Exploring customer attachment behaviour to sustain the retail industry in Malaysia

Published date24 January 2014
Date24 January 2014
Pages69-76
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-08-2013-0044
AuthorRozita Naina Mohamed,Halimahton Borhan
Subject MatterStrategy,Business ethics,Sustainability
Exploring customer attachment
behaviour to sustain the retail
industry in Malaysia
Rozita Naina Mohamed and Halimahton Borhan
Faculty of Business Management, University Technology Mara,
Melaka, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – The effectiveness of customer experience management to current market growth and
perhaps business sustainability has drawn the attentionof practitioners and academicians. This paper
aims to address the gap by empirically investigating the effect of service encounter, trustworthy
promotion and customer attachment behaviour with the moderating influence of customer emotional
experience and commitment.
Design/methodology/approach – The study has used a survey approach with a self-administered
questionnaire distributed in a retailstore intercept:a drop off and collecttechnique. A hypothesized model
was developed,analyzed and tested rigorouslyusing the structural equation modelling procedure.
Findings – The findings reveal that customer emotional experience has positive significant effects
on customer attachment behaviour, but not commitment. However, consumers in general will look for
the trustworthiness of promotional activities when purchasing both local and international products.
Originality/value – The novelty of this study is the contribution of original knowledge through the
development of new findings from a new invention, using the practical tool of comprehensive customer
emotion experience, with new dimensions, scale and model. These findings have important
implications for future research directions and management of the local or international retail industry.
Keywords Marketing, Business
Paper type Research p aper
1. Introduction
The effectiveness of customer experience management to current market growth and
perhaps business sustainability has drawn attention of practitioners and academicians.
Undoubtedly, it is critical to gain insights into the key drivers of “customer emotional
experience” and subsequently ascertain its outcomes in order to design effective
customer experience management for market growth and perhaps business
sustainability. Understanding on how strong brand survive and why customer
experience develops that willleads to customer attachmentbehaviour remains one of the
key challenging and critical management issues today (Schmitt, 2009/2010).
The concept of customer emotional experience captures the very essence of branding
much more than analytically andcognitively oriented brandconcepts. Failure to develop
long term psychological attachment among existing and potential customers of this
industry may require the businessto bear the increased costs associated with managing
the brand as an assets that drive every strategic and investments decision (Davis and
Dunn, 2002/2010). In view of the highinvestment in brand and in promoting local and the
international organization to invest their retailing businesses in Malaysia and its
ubiquity, the successof such investments and its effectivenessand efficiency is important
for both research and in practice. Malaysians’ retailing service provider expenditure
represents roughly 35 per cent of total consumer spending, and is expected to see
142 per cent growth by 2017 as disposable incomes rise (Euromonitor, 2012).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
Received 2 August 2013
Revised 2 August 2013
Accepted 3 August 2013
World Journal of Entrepreneurship,
Management and Sustainable
Development
Vol.10 No. 1, 2014
pp. 69-76
rEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/W JEMSD-08-2013- 0044
69
Retail industry
in Malaysia

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