To be or not to be (loyal): Is there a recipe for customer loyalty in the B2B context?

The article investigates how firms can achieve high levels of customer loyalty under different configurations of perceived switching costs, returns management, customer value, and customer satisfaction. In order to better explain the sources of customer loyalty within the B2B context, researchers have already introduced various antecedents and developed several models, however past studies concentrated exclusively on the main ‘net effects’ of these antecedents. Because of the complex reality in which the phenomena of interest manifests itself, complexity theory tenets can provide a more accurate understanding of what generates customer loyalty. Applying this theory, the current article seeks to determine all the possible “recipes” that build strong customer loyalty in the B2B context. To address this research question the study employed qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) which assumes that the influence of attributes on a specific outcome (customer loyalty in a B2B context) depends on how the attributes are combined. Future research can consider other possible combinations and explore how the impact of these antecedents on customer loyalty changes when other variables are considered.