Considered Service-specific journals were Journal of Service Research, Journal of Service Management, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Service Industries Journal, and Service Science. For more information about the alert system methodology go here
Journal of Service Management
Albrecht, C.-M., S. Hattula, T. Bornemann and W. D. Hoyer (2016): Customer response to interactional service experience, Journal of Service Management, 27(5), pp. 704-729
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine causal attribution in interactional service experiences. The paper investigates how triggers in the environment of a customer-employee interaction influence customer behavioral response to employees’ negative and positive affect. Additionally, it studies the role of sympathy and authenticity as underlying mechanisms of this relationship.Design/methodology/approach Two scenario-based experimental designs (N1=162; N2=138) were used. Videotaped scenarios served as stimulus material for the manipulation of two focal variables: the employee’s emotional display as either negative or positive and the availability of an emotion trigger in the interaction environment to convey the attribution dimension of cause uncontrollability. The emotion trigger’s visibility was varied in the two studies. Customer response was captured by buying intentions.Findings Customer responses are more favorable for both positive and negative interactional experiences when customers have access to information on cause uncontrollability (i.e. notice triggers in the interaction environment). Analyses reveal that these effects stem from feelings of sympathy for negative experiences and authenticity for positive experiences.Originality/value This research supports the relevance of causal attribution research on interactional service experiences, which have high-profit impact. Moreover, the findings underline the importance of the experience of fact in service interactions and thereby provide a more nuanced view on the discussion of whether service providers should use impression management strategies to engender customer satisfaction even when this behavior is “faked.”
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JOSM-07-2015-0215 [Google]
Beltagui, A., M. Candi and J. C. K. H. Riedel (2016): Setting the stage for service experience: design strategies for functional services, Journal of Service Management, 27(5), pp. 751-772
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify service design strategies to improve outcome-oriented services by enhancing consumers’ emotional experience, while overcoming customer variability.Design/methodology/approach An abductive, multiple-case study involves 12 service firms from diverse online and offline service sectors.Findings Overall, six service design strategies represent two overarching themes: customer empowerment can involve design for typical customers, visibility, and community building, while customer accommodation can involve design for personas, invisibility, and relationship building. Using these strategies helps set the stage for a service to offer an emotional experience.Research limitations/implications The study offers a first step toward combining investigations of service experience and user experience. Further research can strengthen these links.Practical implications The six design strategies described using examples from case research offer managerial recommendations. In particular, these strategies can help service managers address the customer-induced variability inherent in services.Originality/value Extant studies of experience staging have focused on particular sectors such as hospitality and leisure; this study contributes by investigating outcome-focused services and identifying strategies to create unique experiences that offset variability. It also represents a rare effort to combine research from service management and interaction design, shedding light on the link between service experience and user experience.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JOSM-08-2015-0234 [Google]
Chandler, J. D. and S. Chen (2016): Practice styles and service systems, Journal of Service Management, 27(5), pp. 798-830
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how practices influence service systems.Design/methodology/approach Data across three service contexts (crafts, healthcare and fitness) were collected through depth interviews and netnographic analysis, and analyzed with a two-study multi-method approach focusing first on the micro- (individual) level and then on the macro- (network) level of service systems. Study 1 focused on a micro-level analysis using qualitative techniques (Spiggle, 1994). Study 2 focused on a macro-level analysis using partial least squares regression.Findings The results illustrate how practices can change service systems. This occurs when a nuanced practice (i.e. a practice style) orders and roots a service system in a specific form of value creation. The findings reveal four practice styles: individual-extant, social-extant, individual-modified and social-modified practice styles. These practice styles shift in response to event triggers and change service systems. These event triggers are: service beneficiary enhancement, service beneficiary failure, service provider failure and social change. Thus, the findings show that practices – when shifting in response to event triggers – change service systems. This transpires in the understudied meta-layer of a service system. Practical implications: The study identifies four practice styles that can serve as the basis for segmentation and service design. Originality/value: Service systems are dynamic and ever changing. This study explores how service systems change by proposing a practice approach to service systems.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JOSM-09-2015-0293 [Google]
