Attachment styles and customers' long-term relationships in a service context

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to use attachment styles theory to explore long-term relationships in a service context using the mobile market as a case study.Attachment theory focuses on the primary link between maternal loss or deprivationand later personality development. This theory was extended to adult life and com-mercial contexts. Three attachment styles (secure, avoidant, and anxious) were usedas the independent variables. Commitment and trust, as constructs of any relation-ship, were employed as the mediating variables, while intention to stay and coopera-tion were adopted as the dependent variables, as indicators of long-term commercialrelationships. A random sample of 1024 members of an online panel participated inthe online survey. Structural equation modelling was performed to measure the valid-ity of the constructs through confirmatory factor analysis, and to assess the hypothe-sized model as a single theoretical structure using path analysis. Associations werefound between most of the study variables. Significant mediation effects were foundbetween attachment styles and long-term relationship indicators, intention to stay,and cooperation, with trust and commitment as the mediators. This study employs aunique theoretical model that has not been previously tested. The model and findingsdemonstrate that primary psychological structures play a role in creating andmaintaining long-term relationships.