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, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and Service Science.
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Bedi, A. and A. C. H. Schat (2017): Employee revenge against uncivil customers, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.636-649
Purpose This study aims to examine the relations between service employee blame attributions in response to customer incivility and revenge desires and revenge behavior toward customers, and whether employee empathy moderated these relations.Design/methodology/approach The authors used survey data based on the critical incident method provided by a sample of 431 customer service employees.Findings The results suggested that blaming a customer was positively associated with desire for revenge and revenge behaviors against the uncivil customer. In addition, the authors found that blame was less strongly associated with desire for revenge when employees empathized with customers. Finally, the results show that an employee who desired revenge against the uncivil customer and who empathized with the customer was more – not less – likely to engage in revenge.Practical implications The authors found that when employees experience mistreatment from customers, it increases the likelihood that they will blame the offending customer and behave in ways that are contrary to their organization’s interests. The results suggest several points of intervention for organizations to more effectively respond to customer mistreatment.Originality/value In this study, the authors make one of the first attempts to investigate the relationships between service employee attributions of blame when they experience customer incivility, desire for revenge and customer-directed revenge behaviors. The authors also examined whether empathy moderates the relations between blame attribution, desires for revenge and revenge behavior.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-01-2016-0003 [Google]
Benoit, S., S. Klose and A. Ettinger (2017): Linking service convenience to satisfaction: dimensions and key moderators, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.527-538
Purpose Demand for service convenience, defined as a consumer’s perception of minimized time and effort spent to obtain a service, has increased in conjunction with certain sociocultural and demographic changes. Previous research notes the significance of service convenience, but the importance of different dimensions of service convenience and the role of key moderators affecting the link between convenience and satisfaction (like customer psychographic and sociodemographic characteristics) remain unaddressed. Thus, the purpose of this research is to identify those customer groups for which offering convenience will have the highest leverage to increase satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach Two models are developed and tested: a multidimensional model of service convenience with a formative measure of five service convenience dimensions, namely, decision, access, search, transaction and after-sales convenience, and a moderator model hypothesizing different customer psychographic and sociodemographic characteristics (time pressure, shopping enjoyment, age, household size and income) that affect the link between service convenience and satisfaction.Findings This study reveals that search convenience, followed by transaction and decision convenience, exerts the greatest influence on the perception of overall service convenience. In addition, those who value service convenience most are high-income, time-pressed consumers in smaller households who experience low shopping enjoyment.Originality/value Providers have limited budgets for enhancing their services. Thus, it is important to identify which dimension has the greatest influence on the perception of service convenience and the customer segments for which service convenience is most critical.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-10-2016-0353 [Google]
Boukis, A., S. Gounaris and I. Lings (2017): Internal market orientation determinants of employee brand enactment, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.690-703
Purpose This study aims to explore how the adoption of internal market orientation (IMO) can enhance front-line employee brand enactment within an interpersonal service setting. Insights from equity theory and the person – environment paradigm are drawn upon to develop a theoretical model describing the impact of IMO on employee – organization fit, employee – supervisor fit and employee – job fit and the consequences of IMO on employee brand knowledge and brand identification. Second, the role of various types of fit and brand knowledge/identification for front-line employee brand enactment is confirmed.Design/methodology/approach This study draws from service employees in a high-contact customer setting.Findings Results uncover two mechanisms for successful internal branding: increasing employee fit with the service environment and enhancing employee brand knowledge.Practical implications The study contributes to practice in that the findings outline a realistic understanding of how managerial actions facilitate employees’ alignment with the firm’s brand promise within the realm of the broader organizational context in which service delivery takes place.Originality/value The present study contributes in the extant literature as it enables a more holistic view of the drivers of brand-congruent behaviors among front-line employees. Moreover, it has a significant contribution for future researchers as it lays the ground to further examine how employees’ perceptions of internal marketing strategies shape their fit levels with different aspects of their working environment which also affect the internal branding efforts of service organizations.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2016-0272 [Google]
Collier, J. E., M. Breazeale and A. White (2017): Giving back the “self” in self service: customer preferences in self-service failure recovery, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.604-617
