How much effort is enough? Unlocking customer fanaticism in services industries

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Quach ◽  
Chandana Rathnasiri Hewege ◽  
Park Thaichon
Keyword(s):  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Effort ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Data Collection Point ◽  
General Effort

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the antecedents of fanaticism through the lens of attribution theory and “norm of reciprocity”. It is proposed that consumers will reward firms with high perceived effort, including both general and specific effort by increasing their loyalty and becoming a fan of the company. Design/methodology/approach The data are collected in a high-tech services industry, mobile phone services. A paper-based survey using mall intercept technique was employed in this study. The sampling design was a combination of convenience sampling (any adult who happened to be at a given location on a given day and time) and system probability sampling (every fifth adult who passed the data collection point was approached and asked to participate in the study). The final sample size is 600. Findings The antecedents of fanaticism are identified as both firm’s general effort (i.e. service quality and innovativeness) and specific effort (i.e. perceived reciprocity). In addition, perceived regulatory control moderated the relationship between innovativeness, part of firm’s general effort and customer fanaticism. To be more specific, perceived regulatory control increased the effect of perceived innovativeness on fanatical loyalty. Originality/value The introduction of the role of perceived regulatory control in the interactions between firms and customers has not been adopted in previous research and can contribute a new body of knowledge to the current literature. This research has implications for service providers, especially in high-tech industries.

Achieving customer loyalty through service excellence in internet industry

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 274-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paramaporn Thaichon ◽  
Antonio Lobo ◽  
Ann Mitsis
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Information Support ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internet Industry ◽  
Service Information

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the antecedents to attitudinal and behavioural loyalty of customers of Internet service providers (ISPs). In addition, this study endeavours to identify the relationship between overall service quality and cognitive as well as affective evaluations of customers. An assessment of service quality dimensions is also included to fill the void of research on modelling service quality in high tech services. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the most cited articles on the topic published in academic journals with a view to identify dimensions that customers use to evaluate the quality of a service providers, and to determine loyalty formation through customer cognitive and affective evaluations in Internet industry. Findings – The exogenous constructs of the conceptual model include influential factors such as network quality, customer service, information support and security which make up the perception of overall service quality. The endogenous constructs include cognitive and affective determinants such as customers’ trust, satisfaction, commitment, value and resultants – attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. Originality/value – The study proposes that by enhancing service quality, firms can influence customers’ satisfaction, trust, commitment and value, and ultimately loyalty, which are critical for an ISP’s success and long-term sustainability. Moreover, applying the findings of this study, ISPs can strategise in making customers more central in their day to day operations, which would create competitive advantage for the companies.

From third party to significant other for service encounters: a systematic review on third-party roles and their implications

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliane Abboud ◽  
Nabila As'ad ◽  
Nicola Bilstein ◽  
Annelies Costers ◽  
Bieke Henkens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Significant Other ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Systematic Knowledge

PurposeDyadic interactions between customers and service providers rarely occur in isolation. Still, there is a lack of systematic knowledge about the roles that different types of nontechnological third parties – that is, other customers, pets, other employees and other firms – can adopt in relation to customers and service providers during encounters. The present study aims to unravel these roles and highlight their implications for customers, service providers and/or third parties.Design/methodology/approachThis research relies on a systematic review of literature in the Web of Science using a search string pertaining to the research study’s objectives. In total, 2,726 articles were screened by title and abstract using clear inclusion and exclusion criteria, thereby extracting 189 articles for full-text eligibility. The final sample consisted of 139 articles for coding and analysis.FindingsThe analyses reveal that other customers, pets, other employees and other firms can adopt five roles: bystander, connector, endorser, balancer and partner. Each role has different implications for customers, service providers and/or third parties. Additionally, the five roles are associated with distinct constellations of the customer, the service provider and the third party. These roles and constellations are dynamic and not mutually exclusive.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the service encounter literature by providing a thorough understanding of the various third-party roles and their implications for customers, service providers and/or third parties during encounters. As such, this research sheds light on the conditions under which third parties become “significant others” in service encounters and identifies avenues for future research.

scholarly journals Robots or frontline employees? Exploring customers’ attributions of responsibility and stability after service failure or success

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-289
Author(s):  
Daniel Belanche ◽  
Luis V. Casaló ◽  
Carlos Flavián ◽  
Jeroen Schepers
Keyword(s):  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Frontline Employees ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Attributions Of Responsibility ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Artificial Intelligence Technology

PurposeService robots are taking over the organizational frontline. Despite a recent surge in studies on this topic, extant works are predominantly conceptual in nature. The purpose of this paper is to provide valuable empirical insights by building on the attribution theory.Design/methodology/approachTwo vignette-based experimental studies were employed. Data were collected from US respondents who were randomly assigned to scenarios focusing on a hotel’s reception service and restaurant’s waiter service.FindingsResults indicate that respondents make stronger attributions of responsibility for the service performance toward humans than toward robots, especially when a service failure occurs. Customers thus attribute responsibility to the firm rather than the frontline robot. Interestingly, the perceived stability of the performance is greater when the service is conducted by a robot than by an employee. This implies that customers expect employees to shape up after a poor service encounter but expect little improvement in robots’ performance over time.Practical implicationsRobots are perceived to be more representative of a firm than employees. To avoid harmful customer attributions, service providers should clearly communicate to customers that frontline robots pack sophisticated analytical, rather than simple mechanical, artificial intelligence technology that explicitly learns from service failures.Originality/valueCustomer responses to frontline robots have remained largely unexplored. This paper is the first to explore the attributions that customers make when they experience robots in the frontline.

