The purpose of this research is to study the influence of different bonding strategies for customer relationship management on customer loyalty in online shopping. In particular, the research is focused on the mediation effect of relationship quality. ¡@¡@More Specifically, this study examines the following issues¡G(1) the relationship between relationship bonding strategies and relationship quality; (2) whether relationship bonding strategies will influence customer loyalty; and (3) the influence of relationship quality on customer loyalty. An online survey received 311 useful responses. The results include (1) social bondings had a positive effect on customer loyalty, but financial and structural bonding had no direct correlation with customer loyalty, (2) with respect to different dimensions of relationship quality, financial and structural bondings had a positive effect on customer satisfaction, trust and commitment. Social bonding had partial correlation with relationship quality; (3) Customer satisfaction, trust and commitment in relationship quality showed positive connection to customer loyalty. The effect of customer satisfaction was weaker than those of trust and commitment; and (4) Relationship quality is a moderator between bonding strategies and customer loyalty. A complete mediating effect has been observed.

The study investigates whether different motivation mechanisms can affect the quality of relationship and member loyalty of virtual communities. The particular domain is online games on which players often join affiliated virtual communities to exchange information. A questionnaire was designed for the online survey that resulted in a total of 685 valid responses. The results from the partial least square analysis show that relationship quality as measured by Customer satisfaction, trust and commitment have a mediating effect between motivation mechanisms and member loyalty. Among the motivation mechanisms, financial bonds have no effect on relationship quality but social and structural bonds have significant effects. The findings can be used by practitioners when they run virtual communities and have implications for future research in related topics.

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