Award Date
12-1-2012
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Hotel Administration
First Committee Member
Carola Raab
Second Committee Member
Sarah Tanford
Third Committee Member
Curtis Love
Fourth Committee Member
Lori Olafson
Number of Pages
173
Abstract
Loyalty programs have become products in and of themselves. They need to maintain member loyalty in order to survive. It is proposed that communication has a larger impact on program loyalty than previously thought. This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the influence of communication typologies and dimensions on hotel reward program loyalty via self-image congruence, service quality, satisfaction, and trust. Moreover, this dissertation presents a communication identity model, which focuses on promoting hotel reward program loyalty via self-congruence with communication channels.
Newly discovered significant paths were found between: communication style and self-congruence with communication channels; self-congruence with communication channels and information quality; and finally, information quality and satisfaction. The impact of different communication channels on antecedents of loyalty yielded some unexpected results, namely that social media was less relevant to participants than company websites and interpersonal communication. The results suggest that loyalty programs must consider the impact of communication style on satisfaction and ultimately program loyalty. In addition, it was found that fostering member self-congruence with communication channels through `communication identity management' may be crucial to attaining the sense of community that is vital to membership loyalty.
Keywords
Advertising – Hotels; Communication channel; Communication in marketing; Communication style; Consumers' preferences; Customer loyalty; Customer loyalty programs; Hotel reward program; Hotels; Member loyalty; Satisfaction; Self-image congruence; Social media; Web sites
Disciplines
Communication | Hospitality Administration and Management | Marketing
File Format
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Repository Citation
Berezan, Orie, "Self-image congruence with communication channels and its impact on reward program loyalty" (2012). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 1708.
http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/4332689
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Included in
Communication Commons, Hospitality Administration and Management Commons, Marketing Commons