Purpose When a failure occurs with a self-service technology (SST), do customers want to give back the “self” in self-service? The authors explore employee’s role in a self-service failure and how the presence of other customers can change that role. Specifically, they examine how the self-monitoring of customers behavior during a failure can change recovery preferences.Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from customers of a movie self-service ticket kiosk and a grocery self-checkout. Three experiments were conducted.Findings Results from these studies find that customers want employees to fully take over a transaction after a failure if it takes place in isolation. If other patrons are present or waiting in line, then customers prefer the employee to simply correct the problem and let them complete the transaction. Finally, the servicescape along with the presence of other customers in a self-service area can induce self-monitoring behaviors and alter optimal recovery strategies.Research limitations/implications These findings have implications on the appropriate amount of recovery assistance customers need in a self-service experience.Practical implications This research reveals the social and functional complexities associated with executing a satisfactory SST failure recovery, particularly with respect to determining the extent to which the employee or customer should control the attempt.Originality/value This is the first study to examine the employee’s role in a self-service failure. While other studies have examined customers’ intentions in a self-service failure, authors examine how a service provider can assist in the recovery of a self-service failure.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2016-0259 [Google]
Dean, D. H. (2017): The benefit of a trustworthy face to a financial services provider, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.771-783
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate three information sources for their influence on trust and patronage intent toward an unmet financial services advisor. The sources were facial appearance, credentials and social information about the provider. Trust in an unmet provider is believed to be important because financial services are transitioning to an online customer interface.Design/methodology/approach In the two experiments, facial appearance (trustworthy versus less trustworthy), credentials (high versus low) and social information (cooperative versus less cooperative) were tested for their influence on cognitive trust, affective trust, patronage intent and amount of money to entrust to an unmet financial advisor.Findings In Study 1, both facial appearance and credentials significantly affected patronage intent. The effect of facial appearance was mediated through affective trust, and the effect of credentials was mediated through cognitive trust. In Study 2, both facial appearance and social information significantly affected patronage intent. Unexpectedly, respondents’ gender exhibited a highly significant main effect and interaction (ordinal) with the face cue for patronage intent.Research limitations/implications The experimental context was restricted to an unmet financial advisor. Interaction with an actual provider would likely change the perception of affective trust. Also, all depicted and described advisors were men; the effect of provider gender was not investigated.Originality/value Findings indicate that a personal photo on a business card may either increase or decrease patronage intent. Conversely, communicating credential achievement or an evidence of civic engagement to prospective clients has a favorable effect on patronage intent.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2016-0221 [Google]
Dobele, A., J. Fry, S. Rundle-Thiele and T. Fry (2017): Caring for baby: what sources of information do mothers use and trust?, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.677-689
Purpose A broad array of information channels exists for service customers. The purpose of this study is to better understand the relationship between the use of, and trust in, information channels, so that there is scope to increase the effectiveness of reliable information provision and, hence, to change behaviour.Design/methodology/approach This study empirically explored whether customers use channels they trust, and trust what they use, and examined the association between individual (demographic) factors and that trust. A total of 472 mothers completed an online survey.Findings The current study empirically explored channel trust and individual factors, finding that individual factors (such as education level) and trust warrant inclusion in traditional communication models such as Communication–Human Information Processing. The findings revealed that the more highly educated a customer is, the more likely it will be that a health professional is their most trusted channel, but the less likely it will be that they consider family the most trusted channel. Magazines are the least trusted information channel. Further, while informants’ most trusted information channel was healthcare professionals, this was not the most common information channel used.Research limitations/implications This study was limited to a female consumer sample focused upon one service (maternity and child health) and five key information channels, which limits the generalizability. Further, the data were collected via an internet survey, which have biased may the results on use and trust of the internet.Practical implications The findings showcase the importance of demographic factors and the relationship between trust in information sources and use. The insights developed provide a useful research agenda for the future. This study was limited to a female consumer sample focused upon one service (maternity and child health) and five key information channels, which limits the generalizability of the findings. The data were collected via an internet survey, which may bias the results on use and trust of the internet. Additionally, the data were collected over five years ago, which may have some impact on factors such as the role and importance of internet usage. However, these limitations do not detract from the primary focus of this study and the main findings remain new and relevant.Originality/value This study undertook an empirical exploration to examine information channel trust and individual factors, thereby extending the research focus beyond current traditional communication model approaches. Models such as Communication–Human Information Processing focus on individual cognitions and assume a staged sequence of decision-making following traditional decision-making models and ignoring channel attributes such as channel trust, thereby limiting understanding. The current study indicates that communication models will benefit from the addition of channel trust and additional individual factors (such as demographics) to extend understanding beyond individual cognitions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-02-2015-0104 [Google]
Estrella-Ramón, A. (2017): Explaining customers’ financial service choice with loyalty and cross-buying behaviour, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.539-555
Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of the customer’s previous transaction behaviour (represented by loyalty and general cross-buying) on his/her choice of specific services offered by the same financial services provider.Design/methodology/approach This study uses a set of logistic regression models by incorporating panel data from a large bank. The database consists of 2,187 randomly selected customers, and it includes features related to individual loyalty and cross-buying behaviours, as well as demographic indicators, i.e. individual measures related to each customer and each service.Findings From the results obtained, a large variation in customer choice behaviour with regard to the studied banking services was observed. These results reveal which customer transactional behaviours drive cross-category financial services purchases.Originality/value In academic literature, little progress has been made in the study of individual and behavioural factors that affect customer choices by service category, especially within the banking sector. By understanding customer choices, the company will be able to meet customer needs in a more appropriate way, thereby increasing its competitiveness. Hence, the results from this study have both managerial and research implications, improving the strategy formulation of financial services companies.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2015-0189 [Google]
Fang, Y.-H. (2017): Exploring task-service fit and usefulness on branded applications continuance, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.574-588
Purpose Providing that branded applications (apps) became a new trend in mobile marketing, the purpose of this study, thus, is to explore how to promote app users’ continuance intention and purchase intention (i.e. “app continuance”) toward a specific branded app.Design/methodology/approach By integrating both goods-dominant logic (GDL) and service-dominant logic (SDL), this study uses a unifying model to examine whether perceived usefulness and task-service fit (TSF) have different effects on the two parts of app continuance. This study identifies task characteristic and four service characteristics (interactivity, presence, localization and ubiquity) as antecedents of TSF. Furthermore, psychological barriers are examined as mediators of TSF and purchase intention within SDL. Data collected from 631 users of the targeted branded apps support all of the proposed hypotheses.Findings The findings show that besides perceived usefulness, TSF is an essential determinant of both app continuance in the context of branded apps and a partial mediator of psychological barriers between TSF and purchase intention.Originality/value Unlike prior studies, which have focused on traditional GDL to examine continuance intention, this study incorporates SDL and the notion of psychological barriers to explore such matters. The evidence concerning the significantly higher explanatory power of the full model suggests that a deeper understanding of the antecedents of app continuance is possible when the alternative view is taken into consideration, thus providing a promising avenue for future research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2016-0256 [Google]
Fung, C., P. Sharma, Z. Wu and Y. Su (2017): Exploring service climate and employee performance in multicultural service settings, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.784-798
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new conceptual model that incorporates internal service quality as a mediator between service climate and employee performance and two personal cultural orientations (independence and interdependence) as the moderators of these relationships.Design/methodology/approach An online survey of 353 employees representing 19 different nationalities, working in 18 branches and offices of a multinational business-to-business (B2B) civil engineering services firm, spread across 14 countries.Findings All the hypotheses are supported. Specifically, internal service quality mediates the influence of service climate on employee performance and these relationships are stronger for employees with interdependent (vs independent) cultural orientations.Research limitations/implications This paper uses data collected from the employees in a single B2B firm in one industry (Civil Engineering Services) and focuses on a few key variables, which may restrict the generalizability of its findings.Practical implications The findings of this paper highlight the importance of cultural factors in building a service climate in multinational service organizations to help their employees work more effectively and efficiently with their colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds.Originality/value This paper clarifies the relationships among service climate, internal service quality and employee performance, by showing that internal service quality mediates the influence of service climate on employee performance.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-08-2016-0316 [Google]
Gray, D. M., S. D’Alessandro, L. W. Johnson and L. Carter (2017): Inertia in services: causes and consequences for switching, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.485-498
Purpose This paper aims to examine the antecedents of customer inertia (i.e. knowledge, confusion, perceptions of competitor similarity and switching costs) and their relationship to customer satisfaction, service providers’ switching intentions and actual switching behavior. Customer inertia is said to reduce the incidence of service provider switching; however, little is known about the antecedent drivers of inertia.Design/methodology/approach The conceptual model was tested by a longitudinal/discontinuous panel design using an online survey research of 1055 adult (i.e. +18 years old) subscribers to cell phone services. Partial least squares (PLS) path modeling was used to simultaneously estimate both the measurement and structural components of the model to determine the nature of the relationships between the variables.Findings Findings of the PLS structural model provide support for the direct relationship between customer inertia and its antecedents (i.e. knowledge, confusion, perceptions of competitor similarity and switching costs). The results show that customer inertia has a moderate negative effect on the intention to change service providers but had no measurable effect on the actual behavior of changing service providers, other than indirectly, by influencing the perception of difficulty in switching some 11 months later. Further results from an analysis of indirect pathways of the antecedents to inertia show that switching costs are the only variable which indirectly reduce intentions to change service providers. The results also show that the effect of satisfaction on switching service providers is partially moderated by inertia. Importantly, these relationships are reasonably robust given past switching behavior and contract status of consumers.Research limitations/implications The authors find evidence which explains some of the causes of inertia, and show that it has both direct and moderating effects on service provider switching intentions, though not necessarily the behavior of changing service providers. However, support was found for its indirect role through intent as an influence on switching behavior. Importantly, the authors find that inertia has lingering effects, in that it influences the perception of switching difficulties and, hence, behavior up to 11 months in the future.Practical implications Managerial implications are that service firms can profit from customer inertia through a reduction in churn. However, high levels of customer inertia over the longer term may increase the level of customer vulnerability to competitor offers and marketing activities, as satisfaction with the provider does not in itself explain switching intentions or behavior.Originality/value This study is the first study to contribute to an understanding of the antecedent drivers of customer inertia with respect to service provider switching and to empirically evaluate a variety of antecedent factors that potentially affect switching intentions. Importantly, the long lasting latent effect of inertia in indirectly influencing service switching behavior was found to persist some 11 months later.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-12-2014-0408 [Google]
