The concept of ‘customer experience’ has evolved as an imperative area of study within the marketing discipline. Despite its importance and the positive attention this concept has received during the last few years, the explanation of customer experiences have remained vague and lack a thorough theoretical foundation. Furthermore, practitioners across many industries claim that there is a connection between customer experience and loyalty, yet there is a paucity of research to validate this theoretical assumption. This study aims to address this gap in the literature and to facilitate better understanding of the concept of 'customer experience' and its antecedents and focus on brand loyalty as consequence from the consumer perspective. Accordingly, a mixed-method research design was adopted that consisted of two phases. The first phase involved a netnography study to gain better understanding of the notion of customer experience and refine a conceptual framework that has been developed on the basis of the existing literature. In the second phase this framework was tested by means of a survey of British customers to examine their experience with resort-hotel brands in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the survey responses. The structural model showed a very good fit to the data and good convergent, nomological and discriminant validity and reliability stability. The findings of this study identified four aspects of customer experience in the resort-hotels in Egypt; i.e. educational, aesthetics, relational and novelty. Those aspects are congruent with prior work in the tourism literature. Additionally, the study found that customers rely on some service cues such as: price, core service and WOM to predict and assess their experiences. The findings also indicated that perceived service quality has a mediating role in the relationship between customer-contact employees and core service and customer experience. A key contribution of this research is offering a robust model that explains the nascent phenomenon of customer experience and demonstrating that experience has a definite positive impact on brand loyalty. The use of netnography to identify customer experience dimension is also considered as a methodological contribution in the area of marketing research. Moreover, the present study adds novel perspective to the growing body of brand literature (particularly service brand) and suggests directions for future research. Finally, the study provides managerial implications for service managers to identify the experiential needs of their customer and properly design the customer experience.

O ensino superior no Brasil tem criado uma oferta crescente de vagas anualmente. Esta expansão do ensino ocorre não somente nas instituições privadas como também nas instituições públicas. Por essa razão, a qualidade destes cursos deve ser mantida para garantir a formação de profissionais aptos ao mercado de trabalho como também a sua lealdade ao respectivo curso. Este trabalho tem como objetivo, identificar, através de um estudo de caso, que fatores colaboram para o aluno ser leal ao curso escolhido em uma instituição de ensino superior pública, neste estudo na FEA/USP. Os alunos que participaram da pesquisa são os que iniciaram os cursos de Administração, Ciências Contábeis, Ciências Atuariais e Economia em 2007. Para a realização deste trabalho alguns passos foram seguidos: levantamento do referencial teórico dos assuntos pertinentes ao tema, escolha e construção de um modelo utilizado na pesquisa, uma pesquisa qualitativa com alunos que desistiram do curso escolhido, pesquisa quantitativa estruturada com os alunos da FEA/USP e aplicação de técnicas quantitativas para tratamento e análise dos resultados. O modelo escolhido para responder a questão-problema foi o proposto por Bloemer (1998) e aplicado anteriormente para instituições financeiras. Neste estudo o modelo foi aplicado em uma instituição de ensino superior com os constructos qualidade, imagem, satisfação e lealdade. Para identificar a relação entre estes constructos citados acima duas técnicas foram utilizadas, a técnica de equações estruturais e a regressão logística. Como resultado das análises obteve-se que a lealdade do aluno ao curso escolhido decorre diretamente da satisfação geral deste com o curso, a qual é influenciada pela qualidade percebida do curso pelo aluno. Importante destacar que os aspectos que mais diferenciam os alunos leais dos não leais ao respectivo curso são a satisfação com o corpo docente, com os processos administrativos e com a administração de um modo geral. / A growing number of courses have been created lately in higher education in Brazil. This expansion is noticed in private institutions as well as in public ones. The quality of these courses must be maintained to ensure that professionals are prepared for the labour market. The present work aims to identify, through a case study, the factors that contribute so that the student does not abandon the course s/he chose in a public higher education institution, FEA/USP. The students who participated in this study are those who started the courses in Management, Accountancy, Actuarial Science and Economics in 2007. In order to develop this work, some steps were followed: review of relevant literature and development of a model used in the research. A qualitative study was initially carried out with students who abandoned the chosen course. Then a quantitative study was structured to conducted with the students from FEA/USP, and finally, a quantitative analysis was performed using quantitative analysis techniques in order to examine the results obtained. The model chosen to frame this study was the one proposed by Bloemer (1998), which was previously applied to financial institutions. In the present study, the model was used in a higher education institution with constructs of quality, image, satisfaction and loyalty. To assess the relationship among the above-mentioned constructs, structural equations and logistic regression techniques were used. As a result of the analysis, it could be observed that students loyalty to the chosen course comes directly from his or her general satisfaction with the course, which is influenced by the courses perceived quality. It is important to observe that the aspects that most distinguish loyal students from non-loyal ones are satisfaction with professors,, administrative processes and with administration in general.

