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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Klaus, P. and V. Kuppelwieser (2021): Guiding directions and propositions: Placing dynamics at the heart of customer experience (CX) research, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59(2630), pp.102429
Our study summarizes and synthesizes the content of our Special Issue along with additional information from customer experience (hereafter CX) managers and research to determine the main challenges and opportunities for the most important trend in CX practice and research alike: CX’s dynamic nature. While widely acknowledged, CX researchers and managers have been struggling with how to research, address, and successfully manage CX’s dynamic nature. Individual contributions build the foundation for our study, establishing a conceptual framework within which to successfully address the four main challenges at hand: time, the role of emotions, personal experience vicinity, and methods. We present guiding research directions and questions emphasizing fruitful avenues of enquiry.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102429 [Google]
Klaus, P. and J. L. Zaichkowsky (2022): The convenience of shopping via voice AI: Introducing AIDM, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 65(2630), pp.102490
The purpose of this paper is to propose an updated view of consumer choice based on AI and inherent convenience addiction to smart speakers. Following the MacInnis framework for developing conceptual contributions of summarization, integration, and delineation, we review the current consumer decision-making literature and theory to demonstrate consumers’ increasing tendency to outsource decisions to AI. Today’s customers value convenience: the less time and effort they spend on a purchase, the better they perceive the transaction. AI is taking convenience to higher levels for consumers as they outsource their decisions to bots and inherent algorithms. This is particularly accurate for low-involvement everyday purchases. Our study’s contribution is fourfold. First, we introduce a new model of AI-influenced decision-making (AIDM) processes. Second, our conceptual model suggests that managers need to change their interpretation of their customers’ decision-making-processes in the new, AI-influenced marketplace. The shift in consumers’ behavior toward reliance on home voice bots for purchase has significant implications for the retail sector. Third, our model differentiates between high and low involvement AI-influenced decision-making processes. Fourth, our study highlights how branding as we know it is challenged in an AI-dominated environment.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102490 [Google]
Christ-Brendemühl, S. and M. Schaarschmidt (2022): Customer fairness perceptions in augmented reality-based online services, Journal of Service Management, 33(2630), pp.9-32Purpose: An increasing number of retailers is trying to stimulate customers by embedding augmented reality (AR) features such as video try-on into the online shopping experience. As such AR-based online services require customers to actively participate in the service provision, this paper aims at investigating fairness perceptions and customer responses associated with AR-enabled customer participation. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual framework of this study is based on equity theory. To compare customer responses after an in-store service encounter as opposed to AR-enabled customer participation involving video try-on, this study contains a between-subject online experiment. The effective sample comprises N = 215 participants. Findings: The data analysis demonstrates that AR-enabled customer participation leads to significantly lower levels of distributive, procedural and price fairness as well as lower engagement intentions than in-store service encounters. Simultaneously, participants in the video try-on scenario report higher negative word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions than in the in-store scenario. Research limitations/implications: The extra mile customers go when using AR-based online services is reflected in less favorable fairness evaluations. Practical implications: Service managers should design AR applications in a manner that requires minimum customer participation. Originality/value: This study contributes to service research by linking AR-enabled customer participation to evaluations of distributive, procedural and price fairness and their outcomes. This is vital to fully exploit the potential of AR in services.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-01-2021-0012 [Google]
Giertz, J. N., W. H. Weiger, M. Törhönen and J. Hamari (2022): Content versus community focus in live streaming services: how to drive engagement in synchronous social media, Journal of Service Management, 33(2630), pp.33-58
Purpose: Social live-streaming services are an emerging form of social media that is gaining in popularity among researchers and practitioners. By facilitating real-time interactions between video content creators (i.e. streamers) and viewers, live-streaming platforms provide an environment for novel engagement behaviors and monetization structures. This research aims to examine communication foci and styles as levers of streaming success. In doing so, the authors analyze their impact on viewers’ engagement with the stream. Design/methodology/approach: This research draws on a unique dataset collected via a multi-wave questionnaire comprising viewers’ perceptions of a specific streamer’s communications and their actual behavior toward them. The authors analyze the proposed impact of communication foci on viewing and donating behavior while considering the moderating role of communication style using seemingly unrelated regressions. Findings: The results show that communication foci represent a double-edged sword: community-focused communication drives viewership while reducing donations made to the streamer. By contrast, content-focused communication curbs viewing but drives donating. Practical implications: Of specific interest for practitioners, the study demonstrates how streaming content providers (e.g. influencers) should adjust their communications to drive engagement in the context of synchronous social media such as social live-streaming services. Beyond that, this research identifies unique characteristics of engagement that can help managers to improve their digital service offerings. Social implications: Social live-streaming services provide an environment that offers unique opportunities for self-development and co-creation among social media users. By allowing for real-time interactions, these emerging social media services build on ephemeral content to provide altered experiences for users. Originality/value: The authors highlight the need to distinguish between engagement behaviors in asynchronous and synchronous social media. The proposed conceptualization sheds new light on success factors of social media in general and social live-streaming services specifically. To maximize user engagement, content creators in synchronous social media must consider their communications’ focus (content or community) and style (utilitarian or hedonic).