Huang, M.-H. and Z.-H. Cheng (2016): A longitudinal comparison of customer satisfaction and customer-company identification in a service context, Journal of Service Management, 27(5), pp. 730-750
Purpose Customer satisfaction (CS) and customer-company identification (CCI) are two important relational constructs and play a complementary role in the service-profit chain. Drawing from the theory of relationship dynamics, the purpose of this paper is to define CS velocity and CCI velocity as the rate and direction of change in CS and CCI, respectively. A comparison of the relative effects of CCI velocity and CS velocity on customer loyalty is done through a latent growth curve modeling approach.Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model is developed and empirically tested based on four waves of a longitudinal survey of 213 restaurant customers.Findings The results show that both CCI velocity and CS velocity have positive effects on customer loyalty. More importantly, the effects of CCI velocity on customer loyalty over time are stronger than those of CS velocity. The moderation analysis further shows that the higher the frequency of visits to the service firm, the stronger the effects of relationship velocity on customer loyalty.Practical implications The results provide new insights for service marketing managers by suggesting that, to benefit the long-term effectiveness of relationship investments, service firms should shift the priority from increasing CS to engendering CCI.Originality/value This paper contributes to the theory of relationship dynamics by conceptualizing new constructs of CS velocity and CCI velocity and by empirically comparing their relative effects on customer loyalty over time.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JOSM-04-2016-0114 [Google]
Lipkin, M. (2016): Customer experience formation in today’s service landscape, Journal of Service Management, 27(5), pp. 678-703
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review customer experience formation (CXF) by first locating and analyzing how researchers approach CXF in the service literature and the theoretical underpinnings of these approaches, and then assessing which approaches are best suited for understanding, facilitating, and examining CXF in today’s service landscape.Design/methodology/approach This study systematically reviews 163 articles published between 1998 and 2015 in the service field.Findings This study illustrates how researchers approach CXF on the individual level by applying stimulus- interaction- or sense-making-based perspectives. These reflect researchers’ theoretical underpinnings for how individuals realize the customer experience within environmental, social, and temporal contexts through intermediation. Researchers further apply contextual lenses, including the dyadic and service- or customer-ecosystem lenses, which reflect their theoretical underpinnings for explaining how various actor constellations and contextual boundaries frame individual-level CXF. Finally, this study shows why the sense-making-based perspective, together with a service- or customer-ecosystem lens, is particularly suitable for approaching complex CXF in today’s service settings.Research limitations/implications To advance theory, researchers should choose the approaches resonant with their research problem and worldview but also consider that today’s complex service landscape favors holistic and systemic approaches over atomistic and dyadic ones.Practical implications This study provides managers with recommendations for understanding, facilitating, and evaluating contemporary CXF.Originality/value This study advances the understanding of CXF by systematically reviewing its multiple layers, approaches, and dimensions and the opportunities and challenges of each approach.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JOSM-06-2015-0180 [Google]
Sharma, P., T. T. C. Kong and R. P. J. Kingshott (2016): Internal service quality as a driver of employee satisfaction, commitment and performance, Journal of Service Management, 27(5), pp. 773-797
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use “positive organizational behavior” and “transformative service research” paradigms to introduce “employee well-being” as a focal construct in the process by which internal service quality (ISQ) drives employee satisfaction, commitment and performance.Design/methodology/approach A field-survey using a structured questionnaire is employed to test all the hypotheses with 250 employees and their 25 supervisors in a manufacturing unit in Guangdong province of the People’s Republic of China.Findings All the eight hypotheses are supported. ISQ has a positive effect on employee satisfaction, commitment and employee well-being, which in turn positively influence employee performance. Employee well-being also positively moderates (strengthens) the effects of employee satisfaction and commitment on employee performance.Research limitations/implications This paper uses data from a single factory in China and focuses on a few key constructs, which may restrict the generalizability of its findings. Moreover, no significant differences were found among the supervisor-workers units.Practical implications Managers in non-service industries should focus on improving ISQ and employee well-being in their organizations because both these constructs have significant direct and indirect effects on employee performance.Originality/value This paper extends past research on ISQ by showing that it affects employee performance via satisfaction and commitment, and that employee well-being moderates the effects of employee satisfaction and commitment on performance.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JOSM-10-2015-0294 [Google]
