Switching Processes in Customer Relationships

The importance and difficulty of keeping customers constantly features in the marketing literature. However, customer studies have generally focused on loyal customers and loyalty rather than on reasons for switching service providers. The aim of this article is to present a model for studying customers’ switching behavior as processes by extending the Critical Incident Technique in a relationship direction. By using the new technique, an analytic framework was developed that identifies three different kinds of switching determinants: pushing determinants, pulling determinant, and swayers. The new technique captures the configurations of the underlying factors that lead to revocable or irrevocable switching decisions. The study shows that these configurations are signals of switching, which provide useful knowledge for management and staff for policy and training purposes.

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