In the service literature, churn is primarily attributed to customers who are dissatisfied with a service. However, in several industries, such as health care, weight loss services, and online dating, satisfied customers also churn because the service delivers on its promise, for example, by providing a cure, facilitating weight loss, or creating the circumstances that allow a person to meet their partner. Considering these dual churn pathways, it is necessary for companies in these markets to create awareness of what drives positive and negative churn to address the corresponding challenges for managing customer relationships. This study defines and theoretically discusses the concept of positive churn and outlines its consequences for companies in the short- and long term. Based on an analysis of combined observational and survey data from 1,369 customers, we empirically demonstrate the necessity of accounting for positive and negative churn by analyzing this phenomenon in online dating. Furthermore, this article discusses opportunities for future research on positive churn.
AdamsJ. S. (1965), “Inequity in Social Exchange,” In BerkowizL. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (pp. 267–299). New York: Academic Press.
2.
AndersonC. B.BulikC. M. (2004), “Gender Differences in Compensatory Behaviors, Weight and Shape Salience, and Drive for Thinness,” Eating Behaviors, 5 (1), 1–11.
3.
AndersonE. W. (1998), “Customer Satisfaction and Word-of-Mouth,” Journal of Service Research, 1 (1), 5–17.
4.
AndersonE. W.FornellC.LehmannD. R. (1994), “Customer Satisfaction, Market Share, and Profitability: Findings from Sweden,” Journal of Marketing, 58 (3), 53–66.
5.
AndersonE. W.SullivanM. W. (1993), “The Antecendents and Consequences of Customer Satisfaction for Firms,” Marketing Science, 12 (2), 125–143.
6.
ArmstrongJ. S.OvertonT. S. (1977), “Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys,” Journal of Marketing Research, 14 (3), 396–402.
7.
AscarzaE. (2018), “Retention Futility: Targeting High-Risk Customers Might Be Ineffective,” Journal of Marketing Research, 55 (1), 80–98.
8.
AscarzaE.EbbesP.NetzerO.DanielsonM. (2017), “Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of Customer Relationship Management Campaigns,” Journal of Marketing Research, 54 (3), 347–363.
9.
AustinP. C.LeeD. S.FineJ. P. (2016), “Introduction to the Analysis of Survival Data in the Presence of Competing Risks,” Circulation, 133 (6), 601–609.
10.
BansalH. S.TaylorS. F. (1999), “The Service Provider Switching Model (SPSM): A Model of Consumer Switching Behavior in the Services Industry,” Journal of Service Research, 2 (2), 200–218.
11.
BansalH. S.TaylorS. F.JamesY. St. (2005), “‘Migrating’ to New Service Providers: Toward a Unifying Framework of Consumers’ Switching Behaviors,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 33 (1), 95–115.
12.
BapnaR.RamaprasadJ.ShmueliG.UmyarovA. (2016), “One-Way Mirrors in Online Dating: A Randomized Field Experiment,” Management Science, 62 (11), 3100–3122.
13.
BendapudiN.BerryL. L. (1997), “Customer’s Motivations for Maintaining Relationships with Service Providers,” Journal of Retailing, 73 (1), 15–37.
BhattacherjeeA. (2001), “An Empirical Analysis of the Antecedents of Electronic Commerce Service Continuance,” Decision Support Systems, 32 (2), 201–214.
16.
BitnerM. J.FarandaW. T.HubbertA. R. and ZeithamlV. A. (1997), “Customer Contributions and Roles in Service Delivery,” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 8 (3), 193–205.
17.
BlossfeldH. P.RohwerG. (2002). Techniques of Event History Modeling, (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
18.
BlutM.FrenneaC. M.MittalV.MothersbaughD. L. (2015), “How Procedural, Financial and Relational Switching Costs Affect Customer Satisfaction, Repurchase Intentions, and Repurchase Behavior: A Meta-analysis,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32 (2), 226–229.
19.
BurnhamT. A.FrelsJ. K.MahajanV. (2003), “Consumer Switching Costs: A Typology, Antecedents, and Consequences,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31 (2), 109–126.
20.
De HaanE.VerhoefP. C.WieselT. (2015), “The Predictive Ability of Different Customer Feedback Metrics for Retention,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32 (2), 195–206.
21.
DellaVignaS.MalmendierU. (2006), “Paying Not to Go to the Gym,” American Economic Review, 96 (3), 694–719.
EdvardssonB.TronvollB.GruberT. (2011), “Expanding Understanding of Service Exchange and Value Co-creation: A Social Construction Approach,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39 (2), 327–339.
24.
EisingerichA. B.AuhS.MerloO. (2014), “Acta Non Verba? The Role of Customer Participation and Word of Mouth in the Relationship between Service Firms’ Customer Satisfaction and Sales Performance,” Journal of Service Research, 17 (1), 40–53.