Van de Walle, S. (2016): When public services fail: a research agenda on public service failure, Journal of Service Management, 27(5), pp. 831-846
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on public service failure and develop a research agenda for studying public service failure alongside private service failure. The general services management literature has devoted relatively little attention to public services, whereas developments in the private service management literature have not reached public management.Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper drawing on the public management literature. Different failure types and causes are discussed, including service failures that are specific to public sector settings. This is linked to the specific public context within which public services operate. Customer reactions to public service failure are then introduced, as well as service recovery.Findings Service failures in a public and a private context are different. There are different failure types and different standards of failure. Public management literature mainly studies collective and political reactions to service failure, whereas the private service management literature tends to focus on individual reactions. Finally, attention for service recovery was found to be very limited in the public services literature.Social implications Studying public service failure is important because failure can have dramatic consequences for customers, public organisations, and society. Social inequalities that arise as a result of public service failure need to have a prominent role in future research.Originality/value This paper develops the concept of public service failure and sets a novel research agenda for studying processes, causes, and consequences of such failure, as well as public-private differences.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JOSM-04-2016-0092 [Google]
Journal of Service Research
Blut, M., C. Wang and K. Schoefer (2016): Factors Influencing the Acceptance of Self-Service Technologies, Journal of Service Research, 19(4), pp. 396-416
To facilitate efficient and effective service delivery, firms are introducing self-service technologies (SSTs) at an increasing pace. This article presents a meta-analysis of the factors influencing customer acceptance of SSTs. The authors develop a comprehensive causal framework that integrates constructs and relationships from different technology acceptance theories, and they use the framework to guide their meta-analysis of findings consolidated from 96 previous empirical articles (representing 117 independent customer samples with a cumulative sample size of 103,729 respondents). The meta-analysis reveals the following key insights: (1) SST usage is influenced in a complex fashion by numerous predictors that should be examined jointly; (2) ease of use and usefulness are key mediators, and studies ignoring them may underestimate the importance of some predictors; (3) several determinants of usefulness impact ease of use, and vice versa, thereby revealing crossover effects not previously revealed; and (4) the links leading up to SST acceptance in the proposed framework are moderated by SST type (transaction/self-help, kiosk/Internet, public/private, hedonic/utilitarian) and country culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance). Results from the meta-analysis offer managerial guidance for effective implementation of SSTs and provide directions for further research to augment current knowledge of SST acceptance.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670516662352 [Google]
Breidbach, C. F., D. Antons and T. O. Salge (2016): Seamless Service? On the Role and Impact of Service Orchestrators in Human-Centered Service Systems, Journal of Service Research, 19(4), pp. 458-476
How can value cocreation in complex human-centered service systems (HCSSs) like health care be facilitated? We address this question by introducing the novel role of service orchestrators as dedicated actors who facilitate and orchestrate resource integration, and thereby value cocreation, between other interdependent actors in HCSSs. Specifically, we draw on findings from four complementary studies that investigate the role and impact of case managers, an ideal-typical service orchestrator in health care, through the perspectives of HCSS actors (i.e., patients in Study 1 and clinical staff in Study 2) and structures (i.e., clinical departments in Studies 3 and 4). Our findings indicate that orchestrating value cocreation through case managers enhances patient satisfaction as well as the financial and operational performance of clinical departments. Service orchestration also increases the perception of clinical staff that patients are actively involved in the cocreation of their own health service but surprisingly not that of patients themselves. As such, introducing service orchestrators might contribute to reconciling the growing tension between the quality and cost of health care. We conclude by outlining how our work serves as a possible starting point for a novel research stream on effective coordination mechanisms for value cocreation in complex HCSSs.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670516666370 [Google]
