Study On Mechanism Of Switching Barriers On Customer Loyalty

Science the distribution of the Credit card in our country, the scale of the Credit card has increased at a dazzling speed from2003to2009. To the end of last year, the circulation of the Credit card has nearly one hundred hand eighty million. Over one hundred million people use Credit card. But the development of credit card market still needs to be improved. Firstly, it is more difficult for bank to make profit. The data of the Bain&Co company shows, it need six or more years for a company to get the break-even point, when absorb a new credit card customer. Then the profit of the credit card can increase eighty-five percent, when the customer loyalty rise five percent。Secondly, there are more and more similar credit cards in the market, this make credit card owners more easy to switch to others. Thirdly, one customer hold two or more credit card is a very common thing. According to the research proposal of Chinese credit card owners in2008, amounts of card owners hold an attitude of indifference to the brand of credit card, only one point five card owners loyal to his own credit card brand. And this point is in the bottom of the global. So it is necessary to research that how to make the credit card owners more loyalty.Nowadays most of the scholars focus on satisfaction, trust and commitment, while less scholars focus on switching barriers, especially in land. Switching barriers represent any factor, which makes it more difficult or costly for consumers to change providers. Reasonable switching barriers can make customer "have to" or "want to" in a relationship. Scholars aboard have validated in many industry that switching barriers have direct effect on loyalty. So it is necessary to research into the effect from switching barriers on loyalty in credit card industry.The theoretical model of the paper is based on theory research of predecessors. Aim at finding the mechanism of switching barriers on customer loyalty. We distribute the questionnaire from the internet, and use spss15.0to displays the data. In this paper, switching barriers is divided into two dimensions: negative switching barriers (setup costs, evaluation costs, learning costs, benefit loss costs, money loss costs), and positive switching barriers (the attractiveness of competing alternatives, interpersonal relationship loss costs, brand relationship loss costs). The study result shows:(1)Evaluation costs, benefit loss costs, interpersonal relationship loss costs, brand relationship loss costs and the attractiveness of competing alternatives are proved having significant impact on customer loyalty.(2)Positive switching barriers have significant positive effect on both behavior loyalty and attitude loyalty. Negative switching barriers have positive effect on behavior loyalty, but no-significant effect on attitude loyalty.(3)Positive and negative switching barriers have no regulatory effect on satisfaction to behavior and attitude loyalty.(4)Satisfaction as a mediator variable, transfer the influence switching barriers to loyalty. Specially, when negative switching barriers effect attitude loyalty, satisfaction have a complete mediation。(5)This paper also tests the mediation of involvement to switching barriers and loyalty, and the mediation is significant. Specially, involvement has complete mediation on negative switching barriers and attitude loyalty.