25.
EmersonR. M. (1976), “Social Exchange Theory,” Annual Review of Sociology, 2(1), 335–362.
26.
FaderP. S.HardieB. G. S.LeeK. L. (2005), “Counting Your Customers the Easy Way: An Alternative to the Pareto/NBD Model,” Marketing Science, 24 (2), 275–284.
27.
FestingerL. (1957), A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
28.
FinkelE. J.EastwickP. W.KarneyB. R.ReisH. T.SprecherS. (2012), “Online Dating a Critical Analysis from the Perspective of Psychological Science,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13 (1), 3–66.
29.
FordM. B.CollinsN. L. (2010), “Self-Esteem Moderates Neuroendocrine and Psychological Responses to Interpersonal Rejection,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98 (3), 405.
30.
FrostJ. H.ChanceZ.NortonM. I.ArielyD. (2008), “People are Experience Goods: Improving Online Dating with Virtual Dates,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 22 (1), 51–61.
31.
FüllerJ. (2010), “Refining Virtual Co-Creation from a Consumer Perspective,” California Management Review, 52 (2), 98–122.
32.
GrönroosC. (2011), “Value Co-Creation in Service Logic: A Critical Analysis,” Marketing Theory, 11 (3), 279–301.
33.
GrönroosC.VoimaP. (2013), “Critical Service Logic: Making Sense of Value Creation and Co-Creation,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41 (2), 133–150.
34.
GustafssonA.JohnsonM. D.RoosI. (2005), “The Effects of Customer Satisfaction, Relationship Commitment Dimensions, and Triggers on Customer Retention,” Journal of Marketing, 69 (4), 210–218.
35.
HamiltonM.KaltchevaV. D.RohmA. J. (2016), “Social Media and Value Creation: The Role of Interaction Satisfaction and Interaction Immersion,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 36 (C), 121–133.
36.
HeinoR. D.EllisonN. B.GibbsJ. L. (2010), “Relationshopping: Investigating the Market Metaphor in Online Dating,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27 (4), 427–447.
37.
HitschG. J.HortaçsuA.ArielyD. (2010), “What Makes You Click?—Mate Preferences in Online Dating,” Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 8 (4), 393–427.
38.
HoganJ. E.LemonK. N.LibaiB. (2003), “What Is the True Value of a Lost Customer?,” Journal of Service Research, 5 (3), 196–208.
39.
HomburgC.GieringA. (2001), “Personal Characteristics as Moderators of the Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty—An Empirical Analysis,” Psychology & Marketing, 18 (1), 43–66.
40.
JungJ.UmyarovA.BapnaR.RamaprasadJ. (2014), “Mobile as a Channel: Evidence from Online Dating,” In Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Auckland, (pp. 1–16). Atlanta, GA: Association for Information Systems.
41.
KahnemanD.TverskyA. (1979), “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk,” Econometrica, 47 (2), 263–291.
42.
KalbfleischJ. D.PrenticeR. L. (2002), Statistical Analysis of Failure Time Data, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.
43.
KeaveneyS. M. (1995), “Customer Switching Behavior in Service Industries: An Exploratory Study,” Journal of Marketing, 59 (2), 71–83.
44.
KumarV.BhagwatY.ZhangX. (2015), “Regaining “Lost” Customers: The Predictive Power of First-lifetime Behavior, the Reason for Defection, and the Nature of the Win-Back Offer,” Journal of Marketing, 79 (4), 34–55.
45.
KumarV.PetersenJ. A.LeoneR. P. (2007), “How Valuable Is Word of Mouth?,” Harvard Business Review, 85 (10), 139.
46.
KumarV.PetersenJ. A.LeoneR. P. (2010), “Driving Profitability by Encouraging Customer Referrals: Who, When, and How,” Journal of Marketing, 74 (5), 1–17.
47.
LeeL.LoewensteinG.ArielyD.HongJ.YoungJ. (2008), “If I’m Not Hot, Are You Hot or Not? Physical-Attractiveness Evaluations and Dating Preferences as a Function of One’s Own Attractiveness,” Psychological Science, 19 (7), 669–677.
48.
LemmensA.CrouxC. (2006), “Bagging and Boosting Classification Trees to Predict Churn,” Journal of Marketing Research, 43 (2), 276–286.
49.
LibaiB.BoltonR.BügelM. S.de RuyterK.GötzO.RisseladaH.StephenA. T. (2010), “Customer-to-Customer Interactions: Broadening the Scope of Word of Mouth Research,” Journal of Service Research, 13 (3), 267–282.
50.
MasonC. H.PerreaultW. D.Jr. (1991), “Collinearity, Power, and Interpretation of Multiple Regression Analysis,” Journal of Marketing Research, 28 (3), 268–280.
