Factors Underlying Church Member Satisfaction and Retention

• Published in: Journal of customer service in marketing & management 1999-06, Vol.5 (3), p.31-43
• Main Author: Saunders, Paula M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1069-2533
• DOI: 10.1300/J127v05n03_03

Retaining members in nonprofit organizations is becoming increasingly difficult as more organizations compete for the time and energies of the member. Churches have not been immune to this erosion of loyalty. Understanding the factors which underlie member satisfaction allows church management to prioritize the use of resources and focus on those performance issues that make a difference to the member. This is an empirical study to determine the underlying dimensions of church member satisfaction. The research instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire that was completed by the members of a mainstream denominational church in the midwest. Members who were satisfied with the church's overall performance were compared and contrasted with those who were dissatisfied. Results of the questionnaire were subjected to bivariate correlation, factor analysis, and logistic regression. Ten underlying dimensions of member satisfaction were discovered. Eighty-six percent of all satisfied church members were correctly classified with a discriminant model derived from the data.