An empirical investigation of relational bonds on attitudinal and behavioral customer loyalty for Arabic luxury hotel customers

ABSTRACT

This paper empirically examines the effects of financial, social, and structural bonds on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty using a sample of 451 Arab consumers staying at five-star hotels in Jordan. The results show that all three relational bonds increase attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. However, each individual type of relational bonds has a greater impact on behavioral loyalty than on attitudinal loyalty. The research also investigates whether the relational bonds have a different impact on each type of loyalty as literature suggests that there are levels of bonds within relationship management. No difference in relational bonds is identified thus highlighting that all bond activities are equally important. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Financial bonds
• social bonds
• structural bonds
• customer loyalty
• five-star hotels