Does the Environmentally Friendliness of a Service Invite Customer Loyalty? The Role of Positive Emotions: An Abstract

Abstract

This research evaluates consumers’ responses to the environmental friendliness of service organizations. It expands on the emerging literature connecting environmentally safe practices to customer loyalty (Chen 2013; Hur et al. 2013; Kwon et al. 2016; Koller et al. 2011). More specifically, this research investigates the mediating effects of positive emotions on the relationship between environmental friendliness and service loyalty. The positive emotions investigated include level of inspiration provided by the service, feelings of belonging instilled by the service, and the moral identity of a consumer. Repurchase intentions and word of mouth are investigated as the two primary behavioral manifestations of loyalty. The relationships are evaluated for three service industries. A total of six hypotheses were advanced. The data for empirically addressing these research hypotheses were collected from a convenience sample of 183 respondents. Each participant was asked to report on the consumption behaviors related to an educational service, a coffee shop chain, and a large retail chain. The study participants were familiar with each service. Existing scales were used. The hypotheses were tested using mediated regression models. The Hayes (2013) procedure was used. The results confirm inspiration and sense of belonging as mediator variables. The more enduring moral identity of the consumer could not be confirmed as a mediator. The findings of this study allow for two general conclusions. First, the results provide evidence for the existence of positive emotions as mediating variables affecting the relationship between environmental friendliness of a service and two service loyalty behaviors. Second, the findings suggest that the mediators are service specific. While sense of belonging was significant across the three services, the level of inspiration was service specific and only significant for the educational service. The findings from this study imply that for green efforts to result in customer loyalty, they first must instill positive emotions. If green-inspired loyalty is desired, service organizations may want to focus their green initiative on items most likely to evoke positive emotions.