<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Background and purpose:</bold> Relationship marketing literature acknowledges the important role of attachment in customer-organization relationships, but shows limited theoretical and empirical understanding of the factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of attached customers. To address this gap, this paper draws on the relationship marketing view and synthesizes important relationship constructs with the aim of developing a mediated attachment model for private hospitals in South Africa.<bold>Design/Methodology/Approach:</bold> A quantitative descriptive research design was implemented, collecting 303 useable questionnaires via non-probability convenience sampling. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and a confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to determine the reliability and validity of the measures respectively, and a SEM was conducted for the mediation analysis.<bold>Results:</bold> The results indicate that respondents’ relationship value was significantly related to attachment, loyalty and fear of relationship loss, and attachment was significantly related to loyalty and fear of relationship loss. Moreover, the indirect effect of attachment in the relationship between relationship value and loyalty, as well as in the relationship between relationship value and fear of relationship loss was found to be significant.<bold>Conclusion:</bold> Attachment plays a significant role in both the direct and indirect relationships with key relationship marketing constructs. The importance of attachment in building patient-hospital relationships should therefore not be ignored, and private hospitals are encouraged to invest in their relationships with patients, with the aim of establishing attachment.</abstract>

Background and purpose: Relationship marketing literature acknowledges the important role of attachment in customer-organization relationships, but shows limited theoretical and empirical understanding of the factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of attached customers. To address this gap, this paper draws on the relationship marketing view and synthesizes important relationship constructs with the aim of developing a mediated attachment model for private hospitals in South Africa.Design/Methodology/Approach: A quantitative descriptive research design was implemented, collecting 303 useable questionnaires via non-probability convenience sampling. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and a confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to determine the reliability and validity of the measures respectively, and a SEM was conducted for the mediation analysis.Results: The results indicate that respondents’ relationship value was significantly related to attachment, loyalty and fear of relationship loss, and attachment was significantly related to loyalty and fear of relationship loss. Moreover, the indirect effect of attachment in the relationship between relationship value and loyalty, as well as in the relationship between relationship value and fear of relationship loss was found to be significant.Conclusion: Attachment plays a significant role in both the direct and indirect relationships with key relationship marketing constructs. The importance of attachment in building patient-hospital relationships should therefore not be ignored, and private hospitals are encouraged to invest in their relationships with patients, with the aim of establishing attachment.

An Empirical Investigation of the Mediating Role of Customer Attachment in South African Private Hospitals

Organizacija

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Background and purpose: Relationship marketing literature acknowledges the important role of attachment in customer-organization relationships, but shows...

An Empirical Investigation of the Mediating Role of Customer Attachment in South African Private Hospitals

Published Online: Dec 08, 2020

Page range: 332 - 345

Received: Feb 07, 2020

Accepted: Oct 26, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2020-0022

Keywords
Attachment, Fear of relationship loss, Loyalty, Private hospitals, Relationship value

© 2020 Hester Spies et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

An Empirical Investigation of the Mediating Role of Customer Attachment in South African Private Hospitals

Published Online: Dec 08, 2020

Page range: 332 - 345

Received: Feb 07, 2020

Accepted: Oct 26, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2020-0022

KeywordsAttachment, Fear of relationship loss, Loyalty, Private hospitals, Relationship value

© 2020 Hester Spies et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Attachment, Fear of relationship loss, Loyalty, Private hospitals, Relationship value