The impact of service quality and switching cost on customer loyalty in information asymmetric services

Abstract

The objective of this study is to understand the factors that affect customer loyalty when there is information asymmetry between service providers and consumers. Three constructs of service quality are used to examine the direct effect and the interaction effect of the switching cost on customer loyalty under three different types of service industries. From the 280 successfully collected samples, this study finds that the switching cost is most significant for search services. It is also found that the effects of service quality on customer loyalty vary when the information asymmetry between service providers and consumers is taken into consideration.