51.
MittalV.KamakuraW. A. (2001), “Satisfaction, Repurchase Intent, and Repurchase Behavior: Investigating the Moderating Effect of Customer Characteristics,” Journal of Marketing Research, 38 (1), 131–142.
52.
MolmL. D. (1991), “Affect and Social Exchange: Satisfaction in Power-Dependence Relations,” American Sociological Review, 56 (4), 475–493.
53.
MorganR. M.HuntS. D. (1994), “The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 58 (3), 20.
54.
NgS.DavidM. E.DaggerT. S. (2013), “Antecedents and Consequences of Customer–Service Provider Relationship Strength,” International Journal of Business Environment, 5 (3), 232–251.
55.
NuwerR. (2015), “The Science of Online Dating,” New York Times, February17, D6.
56.
OliverR. L. (1980), “A Cognitive Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Satisfaction Decisions,” Journal of Marketing Research, 17 (4), 460–469.
57.
PattersonP. G.SmithT. (2003), “A Cross-Cultural Study of Switching Barriers and Propensity to Stay with Service Providers,” Journal of Retailing, 79 (2), 107–120.
58.
PickD.ThomasJ. S.TillmannsS.KrafftM. (2016), “Customer Win-Back: The Role of Attributions and Perceptions in Customers’ Willingness to Return,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44 (2), 218–240.
59.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. B.LeeJ. Y.PodsakoffN. P. (2003), “Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 (5), 879–903.
60.
RamirezA.FleurietC.ColeM. (2015), “When Online Dating Partners Meet Offline: The Effect of Modality Switching on Relational Communication between Online Daters,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20 (1), 99–114.
61.
RichinsM. L. (1983), “Negative Word-of-Mouth by Dissatisfied Consumers: A Pilot Study,” Journal of Marketing, 47 (1), 68–78.
62.
Romero-CanyasR.ReddyK. S.RodriguezS.DowneyG. (2013), “After All I have Done for You: Self-Silencing Accommodations Fuel Women’s Post-Rejection Hostility,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49 (4), 732–740.
63.
RosenL. D.CheeverN. A.CummingsC.FeltJ. (2008), “The Impact of Emotionality and Self-Disclosure on Online Dating Versus Traditional Dating,” Computers in Human Behavior, 24 (5), 2124–2157.
64.
RosenbaumM. S.MassiahC. (2011), “An Expanded Servicescape Perspective,” Journal of Service Management, 22 (4), 471–490.
65.
RosenfeldM. J.ThomasR. J. (2012), “Searching for a Mate—The Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary,” American Sociological Review, 77 (4), 523–547.
66.
RustR. T.ZahorikA. J. (1993), “Customer Satisfaction, Customer Retention, and Market Share,” Journal of Retailing, 69 (2), 193–215.
67.
SchweidelD. A.FaderP. S.BradlowE. T. (2008), “Understanding Service Retention within and across Cohorts Using Limited Information,” Journal of Marketing, 72 (1), 82–94.
68.
SharmaN.PattersonP. G. (2000), “Switching Costs, Alternative Attractiveness and Experience as Moderators of Relationship Commitment in Professional, Consumer Services,” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 11 (5), 470–490.
69.
SmithA.DugganM. (2013), “Online Dating & Relationships,” Pew Research Center.
70.
SwanJ. E.OliverR. L. (1989), “Postpurchase Communications by Consumers,” Journal of Retailing, 65 (4), 516–533.
71.
TaylorL. S.FioreA. T.MendelsohnG.CheshireC. (2011), ““Out of My League”: A Real-World Test of the Matching Hypothesis,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37 (7), 942–954.
72.
ThibautJ. W.KelleyH. H. (1959), The Social Psychology of Groups. New York: Wiley.
VargoS. L.LuschR. F. (2004), “Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 68 (1), 1–17.
75.
WalsterE.BerscheidE.WalsterG. W. (1973), “New Directions in Equity Research,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 25 (2), 151.
76.
WalsterE.WalsterG. W.BerscheidE. (1978), Equity: Theory and research. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
77.
WestbrookR. A. (1987), “Product/Consumption-Based Affective Responses and Postpurchase Processes,” Journal of Marketing Research, 24 (3), 258–270.
78.
WilsonA. E.GiebelhausenM. D.BradyM. K. (2017), “Negative Word of Mouth Can Be a Positive for Consumers Connected to the Brand,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45 (4), 534–547.
79.
ZeithamlV. A.BerryL. L.ParasuramanA. (1996), “The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality,” Journal of Marketing, 60 (2), 31–46.
80.
ZeithamlV. A.ParasuramanA.BerryL. L. (1985), “Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 49 (2), 33–46.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