Green, T., N. Hartley and N. Gillespie (2016): Service Provider’s Experiences of Service Separation, Journal of Service Research, 19(4), pp. 477-494
As more and more technologies are infused into service delivery, service providers must continuously renegotiate the ways in which they understand service delivery across increasingly high-tech, low-touch modalities. This exploratory qualitative study examines what health care service providers experience when offering separated services in the empirical context of telehealth. In-depth phenomenographic interviews sourced across multiple hospital and health care sites revealed that service providers experience (1) depersonalization, (2) clinical voyeurism, (3) intangibility negotiation, and (4) a need to manage change around identities and roles. These emergent understandings highlight the individual and qualitatively distinct differences in the ways in which service providers experience service separation in telehealth. Our findings address current service science priorities to leverage technology for service delivery as a way to advance separated service design. Further they provide an understanding-based approach toward building new theories from the service provider’s perspective on separation in technology-infused services. Our findings suggest strategies and tactics service providers use to overcome the potential challenges arising from not being physically colocated with their customers during service separation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670516666674 [Google]
Habel, J., S. Alavi, C. Schmitz, J.-V. Schneider and J. Wieseke (2016): When Do Customers Get What They Expect? Understanding the Ambivalent Effects of Customers’ Service Expectations on Satisfaction, Journal of Service Research, 19(4), pp. 361-379
Extant research established that customers’ expectations play an ambivalent role in the satisfaction formation process: While higher expectations are more difficult to meet and thus cause dissatisfaction, they simultaneously increase satisfaction via customers’ perceived performance owing to a placebo effect. However, to date, knowledge is scarce on the question under which conditions either the positive or negative effect of expectations on satisfaction prevails. Building on information processing theory, the authors hypothesize that an essential contingency of the indirect, placebo-based effect is the degree to which customers are able and motivated to process a service experience. Three studies with a total of over 4,000 customers in different service contexts provide strong evidence for this hypothesis. Thus, managers are well advised to provide a realistic or even understated prospect if the service context favors customers’ ability or motivation to evaluate. Conversely, if customers are neither able nor motivated to evaluate the service, increasing customer expectations represents a viable strategy to enhance satisfaction. Relatedly, if customers hold low service expectations, managers should foster customers’ ability and motivation to evaluate the service. In contrast, if service expectations are high, managers may benefit from reducing the likelihood that customers overly focus on the service performance.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670516662350 [Google]
Ng, S. C., C. Plewa and J. C. Sweeney (2016): Professional Service Providers’ Resource Integration Styles (PRO-RIS), Journal of Service Research, 19(4), pp. 380-395
This article investigates the professional service provider’s role in the customer resource integration process for value creation, by drawing on research in the areas of resource integration, service experience, and role theory. Roles are flexible, in that behaviors associated with a role may vary according to the situation, expectations, and learned behaviors of the actors involved. In the context of professional service providers who support a customer’s resource integration, these role variations accordingly can be termed resource integration styles. Grounded in managerial practice, the current study relies on in-depth interviews to determine the styles that professional service providers use to support customer resource integration in a financial planning setting. The proposed typology of five styles (delegate, mentor, partner, coach, and validator), termed professional service providers’ resource integration styles (PRO-RIS), can be described by eight resource integration activity dimensions: participation ratio, frequency of interaction, deliberation, decision-making, updating, educating, connecting, and motivating. This research thus provides rich qualitative insights into how professional service providers can support customers’ resource integration processes, through the provision of appropriate resources. Notably, professional service providers can offer distinct benefits by varying the combination of resources provided to facilitate value creation. No single, best style exists; professional service providers should leverage the various styles described by PRO-RIS and adapt the eight resource integration activities as needed to support their customers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670516662351 [Google]
Sharma, S. and J. Conduit (2016): Cocreation Culture in Health Care Organizations, Journal of Service Research, 19(4), pp. 438-457
