252 DEVELOPING A MODEL OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
CLAUDIABOBLC,OANACIOBANU UNIVERSITYALEXANDRUIOAN CUZAOF IAI,22nd
Carol1 STR.,IAI, ROMANIA, [email protected] Abstract: The
goal of this research is to develop and test a customer
satisfaction-loyalty model
fordirectsellingcompaniesofcosmeticproducts.Themaindeterminantsof
satisfaction are identified and measurement scales for each
construct are provided.The fundamental hypothesis is that there is
a direct relationship between satisfaction
andloyalty.Weconductedaqualitativeandaquantitativeresearch.The
satisfaction-loyalty model (which describes the relations between
the satisfaction determinantsandthedimensionsofloyalty)
istestedwithStructuralEquation Modeling (SEM), using Amos 16.0. The
sample is represented by 676 young buyers of cosmetic products from
direct selling companies. Key words: loyalty, satisfaction, SEM,
direct selling J EL classification: M31 INTRODUCTION
Inmarketingliteraturethereisaunanimousopinionregardingthemajor
importanceoftheunderstandingandthemaintainingofcustomersatisfactionand
loyalty.Satisfactionisdefinedaspleasurablefulfillment(Oliver,1997).Indirect
selling,satisfactionisanalyzedasacombinationbetweensatisfactiongeneratedbythe
salesman,theproduct,thecompanyandtheperceivedvalue(Musa,2005).Alturas,
SantosandPereira(2005)investigatethefactorsaffectingsatisfactionindirectselling
andtheresultsindicatealargelistofsuchfactorsas:trust,theavailabilityofthe
product,thecompanysimage,thevarietyoftheproducts,flexibility,convenience,
financialvalue,thespecificoftheproduct,professionalism,buyingpressure,
demographiccharacteristics,customersexperiencewiththecompany,theproductsand
thesalesmanandtheperceivedrisk.Musa(2005)testsamodelofsatisfactionand
loyaltyindirectsellingandshowsthatgeneralsatisfactionisgeneratedbythe
satisfactionwiththesalesmanandtheproducts.Also,generalsatisfactionhasapositive
impactonattitudinalandactionloyalty.Satisfactionisanecessarystepinconstructing
loyalty(Oliver,1999,p.160)andisoftenusedasapredictoroffuturebuyingora
majordeterminateof loyalty(De Wulf,1999; Ranaweera,Prabhu,2003).
OneofthemostciteddefinitionsofloyaltyistheoneofJacobyandChestnut
(1978),whoseethisprocessasabehaviorresultofconsumerspreferencesfora
specificbrandfromasetofsimilarbrands.DickandBasu(1994,p.99)defineloyalty
asthecustomerloyaltyisviewedasthestrengthoftherelationshipbetweenan
individualsrelativeattitudeandtheirrepeatpatronage.Inmarketingresearch
literature,loyaltyisinvestigatedasacomponentofone(generalloyalty),two
(attitudinalandbehavioral)orfourdimensions(cognitive,affective,conative,action).
EvanschitzkyandWunderlich(2006)definecognitiveloyaltyastheevaluationofthe
companyoraproductattributesperformance.Theyalsodefineaffectiveloyaltyasan
emotionalgeneralevaluationandconativeloyaltyasthebehavioralintentionofthe
customertocontinuetobuyonecompanysproducts.Actionloyaltyincludes:saying
positivethingsaboutthecompanytoothers,recommendingthecompanyorserviceto
253
others,payingapricepremiumtothecompany,expressingapreferenceforacompany
over others,continuingto purchasefromit(Zeithamlet al.,1996, p.34).
Althoughsatisfactionisconsideredthemostimportantpredictorofloyalty
(Oliver,1999;DeWulf,1999),mostcommoninloyaltyresearch,mostofthemodels
dontinvestigatethefactorsaffectingsatisfaction,especiallyindirectselling.Themost
commonfactorsincludedinsatisfaction-loyaltymodelsareperceivedqualityand
perceivedvalue(Rowley,2005).
