FACTORS INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS’ BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS TRUSTED SERVICE PROVIDERS: AN INVESTIGATION OF FOUR SERVICE SETTINGS

Many researchers have outlined the specific importance of trust for service provider firms, on one hand, because the intangible nature of services increases the risk and the uncertainty of the buyer’s selection process; on the other hand, because trust can represent the basis for the development of long-term, mutually beneficial, relationships between the service provider and the customer. From this perspective, a good understanding of the effect of trust on customer loyalty becomes paramount for designing and implementing effective marketing procedures, and for accurately predicting business results. The trust-loyalty link is, however, difficult to predict and explain, because of the multitude of factors that can influence consumer behaviour. This study attempts to analyse the relation between trust and customer loyalty in different service settings, and to identify the factors that can influence customers’ behaviour towards trusted service providers. To answer the formulated research objectives, a combination of secondary and primary sources have been used to collect relevant data. In the first stage of the research process an extensive literature review was realised in order to identify and evaluate the existing theories regarding customer trust and its effect on customer loyalty, especially in the area of services. In the second stage of the research process, the research framework was refined, verified and validated though 5 face-to-face interviews realised with randomly selected people. The interviews lasted between 30 and 45 minutes and took place in the waiting area of one major supermarket, located in Edinburgh, Scotland. These interviews indicated the need to study the relation between trust and customer loyalty in various service settings, as well as helping to define the major elements that influence this relation at individual level. In the third stage of the research process, a total of 412 face-to-face interviews have been realised. These interviews lasted around 15- 20 minutes, and the respondents being randomly selected from the waiting areas of five UK supermarkets. The collected data has been analysed with the SPSS software, using the Chi Square and Pearson’s two-tailed correlation tests. The results indicate a complex relationship between various categories of factors and the level of customer loyalty, which varies in relation to specific service settings. The findings have been integrated into a synthetic model, developed for four different types of services