Do Salespeople's In-Role and Extrarole Brand-building Behaviors Contribute to Customer Loyalty Transfer?

Abstract

We examined how, and under what conditions, a customer's loyalty to a specific salesperson (personal loyalty) can transfer over to loyalty to the firm. Participants were 900 salesperson–customer dyads who completed a paired questionnaire. We hypothesized that customer loyalty toward individuals would have a positive influence on firm loyalty. Specifically, we reasoned that the loyalty transfer process would be strengthened by salespeople's in-role and extrarole brand-building behavior (IRBBB and ERBBB). We tested our theoretical model in the context of the Chinese direct-selling industry, using the Amway organization as our research case. Our findings suggest that both IRBBB and ERBBB have a general moderating effect on the relationship between personal loyalty and firm loyalty. Compared with ERBBB, IRBBB had a stronger moderating role in the relationship between customer loyalty to the salesperson and loyalty to the firm. Our findings advance the extant marketing literature on customer loyalty and we offer suggestions for ways to incorporate this knowledge into managerial strategies and practice.