Harris, E. G. and D. E. Fleming (2017): The productive service employee: personality, stress, satisfaction and performance, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.499-511
Purpose The purpose of this study is to more closely examine the trait antecedents and outcomes of frontline employee productivity propensity. The study is the first to use a job demands-resources perspective on productivity propensity and it reveals that the inclusion of the construct into service worker personality studies significantly improves the explanatory ability of hypothesized models.Design/methodology/approach The study follows a job demands-resources perspective and uses an empirical study that included two subsamples: banking and health care. Path analyses were performed using two-group modeling to test the hypotheses. Mediation and hierarchical regressions were also used.Findings The findings indicate that the conscientiousness trait has a consistent effect on productivity propensity. More importantly, the findings reveal that productivity propensity influences role ambiguity, job satisfaction and self-rated service performance and that the addition of the construct into personality studies significantly improves the explanatory ability of personality models.Research limitations/implications This study presents further evidence that productivity propensity is an important construct in services research. Beyond previously established influences on bottom-line service productivity and manager-rated work performance, the current work indicates that it also influences FLE stress, engagement and work outcomes.Practical implications Managers work under pressures to ensure service productivity and are well aware of the importance of selecting job applicants who will fit the service role. This study provides additional evidence that the productivity propensity work resource should be considered when selecting employees. The work also suggests that customer workload and the standardization of the service environment impacts the influence of productivity propensity on service outcomes.Social implications Given the importance of transformative service experiences that uplift the experiences of consumers and employees, the productivity propensity of frontline service employees not only impacts the ability of the employee to satisfy customer needs, but also leads the employee to experience increased job satisfaction.Originality/value This work is the first work to consider the effects of productivity propensity from a job demands-resources perspective and, as such, the first to examine the influence of the construct on job satisfaction and service delivery.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-11-2015-0347 [Google]
Hofmann, E., B. Hartl and E. Penz (2017): Power versus trust – what matters more in collaborative consumption?, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.589-603
Purpose Collaborative consumption, such as car sharing, specifically implicates customer-to-customer interaction, which must be regulated by service providers (companies, peers and self-regulating communities), comprising different challenges for business organizations. While in conventional business relations, consumers are protected from undesirable customer behavior by laws, regulations (power) in the context of collaborative consumption are rare, so that trust becomes more relevant. It is the purpose of the study to investigate possible mechanisms to prevent undesirable customers in collaborative consumption.Design/methodology/approach In between subject designs, samples of 186 and 328 consumers filled in experimental online questionnaires with vignettes. Analyses were made of differences among car sharing companies, private persons and car sharing communities in terms of the power of providers, trust in providers and trust in other users of the shared goods, undesirable customer behavior and consumer–provider relations.Findings Companies, private persons and self-regulating communities differ in terms of perceived power and trust. Participants specifically perceive mainly coercive power with the car sharing company, but with the private person and the community, reason-based trust in other users is perceived as prevalent. Nevertheless, undesirable customer behavior varies only marginally over the models.Originality/value The present study is the first to investigate measures to prevent undesirable customer behavior over different collaborative consumption models. This enables appropriate identification of market segments and tailoring of services. The study identifies opportunities for companies in contrast to private persons and self-regulating communities and, in doing so, provides important stimulation for marketing strategy and theory development.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2015-0279 [Google]
Khaksar, S. M. S., F. S. Shahmehr, R. Khosla and M. T. Chu (2017): Dynamic capabilities in aged care service innovation: the role of social assistive technologies and consumer-directed care strategy, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.745-759