O ensino superior no Brasil tem criado uma oferta crescente de vagas anualmente. Esta expansão do ensino ocorre não somente nas instituições privadas como também nas instituições públicas. Por essa razão, a qualidade destes cursos deve ser mantida para garantir a formação de profissionais aptos ao mercado de trabalho como também a sua lealdade ao respectivo curso. Este trabalho tem como objetivo, identificar, através de um estudo de caso, que fatores colaboram para o aluno ser leal ao curso escolhido em uma instituição de ensino superior pública, neste estudo na FEA/USP. Os alunos que participaram da pesquisa são os que iniciaram os cursos de Administração, Ciências Contábeis, Ciências Atuariais e Economia em 2007. Para a realização deste trabalho alguns passos foram seguidos: levantamento do referencial teórico dos assuntos pertinentes ao tema, escolha e construção de um modelo utilizado na pesquisa, uma pesquisa qualitativa com alunos que desistiram do curso escolhido, pesquisa quantitativa estruturada com os alunos da FEA/USP e aplicação de técnicas quantitativas para tratamento e análise dos resultados. O modelo escolhido para responder a questão-problema foi o proposto por Bloemer (1998) e aplicado anteriormente para instituições financeiras. Neste estudo o modelo foi aplicado em uma instituição de ensino superior com os constructos qualidade, imagem, satisfação e lealdade. Para identificar a relação entre estes constructos citados acima duas técnicas foram utilizadas, a técnica de equações estruturais e a regressão logística. Como resultado das análises obteve-se que a lealdade do aluno ao curso escolhido decorre diretamente da satisfação geral deste com o curso, a qual é influenciada pela qualidade percebida do curso pelo aluno. Importante destacar que os aspectos que mais diferenciam os alunos leais dos não leais ao respectivo curso são a satisfação com o corpo docente, com os processos administrativos e com a administração de um modo geral. / A growing number of courses have been created lately in higher education in Brazil. This expansion is noticed in private institutions as well as in public ones. The quality of these courses must be maintained to ensure that professionals are prepared for the labour market. The present work aims to identify, through a case study, the factors that contribute so that the student does not abandon the course s/he chose in a public higher education institution, FEA/USP. The students who participated in this study are those who started the courses in Management, Accountancy, Actuarial Science and Economics in 2007. In order to develop this work, some steps were followed: review of relevant literature and development of a model used in the research. A qualitative study was initially carried out with students who abandoned the chosen course. Then a quantitative study was structured to conducted with the students from FEA/USP, and finally, a quantitative analysis was performed using quantitative analysis techniques in order to examine the results obtained. The model chosen to frame this study was the one proposed by Bloemer (1998), which was previously applied to financial institutions. In the present study, the model was used in a higher education institution with constructs of quality, image, satisfaction and loyalty. To assess the relationship among the above-mentioned constructs, structural equations and logistic regression techniques were used. As a result of the analysis, it could be observed that students loyalty to the chosen course comes directly from his or her general satisfaction with the course, which is influenced by the courses perceived quality. It is important to observe that the aspects that most distinguish loyal students from non-loyal ones are satisfaction with professors,, administrative processes and with administration in general.

