Waiting Line Management

Waiting time influence on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship in services
Fre´de´ric Bielen
HEC Ecole de Gestion, Universite´ de Lie` ge, Lie`ge,
Belgium and Ecole de Sante´ Publique, Universite´ Catholique de Louvain,
Louvain, Belgium, and
Nathalie Demoulin
IESEG School of Management, Catholic University of Lille, Lille, France
Abstract
Purpose – Delay is an important issue for service providers. Indeed, previous studies have widely shown the negative effect of waiting time on consumer service satisfaction. However, being satisfied with the service seems to be insufficient for customers to remain loyal. Creating customer loyalty is even more crucial than just satisfying them. The paper aims to investigate how customers weigh up their service satisfaction and waiting time satisfaction in order to determine whether they will remain loyal or not.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted in the Belgian health care industry.
The final sample includes 946 respondents. Regression analyses were performed and the Baron and
Kenny method used to test moderator and mediator impacts of variables.
Findings – The results confirm that waiting time satisfaction is not only a service satisfaction determinant, but it also moderates the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. Moreover, determinants of customer waiting time satisfaction include the perceived waiting time, the satisfaction with information provided in case of delays, and the satisfaction with the waiting environment. In addition, it is shown that waiting time satisfaction is a complete mediating variable in the perceived waiting time and service satisfaction link.
Originality/value – The paper suggests several implications about the waiting time impacts on service satisfaction and customer loyalty. They show the importance of this variable in the service process and explain how to improve it.
Keywords Customer loyalty, Customer satisfaction, Service levels
Paper type Research paper

References: Anderson, E.W. (1994), “Cross-category variation in customer satisfaction and retention”, Marketing Letters, Vol Antonides, G., Verhoef, P.C. and Van Aalst, M. (2002), “Consumer perception and evaluation of waiting time: a field experiment”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol Baker, J. and Cameron, M. (1996), “The effects of the service environment on affect and consumer perception of waiting time: an integrative review and research propositions”, Journal of the Baron, R.M. and Kenny, D.A. (1986), “The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51 No. 6, pp. 1173-82. Bateson, J.E.G. and Hoffman, K.D. (1999), Managing Services Marketing, The Dryden Press, Fort Worth, TX. Becker, G.S. (1965), “A theory of the allocation of time”, The Economic Journal, Vol. 75 No. 299, pp Bloemer, J. and De Ruyter, K. (1999), “Customer loyalty in high and low involvement service settings: the moderating impact of positive emotions”, Journal of Marketing Management, Bolton, R. (1998), “A dynamic model of the duration of the customers’ relationship with a continuous service provider: the role of satisfaction”, Marketing Science, Vol Bowman, D. and Narayandas, D. (2001), “Managing customer-initiated contacts with manufacturers: the impact on share of category requirements and word of mouth Chauduri, A. and Holbrook, M.B. (2001), “The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: the role of brand loyalty”, Journal of Marketing, Vol Clemmer, E. and Schneider, B. (1989), “Toward understanding and controlling customer dissatisfaction with waiting”, working paper No Davis, M.M. and Heineke, J. (1994), “Understanding the roles of the customer and the operation for better queue management”, International Journal of Operations & Production Davis, M.M. and Vollman, T.E. (1990), “A framework for relating waiting time and customer satisfaction in a service operation”, Journal of Service Marketing, Vol Dick, A.S. and Basu, K. (1994), “Customer loyalty: toward an integrated conceptual framework”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol Dube´-Rioux, L., Schmitt, B.H. and Leclerc, F. (1989), “Consumers’ reaction to waiting: when delays affect the perception of service quality”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol Durrande-Moreau, A. (1999), “Waiting for service: ten years of empirical research”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol Fornell, C. (1992), “A national customer satisfaction barometer: the Swedish experience”, Journal of Marketing, Vol Fornell, C., Johnson, M.D., Anderson, E.W., Cha, J. and Bryant, B.E. (1996), “The American customer satisfaction index: nature, purpose, and findings”, Journal of Marketing, Vol Hornick, J. (1984), “Subjective vs objective time measures: a note on the perception of time in consumer behavior”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol Hui, M.K. and Tse, D.K. (1996), “What to tell consumers in waits of different lengths: an integrative model of service evaluation”, Journal of Marketing, Vol Irwin, J.R. and McClelland, G.H. (2001), “Misleading heuristics and moderated multiple regression models”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol Johnston, R. (1995), “The determinants of service quality: satisfiers and dissatisfiers”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol Jones, T.O. and Sasser, E.W. (1995), “Why satisfied customers defect”, Harvard Business Review, Vol Katz, K.L., Larson, B.M. and Larons, R.C. (1991), “Prescription for the waiting-in-line blues: entertain, enlighten and engage”, Sloan Management Review, Vol Kumar, P., Kalwani, M.U. and Dada, M. (1997), “The impact of waiting time guarantees on customers’ waiting experiences”, Marketing Science, Vol Law, A.K.Y., Hui, Y.V. and Zhao, X. (2004), “Modeling repurchase frequency and customer satisfaction for fast food outlets”, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Lovelock, C. and Gummesson, E. (2004), “Whiter services marketing? In search of a new paradigm and fresh perspectives”, Journal of Service Research, Vol Lovelock, C. and Lapert, D. (1999), Marketing des Services: Strate´gie, Outils, Management, Publi Union Editions, Paris. Maister, D.H. (1985), “The psychology of waiting lines”, in Czepiel, J.A., Solomon, M.R. and Surprenant, C.F Mazursky, D. and Ganzach, Y. (1998), “Does involvement moderate time-dependent biases in consumer multiattribute judgment?”, Journal of Business Research, Vol Mittal, V. and Baldasare, P.M. (1996), “Eliminate the negative”, Journal of Health Care Marketing, Vol Mittal, V. and Kamakura, W.A. (2001), “Satisfaction, repurchase intent, and repurchase behavior: investigating the moderating effect of customer characteristics”, Journal of Marketing Oliver, R.L. (1993), “Cognitive, affective, and attribute bases of the satisfaction response”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol Olsen, S.A. (2002), “Comparative evaluation and the relationship between quality, satisfaction, and repurchase loyalty”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988), “SERVQUAL: a multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality”, Journal of Retailing, Vol Patterson, P.G. and Smith, T. (2003), “A cross-cultural study of switching barriers and propensity to stay with service providers”, Journal of Retailing, Vol