The role of emotions in member renewal and non-renewal : an exploratory study

This paper examines the emotions of lapsed and continuing members of a high involvement, subscription based organisation. In-depth interviews were conducted with 400 renewing and non-renewing members of an Australian Football League Club in order to gain initial insight into the role emotions play in renewal (loyalty) behaviours. The interviews highlighted the complexity of the relationship between emotions and behaviours. There is a range of both positive and negative emotions present in responses of both renewing and non-renewing members. As expected, the negative emotions of disappointment and frustration were present amongst those who did not renew, while there were many positive emotion examples of satisfaction and joy present for those who had renewed. Surprisingly, there were also examples of annoyance, fear, and guilt amongst those that had renewed. These feelings were often linked to the particular member's history and level of family involvement in the Club over many years. In addition, there were positive feelings of hope and loyalty expressed by those respondents that had not renewed. On a positive note for the Club, many still expressed a strong emotional connection to the Club and had not ruled out joining again in the future.