THE LOYALTY CONTINUUM: DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN STAGES OF LOYALTY DEVELOPMENT

Customer loyalty research can be divided into two distinct approaches. One approach is theoretical, creating market segments based on the intensity of loyalty that customers feel. The second is empirical, linking influential variables to loyalty without regard to the loyalty intensity level. This research bridges these two approaches to loyalty by identifying three different levels of loyalty and empirically examining the impact that eleven different variables have on each loyalty level. The results show that meaningful differences exist between stages of loyalty development and that the relationships between loyalty and other variables can vary with the intensity of consumer loyalty.