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Brand Loyalty In The Cruise Sector: Age Cohorts, Gender, And Travel Attributes As Key Moderators For Relationship Marketing Theory, Stephen Wen-Hung Wang, Maxwell Kuo-Hsuan Hsu, Angeline Close Scheinbaum, Feng-Ming Tsai

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Testing established theory in relationship marketing, we examine the impact of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty in the context of the cruise industry. Individual differences such as age cohort (e.g., millennials, Gen X, baby boomers), gender, and consumers’ desired travel attributes are examined as moderators. Cruise vacation consumers at an international cruise harbor were approached to complete an in-person survey (n = 226). Empirical findings support extant theory in relationship marketing in that consumers’ perception of relationship investment raises satisfaction and, in turn, brand loyalty. Notably, when customer relationship investment is degenerated into a second order …