The impact of congruence in cause marketing campaigns for service firms

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald P. Roy
2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Soderlund ◽  
Hanna Berg

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of happiness expressed by service firm employees when they are depicted in marketing communications materials, such as printed ads and videos. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted in a fitness service setting, in which employee display of happiness was manipulated (low vs high). Findings Both experiments showed that expressions of high levels of happiness produced a more positive attitude toward the service employee than expressions of low levels of happiness. Moreover, the impact of the expression of happiness on the evaluation of the employee was mediated by several variables, which suggests that the influence of depicted employees’ emotional expressions can take several routes. Practical implications The results imply that service firms should not only be mindful about which specific employee they select for appearing in marketing communications materials, they should also pay attention to the emotional displays of selected employees. Originality/value The present study contributes to previous research by assessing a set of potential mediators to explain why displays of happiness influence consumers, and by examining these effects in a marketing communications setting in which the customer is exposed to still images or video-based representations of the employee. The present study also focuses explicitly on happiness rather than on smiles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (50) ◽  
pp. 451-478
Author(s):  
Ahmed Bouteska ◽  
Boutheina Regaieg

Purpose The current study aims to investigate the impacts of two behavioral biases, namely, loss aversion and overconfidence on the performance of US companies. First, the impact of loss aversion on the economic performance of companies was assessed. Second, the impact of overconfidence on market performance was discussed. Design/methodology/approach This study used around 6,777 quarterly observations on the population of US-insured industrial and services companies over the 2006-2016 period. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression in two panel data models were used to test the hypotheses formulated for the study. Findings It was documented that the loss-aversion bias negatively affects the economic performance of companies and this is achieved for both sectors. In contrast, the findings suggest that overconfidence positively affects market performance of industrial firms but negatively affects market performance in service firms. Further robust evidence was found that overconfidence bias seems to be dominant, and hence, investors may tend to be more overconfident rather than more loss-averse. Originality/value This research can be extended by focusing on the following question: What is the impact of the contradictory (positive and negative) effects of an investor's loss aversion and overconfidence on the US company performance in case of realization of a stock market crisis or stock market crash?


2018 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Edeling ◽  
Alexander Himme

The impact of market share on financial firm performance is one of the most widely studied relationships in marketing strategy research. However, since the meta-analysis by Szymanski, Bharadwaj, and Varadarajan (1993) , substantial environmental (e.g., digitization) and methodological (e.g., accounting for endogeneity) developments have occurred. The current work presents an updated and extended meta-analysis based on all available 863 elasticities drawn from 89 studies and provides the following new empirical generalizations: (1) The average raw market share–financial performance elasticity is .132, which is substantially lower than the effectiveness of other intermediate marketing metrics. This result challenges a widely used strategy that solely focuses on increasing market share. (2) Elasticities differ significantly between contextual settings. For example, they are lower for business-to-business firms than for business-to-consumer firms, for service firms than for manufacturing firms, and for U.S. markets than for emerging and Western European markets. The authors also observe differences between countries with respect to a general time trend (e.g., lower elasticities in recent times for Western European markets) and recessionary periods (e.g., lower elasticities in the United States, higher elasticities in non-Western economies).


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Mady ◽  
John B. Ford ◽  
Tarek Mady

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of intercultural accommodation efforts on service quality perceptions among ethnic minority consumers. Specifically, the paper postulates that during an intercultural service encounter, the impact of the service provider’s language and ethnicity on the consumer’s service quality perceptions is moderated by the level of service involvement, consumer acculturation and perceived discrimination, which, in turn, influence purchase intent. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online nationwide consumer panel of Hispanic consumers was conducted where 377 participants were randomly assigned to a series of service encounter scenarios in the banking service context to manipulate accommodation efforts (yes vs no) and the level of involvement with the service (high vs low). Findings When such language and ethnicity accommodations were offered, highly acculturated minority consumers regarded the service encounter less favorably than low acculturated minority consumers. Moreover, during low-involvement service encounters, intercultural accommodations positively impacted consumer’s service quality perceptions compared to situations involving high-involvement services. Also, minority consumers with perceptions of past discrimination had less favorable evaluations of the service quality than when such perceptions were nonexistent when intercultural accommodation efforts were made by the service provider. Research limitations/implications The findings add to the sparse literature that examines the effectiveness of intercultural accommodation and focuses on the combined use of service provider’s language and ethnicity as a means to enhance service quality. Practical implications The study delivers cautions for service firms not to generalize the receptivity of intercultural accommodation efforts. Given the increasingly sizable segments of minority customers, this study offers insights for service providers to develop suitable recruitment strategies and training programs when devising effective ethnic targeting strategies. Originality/value This research is among the first to explain why the effect of target marketing is not homogenous by expanding the research on intercultural accommodations toward a new context considering service involvement levels among varied minority consumer groups.