Greetings from Emily! The effects of personalized greeting cards on tipping of hotel room attendants

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 3058-3076
Author(s):  
I-Hsuan Shih ◽  
Tun-Min (Catherine) Jai ◽  
Hsiangting Shatina Chen ◽  
Shane Blum
Keyword(s):  
Social Presence ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Lodging Industry ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Effort ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Personal Interaction ◽  
Greeting Cards ◽  
Tipping Behavior

Purpose In hotels, room attendants are often invisible to hotel guests. This study aims to understand how customers would increase their voluntary tips when there was less or no personal interaction and communication between customers and service providers. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether providing different greeting cards in hotel rooms would affect hotel guest tipping behavior. Design/methodology/approach A field study was conducted in an upscale independent hotel. Four types of greeting cards through two personalized factors, perceived effort and personalization, were placed in the hotel rooms. The tipping amount for each room-night was recorded during the data collection. Findings There were 3,285 room-nights tip records collected in this study. The results indicated that non-personalized housekeeping greeting cards did not increase the likelihood of guests to tip, but they may increase the average tipping amount; the personalization of greeting cards from room attendants had positive effects on guest tipping behavior; the hand-written greeting card and name-introduction greeting card were predictors that can significantly increase the likelihood of hotel guests to tip. Research limitations/implications The empirical research results support social presence theory. With more consistent tipping in hotel rooms, attendants may be able to predict tips through their job performance; thus, creating a win-win in the lodging industry. Originality/value This study contributes to understanding guest-tipping behavior in the hotel rooms.

Gift card types and willingness to spend more

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
SangGon (Edward) Lim ◽  
Chihyung “Michael” Ok
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Purchase Behavior ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Perceived Effort ◽  
Gift Cards ◽  
Gift Card ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Rule Out

Purpose This study aims to provide a better understanding of how gift card receivers react to the types of gift cards. This study examined the effect of gift card types (intangible experiences vs less intangible experience vs tangible goods) on a recipient’s willingness to spend more through emotions and perceived effort (Study 1) and on feeling of appreciation (Study 2). Design/methodology/approach Study 1 adopted a scenario-based 2 (tangible vs intangible) × 3 ($100 vs $200 vs $300) between-subjects design. Study 2 narrowed the scope of gift card type (intangible vs less intangible). Findings Receivers tended to perceive less effort in gift card selection and feel less emotion when receiving gift cards for intangible experiences than when receiving gift cards for both tangible and less intangible products. However, as face value increased, gift card receivers for intangible experiences felt more pleasure and, in turn, rated higher willingness to spend more money than face value than those with gift cards for tangible products. Research limitations/implications Future studies can rule out alternative explanations related to brand-related effects, previous experiences and personal preferences. Practical implications Service providers should put more effort into tangibilizing the intangibles to reduce receivers’ uncertainty. Also, they can increase their profitability by stimulating gift card receivers’ willingness to spend more money through pleasure. Originality/value Answering research calls for examining consumers’ perceptions of different gift card types, this study might be the first to unveil the differential effect of gift card types associated with the tangibility of products on purchase behavior and the underlying emotional mechanism.

Delivering warmth by hand: customer responses to different formats of written communication

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingyao Ren ◽  
Lan Xia ◽  
Jiangang Du
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Relational Communication ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Written Communication ◽  
Message Delivery ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Effort

Purpose The effect of different formats of message delivery has received little theoretical and empirical examination. This research focuses on the effect of written relational communication formats used by service providers. This study aims to answer three questions: Do different formats of written communications (i.e. handwriting and print) influence customer perceptions (i.e. feelings of warmth) of service firms? What are the mediators of these influences (i.e. perceived effort and psychological closeness)? And under what conditions do they occur (i.e. what is the contextual factor)? Design/methodology/approach One field study and three laboratory studies were conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of format in written communication. Findings Handwritten messages are more effective than print messages in building relationships in a service context because they elicit stronger feelings of warmth because of both the perception of greater effort and feelings of greater psychological closeness to the service provider. However, the presence of handwriting fails to deliver feelings of warmth when the quality of core services is low. Practical implications Service providers can effectively use handwritten communication to signal effort and create psychological closeness for relationship building with their key customers only when the quality of core services meets customer expectations. Originality/value First, the research differentiates the formats of written relational communication (handwritten vs print), and links communication formats with feelings of warmth, which is an important factor for impression and relationship formation in the practice of services marketing. Second, based on cognitive-experiential self-theory, this research demonstrates the dual mediators underlying the effect of handwriting (vs print) on warmth: perceived effort and psychological closeness. Third, it identifies the quality of core service as a boundary condition for the effect of handwritten communication.

