Are Satisfied Customers Always Loyal? - A Meta-Analytic Review and Assessment of Moderators of Customer Satisfaction-Loyalty Relationship

Customer satisfaction (CS) gains lots of attention since it is believed to bring loyalty. However, are satisfied customers always loyal? Using meta-analytical method and based on 27 studies published from 1980 to 2007, we construct the moderators of CS-loyalty relationship model in four dimensions: cultural context, economic development, industry background and research method; and then put forward the related hypotheses. It is found that the CS-loyalty relationship is stronger in the countries, where individualism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity are higher, as well as in the industry with high involvement. Furthermore, it suggests that the CS-loyalty relationship is stronger when satisfaction is evaluated by single-item measures than multi-item measures.