An empirical analysis of the retention of dissatisfied business services customers using structural equation modelling

This study extends the body of literature concerning service switching, complaint handling, dependence and commitment by investigating why dissatisfied B2B customers do not switch service providers. Specifically, it develops and tests a social exchange-based model examining how dissatisfied, but behaviourally loyal, customers act in terms of their repurchase intentions. A conceptual model, specifying a set of hypothesised relationships between dimensions of switching costs, interpersonal relationships, dimensions of complaint handling, satisfaction with complaint handling, attractiveness of alternatives, dependence, calculative commitment and repurchase intentions, was examined using AMOS 17.0 on a sample of 376 business directors/managers from responding organisations. The results show that satisfaction with complaint handling, benefit-loss costs, dependence and calculative commitment significantly increase customers’ repurchase intentions. The findings also indicate that dependence, interpersonal relationships and specific types of switching costs influence customers’ calculative commitment, and the latter influences intentions to repurchase services. The study builds on the Investment Model by including justice components, and examines the effects of different types of antecedents on calculative commitment that have previously not been examined.