Search Results (145)

This study explores the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty in mobile banking, emphasizing the moderating role of Technology Readiness. As mobile banking becomes increasingly central to financial service delivery, understanding the nuanced drivers of customer loyalty is essential for strategic growth. Drawing from the Technology Readiness Index, this study examines how four dimensions, optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity, moderate the satisfaction–loyalty linkage. Data were collected via a structured survey from 258 mobile banking users in the United States, analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results show that optimism and innovativeness positively moderate this relationship, while discomfort and insecurity act as negative moderators. Practically, this research introduces a segmented approach to mobile banking service design, underscoring the need for differentiated strategies that address varying levels of user readiness. Theoretically, this study addresses a gap in mobile banking literature by shifting the focus from adoption to sustained usage and satisfaction-based loyalty, enriching the discourse on customer behavior in digital finance. Full article

Purpose—This research paper examines the critical factors in customer satisfaction while purchasing fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets. Design/methodology/approach—This study was conducted using a prepared questionnaire to collect data on a random sample of 235 customers of farmers’ markets in the state of Maharashtra, India. The research was carried out in the year 2023. Seven hypotheses were tested concerning the relationships between the variables of interest. The variables of convenience, variety, quality, price, health and hygiene, and service conditions were used as independent constructs and were proxied by reflective indicators. Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty were treated as an exogenous variable and an endogenous variable, respectively. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the model relationships and confirm the theoretical model. Findings—The findings validate all the reflective indicators used in the study. The latent variables of convenience, variety, quality, price, health and hygiene, and service conditions positively and significantly affect customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction positively and significantly affects customer loyalty toward farmers’ markets. The structural equation explains approximately 55% of the variation in customer satisfaction related to convenience, variety, price, quality, health and hygiene, and service conditions. Significance—The study results provide insights into the factors that influence consumer behavior and attitudes toward farmers’ markets. By identifying these predictors, this study can help farmers’ markets and other stakeholders develop effective marketing strategies to attract and retain customers, ultimately promoting sustainable food production and consumption. Additionally, the results can inform policymakers on how to support and promote farmers’ markets as healthy and sustainable food sources. Practical implication—By implementing the practical suggestions derived from the implications of this research, farmers’ markets can optimize customer satisfaction, boost customer loyalty, and reinforce their position as valuable contributors to local communities’ well-being and sustainability. Originality/value—The acceptance of farmers’ markets in India as an alternative shopping destination for fruits and vegetables is gradually increasing. This exploratory study conducted on farmers’ markets examined several factors, including price, in assessing customer satisfaction and farmers’ markets’ effectiveness at positioning themselves as shopping destinations for consumers in India. Full article

This study highlights the importance of managing and analyzing customer reviews to gain a competitive advantage and improve customer experience in the hospitality industry. In this context, a deep learning-based sentiment analysis system of hotel customer reviews is developed to evaluate service quality within the scope of sustainable tourism. The study analyzed 15,522 customer reviews of five-star hotels in Antalya using text mining, topic modelling, and deep learning-based sentiment analysis. The reviews were classified as positive, negative, or neutral. The findings show that Hotel HB2 has the highest performance, with an F1 score of 97.9%. Overall customer satisfaction is 91%, while emotional satisfaction stands at 77%. Key factors, such as cleanliness, food quality, and staff professionalism, were found to play a critical role in customer loyalty. Additionally, this study integrates sustainability-orientated themes by identifying customer feedback related to environmentally friendly practices and sustainable hotel operations. The results provide evidence that customer satisfaction is not only influenced by service quality but also by the perceived environmental and social responsibility of the hotel. Machine learning techniques have emerged as effective tools for analyzing large-scale customer reviews, offering valuable insights to rapidly and accurately capture customers’ emotions, expectations, and perceptions. As a comprehensive application of sentiment analysis and text mining, this research offers hotel managers a practical framework to enhance service quality, foster customer loyalty, and develop sustainability-orientated strategies. This study contributes to the literature by linking AI-driven sentiment analysis with sustainability practices in the tourism sector. Full article

The evaluation of port service quality (PSQ) is critical for enhancing the competitiveness of container terminals. As technological innovation continues to reshape port operations, PSQ has shifted beyond operational efficiency to deliver smart, reliable, and sustainable services. However, few studies have addressed PSQ in the context of smart port evolution, especially with a focus on container terminals. This study employs a five-dimensional framework, comprising resources, outcomes, process, management, image, and social responsibility, to analyze how PSQ influences customer satisfaction and how customer satisfaction, in turn, affects customer loyalty and referral intention. The data was collected through a survey targeting users of container terminals in five major ports in Korea that undergoing smart port transformation, resulting in a final sample of 324 respondents. The findings reveal that resource-related, process-related, and image- & social responsibility-related PSQ dimensions significantly enhance customer satisfaction, which in turn has a positive effect on customer loyalty and referral intention. In contrast, the outcome-related and management-related dimensions did not have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. The analysis results and various implications discussed in this study are expected to provide helpful information and insights for establishing strategies to enhance the competitiveness of smart ports in the future. Full article

