This is not likely to advance marketing theory. After all, profitability lies at the heart of the marketing concept (Kohli & Jaworski 1990, Narver & Slater 1990). Similarly, marketing's link to profitability is stressed in the definitions of marketing offered by the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the American Marketing Association. However, attention in the marketing literature has instead been focused on other customer-level variables than customer profitability which a) provide marketers and market researchers with an easier access to data, particularly in terms of customer surveys, and b) are assumed to be carriers of information about customer profitability. Customer satisfaction is a variable of this type. The attention devoted to this particular variable can be seen in the light of the current interest in relationship marketing. It is assumed, in brief, that it is more profitable to keep existing customers than to attract new customers, and it is commonly assumed that customer satisfaction serves as a particularly important antecedent of customer retention and thus long-term customer relationships (cf. Anderson et al 1994, Buttle 1996, Rust et al 1995). However, due to.
the lack of data on customer profitability, the nature of the satisfaction-profitability link has rarely been analyzed in empirical terms. In order to do so, in empirical terms, purchase behavior and profitability data derived from the accounting system of a firm are matched with the responses of the firm's customers to survey questions distributed prior to the behavior and profitability outcomes. This design, then, should be seen as an attempt to respond to a frequent call for data on real behavior in studies of customer behavior.
2. Theoretical framework.
2.1. Outline of the theoretical framework.
In the following sections, satisfaction is viewed as a possible antecedent of customer.
behavior, while customer profitability is viewed as a performance outcome (from the supplier's point of view) of customer behavior.