Purpose By developing a conceptual model, the purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the role of social assistive technologies in facilitating the process of service innovation in care providing organisations to adopt the principles of the consumer-directed care strategy and reduce perceived consumer vulnerability.Design/methodology/approach Using a cross-sectional survey method, the authors collected data through a survey questionnaire distributed among 335 aged caregivers and specialists. The conceptual model and its 11 research hypotheses were examined using confirmatory factor analysis in structural equation modelling. The rival and mediation models were also estimated.Findings The conceptual model was validated and eight of eleven hypotheses were supported. It was found that dynamic capabilities are crucial to developing service innovation concept in care providing organisations. In this way, social assistive technologies play a facilitating role to promote the consumer-directed care strategy throughout care providing organisations and allow care providers to enhance wellbeing of vulnerable older people based on their socio-economic status. From the lens of aged care providers, it was also found that the consumer-directed care strategy implemented in aged care facilities may help reduce consumer vulnerability among older people especially when they use social assistive technologies in their service settings.Practical implications This study suggests aged care service providers should boost dynamic service innovation capabilities to improve the need for social assistive technologies in aged care facilities with respect to the importance of the consumer-directed care strategy.Originality/value This study contributes to the development and validation of a conceptual model for the use of social assistive technologies to sustain service innovation in aged care business models and enhance the consumer-directed care strategy’s performance to better understand consumer vulnerability among older people.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2016-0243 [Google]
Kim, S.-H. and S. Lee (2017): Promoting customers’ involvement with service brands: evidence from coffee shop customers, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.733-744
Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how service brand loyalty can be enhanced through customer involvement, based on involvement theory and symbolic interaction theory as theoretical backgrounds.Design/Methodology/approach This study investigated how service brand loyalty can be enhanced through customer involvement, based on involvement theory and symbolic interaction theory as theoretical backgrounds.Findings Results identified customer–brand identification and service value influenced both service brand involvement and service brand-decision involvement. However, self-congruity only influenced customers’ service brand-decision involvement. Results also confirmed that customer involvement positively influenced service brand satisfaction and service brand loyalty.Research limitations/implications This study contributed to involvement and brand loyalty research, investigating the role of customer involvement on service brand loyalty.Practical implications Results suggested what factors could enhance brand loyalty to gain competitive advantages.Originality/value This study proposed and empirically investigated ways to enhance brand loyalty in the context of the coffee shop industry.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-03-2016-0133 [Google]
Krishnamurthy, A. and G. Shainesh (2017): Snubbing the old to embrace the new: the impact of cross-buying on the usage of existing services, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.662-675
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of an additional service on existing consumers’ usage of existing services from the same service provider. Research has often focused on marketers’ efforts to sell new offerings to existing customers. However, does the consumption of these new offerings by existing customers affect their usage of the firm’s existing services? This research examines this question in the context of a subscription service.Design/methodology/approach This study uses matched consumer- and firm-level data from a leading telecom service provider in India. These data include responses from 230 consumers, as well as details on their usage of existing and additional services. The data are analyzed using three-stage least squares regressions while controlling for consumers’ past usage of the existing services.Findings The results indicate that existing consumers’ cross-buying of the new service results in a reduction of their future usage of existing services. Most consumers also managed to maintain their monthly payments constant, even though they had subscribed to the new service. Together, these findings imply that consumers reallocate their budget by reducing their usage of existing services to accommodate the usage of an additional service from the same service provider. Consequently, the revenue of the firm might not always increase when the consumer cross-buys an additional service from the firm.Originality/value Marketing research on cross-buying has so far neglected to look at the effects of existing consumers’ adoption of an additional service on existing services of the service provider. This study focused on this gap in knowledge, in the context of subscription services. Using consumers’ perceptions and matched service usage data, the authors extend the literature that tries to understand why cross-buying may not be beneficial to the firm in certain service settings.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2015-0174 [Google]
Kumar, D. S., K. Purani and S. Sahadev (2017): Visual service scape aesthetics and consumer response: a holistic model, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.556-573
Purpose This paper aims to introduce subjective dimensions of appraising visual servicescape aesthetics and to empirically test their influence on the consumer’s affective responses and preference, thus providing a holistic model to evaluate visual servicescape aesthetics from consumer’s viewpoint. It also tests the moderating role of service contexts in the modelled relationships.Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 350 respondents using a laboratory-like experimental design, with one-shot treatment using photographic surrogates of services capes in four different service contexts.Findings Results indicate the visual servicescape aesthetics dimensions significantly and positively influence consumers’ affective states of arousal and pleasure. Also, service context moderates the relationship between servicescape aesthetics and affective responses.Research limitations/implications As the subjective dimensions of visual servicescape aesthetics are borrowed from environmental psychology and introduced in marketing literature, it is likely to trigger a stream of research in service marketing domain.Practical implications Findings provide marketing practitioners insights into servicescape design, evaluation and selection decisions to improve return on such investments.Originality/value The study contributes to theory by introducing more appropriate holistic servicescape aesthetics variables borrowed from environment psychology and empirically establishing relationships between them, consumers’ affective responses and preference to the servicescape.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-01-2016-0021 [Google]
Leino, H. M. (2017): Secondary but significant: secondary customers’ existence, vulnerability and needs in care services, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.760-770
