Exploring the impact of personality traits on perceived relationship investment, relationship quality, and loyalty in the retail industry

ABSTRACT Marketing scholars recognize the importance of personality traits in predicting consumer behavior; however, to date, no attempt has been made to understand the impacts of personality on consumers’ perceptions of relationship investment and the process of building loyalty in the context of retailing. The present research extends theories of consumer personality traits to explore the effects of personality traits on perceived relationship investment, relationship quality, and customer loyalty. We obtained data using a questionnaire distributed to 220 consumers of retail apparel stores. We used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to estimate the research model. The results show that product category involvement and relationship proneness impact perceived relationship investment, which, in turn, affects satisfaction. Satisfaction contributes to consumer trust and commitment, which, in turn, affect behavioral loyalty. This research has both theoretical and practical implications since it sheds light on the factors that contribute to loyalty. These findings are expected to help retail marketers develop strategies to increase product involvement and relationship proneness to improve consumers’ perceptions of relationship investment and the quality of the relationship, leading to the development of loyalty. This study provides new insight into the retail literature by introducing a novel role of personality traits in the formation of customer loyalty.