The “SERVSIG Best Services Article Award” is presented annually by SERVSIG to the author(s) of the best article in the services literature published during the previous calendar year (i.e. 2014). SERVSIG thanks this years committee members for their commitment and their work:
Thomas Dotzel (MacGill, Committee Chair), Anders Gustafsson (CTF Karlstad), Byron Keating (Australian National University), Kate Daunt (Cardiff), Tom Baker (Unversity of Alabama)
Based on the proposals from the community and a defined procedure the award committees chose the winning article. The past years winners can be checked out here
SERVSIG Best Services Article Award for 2014
Sivakumar K., Mei Li, and Beibei Dong (2014), “Service Quality: The Impact of Frequency, Timing, Proximity, and Sequence of Failures and Delights,” Journal of Marketing, 78 (1), 41-58.
say congrats here !!!
Mei Li and Sivakumar K.
Abstract: Service delivery often involves a series of events or stages of exchange between a service provider and its customer. At each stage, performance can meet, exceed, or fall below the customer’s expectations. This article contributes to the literature by examining how the patterns of distribution (frequency, timing, proximity, and sequence) of service failures and delights affect customers’ perceptions of service quality. The authors propose a conceptual model based on mental accounting principles derived from prospect theory and develop a series of research propositions to explicate the links between distribution patterns of service failures/delights and service quality perceptions. The study integrates prospect theory with service encounter research and provides a comprehensive theory-driven platform for exploring the impact of various service failure and delight distribution patterns. In addition, it offers important managerial implications for service design and resource allocation regarding when, how often, how close, and in what order delights and failures should take place to maximize gains from delights and minimize losses from failures.
Link: http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.12.0527
Runners-up and for the Highly Commended Article Award
Giebelhausen, Michael, Stacey G. Robinson, Nancy J. Sirianni, and Michael K. Brady (2014), “Touch Versus Tech: When Technology Functions as a Barrier or a Benefit to Service Encounters,” Journal of Marketing, (78), 113-124.
Stacey G. Robinson, Giebelhausen, Michael, Nancy J. Sirianni
Abstract: Interpersonal exchanges between customers and frontline service employees increasingly involve the use of technology, such as point-of-sale terminals, tablets, and kiosks. The present research draws on role and script theories to demonstrate that customer reactions to technology-infused service exchanges depend on the presence of employee rapport. When rapport is present during the exchange, the use of technology functions as an interpersonal barrier preventing the customer from responding in kind to employee rapport-building efforts, thereby decreasing service encounter evaluations. However, during service encounters in which employees are not engaging in rapport building, technology functions as an interpersonal barrier, enabling customers to retreat from the relatively unpleasant service interaction, thereby increasing service encounter evaluations. Two analyses using J.D. Power Guest Satisfaction Index data support the barrier and beneficial effects of technology use during service encounters with and without rapport, respectively. A follow-up experiment replicates this data pattern and identifies psychological discomfort as a key process that governs the effect. For managers, the results demonstrate the inherent incompatibility of initiatives designed to encourage employee–customer rapport with those that introduce technology into frontline service exchanges.
Link: http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.13.0056
Ordenes, Francisco Villarroel, Babis Theodoulidis, Jamie Burton, Thorsten Gruber, and Mohamed Zaki (2014) “Analyzing Customer Experience Feedback Using Text Mining, A Linguistics-Based Approach,” Journal of Service Research, 17(3), 278-295.
Francisco Villarroel Ordenes, Thorsten Gruber, and Mohamed Zaki
Abstract: Complexity surrounding the holistic nature of customer experience has made measuring customer perceptions of interactive service experiences challenging. At the same time, advances in technology and changes in methods for collecting explicit customer feedback are generating increasing volumes of unstructured textual data, making it difficult for managers to analyze and interpret this information. Consequently, text mining, a method enabling automatic extraction of information from textual data, is gaining in popularity. However, this method has performed below expectations in terms of depth of analysis of customer experience feedback and accuracy. In this study, we advance linguistics-based text mining modeling to inform the process of developing an improved framework. The proposed framework incorporates important elements of customer experience, service methodologies, and theories such as cocreation processes, interactions, and context. This more holistic approach for analyzing feedback facilitates a deeper analysis of customer feedback experiences, by encompassing three value creation elements: activities, resources, and context (ARC). Empirical results show that the ARC framework facilitates the development of a text mining model for analysis of customer textual feedback that enables companies to assess the impact of interactive service processes on customer experiences. The proposed text mining model shows high accuracy levels and provides flexibility through training. As such, it can evolve to account for changing contexts over time and be deployed across different (service) business domains; we term it an “open learning” model. The ability to timely assess customer experience feedback represents a prerequisite for successful cocreation processes in a service environment.
Link: http://jsr.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/19/1094670514524625
Ackermann, Sebastian and Florian von Wangenheim (2014), “Behavioral Consequences of Customer-Initiated Channel Migration,” Journal of Service Research, 17(3), 262-277.
Florian von Wangenheim
Abstract: When customers deliberately change the channel through which they do business with a firm, is that an indication of behavior change, and thus, future revenue? This research investigates the causal effects of customer channel migration to direct, company-managed or indirect, independent agent-managed online and offline channels using data from a leading international airline. In a quasi-experimental design via Mahalanobis-metric matching and conditional difference-in-differences estimation, the authors show that channel migration affects customer relationship breadth and depth: (1) Customers migrating from indirect to direct channels exhibit lower levels of relationship depth (revenue), (2) customers migrating from offline to online channels exhibit higher levels of relationship breadth (cross-buying), and (3) customers migrating from indirect offline to direct online channels exhibit higher levels of relationship depth (sales) and breadth (cross-buying). These findings expand our understanding of customer channel migration in service industries and suggest reconsidering and evaluating service firms’ strategies for direct channels as a lever for short-term revenue increase. Improving service firm’s direct channel relationship depth and breadth, pricing structure in direct channels must be adapted to compensate for lower sales figures per customer. In addition, direct channels services should be optimized to achieve higher conversion rates.
Link: http://jsr.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/28/1094670513519862.abstract
Important
- General topics may include (but are not limited to) services marketing and services management. The article should have appeared in an English language refereed journal during 2014.
- Candidates for a SERVSIG Award do not have to be a member of SERVSIG or the AMA to be eligible or to win.
- Candidates may be from anywhere in the world. From the beginning, SERVSIG has sought to be globally oriented and globally active.
- Candidates for the awards do not have to be academics. SERVSIG recognizes the vital link between academe and business practice.