Both health care practice and academe recognize that organizations should modify their business practices to adopt cocreative behaviors and a service-dominant orientation. However, research has provided little understanding of the organizational culture that supports and facilitates cocreation. Contemporary organizational culture models are constrained from explaining cocreation, as they differentiate between an internal and external focus and do not acknowledge the interconnectedness of all actors across traditional organizational boundaries. This research conceptualizes organizational culture from a service-dominant perspective and provides a framework for a cocreation culture type. It utilizes two case studies in the health care industry, inclusive of 10 in-depth interviews and six focus groups, to conduct a systematic inductive approach to concept development. The findings reveal that a cocreation culture comprises five core cocreation behaviors: coproduction, codevelopment, coadvocacy, colearning, and cogovernance. Additionally, a series of supportive cocreation behaviors stimulate the interactive nature of cocreation: dialogue, shared market intelligence, mutual capability development, and shared decision-making. These behaviors are underpinned by organizational values of mutual respect, empowerment, and mutual trust. Health care practitioners are encouraged to create opportunities for customers to participate in cocreation activities related to their own treatment plans, ongoing strategic planning, and promotion and governance of the organization.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670516666369 [Google]
von Walter, B., D. Wentzel and T. Tomczak (2016): Securing Frontline Employee Support After an Ethical Scandal, Journal of Service Research, 19(4), pp. 417-432
Although ethical scandals are a common phenomenon in the service industry, there is little research on the service-specific aspects of crisis management. In this research, we argue that frontline employees are of crucial importance after a scandal and examine how firms can secure the support of frontline employees following different kinds of scandals. Specifically, we demonstrate that corrective responses that address the internal causes of a scandal and ceremonial responses that guide attention to positive aspects unrelated to the scandal moderate the impact of different scandals on frontline employee support. Three experiments showed that frontline employee support was greater after scandals that involved a great rather than a small number of wrongdoers and after scandals that had been caused by high-ranking managers rather than low-ranking employees when a corrective response was implemented. In contrast, support was greater following scandals that had been committed by a few low-ranking employees rather than high-ranking managers when a ceremonial response was employed. These results have important implications by illustrating how companies can effectively restore frontline employee support following a scandal.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1094670516664587 [Google]
Journal of Services Marketing
Fan, A., L. Wu and A. S. Mattila (2016): Does anthropomorphism influence customers’ switching intentions in the self-service technology failure context?, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 713-723
Purpose To enhance customer experiences, firms are increasingly adding human-like features to their self-service technology (SST) machines. To that end, the purpose of the present study is to examine customer interactions with an anthropomorphic machine in a service failure context. Specifically, the authors investigate the joint effects of machine voice, an individual’s sense of power and the presence of other customers in influencing customers’ switching intentions following an SST failure.Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors used a quasi-experimental design in which they manipulated voice type (anthropomorphic vs robotic) and the presence of other customers (present vs absent) in video-based scenarios while measuring customers’ sense of power. The scenarios reflected a service failure experience with a self-service kiosk at an airport. The authors tested the hypotheses using PROCESS analyses with the Johnson–Neyman technique.Findings Consumer reactions to SST failures vary depending on the degree of anthropomorphism associated with an SST machine, an individual’s sense of power and the presence of other customers.Research limitations/implications Field inquiry and an investigation in other SST contexts or of other anthropomorphic features are needed to generalize the findings.Practical implications Service providers targeting powerful consumers should consider the social presence of others when incorporating anthropomorphic features into their SST facilities.Originality/value This study is the first to examine consumer responses to service failures in an anthropomorphic SST context.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-07-2015-0225 [Google]
Hur, J. and S. Jang (2016): Toward service recovery strategies: the role of consumer-organization relationship norms, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 724-735
