The mediating role of commitment, trust and satisfaction in the relationship of business to business customer satisfaction and loyalty

Abstract

Customer loyalty has been prominent for business activities. In situation where failure to satisfy customers would normally cause an early termination of business, customer loyalty can provide higher customer retention rate and continuous business success. In order to create competitive advantages and achieve better results, Business-To-Business (B2B) relationships offer opportunities for organizations. However, increased competition means that businesses must be able to react even faster to win customer loyalty. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between customer loyalty and its determinants in industrial environment. Hence, the direct and indirect effect of loyalty antecedents such as service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction, trust and commitment are examined in B2B context. Quantitative approach was used in order to answer the research objectives. Data collection was conducted by distributing 400 questionnaires to national automotive companies in Iran. The data was analyzed using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique and SmartPLS software. The result of the study indicated that service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction, trust and commitment are important determinants of customer loyalty which are known as the key success factors in automotive industry. Furthermore, customer satisfaction is a mediator between service quality and customer loyalty as well as between customer value and customer loyalty. While, trust and commitment mediated the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The findings imply that the highest effect on customer loyalty is in the relationships between customer satisfaction and trust. The result of this study would enable suppliers to utilize the research model to improve service quality and strengthen the automotive companies’ relationship. Furthermore, the result is useful to managers in business organizations for strategic planning. Finally, recommendations for future investigation and limitations of this study are discussed.