Abstract

The purpose of this study is to further explore gender differences in consumer loyalty to service providers. Melnyk et al. (2009) drew on work on self-construal to suggest that female consumers are more loyal to individual service providers while male consumers are more loyal to service companies. In this thesis, we seek to test the robustness of their results, explore alternative potential explanations, and obtain a better understanding of the boundary conditions within which the effects can be expected to operate. Thus, we seek to replicate and extend the work done by Melnyk et al. (2009) while incorporating other theoretical perspectives and including control variables. Overall, the results of two studies did not support the finding of Melnyk et al. (2009) with regard to the effect of gender differences in consumer loyalty, possibly due to the lack of consistent differences in self-construal between men and women. Interestingly, differences in self-construal among consumers were found to have a direct effect on loyalty to service providers, such that consumers higher on relational interdependence showed greater loyalty to service employees while consumers higher on collective interdependence displayed greater loyalty to service companies. Additional analyses found that the level of consumer involvement, the type of service relationship, and perceived relational benefits all affected consumer loyalty. These findings should contribute to the literature in services marketing on consumer loyalty toward service providers, and guide practitioners in their efforts to increase loyalty.