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2020-0439 [Google]
Huikkola, T., M. Kohtamäki, R. Rabetino, H. Makkonen and P. Holtkamp (2022): Unfolding the simple heuristics of smart solution development, Journal of Service Management, 33(2630), pp.121-142
Purpose: The present study intends to foster understanding of how a traditional manufacturer can utilize the “simple rules” approach of managerial heuristics to facilitate its smart solution development (SSD) process. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses an in-depth single case research strategy and 25 senior manager interviews to understand the application of simple rules in smart solution development. Findings: The findings reveal process, boundary, preference, schedule, and stop rules as the dominant managerial heuristics in the case and identify how the manufacturer applies these rules during the innovation process phases of ideation, incubation, transformation, and industrialization for attaining project outcomes. Research limitations/implications: The study contributes to the new service development (NSD) literature by shedding light on simple rules and how managers may apply them to facilitate SSD. The main limitations stem from applying the qualitative case study approach and the interpretative nature of the study, which produces novel insights but prevents direct generalization to other empirical cases. Practical implications: The resulting framework provides guidelines for managers on how to establish formal and clear simple rules that enable industrial solution providers to approach decision-making in smart solution development in a more agile manner. Originality/value: The study comprises one of the first attempts to investigate managerial heuristics in the context of SSD and puts forward a plea for further NSD research applying psychological conceptualizations to enrich the simple rules perspective.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2020-0422 [Google]
Kolagar, M., W. Reim, V. Parida and D. Sjödin (2022): Digital servitization strategies for SME internationalization: the interplay between digital service maturity and ecosystem involvement, Journal of Service Management, 33(2630), pp.143-162
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how digital servitization enables the process of internationalization for industrial SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: The present study has adopted an exploratory multiple case study, conducting a total of 40 interviews in a two-phased approach to data collection. The first phase consisted of exploratory interviews with twenty-six industrial SMEs connected to the manufacturing industry in Sweden and Finland. Then, six SMEs were selected in the second phase to participate in additional in-depth interviews. Findings: First, this study identifies three gradual enabling phases concerned with the digital service maturity of SMEs consisting of digital awareness, digital service innovation and digital service mass customization. Second, the three interdependent phases of ecosystem knowledge synergy, ecosystem integration and ecosystem value co-creation were identified to improve ecosystem involvement. Finally, a process framework has been developed for SME internationalization consisting of a digital servitization innovation strategy, a digital servitization ecosystem strategy and a digital servitization scaling strategy. Originality/value: The present research contributes to how digital servitization enables SME internationalization by demonstrating how the development of digital service offerings and ecosystem partnerships supports the internationalization process. This research extends the literature by proposing a process framework for the digital-servitization-enabled internationalization of SMEs. This process perspective provides a richer explanation of the complex interplay between servitization, digitalization and ecosystems choices, which supports the expansion into international markets.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2020-0428 [Google]
Markfort, L., A. Arzt, P. Kögler, S. Jung, H. Gebauer, S. Haugk, C. Leyh and F. Wortmann (2022): Patterns of business model innovation for advancing IoT platforms, Journal of Service Management, 33(2630), pp.70-96
Purpose: The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) platforms in product companies opens up new data-driven business opportunities. This paper looks at the emergence of these IoT platforms from a business-model perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The study applies a mixed method with two research studies: Study I–a cluster analysis based on a quantitative survey, and Study II–case studies based on qualitative interviews. Findings: The findings reveal that there is no gradual shift in a company’s business model, but in fact three distinct and sequential patterns of business model innovations: (1) platform skimming, (2) platform revenue generation and (3) platform orchestration. Research limitations/implications: The results are subject to the typical limitations of both quantitative and qualitative studies. Practical implications: The results provide guidance to managers on how to modify the components of the business model (value proposition, value creation and/or delivery and profit equation) in order to enable platforms to advance. Social implications: As IoT platforms continue to advance, product companies achieve better performance in terms of productivity and profitability, and more easily secure competitive advantages and jobs. Originality/value: The paper makes three original contributions: (1) it is the first quantitative study on IoT platforms in product companies, (2) identifies three patterns of business model innovations and (3) offers a first process perspective for understanding the sequence of these patterns as IoT platforms advance.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2020-0429 [Google]
