Customer Relationships Across Search, Experience and Credence Services

There is no doubt that the service sector has become a dominant factor in national economies the last decade. Within the service sector thought, there are different service contexts in which distinct types of relationships emerge, varying in magnitude, st

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can act both as exit barriers or benefits (Arantola, 2002). Switching costs in the current research examines only their procedural side which involves the expenditure of time and effort arising from a lack of information about the new service provider (Burnham et al., 2003). Thus, when customers are under high switching costs they feel locked-in into a relationship which creates barriers towards promoting higher levels of attitudinal loyalty (H1). Additionally, economic bonds, which refer to the monetary perceived benefits or losses that customer receives from a service provider, are also expected to influence negatively customer loyalty (H2). These bonds are perceived to be the weakest bonds on retaining customer relationships as they can lead only to ‘spurious’ relations which are based on very low loyalty levels (Gwinner et al., 1998). Social bonds refer to personal ties which include perceived feelings of “familiarity, personal recognition, friendship, rapport and social support” (Gwinner et al., 1998, p.102). Thus it is expected that the higher social bonds, the better the interpersonal relations will be between the customer and the provider which can result to higher levels of loyalty (H3). Confidence bonds are defined by Hennig-Thurau at al. (2002, p. 234) as “perceptions of reduced anxiety and comfort in knowing what to expect in the service encounter”. Reducing the risk in services can act as a ‘safeguard’ for the relationships and provide feelings of assurance to customers (Berry, 1995). These bonds are perceived to be the most important ones in retaining relationships, and are expected to influence positively loyalty (H4). Convenience bonds, which refer to customers’ benefits because they lessen their efforts, are expected to be positively associated with customer loyalty (H5). This is because the relationship between the customer and the service provider becomes easier, simpler and more effective, under increased convenience bonds (Dimitriadis, 2010). The last two relational bonds depicted in figure 1, emotional and habitual bonds are also expected to positively influence customer loyalty. Emotional bonds reflect the emotional attachment which can initiate strong positive feelings toward a service provider that can consequently lead to higher levels of loyalty (H6). Finally, habitual bonds are defined as a mental process that triggers automatic responses to certain cues without the need for any conscious decisionmaking (Verplanken, & Orbell, 2003). The importance of this type of bonds is acknowledged in services marketing literature. However, it is expected that habitual bonds will contribute significantly in promoting loyalty (H7), as higher levels of automatic responses indicate higher levels of preference towards a service provider and consequently higher levels of loyalty. Unfortunately, given the scarcity of previous research, it makes it very difficult to make specific predictions of the moderating effect of search, experience and credence services. The natures of those hypotheses are mainly explora