The Role of Commitment Perceived by the Consumer in Service Industries

The current work aims to analyze the role of commitment perceived by the consumer in the maintenance of long‐term relationships. The context of analysis chosen is the tourism sector, more specifically the relationships that retail travel agencies establish with their consumers. The study tests a conceptual model via a system of structural equations using the statistics package EQS 6.1 for Windows. The results corroborate the importance of the consumer’s trust in the travel agency and the consumer’s perception of the firm’s commitment, because this commitment acts as an antecedent of trust and creates the conditions for the firm to achieve a stable portfolio of customers.