This current research examines how gratitude and affective commitment work together to improve customer–organizational relationships. Using theories from services marketing and consumer psychology, we develop and test a customer relationship model. The results empirically demonstrate that affective commitment mediates the relationship between gratitude and customer word-of-mouth intentions and involvement. For theorists, our customer relationship model offers a better psychological explanation of how a customers’ emotional response of gratitude generates benefits for organizations. We suggest managers should invest in stimulating both customer gratitude and affective commitment to improve positive word-of-mouth intentions and customer involvement subsequently.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	customer satisfaction, reciprocity, cynicism, customer gratitude, relationship marketing investments
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Marketing
Research Field:	Marketing research methodology
Objective Division:	Economic Framework
Objective Group:	Management and productivity
Objective Field:	Marketing
UTAS Author:	Fazal-E-Hasan, S (Dr Syed Fazal-E-Hasan)
ID Code:	114519
Year Published:	2017
Web of Science® Times Cited:	14
Deposited By:	TSBE
Deposited On:	2017-02-17
Last Modified:	2018-05-21
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