This study explores the transformative role of financial technology (fintech) in advancing sustainability, financial inclusion, and customer engagement in Jordan’s banking sector. Utilizing a quantitative descriptive survey design, data were collected from 400 participants—comprising 300 bank customers and 100 banking professionals—through a structured bilingual questionnaire distributed via digital platforms. The study aims to evaluate how fintech innovations align with sustainable finance practices, extend banking access to underserved populations, and influence customer satisfaction. The results reveal strong evidence of fintech’s positive impact across all three domains. Regression analysis confirmed a statistically significant relationship between fintech innovation and the adoption of sustainable finance practices (β = 0.6498, p < 0.001), explaining 42.2% of the variance in sustainability outcomes. Similarly, fintech adoption was found to significantly improve financial inclusion among underserved populations (β = 0.6842, p < 0.001), accounting for 46.85% of the variance in access to services. One-way ANOVA analysis further showed that increased fintech integration significantly enhances customer engagement, with mean satisfaction scores rising progressively with higher fintech usage levels (F = 24.49, p < 0.001). The study underscores that fintech is a critical enabler of ethical banking transformation in Jordan, promoting ESG objectives, reducing financial access disparities, and strengthening customer loyalty. The findings confirm that fintech significantly contributes to sustainable, inclusive, and customer-centric banking practices. These insights support the notion that fintech adoption not only redefines banking operations but also charts a sustainable and socially responsible future for the Jordanian financial sector. Full article

This study explores how small family wineries in the Croatian Split-Dalmatia County integrate social media into their marketing and business strategies, focusing on the interplay between tradition, family identity, and digital innovation. Utilising a qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with winery owners to explore their use of social media platforms, their sales and distribution strategies, and their perceptions of Croatia’s EU membership. The results show that social media, particularly Facebook and Instagram, serve as highly personalised, low-cost marketing tools, predominantly managed by younger family members and used to convey authenticity, family heritage, and local identity. Despite limited resources and professional marketing expertise, these wineries take an intuitive, do-it-yourself approach and rely on direct customer relationships, storytelling, and experiential offerings to drive loyalty. While EU membership is generally seen as beneficial for tourism and funding opportunities, bureaucratic complexity remains a significant obstacle. This study highlights the importance of leveraging cultural heritage for digital content and emphasises the need for targeted policy support to improve digital competencies and reduce administrative barriers. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how family-run SMEs can gain and sustain competitive advantage by blending tradition with digital marketing practices in a rapidly evolving business environment. Full article

This research examines how interpersonal rapport influences sustainable customer relationships during service failures, with a focus on customer empathy as a mediating factor and emotional intelligence and service authenticity as moderating variables. In the context of sustainable service management, analysis of data from 672 respondents through structural equation modeling reveals that rapport significantly affects both cognitive and emotional dimensions of customer empathy, subsequently enhancing satisfaction and long-term loyalty outcomes. This study demonstrates that emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between rapport and cognitive empathy, while service authenticity moderates rapport’s associations with both empathy components. This investigation advances sustainable service recovery theory by illuminating customer empathy formation within rapport-building processes and validating the moderating effects of emotional intelligence and service authenticity. The findings contribute to the sustainable service management literature by empirically confirming these relationships within the rapport–empathy–loyalty framework, suggesting that service providers should emphasize developing meaningful interpersonal connections to ensure sustainable customer relationships, particularly during service recovery situations. This research provides valuable insights for developing sustainable service practices that enhance both social and economic aspects of service organizations, while offering quantifiable metrics for measuring socio-emotional sustainability in service recovery contexts. This approach aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by promoting responsible consumption and production patterns in service industries, while fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth through enhanced service quality and customer relationship management. Full article

