developing and implementing relationship strategies that improve pet-owner loyalty.

Being Nice Is Not Enough-Exploring Relationship-Centered Veterinary Care With Structural Equation Modeling. A Quantitative Study on German Pet Owners' Perception

“…Therefore, it should become a goal for the veterinary profession to satisfy the need for information and encourage pet owners to develop higher levels of health literacy by providing appropriate information materials. Thus, not only the pet owners take advantage from improved information giving as they feel understood and confident to support a good health care for their pets: Also veterinarians may gain from being a good partner in medical decisions in economic ways (77) as well as in dealing with pet owners interpersonally.…”

Value Co-creation in Third-Party Managed Virtual Communities and Brand Equity

“…Likewise, the close relationship established between consumers and service providers during the service favors the collaboration between actors (Revilla-Camacho et al, 2015;Cossío-Silva et al, 2016), such that the study of co-creation in the services literature has also been frequent (Chen et al, 2012), mainly in the tourism sector (Mathis et al, 2016). An example of this is the involvement of the users in their experience, when they design, together with the service provider, the activities of a trip, the places to visit, etc.…”

Marketing in German Veterinary Practices

“…Additionally, in the last decade the way the vets communicate with their clients changed drastically from a monologue, where the vet is giving orders, to the vet in dialogue with the client (Blättner and Matzner, 2010;Brown, 2018). The client is not exclusively relying on the education or position of a veterinarian any more.…”

“…The customer relationship has to be balanced out with the knowledge of the staff and the veterinary surgeons. A veterinary surgeon can be high class but if he fails to communicate efficiently with the customer, the animal owner could perceive the value of the vet's services in a different way than perceived by the veterinary professional (Brown, 2018;Clarke and Chapman, 2012). Corporate companies know about the importance of marketing and employ specialists in marketing to analyse the market trends and to develop new services and products to promote their sales.…”