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This work has been funded by The Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (Spain), Resarch Project with reference: ECO2014-59688-R, Programa Estatal de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad, Plan Estatal de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnica y de Innovacion 2013-2016.

Analysis of institutional authors

Villace-Molinero, TAuthorReinares-Lara, PCorresponding AuthorReinares-Lara, ECorresponding Author

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September 27, 2022
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Article

Multi-Vendor Loyalty Programs: Influencing Customer Behavioral Loyalty?

Publicated to:Frontiers In Psychology. 7 (204): 204- - 2016-02-23 7(204), DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00204

Authors: Villace-Molinero, Teresa; Reinares-Lara, Pedro; Reinares-Lara, Eva

Affiliations

Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Dept Econ Empresa, Madrid, Spain - Author

Abstract

Loyalty programs are a consolidated marketing instrument whose adoption in many sectors has not been associated with appropriate comprehension of either their management elements or their effects. The purpose of this research is to contribute to knowledge about the effect of loyalty programs on repeat purchase behavior. More specifically, it seeks to discover whether joining a program changes the buying behavior of its members, and, if so, to study the profile of those whose behavior changes most. The intention was also to provide new study variables pertaining to multi-vendor loyalty programs, such as where they are joined or purchases in associated outlets as a result of behavioral loyalty. Research was carried out using a sample of 1200 individuals (31,746 purchases) belonging to a multi-vendor loyalty program. The study period was 13 years, 4 months, and split into two phases: before and after the joining the program. Different methodological approaches, such as the use of transactional databases that included pre-program-enrollment data and of the same sampling units throughout the study, were incorporated into the research with the aim of advancing academic knowledge regarding multi vendor loyalty programs. Moreover, a type of program and market hardly dealt with in the relevant literature was analyzed. The results showed while the loyalty program had managed to reduce the time between purchases, it had not affected purchase volume or average expenditure. They also demonstrated the existence of a differential profile of customers who had changed their buying behavior to a greater extent. Finally, recency was identified as being the decisive variable in behavioral change.

Keywords

Behavioral loyaltyCustomer behaviorCustomer loyaltyDriversImpactMarket shareMembershipMulti-vendor loyalty programsRetentionReward programsSatisfaction

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Frontiers In Psychology due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2016, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Psychology (Miscellaneous).

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-07-05:

  • WoS: 9
  • Scopus: 11
  • Europe PMC: 1

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-05:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 71.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 71 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Villacé Molinero, María Teresa) and Last Author (Reinares Lara, Eva Marina).

the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been Reinares Lara, Pedro José and Reinares Lara, Eva Marina.