2012 ◽  
pp. 87-103
Author(s):  
Claudio Giachetti

Despite much ado about the effectiveness of ‘product' diversification, there is very limited knowledge about the impact of ‘service' diversification on firm performance. By taking a resource-based perspective, this study explores the service diversificationperformance relationship. Results show a consistent inverse U-shaped relationship between service diversification and firm performance, with the slope positive at low and moderate levels of service diversification but negative at high levels of service diversification. Moreover, results show that competitive intensity negatively moderates the relationship between service diversification and performance, while the moderating effect of firm's size is not significant. Hypotheses are tested with data on 52 Italian facility management firms over the 2000-2009 time period.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-Mei Tseng

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the relationship quality on customer loyalty. The moderating role played by online service recovery in this study is further discussed. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative Web-based survey study was conducted to statistically test these relationships among relationship quality, service recovery and customer loyalty. Data collected from 183 respondents were taken for analysis through partial least squares. Findings The findings reveal that relationship quality has significant influence on customer loyalty, whereas service recovery has moderated effect on the relationship between relationship quality and customer loyalty. Research limitations/implications The respondents of this study were recruited from online panels; thus, a purposive sample could be a biased indication of the characteristics of the actual population. Therefore, it is suggested that future researchers enroll subjects from a statistical population that accurately represents the entire population and, in addition, that they collect more responses to increase the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications Because failures in service delivery are inevitable, recovery of such encounters thus represents a significant challenge for service firms. Hence, this study proposes concrete suggestions for firms to manage and operate e-commerce websites, as well as to enhance relationship quality and customer loyalty. Originality/value Service failures have been the bane of e-commerce, compelling customers to either abandon transactions entirely or switch to a physical competitor. Many firms have realized the importance of maintaining strong relationships with customers to enhance their loyalty. However, previous literature has a few studies conducted on the relationships among service recovery, relationship quality and customer loyalty in the e-commerce context. Therefore, it is meaningful to identify these relationships.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kawon Kim ◽  
Melissa A. Baker

Due to the common business practice of the “customer is always right,” many companies have a risk of dealing with illegitimate complaints. Although illegitimate complaints are a major issue in the hospitality industry, no study has yet examined the impact of illegitimate customer complaining behavior on customers who can witness the complaining and recovery process of others. To fill this gap, this research examines the effects of service recovery aimed at illegitimate customers on customers who witness the complaints’ behavioral reactions (revisit intention, tipping behavior, intention to complain) and the role of emotional expression. A 2 (Service recovery aimed at other customer; good vs. poor) × 2 (Legitimacy of complaining behavior of other customers: legitimate vs. illegitimate) × 2 (Emotional expression: aggressive vs. calm) scenario-based between-subjects factorial experiment is utilized. This research provides evidence that witnessing illegitimate complaints of other customers and the subsequent service recovery aimed at those complainers impacts the behavioral reactions of customers who witness that situation. This study broadens the service recovery literature by incorporating third-party justice theory with illegitimate customer behavior by specifically examining the unique case where the firm is not responsible for the service recovery. In addition, the findings address the benefit to service firms by understanding the impact of witnessing other customers’ service recovery treatment on observers’ subsequent behavioral intentions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350002 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN COLEMAN ◽  
CARMEN COTEI ◽  
JOSEPH FARHAT

This article explores factors affecting the survival and exit routes of new firms created in 2004 using data from the Kauffman Firm Survey. We draw upon the Resource-Based View to test several hypotheses regarding the impact of both tangible and intangible resources on new firm survival in both service and non-service firms. We also distinguish between two types of exit: closures (permanently stopped operations) and mergers or acquisitions. Our results reveal that, although service and non-service firms may differ in terms of industry structure, the fundamental resources that contribute to their survival are the same: education, work and life experience and adequate levels of startup financial capital. In spite of these similarities, our results did reveal industry differences in terms of exit. We found serial entrepreneurs in the service sector were more likely to exit through merger or acquisition. Conversely, intellectual property decreased the likelihood of exit through merger or acquisition for non-service firms. Thus, our findings revealed a link between human capital, industry and exit route for this sample of new firms.


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