The Influence of Service Communication on Customer Loyalty in Convenience Stores: The Moderating Role of Sincerity and the Mediating Role of Customer Engagement
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Abstract
This study aims to 1) analyze the influence of service communication on customer satisfaction, 2) analyze the influence of satisfaction on customer engagement and the influence of engagement on customer loyalty, 3) examine the mediating effects of customer satisfaction and engagement, 4) analyze the moderating effect of employee sincerity on the relationship between service communication and customer satisfaction, and 5) assess the fit of the causal structural model with empirical data. Data were collected from 579 convenience store customers in Bangkok using a non-probability sampling approach combining purposive and accidental sampling techniques, and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).
The findings reveal that service communication has a significant direct positive effect on both customer satisfaction and customer engagement, and an indirect positive effect on customer loyalty through both mediating variables. Customer satisfaction positively influences customer engagement, which in turn has the strongest direct positive effect on customer loyalty in the model. Regarding the moderating role, employee sincerity has a direct positive effect on both satisfaction and loyalty. However, a negative interaction effect is observed: when employees express high levels of sincerity, the effect of service communication on customer satisfaction decreases. This may be because excessive displays of sincerity in a convenience store context where customers prioritize speed can create inflated expectations or feel unnatural. The model demonstrates a good fit with the empirical data, explaining 83.3% of the variance in satisfaction, 75.3% in engagement, and 86.0% in customer loyalty, highlighting the critical role of customer engagement as the primary mediating variable. These findings provide practical guidelines for developing communication skills and fostering customer engagement to effectively retain customers in the retail business.
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