Opazo-Basáez, M., F. Vendrell-Herrero and O. F. Bustinza (2022): Digital service innovation: a paradigm shift in technological innovation, Journal of Service Management, 33(2630), pp.97-120
Purpose: Existing innovation frameworks suggest that manufacturing firms have traditionally developed a complementary model of technological innovations comprising process and product innovations (e.g. Oslo Manual). This article presents digital service innovation as a novel form of technological innovation that is capable of enhancing the performance of firms in certain manufacturing industries. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on technological innovation and digital servitization fields of research, this study argues that digital service innovation, in manufacturing contexts, complements traditional sources of technological innovation, so increasing the profit margins of firms. This effect is significant in industries characterized by business-to-business contexts, high presence of link channels and long product life spans (e.g. manufacturing and computer-based industries). Predictions are tested on a unique sample of 423 Spanish manufacturing firms using parametric (t-test) and nonparametric (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, fsQCA) approaches. Findings: The results of this analysis show that a necessary condition so that manufacturing firms can increase profits is the deployment of simultaneous process and product innovations. It also reveals that optimal configuration requires that digital service innovation be undertaken, particularly in machinery and computer-based manufacturing industries. Hence, all three sources of technological innovation are brought together in order to reach the highest levels of company performance. The evidence suggests that technological innovation and digital servitization are closely interrelated in highly innovative manufacturing contexts. Originality/value: This study’s originality and value reside in the fact that it reveals the existence of firms incorporating digital service innovation – a new, technological innovation dimension that challenges existing innovation frameworks – to complement traditional technological innovation sources, namely process and product innovation. Moreover, the study conceptualizes and empirically tests the value-adding role of digital services in firms’ technological innovation portfolio.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2020-0427 [Google]
Watson, R. T. and L. F. Pitt (2022): Transcendent service management, Journal of Service Management, 33(2630), pp.1-8
Purpose: This vision article alerts service managers to the potential of cognitive computing to reframe their value propositions. Humans are bounded in three ways: perception, rationality and physicality. Cognitive computing, hardware or software that transcends these three limits, offers many opportunities to improve the performance of service systems, in particular those focused on customer engagement. The intangibility spectrum is presented as a mental model for service managers to consider how to use cognitive computing to support augmenting their value proposition by moving across the spectrum. Design/methodology/approach: Three frameworks are integrated: a five systems framework, a system’s impact classification of types of cognitive computing and a tangibility spectrum. Findings: Three examples illustrate the potential value of this integrative approach for service management. Originality/value: This is the first integration of these frameworks, and two of them are the result of the first author’s research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-08-2021-0332 [Google]
Klaus, P. and V. Kuppelwieser (2021): Guiding directions and propositions: Placing dynamics at the heart of customer experience (CX) research, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59(2630), pp.102429
Our study summarizes and synthesizes the content of our Special Issue along with additional information from customer experience (hereafter CX) managers and research to determine the main challenges and opportunities for the most important trend in CX practice and research alike: CX’s dynamic nature. While widely acknowledged, CX researchers and managers have been struggling with how to research, address, and successfully manage CX’s dynamic nature. Individual contributions build the foundation for our study, establishing a conceptual framework within which to successfully address the four main challenges at hand: time, the role of emotions, personal experience vicinity, and methods. We present guiding research directions and questions emphasizing fruitful avenues of enquiry.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102429 [Google]
Klaus, P. and J. L. Zaichkowsky (2022): The convenience of shopping via voice AI: Introducing AIDM, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 65(2630), pp.102490
