The Relationship between Customer Attachment Styles and Customer Relationship Management (Case Study: Virtual University of Tehran)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Prof. in Marketing, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Prof. in Marketing, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 M.Sc. in Executive Management (Marketing), University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Consumers have different needs and desires in their relationship with service firms and not every consumer is willing to engage in close commercial relationship in the same manner. Although customer relationship management (CRM) is a top priority for marketers, scholars and managers do not appropriately understand these distinct relational preferences. This article introduces ‘customer attachment styles’ to help researchers and managers in identifying and predicting the relational needs of customers. Survey-based data in the Virtual University of Tehran as a service provider and on students as consumers reveal the relevance of customer attachment styles for the aforementioned outcome variables. Data were gathered by an online questionnaire and analysed by Pearson correlation test and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Findings demonstrates that attachment theory is a fruitful foundation for a truly customer-based and predictive approach that helps improving CRM effectiveness and efficiency, and strengthens the marketing contribution to the firm`s ability to compete.

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