Purpose Given the increasing importance of relationship management in service recovery encounters, this study aims to investigate the role of consumer–organization relationship norms (communal versus exchange) in connection with the service recovery process.Design/methodology/approach Based on a thorough review of the previous literature, the model was developed. Using a scenario-based survey method, a total of 204 usable responses were obtained via self-administered questionnaires in the USA. Anderson and Gerbing’s two-step approach was used to assess the measurement and structural models.Findings The findings indicate that consumers’ recovery processes are influenced by relationship norms. For consumers in the communal relationship, perceived social recovery had a greater influence on satisfaction with the service recovery. Consumers in the exchange relationship reacted more sensitively to perceived economic recovery in terms of satisfaction with the service recovery.Research limitations/implications The focus of this study is restaurant consumers’ responses to service recovery in the context of an established relationship. Therefore, the results may not be generalizable for other consumers and segments.Practical implications The findings have important implications for increasing the understanding of consumer behavior in established relationships and suggesting effective recovery strategies.Originality/value This study investigates the effect of different relationship norms that could explain varying consumer responses to service recovery within a high-quality relationship. It also provides directions for improving consumers’ satisfaction with service recovery. This differs from previous studies that mainly focused on relationship quality.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-08-2015-0263 [Google]
Koku, P. S. and S. Savas (2016): Restaurant tipping and customers’ susceptibility to emotional contagion, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 762-772
Purpose This paper aims to examine the connection between restaurant tipping propensity and customers susceptibility to emotional contagion (EC) in an effort to shed more light on consumers inclination to pay more for a service than they are legally obligated to (that is to pay more than the price by tipping).Design/methodology/approach In this study, two different instruments (Tipping Motivations Scale and Emotional Contagion Scale) were simultaneously administered online to restaurant patrons. The simultaneous administration of the instruments allows the researchers to capture not only tipping propensity but also the linkage between tipping propensity and customers susceptibility to EC.Findings The results show that customers susceptibility to EC, social compliance and server actions has the most effect on intention to tip in restaurants in Turkey. These findings support the notion that universal human characteristics such as the tendency to reciprocate (Hatfield et al., 1993) influence consumers propensity to tip regardless of the culture. Research limitations/implications: While the results of this study offer some insight into why restaurant patrons tip, the fact that the study was carried out only in Turkey which has a collectivist culture limits the generalizability of the results to other societies that may be individualistic in orientation. Practical implications: The findings of this study can be used by restaurant managers in training their employees and improving their customer patronage, particularly patronage from repeat customers. Similarly, the results could be used by restaurant servers to improve their income. Social implications: The results of the study have potential to enhance the mutually beneficial relationship that should exist between restaurants and restaurant patrons. Indirectly, the results of the study could improve collective societal good. Originality/value: This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is one of the first to use the Tipping Motivations Scale (Whaley et al., 2014) in a different culture (Eurasia) and explain consumers’ tipping propensity explicitly using the concept of EC.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-03-2016-0103 [Google]
Larson, L. R. L. and D. E. Bock (2016): Consumer search and satisfaction with mental health services, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 736-748
Purpose Recent evidence on consumer decision-making suggests that highly complex choice scenarios lead consumers to use simplistic decision heuristics, often resulting in suboptimal decision-making. This study aims to investigate the relationships among consumers’ primary information source, patient satisfaction and patient well-being, specifically focused on the search for mental health professionals. The selection of a mental health provider is of interest, because practitioners work from a highly diverse set of theoretical bases, may hold a wide range of different credentials and provide drastically different therapeutic approaches, therefore making the selection complex and difficult for consumers to self-navigate.Design/methodology/approach Three studies were undertaken, with data sampling from both patients of mental health services and practitioners.Findings Consumers selecting a provider based on self-performed searches, rather than receiving external input (referrals from physicians, relatives or friends), report lower satisfaction with their mental health provider. In turn, patient satisfaction positively impacts patient well-being. Practitioner data corroborate these findings, revealing that a large percentage of patients stem from a self-performed internet search, though mental health providers recognize that external referrals are likely to lead to better outcomes.Originality/value The results reveal the importance of understanding the consumer search and, particularly, the use of the internet as a search tool. The results present several implications for service providers, including the need to identify patients’ primary source utilized within an information search, as it can adversely impact patient satisfaction.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-09-2015-0281 [Google]
