When Satisfied Consumers Do Not Return: Variety Seeking's Effect on Short- and Long-Term Intentions

摘要

Even satisfied consumers frequently do not come back, which challenges loyalty theory and mar-keting practice. It is reasoned that variety-seeking tendencies will significantly affect short-term revisit intentions, whereas satisfaction and regret will mostly determine long-term revisit inten-tions. Thus, the influence of satisfaction on loyalty is hypothesized to be critically dependent on the time perspective of the intentions, now or later, and variety seeking. A representative survey (N = 400) in eight Spanish cities supported these predictions. Multivariate moderated-mediation analy-ses revealed that indeed the influence of satisfaction, regret, and variety seeking critically depends on the time perspective of the behavioral intentions.