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the status, vulnerability and needs of the health-care and nursing service customers’ (hereafter, care service customers’) loved ones.Design/methodology/approach The position and vulnerabilities of secondary customers of care services are studied and examples provided by reviewing empirical research reported in the care service literature. A conceptual discussion is developed on the “customer” concept in an extended sense, beyond the focal customers. The “primary customer” and “secondary customer” concepts are employed to supplement the extant discussion on customer units and ecosystems.Findings Secondary customers are exposed to secondary vulnerability and their well-being is affected by the services provided primarily to their loved ones. The most recurring needs of secondary customers concern psychosocial support, communication and information and cultural sensitivity.Practical implications New perspectives on understanding the “customer” concept in an extended sense. This assists in supporting the customers’ dynamic activities and processes within the customer ecosystems. To address care service customers’ loved ones’ vulnerabilities and needs and to support their well-being, they should also be recognised as customers – “secondary customers” – with patients being the “primary customers”.Social implications The results are especially relevant when considering services’ influences on vulnerable customers’ ecosystems and on individuals within them. It is important to recognise that beyond a vulnerable customer, several secondary customers may be exposed to secondary vulnerability, needing support.Originality/value The paper is apparently the first to connect the constructs “primary” and “secondary customer” and customer vulnerability to the customer ecosystem discussion. Also, essential future research questions are provided.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2016-0199 [Google]
Leisen Pollack, B. (2017): Effects of exit barriers on word of mouth activities, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.512-526
Purpose The purpose of this study is to contrast the effects of four exit barriers on word of mouth activities. Monetary, service loss, social and convenience exit barriers are compared. The differential effects of these four barriers on the valence of word of mouth (positive, negative), the type of word of mouth recipient (weak tie, strong tie) and the motives (catharsis, company sabotage) for spreading word of mouth are studied.Design/methodology/approach The data for empirically addressing a set of hypotheses were collected from 185 consumers. The hypotheses were analyzed using ANOVA models along with post hoc tests.Findings The results suggest that the type of exit barrier matters. Exit barriers, with respect to word of mouth activities, seem to fall on a continuum. On one extreme, the most detrimental barriers are monetary hurdles, and on the other end, the least detrimental barriers are convenience hurdles. Monetary barriers are responsible for the most negative word of mouth and company sabotage. Social and convenience barriers lead to significantly less.Practical implications The implications for erecting exit barriers are discussed. In particular, the value of monetary barriers is questioned. The benefits of such involuntary customer retention methods may be offset by the sabotage they invite through negative word of mouth.Originality/value The paper provides insights into word of mouth activities of dissatisfied customers that are trapped by various exit barriers. The word of mouth activities investigated include valence, recipient type and motives. The study contrasts monetary, service loss, social and convenience exit barriers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-01-2016-0024 [Google]
Ramaseshan, B. and R. Ouschan (2017): Investigating status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.650-661
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend research on customer loyalty status and customer demotion by investigating if the effect of demotion on customer attitudinal and behavioral responses is the same for top-tier and low-tier customers in the context of airlines.Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted with travelers intercepted at large airport terminals in Australia. Multivariate analyses examined group differences across status change (no change vs demoted) and status level (high status vs low status). Multi-group moderation structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis tested the moderating role of status (high status vs low status) on the effects of demotion on the relationship between customers’ attitudes and loyalty intention, and between loyalty intention and share of wallet.Findings This study shows that the detrimental effects of demotion on the relationship between customer satisfaction/commitment/perceived betrayal on loyalty intentions, and on the relationship between loyalty intentions and share of wallet are stronger for “high status” than “low status” customers.Research limitations/implications A cross-sectional design was employed to investigate customer demotion in the airline industry. Future studies could investigate different types of demotions in other industries by employing a longitudinal design.Practical implications The study provides new insight about the effects of status demotion and highlights that service firms could be jeopardizing the loyalty of numerous valuable customers, especially among the “high status” customer group.Originality/value This study reveals loyalty status moderates the effect of demotion on customer attitudinal responses and loyalty behaviors. It draws on social identity, social comparison, emotion and equity theories to explain the different effects of demotion on customers from different status level groups.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-11-2016-0377 [Google]
Schaarschmidt, M. and B. Höber (2017): Digital booking services: comparing online with phone reservation services, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.704-719
Purpose Many booking services in traditional people-processing service areas such as gastronomy were recently transformed into online reservation services. While advantages for platform providers (i.e. a share of the respective business) and merchants (i.e. increased operational efficiency) seem obvious, it is less known about how customers respond to these new forms of online services. This paper aims to illustrate how booking traditional people-processing services online is different from booking it via phone.Design/methodology/approach This study conceptualized a 2 × 2 experimental survey design by manipulating users’ booking channel (online vs low) and the service complexity of different, less digitized people-processing services (high: dentist vs low: restaurant). After conducting several pretests, the authors surveyed 282 respondents familiar with online booking and reservation.Findings The results show that the booking channel (online reservation vs phone reservation) affects associated perceived booking risk and negatively affects users’ intention to use the reservation service. Additionally, users’ attitudes toward online reservation moderate the influence of booking channel on perceived booking risk.Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research that investigates adoption of online reservation in people-processing services.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-04-2016-0145 [Google]
