Understanding Customer Captivity: When Clients Want to Leave but Can’t

EHL Insights | October 10, 2023

Have you ever wanted to switch service providers but felt like you had no choice? If this sounds familiar, you’ve experienced customer captivity. This feeling of captivity can significantly influence how customers perceive the quality of a service and voice their dissatisfaction. However, we know little about it. How does the feeling of captivity manifest? To what extent can it harm a service provider’s business? What coping strategies do captive customers adopt? And why does this often lead to negative word-of-mouth behavior? Furrer, Yu Kerguignas, and Landry’s (2021) study delves into these questions, providing invaluable in...