The influence of customer loyalty on small island economies: an empirical and exploratory study

Abstract

There is growing consensus that companies' long-term success is reliant on building and sustaining strong customer relationships. This study explores the antecedents of loyalty in business to business (B2Bs) using Guernsey's telecommunication industry as a case study. It examines how these influence customer loyalty orientation and factors that help service providers improve loyalty rates. Extant literature pays little attention to the antecedents of loyalty in small island economies. Prior research focuses on cultural, environmental and macro-economic issues. Drawing on Dick and Basu's (Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22(Spring), 99–113, 1994) loyalty model, this research explores loyalty antecedents that are cognisant of distinct market conditions that can impact customer loyalty within the telecommunications sector of a small island economy. It seeks to advance understanding of loyalty in B2B relationships in this context and identify factors that contribute towards converting passively loyal customers to being actively loyal customers.

Keywords:

• small island
• customer loyalty
• business to business (B2B)
• telecommunications
• hospitality industry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Current address: Rose & Crown Limited, St. Helena Island, SC, USA.