Topaloglu, O. and D. E. Fleming (2017): Under-promising and over-delivering: pleasing the customer or strategic blunder?, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), pp.720-732
Purpose The paper aims to provide a theoretical and empirical examination of the relationship between service expectation management, expectation inducing agent and customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach Based on the disconfirmation paradigm in services and the promise-keeping premise in psychology, the hypotheses are developed and empirically tested using three experiments that manipulated expectations, expectation inducing agent and service outcome.Findings The findings provide reconciliation to the previous studies in services and show that effectiveness of expectation management strategy depends on the individual expectation thresholds and the expectation inducing agent. If customers patronize a firm expecting more, then over-delivering on the service promise results in a significant benefit. However, for those customers whose mental expectation threshold is exceeded, keeping promises is as effective as exceeding promises.Practical implications The practical implication of this paper is that services managers should be cognizant of the mental expectation threshold of customers and be wise in utilizing the under-promise, over-deliver strategy.Originality/value Using a threshold approach, this paper introduces a new perspective to service practitioners who are trying to manage expectations in a highly variable business environment. It also benefits service researchers who are trying to enhance the understanding of service expectation management.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-08-2016-0301 [Google]
Umasuthan, H., O.-J. Park and J.-H. Ryu (2017): Influence of empathy on hotel guests’ emotional service experience, Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), pp.618-635
Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the comparative influence of two empathy dimensions (cognitive and emotional attributes) on emotional service experience and behavioral intention among business and leisure hotel guests. Studies relevant to empathy dimensions are relatively scarce in tourism and hospitality.Design/methodology/approach The current study reviewed the concepts of empathy, and empirically compared perceptions of empathy attributes between the two groups. The survey was intended to examine how well the hotel employees emotionally handle hotel guests’ incidents or inquiries related to any discomforts through personalized attention. The data were collected from 330 hotel guests who had actually complained about service failures while staying at the hotel during the record-breaking summer of 2013 in terms of number of visitors to Jeju. An active empathetic listening (AEL) tool has been taken to measure the hotel guest’s cognitive views and behavioral intentions, as well as emotional empathy measures under the empathic concern and emotional contagion.Findings The results revealed that empathetic dimensions strongly influenced the service experiences of hotel guests. While the emotional service experience of business guests was almost completely determined by the cognitive empathy, the emotional service experience of the leisure guests was mainly governed by the emotional empathy.Practical implications These outcomes suggest that the empathetic services through a “purpose of visit”-oriented manner might enhance the guest’s overall emotion positively.Originality/value According to the prior literatures and empirical findings in hospitality and tourism, empathy can be seen as subscale in SERVQUAL instrument. This paper focus on insights of empathy dimensions, and it was revealed that the interaction of both the cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy conjointly determines the overall emotional service experience and intention of hotel guests.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2016-0220 [Google]
Alexandrescu, A., C. N. Butincu and M. Craus (2017): Recommending Products and Services Belonging to Online Businesses Using Intelligent Agents, Service Science, 9(4), pp.338-348
A sure method for a business organization to sell more products is to expand its customer base and to have its products recommended by other organizations and individuals. This paper takes a look at the techniques used by shopping websites in order to entice the user in purchasing their products, and proposes a system for recommending products and services provided by different online businesses to potential customers. The solution is built upon a service-oriented architecture that allows businesses to share information regarding customers? purchases while taking into account the user privacy issue. Intelligent agents, which rely on a product type association dynamically weighted graph, are employed in order to obtain and to process the information needed to make the suggestions. The use of intelligent agents significantly improves the quality of the recommendations made by the system. This improvement is achieved by suggesting products and services depending on other users? purchasing patterns while also considering the different product types and quantities sold by the business organizations that are part of the system.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2017.0188 [Google]
Leon, F. and C. Bădică (2017): An Optimization Web Service for a Freight Brokering System, Service Science, 9(4), pp.324-337
Freight brokering is a real-life business problem that attempts to match the logistic capabilities of transportation providers with the needs of merchandise owners. From a service science perspective, the clients and transporters interacting through the matchmaking system create mutual value by minimizing client costs, maximizing business opportunities, increasing competition, and reducing operational risks. A general architecture of such a system is presented, which combines web services and agents in order to benefit from the advantages of both approaches: on the one hand interoperability and flexibility in heterogeneous systems, and on the other hand autonomy and the ability to represent the interests of particular users. The matchmaking is treated as an optimization problem solved with the help of a separate web service, and special emphasis is given to the details of the optimization mechanism.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2017.0191 [Google]
Miguéis, V. L. and H. Nóvoa (2017): Exploring Online Travel Reviews Using Data Analytics: An Exploratory Study, Service Science, 9(4), pp.315-323