No / The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of relationship quality (hereafter referred to as RQ) and its impact on customer loyalty within an emerging retail banking market through a dual-lens theory. The research informants were recruited from a city in South-eastern Nigeria. A quantitative data obtained through bank-intercept method and online survey from 332 customers of retail banking services formed the final database. The proposed model and by implication the research hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling procedure. he results show that customer orientation, expertise and information sharing are stimulus factors that directly influence the constructs of RQ (i.e. trust and satisfaction and indirectly influence customer loyalty through the constructs of RQ. The paper also demonstrates that the stimulus factors are direct predictors of consumers’ response. The proposed model explained 49 per cent of the total variance in customer loyalty. Customer orientation, expertise and information sharing are stimulus factors that improve RQ and customer loyalty. However, the explanatory power of the proposed model is modest. Future research should therefore integrate other determinants of RQ. The paper contributes to the growing body of stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) literature within the retail environment by exploring unique stimulus and organism variables from an emerging retail banking market perspective. Additionally, by showing that the stimulus factors are direct predictors of consumers’ response, the paper challenged the existing tenets of the S-O-R framework and deepened the current understanding of the model. The paper also contributes to the social exchange theory by demonstrating how the components of RQ mediate the antecedents and consequences of the construct.

The context of this study is Bangladesh`s food retailing sector. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) and customer retention. Since Independence in 1971, Bangladesh has made solid progress and made substantial improvements in its economy, with GDP growth of 5-6% consistently over the past decade. With the real economic growth coupled with rapid urbanisation, the country has witnessed a new form of organised retailing that started to emerge in early 2000. This organised retail format is undergoing a period of unprecedented expansion, something that is driving additional demand and as well as creating opportunities for further enterprise. There are clear signs of substantial and potential growth in future. The economic growth coupled with the growth of urbanisation, changes in demographic factors, increases in employment and income levels has had a profound influence on consumers shopping behaviour and hence, Customer Relationship Marketing. The core aim of Relationship Marketing is to build a long lasting mutually bonded relationships with customers and various other important stakeholders. The concept has attracted considerable attention among scholars in recent decades and has appeared in service marketing literature as a new marketing paradigm. The concept is considered to be critical to the success of any organisation as it has been an accepted phenomenon that maintains that existing customers are far easier to retain than is the process of acquiring new customers. In order to stay in business and cope with the challenging business dynamism, organisations are continuously searching for reliable and serviceable strategies to be employed in order to increase customer retention. However, there is a lack of an accepted level of consensus among researchers on the core antecedents of relationship marketing that can be used to achieve the above aims, especially while the concept is new in the context of organised retailing sectors in Bangladesh. In response, this thesis developed a conceptual framework of customer retention strategy to conduct an empirical investigation in one holistic model: (i) the relationships between relationship quality and customer retention; (ii) how bonds influences the relationship quality? As well as (iii) the effect of CRM on customer loyalty and retention. The model incorporates bonds, service quality and components of relational quality (Trust, commitment and satisfaction) into one relationship model to show the relationship between these five constructs and customer loyalty and finally the independent variable of customer retention. The model establishes eleven hypotheses to understand the relationships between various constructs. Furthermore, in order to understand the intensity of grocery food consumers loyalty, Oliver`s Four Stages loyalty model was used. A sample of 202 grocery food retail customers were selected in a random sample from four selected superstores located in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Data were collected via mail questionnaires. The questionnaires content validity was tested by conducting a pre-test of 50 households before conducting the final survey. The results support hypothesized relationships built on the model. Correlation analysis indicates that all the coefficient correlate significantly except commitment that shows the least strengths of the correlation coefficient. Nevertheless, correlations were statistically significant. Therefore, all eleven hypotheses are confirmed to some degree. The findings indicate that service quality, trust, bond and customer satisfactions are vital for creating positive customer loyalty which in turn creates customer retention. In regards to the intensity of four types of loyalty (cognitive, affective, co-native and action) results indicate that the intensity of cognitive loyalty was higher than affective loyalty, co-native and action loyalty. Co-native loyalty is also higher than action loyalty. This thesis provides evidence for the first time in Bangladesh of various linkages between bonds, service quality, relationship quality, loyalty and retention and hence, contributes to both theoretical and practical knowledge. The findings suggest that by employing adequate service quality provisions and bonds it is possible to enhance and build quality relationships between parties.