The Relationship between Market Orientation and Customer Retention: A Mediator of Customer Satisfaction

市場導向與顧客保留之關係：以顧客滿意度為中介變數

10.3966/199553922014030801001

張保昌(Pao-Chang Chang)

市場導向 ； 顧客滿意度 ； 顧客保留 ； market orientation ； customer satisfaction ； customer retention

多國籍企業管理評論

8卷1期（2014 / 03 / 01）

1 - 21

英文

從Kohli和Jaworski（1990）與Narver和Slater（1990）相繼建立市場導向的構念及操作性定義起，即引起眾多學者們爭相投入市場導向和企業績效之間關係的研究。市場導向的企業會建立規範與信念，整合全體的資源和力量，有效果及有效率地回應顧客與競爭對手。因此，學者們普遍地相信市場導向對企業績效有正面的影響，實證研究亦支持此論證。然而，儘管有許多的研究支持市場導向對企業績效有正面的影響，但是對於市場導向與顧客保留的研究卻是相當有限的。因此，Narver and Slater（1990）在推導市場導向的構念與企業獲利能力時，建議未來的研究方向可檢視市場導向與顧客保留之關係。本研究即回應其呼籲。顧客保留簡單的定義是顧客意圖持續的使用公司的產品與服務。企業為了生存，可能有兩種方案，一是保留原顧客，另一是不斷開發新顧客。然而許多研究指出顧客保留比開發新顧客便宜。因此，就成本考量，顧客保留對企業而言是比較可行之道。因此，如何保留住顧客成為企業重要的關鍵問題。從關係行銷的文獻中得知，顧客滿意決定顧客保留。然而，從策略性行銷的觀點而言，市場導向的企業與顧客保留之關係尚待驗證。因此，本研究在探討顧客滿意度對市場導向和顧客保留之間關係的中介效果。假說有三：（1）市場導向與顧客保留有正相關；（2）顧客滿意度與顧客保留有正相關；（3）顧客滿意度對市場導向和顧客保留之關係有中介效果。本研究的樣本317人來自家庭用品及器具的零售業，以問卷調查法分別針對各店主管、店員及顧客實施調查，避免共同回答者偏差。本研究利用階層回歸分析資料，發現所有假說皆成立。意謂顧客滿意度在市場導向和顧客保留之間具有中介效果。

Since the seminal publications of Kohli and Jaworski (1990) and Narver and Slater (1990) influential papers, marketing researchers have devoted much attention to the concept of market orientation and how it affects a firm's performance. A market orientation establishes the norms and beliefs that integrate entire organization resources and customer-related activities to respond efficiently and effectively to customers and competitors. Thus market orientation is believed to have a positive effect on firm performance, as empirical research generally supports. Despite the growing interest in how market orientation shapes performance, the examination of its effects on customer retention remains limited. In their comprehensive article, Narver and Slater (1990, p33) suggests that ＂what is the relationship of market orientation on customer retention?＂ need to be tested in future research. Customer retention focus on repeated patronage of a marketer or supplier. There may be two options for a firm to survive in the market, one is to retain the existing customers, and the other is to continuously attract new ones. Lots of studies reveal that the former is cheaper than the latter. Thus, in terms of cost considerations, customer retention is more feasible for a firm. So, how to retain customers become an important key issues. In the context of relationship marketing, customer satisfaction is often viewed as a central determinant of customer retention. However, as a view of strategic marketing, it seems necessary to critically examine the postulate of a close relation between a business being market oriented and customer retention. Therefore, this study is to examine the impact of market orientation on customer retention via customer satisfaction as mediator variable. There are three hypotheses: (1) market orientation will be positively related to customer retention; (2) market orientation will be positively related to customer satisfaction; (3) customer satisfaction will be a mediating variable between market orientation and customer retention. The study employs a convenience sampling. Samples are taken from household appliances and equipments stores within the cities of Tauyuan. The sample consists of 317 useful respondents, including managers, employees, and customers. Hierarchical regression analysis of data from 317 respondents are used to test three hypotheses. The results show that all hypotheses are supported.

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