The information provided by online traveler reviews is becoming a key element in the decision-making process of hotel customers, reducing the uncertainty and the perceived risk of a traveler. Therefore, a careful analysis of the content provided by online customers? reviews might give invaluable information concerning the key determinants, from a user?s perspective, of the quality of the service provided, justifying the attributed service rating. The objectives of this study are twofold: (1) use text-mining techniques to analyze the user?s generated content automatically collected from hotels in Porto in a certain period of time and, from this analysis, derive the most frequent terms used to describe the service; (2) understand whether it is possible to predict the aggregated rating assigned by reviewers based on the terms used and, at the same time, identify the terms showing high predictive capacity. Our study attempts to support hotel service managers in achieving their strategic and tactical goals by using innovative text- and data-mining tools to explore the wealth of information provided by user generated content in an easy and timely way.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2017.0189 [Google]
Oltean, V. E., T. Borangiu and M. Drăgoicea (2017): A Discrete Event Model of Viability Building in a Public University Organization, Service Science, 9(4), pp.288-301
In the context of today?s interconnected world, public higher education is confronted with a shift of its role from public good to public service, which is accompanied by new challenges in building and maintaining the viability of public universities. There is a vast literature on this topic, but there is not yet reported a systematic approach in modeling the basic steps of decision making and problem solving to be completed by a public university to remain viable. Starting from the concepts of service system, and consonance and resonance as key viability conditions, this paper proposes a discrete event model of the viability building and maintaining process in a generic public university organization. The model evolution is driven by events conditioned by internal, external, or mixed causes. Some of the uncontrollable events occurring in the process may drive the discrete evolution to disturbance rejection states, where specific recovery strategies are applied. If recovery is successful, disturbances may become sources of innovation. The discrete event model can be used as a theoretical and conceptual tool for building and testing instances of the viability building and maintaining processes in public universities, and also for refining academic evaluation criteria by the authorities.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2017.0184 [Google]
Rafati, L. and G. Poels (2017): Value-Driven Strategic Sourcing Based on Service-Dominant Logic, Service Science, 9(4), pp.275-287
Currently, procurement is approached as a tactical process focused on spend management. The aim of this process is the identification of cost savings. A new paradigm of procurement is emerging that recognizes procurement as a value creation practice. This paradigm, referred to as value-driven strategic sourcing, lacks instruments for implementation. This paper presents a new conceptual modeling approach for exploring and evaluating sourcing alternatives that is based on a systemic view of value cocreation. Our approach, called CARS (which stands for capability, actor, resource, and service), is the result of a design science research project. This paper presents the underlying conceptualization of CARS, which was constructed through a mapping between service ecosystem concepts grounded in service-dominant logic and the viable system approach and strategic sourcing concepts derived from the resource-based view theory of competitive advantage, the dynamic capability theory, and the relational view theory of cooperation and competition. Apart from presenting the theoretical foundation of CARS, we also demonstrate by means of a case study of sustainable procurement in a global materials technology company how a model-based approach based on CARS helps in implementing value-driven strategic sourcing. The case study provides a proof of concept of the potential utility of our approach as it addresses specific problems with the company?s current procurement practices.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2017.0190 [Google]
Resta, B., P. Gaiardelli, S. Cavalieri and S. Dotti (2017): Enhancing the Design and Management of the Product-Service System Supply Chain: An Application to the Automotive Sector, Service Science, 9(4), pp.302-314
The proper design and management of product-service system (PSS) supply chains is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of servitised business models. As underlined by empirical evidence, research on how different types of PSS offerings affect the design and management of the upstream supply chain of PSS providers still appears to be lagging. Therefore, this paper introduces a theoretical explanatory conceptual framework derived from a literature analysis and further developed by four case studies from the automotive sector, which highlight the linkages between the value proposition and supply chain of PSS providers. The results are summarised into 11 propositions that underline the key roles and capabilities that bridge PSS offering features with distinctive characteristics of the PSS supply chain. They also show specific patterns of partners? relationships and organisational configurations that can be identified during the servitisation transformation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2017.0193 [Google]
Verlaine, B. (2017): Toward an Agile IT Service Management Framework, Service Science, 9(4), pp.263-274
For a couple of decades, information technology (IT) as well as its management have been evolving toward more agility. Cloud computing and service-oriented computing have enabled increases in the agility of, respectively, the hardware and the software components of IT services. Similarly, companies more and more often use agile methods for managing their IT projects. This means that many IT organizations can follow the values and principles of the Agile theory, which shares many similarities with service science. However, regarding the management of IT operations, existing solutions are largely process oriented and focus on the control and respect of the initial commitments. Therefore, these solutions, called IT service management (ITSM) methods, are not aligned with the agile values and principles. In response, we propose the basics of a future agile IT service management framework. To do so, we revisit the agile values and principles applied in the software development to best suit the ITSM context. We also identify some practices applied in the current ITSM methods that (partially) block the evolution toward more agility in ITSM. These practices are discussed and rewritten accordingly.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2017.0186 [Google]