Integrating technology to service innovation

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minwoo Lee ◽  
Jiseon Ahn ◽  
Minjung Shin ◽  
Wooseok Kwon ◽  
Ki-Joon Back
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Innovation ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
Tourism Service ◽  
Innovation Practices

Purpose This study aims to provide an understanding of the concept of service innovation resulting from emerging technologies and suggest areas for future hospitality and tourism research. By thoroughly reviewing previous literature, this study provides the basis for improving customer service with service innovation. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the existing body of knowledge from leading hospitality, tourism and business journals by performing content analysis. Findings This study reveals the multifaceted aspects of service innovation practices using emerging technologies. Findings provide an evidence base to future studies by highlighting the role of technology in hospitality and tourism service innovation. Originality/value The major contribution of this study is the demonstration of an approach for both academic researchers and service providers how they can use the technology to improve customers’ perceived value, experience and engagement.

Value creation through quality and innovation – a case study on Portugal

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 928-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilberto Santos ◽  
Sergio Gomes ◽  
Vitor Braga ◽  
Alexandra Braga ◽  
Vanda Lima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Unit Cost ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Know How ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Made In

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the best way to create value in Portugal through quality and innovation and also to check what needs to be improved. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was applied to population of 152 companies, with the research and development (R&D) management certified by Portuguese Standard NP 4457. The final sample was 66 companies, which correspond to 45 percent of the population. Statistical analysis of the data collected was performed using IBM SPSS Statistical Software. Findings The authors highlighted the main reasons/motivations that led companies to implement the NP 4457, which were, among others, competitive advantage and creating value. The systematization of information and the generation and management of ideas were highlighted as the main advantages. The lack of methodologies for innovation management and knowledge management was the difficulty experienced in the implementation of NP 4457. Portugal needs to increase patent registration and it also needs to know how to take advantage of the investment made in R&D, in order to decrease the unit cost of knowledge. Portuguese engineering should be more about product design than production processes. The involvement of top management must be greater. Originality/value This investigation contributes to the innovation and quality body of knowledge, since it explores the complementarity between the two concepts as sources of value creation. This case study is one of the first Portuguese empirical research works about value creation through quality and innovation in Portugal. It also allows to know in detail the Portuguese business reality in terms of innovation management.

scholarly journals Social enterprises in quasi-markets: exploring the critical knowledge gaps

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Mason ◽  
Michael J. Roy ◽  
Gemma Carey
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Impact Measurement ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Body Of Knowledge

Purpose This paper aims to explore how social enterprises are treated in scholarly research on quasi-markets. In so doing, the paper aims to show that a number of critical knowledge gaps persist which require deeper engagement from researchers, practitioners and policymakers alike. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a conceptual analysis of the existing literature concerning social enterprises and quasi-markets. Findings The paper finds that there are four main knowledge gaps in this area. First, there are moral dilemmas created by boundary shifts, arising from the development of quasi-markets. Second, the phenomenon of “tactical mimicry” (Day and Teasdale 2016) represents a key theoretical platform not yet fully explored. Third, the lack of clear, comparative assessments of social enterprises across quasi-markets, and other types of service providers is also apparent despite offering a significant methodological opportunity for scholars. Fourth, there is the issue of how social enterprises engage in, and resource the operational functions that will support their management of conflicting logics, especially rigorous impact measurement. Originality/value This paper uses a synthesis of key social enterprise and quasi-market studies to extend current debate in this area, which tends to be diffused and complex. By focussing on critical knowledge gaps, the paper contributes a meta-level appraisal of the key areas for future research, providing a focussed agenda for scholars to target their efforts in growing this important body of knowledge.

Dynamics of strategic interventions with firm’s performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 640-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neetu Yadav ◽  
Paolo Taticchi ◽  
Sushil
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
The Body ◽  
Strategy Formulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Actions ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Strategic Factors ◽  
Telecom Service ◽  
Work Done

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between strategic interventions with firm’s performance using flexible strategy game-card (FSGC) approach in the context of one of the Indian telecom service providers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts the case research methodology and follows the seven-step mechanism of implementing FSGC for designing performance management system (PMS) for case company. Findings – The paper adopts an evolving performance management framework for development of PMS in the context of Indian enterprise, where there is limited work done in this field. It showcases identification of strategic factors from enterprise perspective, and subscribers’ perspective; defining measures, targets, strategic directions; alignment of strategic actions with strategic directions; executing strategic actions; and review and feedback, thus, the process of PMS development covers the entire cycle of strategy formulation and implementation. Research limitations/implications – The findings of case analysis is limited to the context of the study, which cannot be generalized, but the mechanism of PMS development can be taken as an exemplary for development of FSGC in the context of any enterprise. Originality/value – The paper makes a contribution to the body of knowledge of performance measurement and management in terms showing its linkages with strategic interventions, and thus it leads to develop an effective PMS. The case illustration in context of the Indian enterprise makes a sectoral contribution.

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