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of key competitiveness factors on sustainable business performance in the hospitality sector through the application of an integrated approach, from the perspective of hotel service users. The research was conducted on a sample of 1640 hotel guests who stayed in hotels operating in the Republic of Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Utilizing a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework, the study meticulously analyzed various competitiveness factors: service quality, service, service recovery, hotel user satisfaction, loyalty and discretionary behavior and dysfunctional consumer behavior. The results of the research reveal that all identified key factors significantly impact the sustainable performance of hotel operations. The findings suggest that hotels must prioritize these elements to enhance their competitiveness and ensure ongoing success in a challenging market environment. Notably, one intriguing finding is that loyalty does not serve as a buffer in the relationship between customer dissatisfaction and dysfunctional behavior, indicating that even loyal customers can exhibit negative behaviors when their expectations are not met. This underscores the importance of addressing guest satisfaction proactively to mitigate potential adverse outcomes and retain a loyal customer base. Moreover, this study provides valuable insights for hotel management, highlighting the necessity for holistic strategies that not only aim to improve guest experiences but also consider the intricate dynamics between various competitiveness factors that ultimately contribute to the sustainability and profitability of the hospitality industry. Rejecting the sub-hypothesis that loyalty among hotel service users moderates the impact of dissatisfaction on the expression of dysfunctional consumer behavior indicates the need to review certain theories that comprise the dominant theoretical framework in the field of hospitality. This implies the need for further analysis of the validity of the dominant theories in the hospitality industry, especially in defining the conditions under which their postulates hold indisputably. Second, further examination of the role of loyalty is needed, since there are different types of loyalty. Full article

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots represent a transformative tool in digital customer engagement, reshaping customer–brand relationships. This paper explores AI chatbots on customer–brand interactions by analyzing key features, such as interaction, perceived enjoyment, customization, and problem-solving. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the research investigates how these attributes influence perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, customer attitudes, and ultimately, customer–brand relationships. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, this study begins with qualitative interviews to identify key engagement factors, which then inform the design of a structured quantitative survey. The findings reveal that AI chatbot features significantly enhance customer perceptions, with ease of use and usefulness in shaping positive attitudes and strengthening brand connections. The research further underscores the role of AI-driven personalization in delivering sustainable customer engagement by optimizing digital interactions, reducing resource-intensive human support, and promoting long-term brand loyalty. By integrating TAM with customer–brand relationship theories, this study contributes to AI and sustainability research by highlighting how intelligent chatbots can facilitate responsible business practices, enhance operational efficiency, and promote digital sustainability through automation and resource optimization. The findings provide strategic insights for businesses seeking to design AI-driven chatbot systems that improve customer experience and align with sustainable digital transformation efforts. Full article

As the complexity of modern-day retailing currently complicates businesses, a very key study area that has emerged is how sustainability initiatives can be complemented with brand equity and omnichannel operations. The specific purpose of this study is to investigate how brand equity mediates the relationship between sustainability practices and omnichannel operations—the focus being effective retail tactics in the current market. Sustainability, which includes social responsibility, environmental management, and moral business conduct, has become a key component of corporate strategy. In order to achieve operational efficiency and long-term profitability, businesses attempt to align with consumer values and address urgent societal issues through eco-friendly production methods, community participation, and sustainable sourcing. The study employs a quantitative research approach and uses the survey method to collect data from retail end users. This structured questionnaire was distributed to 474 adult consumers in Turkey and Cyprus, ensuring that the sample is representative at a 95% confidence level and a 5% margin of error. A simple mediation analysis was thus performed through ordinary least squares (OLS) path analysis to test the hypothesized mediating effect of brand equity. The result shows that brand equity partially mediates the relationship between sustainability and omnichannel performance, thus indicating that sustainability initiatives improve omnichannel effectiveness, both directly and indirectly, through strengthened brand perception. By demonstrating how multidimensional brand equity—which encompasses perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand associations—influences customer behavior, the study adds something special to the body of current work. Full article

This study rigorously examines the relationship between circular economy service quality and brand value, focusing on the mediating roles of customer satisfaction, brand image, and customer loyalty. Amid the growing adoption of circular economy principles to enhance sustainability and resource efficiency, the impact of such practices on brand value remains underexplored. This research addresses this gap by developing and testing an integrated model of circular economy service quality and its influence on brand value. Using a quantitative methodology, this study collected data from customers engaged with companies employing circular economy practices. A structured survey assessed the perceptions of circular economy service quality, customer satisfaction, brand image, customer loyalty, and brand value. Advanced statistical techniques, including structural equation modeling (SEM), were employed to analyze the data and evaluate the proposed relationships. The results revealed significant positive correlations between circular economy service quality, customer satisfaction, brand image, and customer loyalty. Furthermore, the mediating roles of customer satisfaction, brand image, and customer loyalty in the relationship between circular economy service quality and brand value were validated. High-quality circular economy services fostered customer satisfaction, enhanced brand image, and strengthened customer loyalty, collectively driving increased brand value. This research underscored two critical implications. First, circular economy service quality was identified as a pivotal factor in enhancing brand value. By offering sustainable and efficient services, organizations can deliver superior customer experiences, cultivate a strong brand image, and ultimately boost brand value. Second, the mediating variables—customer satisfaction, brand image, and customer loyalty—were shown to play essential roles in amplifying the impact of circular economy service quality on brand value. Organizations should strategically focus on optimizing these factors to maximize brand performance. These findings provide valuable insights for businesses aiming to integrate sustainability into their operations while enhancing brand equity and market performance. Full article