Lin, I. Y. (2016): Effects of visual servicescape aesthetics comprehension and appreciation on consumer experience, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 692-712
Purpose Among the many studies relating to servicescapes, the emphasis has mainly been on the effect of specific environmental attributes on customer perceptions, emotions and behaviors. Many servicescape studies have not included visual servicescape aesthetics and the overall significance that visual aesthetics hold for a particular consumer in his or her relationship with the servicescape. Yet, servicescape appearance represents the central channel for the formation of consumer–product (e.g. servicescape) relationships. Limited studies have examined consumers’ visual servicescape aesthetics comprehension and appreciation (VSACA) or consumers’ relationship with a specific servicescape and how consumers evaluate a servicescape from a visual aesthetics perspective. This study aims to operationalize and measure VSACA and to examine the validity of a proposed comprehensive model that encompasses the direct effects of VSACA on perceived perceptual experience quality (PPEQ), pleasure and arousal; PPEQ, pleasure and arousal on satisfaction; satisfaction on willingness to pay more; and the mediation effects of PPEQ, pleasure and arousal on the relationship between VSACA and satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach This is an experimental design study with two treatments. Fictitious boutique hotel lobby and classic hotel lobby video clips were created with the appropriate manipulation of visual aesthetics attributes. A random sample of 600 individuals over the age of 18 was drawn from a nationwide (USA) list purchased from a third-party commercial list service. After preliminary analysis, about 12 per cent were eliminated because of unusable responses or missing data. The data from 550 participants were used in the final analyses – 218 males and 332 females. Participants were asked to view a video clip of a hotel lobby online. After viewing the video clip, subjects completed an online survey instrument. The hypothesized model was then tested using structural equation modeling.Findings Results of this study suggest that individuals’ VSACA directly influences their PPEQ, pleasure and arousal. PPEQ and pleasure also directly influence satisfaction and indirectly mediate the relationship between VSACA and satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction directly affects willingness to pay more. Additional new findings are also discussed in the paper.Research limitations/implications This study is limited by focusing primarily on the individuals’ VSACA of a hotel lobby; non-visual components were not considered as part of the VSACA construct. Results should, therefore, be generalized to other similar settings with caution. Future research can integrate both visual and non-visual servicescape aesthetics comprehension and develop a new scale to measure them. Future research can also build on the support of the current proposed theoretical model by testing it in different service contexts and across different groups of participants.Practical implications This research provides evidence to hotel service providers that VSACA plays an important role in influencing consumers’ emotions, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The results imply that understanding customers’ simultaneous cognitive-emotional processing of servicescape aesthetics is crucial. Hotel developers and managers can engage potential customers in the designing and planning of a servicescape by conducting focus group research prior to the actual implementation of the servicescape attributes and construction.Originality/value This study represents the first research to extend and investigate the concept of visual aesthetics comprehension in the context of the hotel lobby servicescape beyond just product goods. This study contributes to the services marketing literature by confirming the importance and powerful direct effects of VSACA on individuals’ PPEQ, pleasure, arousal and willingness to pay more. Moreover, PPEQ and pleasure mediate the relationship between VSACA and overall satisfaction.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-08-2015-0258 [Google]
Minkiewicz, J., K. Bridson and J. Evans (2016): Co-production of service experiences: insights from the cultural sector, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 749-761
Purpose The increased involvement of customers in their experience is a reality for all service organisations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the way organisations collaborate with customers to facilitate consumption of cultural experiences through the lens of co-production. Although organisations are typically an integral part of the co-production process, co-production is typically considered from a consumer angle. Aligned with the service ecosystem perspective and value-in-cultural context, this research aims to provide greater insight into the processes and resources that institutions apply to co-produce experiences with consumers and the drivers and inhibitors of such processes.Design/methodology/approach Case study research with three exemplar organisations, using in-depth interviews with key informants was used to investigate the processes organisations follow in co-producing the service experience with customers, as well as the drivers and