Exploring the Relationships among Service Quality, Satisfaction, Trust and Store Loyalty among Retail Customers

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationships among service quality, satisfaction, trust, and store loyalty in a retailing context. All these variables have considerable importance on store performance, measured by financial indicators or market ones. The data were collected from a sample of 258 students at two universities in Albania, during the first quarter of 2012. The items included in the survey measured the variables of the study as well as demographic characteristics of the sample. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to evaluate the hypotheses regarding relationships among model constructs. All the hypotheses developed in the study were positively confirmed, reinforcing the theory and previous research on this field. The study also reveals interesting implications in service quality, satisfaction, trust, and store loyalty, useful to both academics and practitioners. Managers will find this research helpful in better understanding these variables and their roles on their companies’ performance.