Linking service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in casinos, does membership matter?

The paper compares casino service quality evaluations, customer satisfaction and loyalty between casino members and nonmembers, and investigates the relationships among these variables. In particular, the study examines a mediation relationship by proposing that customer satisfaction intervenes between casino service quality and customer loyalty. The investigation is undertaken at six Macau casinos that provide membership to customers. The results show that customers without holding any membership have higher evaluations of casino service quality; nevertheless, casino members tend to choose the casino which they hold membership with as their first choice. The mediation testing indicates that including customer satisfaction in the model increases the variance in customer loyalty only in the case of casino members. Finally, each casino service quality dimension has different effect on gambler satisfaction and loyalty. The research yields insights into customer loyalty research. Strategic implications are provided for the literature as well as casino practitioners.