Commercial sites on the Web are seriously competing against for attraction and retention of potential customers. So the customer loyalty in the on-line is important as much as off-line. As a major component of the customer loyalty on the Web, satisfaction, personal cost and risk, self involvement and moderating variable in terms of value attainment, positive mood were considered. These components can be categorized in two parts: true loyalty and false loyalty. True loyalty stems from satisfaction and involvement, and false loyalty is on the contrary, caused by switching barrier, bonds etc.
Through an empirical analysis of 399 Internet users, two major analyses were done. First, it was found that the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty moderated by value attainment and positive mood. This shows that value attainment and positive mood play an additional role in explaining customer loyalty on the Web. Second, the influence of major factors (satisfaction, involvement, personal cost and risk, bonds) related to the customer loyalty were analyzed for the high loyalty user group and low loyalty user group. It was found that the influence of some factors upon loyalty is stronger in high loyalty group than in low loyalty group and that of the other factors is indifferent between two groups.
This research is very important in theoretical and practical aspects. First, new framework of the customer loyalty model was developed considering the characteristic of the Internet. So it is possible to compare the customer loyalty model of the on-line with that of the off-line. Second, it is important for Internet companies to understand customer loyalty, not from the technical base, but in terms of what it means to the attitudinal strength of their customers’ relationship with them. Especially, from the analysis of moderating variables, it was found that the value attainment and positive mood may function as a buffer for diminishing loyalty and as a result, lower levels of satisfaction. So it is useful for service providers to develop their strategies.
