Title: Value preferences for rewards and loyalty programs of South African financial institutions

Authors: Johan Coetzee; Louis Raubenheimer

Addresses: Department of Economics and Finance and The UFS Business School, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa ' UFS Business School, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of value preferences on relational outcomes such as loyalty and repeat purchase behaviour that customers of financial institutions (FIs) have towards their rewards and loyalty programs (RLPs). Using a structural equation model, the results indicate that utilitarian, hedonic and symbolic value drivers are all positively associated with perceptions of delight, satisfaction, trust, attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. Symbolic value drivers were found to have a particularly strong association with perceptions of delight and satisfaction. Although a strong positive relationship was found between attitudinal loyalty and repeat purchase behaviour, no significant relationship was found between behavioural loyalty and repeat purchase behaviour. The findings suggest that if RLPs provide a comprehensive ecosystem reflecting aspects of all the value drivers, customers will be more likely to exhibit true loyalty towards the program of the FI if symbolic rewards are particularly prominent due to eliciting higher-order psychological relational outcomes.

Keywords: rewards and loyalty programs; RLPs; financial institutions; banks; attitudinal loyalty; behavioural loyalty.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2023.134859

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2023 Vol.26 No.4, pp.530 - 556

Received: 17 May 2021
Accepted: 14 Jul 2021
Published online: 15 Nov 2023 *

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