The 1899 Orange Free State football team tour of Europe:'race', imperial loyalty and sporting contest

In September 1899 an association football team from Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, South Africa, arrived in the United Kingdom. The team comprised 16 black South Africans who played under the auspices of the whites-only Orange Free State Football Association and was the first ever South African football team to tour abroad. In a four-month tour the team played 49 matches against opposition in England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. A small but growing body of work focuses on black sport and football in particular and the 1899 tour is referred to in passing in a few publications, although none have attempted to uncover details of the team or the matches that were played in Europe. This article attempts to do this by drawing on a range of sources in South Africa and the United Kingdom and argues the case for the significance of this team for football history in general and South African sports history in particular.

Antecedents and outcomes of union loyalty:a constructive replication and an extension

Primary data obtained from unionized employees in Singapore were used to examine P. A. Bamberger, A. N. Kluger, and R. Suchard's (1999) integrative model of the antecedents and outcomes of union commitment. Structural equation modeling results revealed support for their integrative model. Specifically, the results revealed the influence of job satisfaction on union loyalty to be indirect through organizational commitment. However, the union-related antecedents (union socialization and union instrumentality) were both directly and indirectly related to union loyalty through pro-union attitudes. In addition, union loyalty was related to the individually and organizationally directed union citizenship behavior dimensions. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings are discussed.

Two sides to attitudinal commitment:the effect of calculative and loyalty commitment on enforcement mechanism in distribution channels

Previous conceptualizations of attitudinal commitment are extended by considering two very different components of a manufacturer’s attachment to an independent channel intermediary. Relying on commitment theory, a model is developed that describes how attitudinal commitment may reside in either the instrumental or the social strain of a manufacturer’s relationship with its distributor. For each strain, the developmental role played by key facets of the channel setting—relative dependence, pledges, and trust—are shown. Furthermore, the nature of the attachment bond is posited to motivate very different governance mechanisms as the distribution agreement is enforced by either social or contractual means. Empirical support for the model demonstrates that an expanded view of attitudinal commitment is important in understanding the complex nature of attachment in channel relationships.

Consequences of customer loyalty to the loyalty program and to the company

Gaining customer loyalty is an important goal of marketing, and loyalty programs are intended to help in reaching it. Research on loyalty programs suggests that customers differentiate between loyalty to a company and loyalty to a loyalty program, yet little is known about the consequences of these two types of loyalty. Therefore, our study intends to make two main contributions: (1) improving our understanding of the constructs "program loyalty" and "company loyalty", (2) investigating the relative impact of the two types of loyalty on preference, intention, and purchase behavior for the case of a multi-firm loyalty program. Results indicate that company loyalty influences a customer's choice to visit a particular provider and to prefer it over competitors, but it is not a strong predictor of purchase behavior. Conversely, program loyalty is a far more important driver of purchase behavior. This implies that company loyalty primarily attracts customers to a particular provider and program loyalty ensures that once inside the store, more money is spent. © 2011 Academy of Marketing Science.

Identification and analysis of moderator variables:investigating the customer satisfaction-loyalty link

Purpose – Research on the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty has advanced to a stage that requires a more thorough examination of moderator variables. Limited research shows how moderators influence the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in a service context; this article aims to present empirical evidence of the conditions in which the satisfaction-loyalty relationship becomes stronger or weaker. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of more than 700 customers of DIY retailers and multi-group structural equation modelling, the authors examine moderating effects of several firm-related variables, variables that result from firm/employee-customer interactions and individual-level variables (i.e. loyalty cards, critical incidents, customer age, gender, income, expertise). Findings – The empirical results suggest that not all of the moderators considered influence the satisfaction-loyalty link. Specifically, critical incidents and income are important moderators of the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Practical implications – Several of the moderator variables considered in this study are manageable variables. Originality/value – This study should prove valuable to academic researchers as well as service and retailing managers. It systematically analyses the moderating effect of firm-related and individual-level variables on the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. It shows the differential effect of different types of moderator variables on the satisfaction-loyalty link.

How habits, social ties, and economic switching barriers affect customer loyalty in contractual service settings

While existing literature acknowledges positive effects of satisfaction and economic switching barriers for building customer loyalty, studies analyzing interactions of these antecedents reveal mixed findings. Prior research does not consider, as antecedents of switching barriers, either habits or social ties that result from shared service-usage within a family or community. This paper contributes to the literature, first, by replicating the effects of satisfaction, economic switching barriers, and their interaction with customer loyalty and word-of-mouth of subscribers to a contractual service. Second, the study empirically tests the role of social ties as a social switching barrier. Third, the study introduces and tests the effects of habits as a precursor of economic and social switching barriers. Results reveal significant positive effects of satisfaction, economic switching barriers, and social ties on customer loyalty and word-of-mouth. Additionally, economic switching barriers and social ties interact significantly with satisfaction and habits act as a precursor of economic switching barriers and social ties.

The relative strength of affective commitment in securing loyalty in service relationships

While commitment is an important antecedent to customer retention, a broad consensus has yet to emerge on the impacts of constituent dimensions of commitment on loyalty in service relationships. This study explores the impacts of affective and continuance commitment on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty in a service context. Since affective commitment is more positive and governed by free choice, whereas continuance commitment is more the result of perceived economic and psychological benefits of being in a relationship, the results of this study suggest that emotional bonds with customers provide a more enduring source of loyalty as compared to economic incentives and switching costs.

An examination of moderator effects in the four-stage loyalty model

Oliver’s 1997 four-stage loyalty model proposes that loyalty consists of belief, affect, intention, and action. Although this loyalty model has recently been subject to empirical examination, the issue of moderator variables has been largely neglected. This article fills that void by analyzing the moderating effects of selected personal and situational characteristics, using a sample of 888 customers of a large do-it-yourself retailer. The results of multi-group causal analysis suggest that these moderators exert an influence on the development of the different stages of the loyalty sequence. Specifically, age, income, education and expertise, price orientation, critical incident recovery, and loyalty card membership are found to be important moderators of the links in the four-stage loyalty model. Limitations of the study are outlined, and implications for both research and managerial practice are discussed.