Satisfaction and zone of tolerance: the moderating roles of elaboration and loyalty programs

Purpose – This study seeks to understand how elaboration and loyalty programs affect the relative importance of satisfaction and the zone of tolerance (ZOT) in determining customer loyalty to an airline service provider.Design/methodology/approach – Hierarchical moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.Findings – Customers with high elaboration rely more heavily on satisfaction than the ZOT to maintain customer loyalty. In addition, loyalty programs can decrease the effect of satisfaction on customer loyalty, but cannot increase the strength of the relationship between the ZOT and customer loyalty.Originality/value – This study is a preliminary attempt to integrate the ZOT and satisfaction in determining customer loyalty in a simultaneous model. The findings suggest that there is a trade‐off between the effects of satisfaction and the ZOT on customer loyalty. Most importantly, the results provide new insights into the loyalty response with regard to dissatisfaction.