The article aims to identify the effects and determinants of implementing digital customer service tools in Polish SMEs in terms of digital customer requirements. Quantitative research was conducted among Polish SMEs using a survey. The following statistical methods were used to analyze the survey data: Dunn’s post hoc tests, ANOVA Kruskal–Wallis test, Kendall’s rank correlation coefficient, and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARSplines). Research results showed that Polish SMEs demonstrating better preparedness to serve digital customers achieve higher financial results, an increase in the rapidity and agility of customer service, increased customer satisfaction, and improved image. In addition, they gain sustainability benefits in the form of reduced emissions of hazardous substances or waste, recycling of waste, and reduced consumption of water, electricity, and other raw materials. The main determinants of digital transformation in customer service are the type of business (Polish Classification of Activities—PKD), the age of the company, and the educational level of its manager. The article contributes to promoting digitization among SME managers and motivates them to support customer service with digital tools. The identified effects and determinants provide practical guidance and encourage the implementation of digital technologies to meet the demands of digital customers. Using this approach, SMEs can increase their satisfaction and loyalty, resulting in better financial performance and improved competitiveness. This article identifies the economic and sustainability effects and determinants of implementing digital customer service tools in Polish SMEs in the context of digital customer requirements. This study has an original approach to the issue of digital transformation in the SME sector in Poland. Full article

The present research explores how sustainability practices affect customer relationship quality in retail stores. The study explores factors like sustainable product recommendations, smart energy efficiency displays, green certification, and eco-friendly packaging and their effect on customer engagement, customer perception, and loyalty. Using a cross-sectional approach, data was collected from 745 retail customers through structured surveys to understand their views on sustainability initiatives and their behavior patterns. The study employs Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) using SMART PLS4 for data analysis laying the foundation of the study on Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT). The findings reveal that sustainable retail practices enhance customer interactions and highlight the importance of consumer perceptions in evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives making it significant to improve customer relationship quality, leading to better business performance and increased loyalty. The significance of the study extends to its contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by promoting responsible consumption and production (SDG12), partnerships for the Goals SDG 17, and industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG9). The conceptual framework built on ECT and architected by SEM-PLS aligns with SDG making the study highly relevant and novellas it integrates advanced sustainability practices with customer relationship quality, addressing a critical gap in the existing literature. Full article

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought advanced technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), transforming consumer behavior in retailing and arousing the interest of scholars in studying customer responses to these technologies in retail settings. However, owing to variations in specific contextual factors, the results of related research have been mixed, which impedes retailers’ capacity to gain a systematic understanding of the formulation of well-informed marketing decisions in the context of AR and VR retailing. To address these gaps, this systematic review synthesizes extant empirical evidence with 1099 effect sizes from 111 published studies with 136 datasets and 547,415 sample sizes. This study is based on well-established theories, including the technology acceptance model, the customer journey theory, and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, which are extended to create a more comprehensive framework that is adapted for the customer journey in AR and VR retailing. Our findings reveal significant and positive correlations for all the proposed constructs, including the experience; intrinsic, extrinsic, hedonic, and utilitarian factors; and customer experience, attitude, intention, and loyalty, and verify the significant moderating effects for technology and product types. From a management perspective, our findings provide a systematic understanding of enhancing retailers’ integrated sustainable marketing strategies in the context of AR and VR retail and propose a forward-looking research agenda. Full article

This study aims to determine the influence of digital touchpoint usage experience, specifically through the myIndiHome application, on customer loyalty, with digital engagement and customer satisfaction as mediating variables. The study used a quantitative method to survey 385 active IndiHome broadband customers in Indonesia. Structural Equation Modelling–Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that digital touchpoint usage positively and significantly affected digital engagement, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Additionally, digital engagement and customer satisfaction had a positive and significant impact on customer loyalty. The results further demonstrated that digital engagement positively influenced customer satisfaction. Mediation analysis showed that digital engagement and customer satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between digital touchpoint usage and customer loyalty. This study demonstrates the role of digital experience, digital engagement, and customer satisfaction in fostering consumer loyalty. The current findings provide insights into the development of more effective marketing strategies, ensuring business sustainability and strengthening long-term relationships with customers. Full article