Search results

The purpose of this study is to examine crisis effects on customer satisfaction and underlying drivers by adding a new set of data to previous research. The core questions are: are the findings from Hallencreutz and Parmler (2019, 2021) sustained or can new customer demands, needs, expectations and behaviours be traced in the wake of the ongoing crisis?

A first study covering 2005–2017 was completed in 2018, published online in 2019 and in print in 2021 (Hallencreutz and Parmler, 2021). This new study adds the years 2018–2023 to the data set and reuses the partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation models, also known as PLS path modelling.

This additional study sustains the results from the initial study (Hallencreutz and Parmler, 2019, 2021). The variable product quality has been substituted by service quality as one of the most crucial drivers for customer satisfaction together with brand image, and the current state of permacrisis has not changed that.

The study is built on Swedish data from the EPSI Rating Initiative (Eklöf and Westlund 2002) covering customer perceptions in banking, insurance (life and non-life), telco (mobile operators, broadband and Pay-tv) and energy (trade, distribution and heating) over the years 2005–2023.

The study emphasizes the importance of understanding how customer satisfaction drivers evolve over time in different industries and societal sectors, especially during crises. This additional study sustains the paradigm shift in the studied industries – product quality has been substituted by service quality as one of the most crucial drivers for customer satisfaction, and the current state of economic downturn has not changed that.

Society will have to learn to live with political and economic instability and unpredictability for the foreseeable future. To recognize the increasing value deriving from firms’ intangible assets while providing flawless deliveries seems to be a way forward in troublesome times. This is also a catalyst for existing societal trends: the necessary reforms to master sustainable transformations will require an ongoing adaptation process, with both winners and losers across continents.

The world has coped with a global pandemic, and Europe is currently experiencing a humanitarian, political and economic crises caused by a war in Ukraine. This extended period of global instability and insecurity could be called a permacrisis (Collins dictionary, 2022). This study offers a unique quantitative analysis built on Swedish data from EPSI Rating initiative.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the usefulness and efficiency of customer-based measures such as customer satisfaction (CSI) and perceived loyalty for monitoring and enhancing the financial performance in corporations.

General financial data for the empirical modeling is compiled from national and international databases (Alla Bolag, IMF/IFS, Bloomberg, Eurostat, etc.) and company-specific data from the studied corporation. Customer perception data (like CSI and loyalty) are taken from the Extended Performance Satisfaction Index-initiative database (annual observations for the period 2001-2014 and quarterly for 2008-2014). A hierarchy of structural models is devised on a combined time-series and cross-section (panel and multi-level) approach. The results are based on models estimated by Arellano–Bond procedures (Arellano and Bond, 1991).

The core findings are two. First, there is a strong positive relationship between customer-based measures and financial performance. Second, it is effective to regularly monitor CSI as a forward- looking indicator for understanding future financial performance.

Customer-based measures are highly useful as leading indicators of companies’ future performance and should be incorporated even more into corporate decisions.

According to this survey of contemporary research, very little is academically documented for the full-circle from corporate to branch level. Thus, the prevailing study should be of potential value for companies in general.