Inthiscontext,in2010,weconductedaresearchtoidentifythefactors
affectingcustomersatisfactionfordirectsellingcosmeticsproducts,ontheRomanian
market.Inordertocreatetheresearchinstrument,weorganized31depthinterviews
withdirectcosmeticssellersand29depthinterviewswithcustomerswhobuycosmetic
productsfromthosecompanies.Thesurveyconsistedincollectingdatafrom813young
buyers,studentsofAlexandruIoanCuzaUniversityofIasi.The49itemsevaluatingthe
customersexperiencewiththedirectsellingcompanyareallformativeitemsandthey
measuredifferentdimensionsofcustomersatisfaction.Weusedratedona7-point
Likertscales,with1fortotaldisagreementand7fortotalagreement.Inorderto
identifythefactorsgeneratingsatisfactionasaconstructofloyalty,weusedexploratory
factoranalysiswithSPSS17.0withcommonfactorsanalysisandtheextractionmethod
wasPrincipalAxisFactoring(PAF).Thefinalscalereliabilityismeasuredbyinternal
consistency.TheCronbachalphavalueis0.93,indicatingagoodinternalconsistency
(Malhotra,1998).WechooseKaisercriteriontoselectthenumberofcommonfactors
(eigenvaluesgraterthan1) (Malhotra,1998).
Thefinaldimensionsofsatisfaction,thepercentageofthetotalvariance
explainedbyeachfactorandtheinternalconsistencyoftheirscalesarepresentedinthe
table1. Table 1: Dimensions of satisfaction
Thenextstepistoinvestigatetherelationbetweenthesefactorsandconsumer
loyalty.Loyaltyismeasuredbyitsfourdimensions:cognitive,affective,conativeand
action.A satisfaction-loyaltymodelisproposed and tested.
RESEARCHHYPOTHESES
Thepurposeofthisstudyistobuildandtotestacustomersatisfactionloyalty
modelfordirectsellingcosmeticcompanies. Hypotheses
AlthoughDickandBasu(1994)anticipatedtheexistenceofmorethanonestepin
attitudinalloyaltyprocess,thefirstmultidimensionalmodelisadvancedbyOliver
(1997).Thisisacomplexclose-upviewandthemodelstestingthefourdimensionsof
loyaltyareveryfewinresearchliterature(Harris,Goode,2004;Evanschitzky,
Wunderlich,2006) and noneindirectsellingarea.DimensionPercentage of
variance explained Internal consistency 1. Personalization of the
relation33,76%0,883 2. The experience withthe products6,78%0,739 3.
Easiness of buying5,54%0,680 4. The reflectionof the brandon self
image4,18%0,860 5. The professionalismof the salesman3,19%0,830 254
Therefore,
H1:Customerloyaltyisaprocessmadebyfourdistinctphases:cognitive,
affective, conative and action
Thereisageneralopinionwhichsustainsthatsatisfactionisanecessarystepin
constructingloyalty(Oliver,1999,p.160;Torres-Moraga,et.al,2008;DeWulf,1999;
Musa,2005;Ranaweera,Prabhu,2003).Wedidnotidentifymodelswithfactors
affectingsatisfactionanddifferentstagesofloyaltyindirectsellingmarketingliterature.
Weknowhoweverthatgeneralsatisfactionisdeterminedbythesatisfactionregarding
thesalesmanandtheproductsandalsothatgeneralsatisfactionhasapositiveeffecton
attitudinalandactionloyalty(Alturas,Santos,Pereira,2005).Inthiscontext,weposit
thateach dimensionof satisfactionhasa positiveeffecton
loyalty.Therefore,
H2:Personalizationoftherelationhasapositiveeffectonloyalty(cognitive,
affective, conative, action)
H3:Experiencewiththeproductshasapositiveeffectonloyalty(cognitive,
affective, conative, action)
H4:Easinessofbuyinghasapositiveeffectonloyalty(cognitive,affective,
conative, action) H5: Reflection of the brand on self imagehas a
positive effect on loyalty (cognitive, affective, conative, action)
H6:Theprofessionalismofthesalesmanhas a positive effect on loyalty
(cognitive, affective, conative, action)
Basedontheliteraturereviewandourpreviousstudydescribedinthefirstpartofthis
article,we presenta researchmodelforthisstudy(figure1). RESEARCH
METHOD Sampledata
Weusedbothqualitativeandquantitativeresearch.First,weconducted29depth
interviews.Depthinterviewisconsideredoneofthemostpowerfulmethodsusedto
investigateapersonexperience.Thismethodisusedinotherstudiesforcosmetics
products(Alturasetal.,2005).Thepurposeofthequalitativestudywastoanswerthe
