Personal-loyalty and pricing benefits from hairstylist-client commercial friendship
Purpose Hairstyling entrepreneurs are experiencing increasing customer demand alongside the market competition. Building commercial friendships are one of their strategies to beat the competition. However, the marketing benefits in terms of loyalty and pricing from this strategy are unknown. Followi...
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| Published in: | Journal of research in marketing and entrepreneurship Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 235 - 250 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Spokane
Emerald Publishing Limited
20-10-2021
Emerald Group Publishing Limited |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Purpose
Hairstyling entrepreneurs are experiencing increasing customer demand alongside the market competition. Building commercial friendships are one of their strategies to beat the competition. However, the marketing benefits in terms of loyalty and pricing from this strategy are unknown. Following suggestions from the relationship marketing theory (RMT) that business benefits are gained from commercial friendships, this study aims to use ideas from RMT and those from models proposed by Bove and Johnson (2002) and Han et al. (2008) to examine the impact of hairstylist-client commercial friendship on four dimensions of personal loyalty to individual hairstylists and clients’ willingness to pay a premium price (WTPP).
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative methods were used to collect and analyse data obtained from 562 hairstylists’ clients who had maintained the same hairstylist for 10 months in Johannesburg metropolis. Structural equation modelling using SmartPLS was used to test a conceptual model with eight hypotheses.
Findings
The results revealed that commercial friendship positively impacted affective, intention and behavioural personal loyalty dimensions and explained 49%, 47.9% and 46.9% of the variances, respectively. Of the four dimensions of personal loyalty, only behavioural loyalty positively influenced WTPP.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies’ main focus on business-to-customer relationships and loyalty from a unidimensional perspective, this study contributes by revealing four dimensions of personal loyalty applicable in the haircare service sector. The findings confirm the business benefits suggested by the RMT, by showing that commercial friendship generates clients’ WTPP when they are behaviourally loyal. This guarantees profits and highlights the importance of nurturing close relationships in personal services. |
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| ISSN: | 1471-5201 1471-521X |
| DOI: | 10.1108/JRME-03-2020-0026 |