HCBE Faculty Articles

A Cross-Cultural Study of the Perceived Benefits of a Retailer Loyalty Scheme in Asia

ORCID

Rusell Abratt0000-0002-5385-0936

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

ISSN

0969-6989

Publication Date

9-2010

Abstract/Excerpt

The aim of this paper is to explore loyalty, loyalty schemes, and loyalty cards, as well as the internationalisation of loyalty schemes. We focus on loyalty schemes in Asia to define the primary objective of our study: to assess the impact of perceived benefits on the feelings of participants of a specific retailer's loyalty scheme, as well as customer loyalty towards the retailer. A literature review of loyalty schemes and loyalty cards is undertaken as well as the internationalisation of these cards. A survey was conducted in five Asian countries in which Toys’R’Us operates, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand. Data was collected among members of the Toys’R’Us Star Card loyalty programme. Structural equation modelling was used to build a model that can be used to explain the simultaneous structural relations between perceived benefits, emotional feelings, and loyalty behaviours. Invariance testing was applied in order to test whether the model holds across the five countries. Our findings suggest that perceived benefits have a weak direct effect on loyalty behaviours. However, perceived benefits have a much stronger effect on feelings, which in turn have a strong effect on loyalty behaviours. We also found subtle differences between the countries in the study, which could either be attributed to cultural differences, to marketing practices, or to both, which can only be ascertained through further research.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2010.03.017

Volume

17

Issue

5

First Page

355

Last Page

373

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