Customer Resistance to Joining Loyalty Programs: an Exploratory Approach

This research explores consumer resistance to joining loyalty programs offered by large companies, even when the loyalty cards are provided for free to consumers. The results of a qualitative study, conducted with 15 informants, suggest some explanations for such refusal. The informants’ representations of loyalty schemes conflict with other orders of worth, such as their conceptualizations of domestic or civil worlds, and also encompass vicarious resistance against marketing practices in general. Findings also account for various behaviours other than plain rejection of loyalty cards and provide evidence of the significance of four individual characteristics in this resistance phenomenon.

Citation:

Dominique Roux and Mariem El Euch Maalej (2011) ,"Customer Resistance to Joining Loyalty Programs: an Exploratory Approach", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 534-535.