Driving Relationship Marketing Tactics towards Customer Loyalty Building: The Mediating Effect of Commitment and Trust

Abstract

One of the main targets in relationship marketing is to ensure continued retention of profitable customers by building on and sustaining a stable long-term relationship that will subsequently result in customer loyalty behavior. This study focuses on relationship marketing tactics (RMT) dimensions of brand reputation and trust and how it influences customer loyalty, as well as examining the mediating effects of relationship quality (RQ) of commitment and trust within the context of a competitive mobile telecommunication service industry. Using quota sampling approach, a total of 382 survey questionnaires’ usable feedback were collected from targeted respondents for data analyses. A quantitative analytical method was applied via SPPS version 20.0 and a PLS-SEM software procedure using Smart PLS version 3.0 with bootstrapping analysis to test the developed hypotheses. Hypothetical results revealed differential effects of RMT on customer loyalty. Brand reputation significantly influenced both commitment and trust. Alternative attractiveness also significantly affected commitment and trust. The mediating effects of RQ further revealed the continued importance of commitment and trust as key factors in developing a successful customer loyalty. Several theoretical and managerial implications are further discussed.