Defensive strategies for managing satisfaction and loyalty in the service industry

The investment model is used to predict customer responses to defensive value-added and value-recovery strategies. The two strategies were manipulated under different competitive environments with airline services scenarios in a controlled experiment. Hypotheses were affirmed as value-added and value-recovery strategies influenced customer satisfaction and loyalty with varying sensitivities to the competitive environment and different mechanisms consistent with prediction derived from the investment model. Regardless of value-added strategy and competitive environment, value-recovery strategy strongly and positively influenced customer satisfaction, situational loyalty, and enduring loyalty. Value-added strategy also had a positive effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty, but these effects emerged primarily when a value-recovery strategy was already present, and under conditions of less intense competition. Satisfaction was found to mediate strategic effects on loyalty, with more pronounced effects observed for value-recovery strategy and situational loyalty.