question:whicharethemainelementwhichinfluencethebuyertorepeatthe
acquisitionofthecosmeticsproductsfromthesamecompany?Theinformationwas
usedtochoosethemostadequatescalesformeasuringloyalty.Thesecondstepwasa
surveybasedonaquestionnaire.Thesampleisformedby676youngstudentsof
AlexandruIoanCuzaUniversityofIasiwhooftenbuycosmeticproductsfordirect
sellingcompaniesandwhoboughtleastoneproductinthelastthreemonths(Suh,Yi,
2006).Allresponseswereassessedonseven-pointLikertscalesrangingfrom1
(stronglydisagree)to7(stronglyagree).Wechooseseven-pointLikertscalebecauseis
moredetailedand reducesthe probabilityto
obtainextremeanswers(Yuksel,2001). Variablemeasures
Thelatentvariablesrepresentingthedimensionsofsatisfactionaremeasured
withthescalesidentifiedbyusingexploratoryfactoranalysisinourfirststudy
presentedintheintroduction.Inordertomeasurethefourdimensionsofloyalty,weuse
andadaptscalesfromthemarketingresearchliterature.Noneofthestudies
investigatingthefourdimensionsofloyalty(Sivadas,Backer-Prewitt,2000;Harris,
Goode,2004;Evanschitzky,Wunderlich,2006)isfocusedondirectsellingandthatis
255 whyweusedfourscalesfromdifferentstudieswhichweconsideredthemost
appropriatedwiththeresultsof qualitativeresearch. Figure1.The
research model
ThescaleforcognitiveloyaltyisbasedontheworkofHarrisand Goode (2004)
whotestaloyaltymodelforon-linebuyingbehavior.Inordertomeasureaffective
loyaltyweconsiderthatthemostadequatescaleistheonevalidatedbyQuesterand
Lim,(2003).ForconativeloyaltyweusedthescaleofEvanschitzkyandWunderlich
(2006,p.336),adaptedfromZeithaml,BerryandParasuraman(1996).Thescalefor
actionloyaltyisadjustedfromZeithaml,BerryandParasuraman(1996).Allthescales
arepresentedintheAppendixA.Thequestionnaireistestedon40personsfromthe
sample. RESULTS
Dataanalysisproceedswiththespecificationofthemeasurementmodel
followedbythespecificationofthestructuralmodel.Modelidentificationisachieved
accordingtotherecursiverule.ThereliabilityofthescalesismeasuredwithCronbach
alpha().Thevaluesarehigherthan0.7forallconstructs.Inordertovalidatethe
measurementmodelweusedconfirmatoryfactoranalysesonallconstructs.We
eliminatedtheitemsthatloadedwithavaluebelow0.6(Schumacker,Lomax,2004)till
weobtainedthebestmeasurementmodel.Theindicatorsforeachscalearepresentedin
Personalization of the relation The experience with the products
Easiness of buying Theprofessionalism of the salesman The
reflection of the brand on self image Affectiveloyalty Conative
loyalty Action loyalty Cognitive loyalty 256
theAppendixA.Therecommendedvaluesusedforestimatingthemodelarethe
followinggoodness-of-fitstatistics:RMSEA0.08foranacceptablemodel
(Schumacker,Lomax,2004);RMSEA0.06foragoodmodel(Hu,Bentler,1999),
GFI0.9(Hooper,et.al,2008),RMRcloserto0(Arbuckle, 2007), CFI 0.9
(Brown 2006), TLI 0.9 (Bentler,Bonnet,1980), PNFI 0.5 (Hooper, et.
al,2008).Thescaleusedtomeasurecognitiveloyaltyhasaverylowvalidityandwe
eliminateditfromthemodel.Inordertoestimatethevalidityofthestructuralmodel,a
jointconfirmatoryfactoranalysis(withalllatentvariablesincludedsimultaneously,less
thantheoneforcognitiveloyalty)wasperformed.Thegoodness-of-fitindicesare:
RMSEA=0.05;GFI=0.95;RMR=0.09;CFI=0.96;TLI=0.95;PNFI=0.7.The
structuralmodelisavalidone.Thehypothesesaretestedwithstructuralequation
modeling.UsingAMOS16.0,astructuralmodelisanalyzedandthepathcoefficients
are estimated.
Wesearchthebeststructuralmodelandthesimplifiedresultis
representedinfigure2.Thisstructuralmodelrepresentsthedatastructurewell:
RMSEA=0.05,GFI= 0.92, RMR =0.1, CFI =0.96, TLI = 0.95, PNFI = 0.76.
In figure 2 we representedonlythe
significantrelationsbetweenthevariables(p=0.05). Figure2. The
satisfaction - loyalty model
Theaffectiveloyaltyispositiveinfluencedbythereflection of the brand
on self image (= 0.67; p< 0.05) and by the experience with the
products (= 0.1; p< 0.05). The
twofactorsexplain58%oftheaffectiveloyaltyvariance.Theconativeloyaltyis
positiveinfluencedbytheprofessionalismofthesalesman(=0.24;p
