Cognitive, affective, conative, and action loyalty: Testing the impact of inertia

Research increasingly emphasizes the significance of customer loyalty to a firm's success. In order to provide a clearer understanding of hotel customers’ loyalty-formation process, this study proposed and tested an extended Oliver's (1997) four-stage loyalty model by employing a multi-dimensional approach for each attitudinal loyalty stage while considering the moderating impact of inertia. The original model was slightly altered to improve its fit and predictive ability. Results from the structural model generally supported proposed paths among the variables in the model (cognitive, affective, and conative loyalty components and action loyalty) and verified the mediating roles of study variables in forming action loyalty. Further, findings from structural group comparisons using invariance tests indicated that the links from satisfaction to commitment and intention and from intention to action loyalty were stronger for the low inertia group, supporting the moderating role of inertia. Implications are discussed, and limitations of this study are briefly outlined.

► This research attempted to modify and broaden Oliver's (1997) four-stage loyalty model.
► A filed survey at upper-midscale hotels was conducted.
► This study successfully extended and broadened the existing sequential loyalty framework by adopting a multi-dimensional view of each loyalty phase, and moved beyond prior research by highlighting the moderating role of inertia in determining action loyalty.