Consumer switching costs: A typology, antecedents, and consequences
Burnham, Frels and Mahajan propose a three-part typology of consumer switching costs: procedural costs, the time and effort of changing provider; financial costs, monetary losses; and relational costs, the emotional unease of losing a sense of identity or severing ties. They examine what shapes these costs and what follows from them. The abstract reports that perceived product complexity, differences among providers, breadth of product use and experience with alternatives and past switching shape the costs consumers perceive, that all three cost types significantly affect intention to stay with the current provider, and that together they explain more of that intention than customer satisfaction does.
Burnham, Frels and Mahajan propose a three-part typology of consumer switching costs: procedural costs, the time and effort of changing provider; financial costs, monetary losses; and relational costs, the emotional unease of losing a sense of identity or severing ties. They examine what shapes these costs and what follows from them. The abstract reports that perceived product complexity, differences among providers, breadth of product use and experience with alternatives and past switching shape the costs consumers perceive, that all three cost types significantly affect intention to stay with the current provider, and that together they explain more of that intention than customer satisfaction does.
Written from the abstract, reproduced by a journal index record, 2026-11-02; typology confirmed in Phase B from a published description: Blut, Frennea, Mittal and Mothersbaugh (2015), International Journal of Research in Marketing 32(2), 226-229, doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2015.01.001, author-accepted manuscript at the Durham repository, which sets out the same three types (procedural: time, effort and uncertainty; financial: monetary losses; relational: personal bonds and identification) and credits them to Burnham and colleagues (2003).
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Burnham, T. A., Frels, J. K., & Mahajan, V. (2003). Consumer switching costs: A typology, antecedents, and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(2), 109-126. doi:10.1177/0092070302250897 https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070302250897