Product personalisation in the era of big data : the influence on customer loyalty

Abstract

Personalisation has revolutionized marketing owing to the big data technologies and their adoption across industries. Big brands are using personalisation daily to impact customers and improve customer experience. However, despite the associated benefits of personalisation, privacy remains one of the concerns associated with personalisation. This research study aimed to empirically explain the relationship between personalisation and customer loyalty as well as the existence or not of a moderating effect of privacy concerns on the relationship between personalisation and customer loyalty from an attitudinal and behavioural loyalty viewpoint. The research study was quantitative in nature and followed a descripto-explanatory design with data collected through an online survey. The analysis in the research study was based on 237 mobile telecommunications customers in South Africa who are above 18 years of age and receive personalised products from their network providers. The research study found personalisation directly influences attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. The study further revealed privacy importance directly influences attitudinal loyalty as well as positively moderate the relationship between personalisation and attitudinal loyalty. Attitudinal loyalty was found to directly influence behavioural loyalty. The implications as well as recommendations for marketing and academia are provided.