Business-To-Customer Relationship Marketing for Travel Industry

Due to its interactive capability, e-commerce has
been considered a promising tool for relationship
marketing. However, as competition increases among
the online travel businesses, the pressure not just
to attract new customers, but to retain existing
ones, is intense. Relationship commitment is crucial
to a vendor s survival.
This book develops a theory-based model of
relationship commitment in an online travel domain.
Leaning on the foundations of marketing literature
and the three theories of relationship commitment
(the investment model, organizational commitment
theory, and commitment-trust theory), this study
develops a conceptual framework that explains how
customers develop commitment.
The results showed the pivotal role of affective
commitment as an antecedent to positive WOM
communications. Of the two forms of commitment,
affective commitment had a stronger positive impact
on word-of-mouth. Moreover, the results have shown
that satisfaction leads to higher affective
commitment, which in turn has a strong influence on
positive word-of-mouth communications. This study
also highlighted the importance of trust for
establishing long-term relationships with a travel
retailer.

Autorentext

Khaldoon A. Nusair, Ph.D in Hospitality Management from The Ohio
State University. Assistant Professor at Rosen College of
Hospitality Management - University of Central Florida. He holds
two Master of Science degrees in Technological Systems Management
and Management Information Systems both from The State University
of New York at Stony Brook.

Klappentext

Due to its interactive capability, e-commerce has
been considered a promising tool for relationship
marketing. However, as competition increases among
the online travel businesses, the pressure not just
to attract new customers, but to retain existing
ones, is intense. Relationship commitment is crucial
to a vendor's survival.
This book develops a theory-based model of
relationship commitment in an online travel domain.
Leaning on the foundations of marketing literature
and the three theories of relationship commitment
(the investment model, organizational commitment
theory, and commitment-trust theory), this study
develops a conceptual framework that explains how
customers develop commitment.
The results showed the pivotal role of affective
commitment as an antecedent to positive WOM
communications. Of the two forms of commitment,
affective commitment had a stronger positive impact
on word-of-mouth. Moreover, the results have shown
that satisfaction leads to higher affective
commitment, which in turn has a strong influence on
positive word-of-mouth communications. This study
also highlighted the importance of trust for
establishing long-term relationships with a travel
retailer.