inhibitors of organisational co-production of the service experience in the cultural sector.Findings The findings illuminate that cultural organisations are co-producing the service experience with their customers, as revealed through a number of key processes: inviting customers to actively participate in the experience, engaging customers and supporting customers in the co-production of the experience. Increasingly demanding consumers and a changing competitive landscape are strong external drivers of co-production. Visionary leadership and consumer-focussed employees are internal factors impelling organisations to co-produce experiences with consumers. A strong curatorial orientation, complex organisational structure, employee attitude and capability gaps and funding constraints are impediments towards organisations co-producing experiences with consumers.Originality/value This paper addresses a gap in Service-Dominant logic theory, arts/cultural marketing and broader services marketing literature by proposing a broadened conceptualisation of co-production of the service experience. This conceptualisation can be used as a platform to derive strategic imperatives for managers of service organisations. The findings highlight the key practices and resources that are central to organisations co-producing experience with customers. In this way, greater understanding of institutional logics and practices that underpin experience co-production emerges.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-04-2015-0156 [Google]
Sheng, X., J. A. Siguaw and P. M. Simpson (2016): Servicescape attributes and consumer well-being, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 676-685
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically demonstrate an effective method for assessing how servicescape attributes shape consumer well-being and to highlight the value of importance-performance analysis (IPA) within a services context.Design/methodology/approach This study surveyed frequent visitors to a travel destination to determine their perceived importance of and satisfaction with servicescape attributes. The responses were analyzed using a series of importance-performance analyses to determine the impact of each servicescape attribute on consumer well-being.Findings Key servicescape attributes contributing to the well-being of frequent visitors to a destination were identified. For example, weather; friendly residents; restaurants; and interaction with locals were identified as attributes with a “high impact” on well-being, although weather and friendly residents were satisfiers and restaurants and interaction with locals were identified as dissatisfiers. In total, 23 servicescape attributes were plotted on a matrix depicting each attribute’s range and type of impact.Practical Implications This study provides practitioners with an idea of which servicescape attributes are important in improving well-being and illustrates how IPA may be used to identify attributes of any transformative service. Additionally, the analysis helps managers prioritize servicescape attributes for a more ideal allocation of scarce resources. These findings should be applicable to various contexts.Originality/value This paper is the only known study to examine effects of servicescape attributes on consumer well-being and one of few to use the modified IPA in a services context.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-03-2016-0116 [Google]
Wakefield, K. L. and J. Blodgett (2016): Retrospective: the importance of servicescapes in leisure service settings, Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp. 686-691
Purpose The purpose of the paper is to review the contribution of the paper, “The Importance of Servicescapes in Leisure Service Settings” to the discipline and to offer directions for further research and developments in the research area.Design/methodology/approach Key findings from research streams in sports and entertainment, leisure and hospitality, and services and retail marketing, which emanated from the publication of the paper, are highlighted. Opportunities for future research are discussed.Findings The importance of the servicescape in leisure settings has become even greater on a national and global basis as individuals spend more time, money and effort pursuing hedonic consumption in service settings. More research is needed within specific service contexts among and between individuals, groups and cultures to determine the holistic and particular influences of the physical environment on consumer response.Research limitations/implications With increased co-production of service experiences, including the integration of technology and mobile/wearable devices, marketers and researchers must better understand the role of the physical surroundings on individual, group and organizational behavior in the evolving servicescape.Originality/value The original paper motivated significant, highly cited studies in multiple disciplines integrated and overlapping with services and retail marketing. Taking a historical perspective encourages other researchers to conduct research of personal interest to address theoretical, methodological and practical issues. The retrospective analysis by the authors gives insight into the thought processes associated with understanding key aspects of the servicescape that contribute to the historical development of services marketing and offers food for thought (if not ambience and layout) for future research directions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/JSM-08-2016-0291 [Google]
