Why stay loyal? Exploring the role of consumption values, satisfaction, and alternative attractiveness in buy now pay later services

Abstract

Customer satisfaction is essential for fostering loyalty which is essential for business success and profitability. This research investigates the impact of consumption value elements on satisfaction and loyalty of buy now, pay later (BNPL) users. Additionally, the research explores the moderating effect of alternative attractiveness on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. Data were collected from 513 BNPL users in India and analyzed using “Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling” (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that functional, emotional, epistemic and conditional values significantly drive satisfaction. Furthermore, while these consumption values enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, attractiveness of alternative services weaken the satisfaction-loyalty link. This highlights the importance of BNPL companies to focus on maximizing functional (e.g., improved usability), emotional (e.g., trust and security), epistemic (financial education) and conditional (e.g., financial flexibility options) values to increase both satisfaction and loyalty, especially as users gain more alternatives. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.