Tammo Bijmolt wins Best Paper Award

The article, ‘Do loyalty programs really enhance behavioral loyalty? An empirical analysis accounting for self-selecting members’, investigates the way customer cards and/or loyalty programs affect the expenses made by consumers. “There is a positive effect”, says Bijmolt, “but it’s not that high for supermarkets in the Netherlands.”

Besides, there is a methodological contribution. “The effect gets overrated if you don’t take endogeneity and causality in account. It’s no mere coincidence who does and who doesn’t own a customer card of a certain supermarket.”

The Best Paper Award is an annual prize of the IJRM. The jury consists of the editorial board of this highly rated journal. It is, according to Bijmolt, the best European marketing journal. The Award gives Bijmolt fame (no money) and enhances his status as a researcher.

The winning paper is based on the dissertation of Jorna Leenheer, a promovendus of Bijmolt when he was still teaching in Tilburg.