Switching Processes in Customer Relationships

The importance and difficulty of keeping customers con-stantly features in the marketing literature. However, cus-tomer studies have generally focused on loyal customers and loyalty rather than on reasons for switching service providers. The aim of this article is to present a model for studying customers ’ switching behavior as processes by extending the Critical Incident Technique in a relationship direction. By using the new technique, an analytic frame-work was developed that identifies three different kinds of switching determinants: pushing determinants, pulling determinant, and swayers. The new technique captures the configurations of the underlying factors that lead to revo-cable or irrevocable switching decisions. The study shows that these configurations are signals of switching, which provide useful knowledge for management and staff fo