The purpose of this paper is to propose an updated view of consumer choice based on AI and inherent convenience addiction to smart speakers. Following the MacInnis framework for developing conceptual contributions of summarization, integration, and delineation, we review the current consumer decision-making literature and theory to demonstrate consumers’ increasing tendency to outsource decisions to AI. Today’s customers value convenience: the less time and effort they spend on a purchase, the better they perceive the transaction. AI is taking convenience to higher levels for consumers as they outsource their decisions to bots and inherent algorithms. This is particularly accurate for low-involvement everyday purchases. Our study’s contribution is fourfold. First, we introduce a new model of AI-influenced decision-making (AIDM) processes. Second, our conceptual model suggests that managers need to change their interpretation of their customers’ decision-making-processes in the new, AI-influenced marketplace. The shift in consumers’ behavior toward reliance on home voice bots for purchase has significant implications for the retail sector. Third, our model differentiates between high and low involvement AI-influenced decision-making processes. Fourth, our study highlights how branding as we know it is challenged in an AI-dominated environment.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102490 [Google]
Dodds, S., R. Russell–Bennett, T. Chen, A.-S. Oertzen, L. Salvador-Carulla and Y.-C. Hung (2022): Blended human-technology service realities in healthcare, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 32(2630), pp.75-99
Purpose The healthcare sector is experiencing a major paradigm shift toward a people-centered approach. The key issue with transitioning to a people-centered approach is a lack of understanding of the ever-increasing role of technology in blended human-technology healthcare interactions and the impacts on healthcare actors’ well-being. The purpose of the paper is to identify the key mechanisms and influencing factors through which blended service realities affect engaged actors’ well-being in a healthcare context. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper takes a human-centric perspective and a value co-creation lens and uses theory synthesis and adaptation to investigate blended human-technology service realities in healthcare services. Findings The authors conceptualize three blended human-technology service realities – human-dominant, balanced and technology-dominant – and identify two key mechanisms – shared control and emotional-social and cognitive complexity – and three influencing factors – meaningful human-technology experiences, agency and DART (dialogue, access, risk, transparency) – that affect the well-being outcome of engaged actors in these blended human-technology service realities. Practical implications Managerially, the framework provides a useful tool for the design and management of blended human-technology realities. The paper explains how healthcare services should pay attention to management and interventions of different services realities and their impact on engaged actors. Blended human-technology reality examples – telehealth, virtual reality (VR) and service robots in healthcare – are used to support and contextualize the study’s conceptual work. A future research agenda is provided. Originality/value This study contributes to service literature by developing a new conceptual framework that underpins the mechanisms and factors that influence the relationships between blended human-technology service realities and engaged actors’ well-being.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-12-2020-0285 [Google]
Mele, C., M. Marzullo, I. Di Bernardo, T. Russo-Spena, R. Massi, A. La Salandra and S. Cialabrini (2022): A smart tech lever to augment caregivers’ touch and foster vulnerable patient engagement and well-being, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 32(2630), pp.52-74
Purpose Some population groups face precarious health, reflecting their vulnerability, in terms of lack of agency or control. Smart technologies promise to transform people’s lives from the enhanced connectedness, greater computational processing and more complex decision-making they can achieve. This study aims to investigate how smart technology can mitigate vulnerability and improve well-being. Design/methodology/approach The research group, of three scholars and three managers, pursued an action research methodology with an iterative process of planning, action and learning. The authors conducted three related action studies: (1) adopting smart technologies, (2) fostering patient engagement and (3) assessing well-being. Findings The adoption of sensors and wearable devices had positive impacts for both patients and caregivers. Technologies highlighted their meaning as resources to support actors’ (caregivers’ and vulnerable patients’) activities. Smart devices as resources get integrated, stimulate change and enable new practices. For caregivers, such innovative solutions help improve their knowledge of patients and their ability to act efficiently; for vulnerable patients, they fostered engagement in daily activities to improve well-being. Originality/value The paper delineates an overall model (SEVP) that describes how the integration of high-tech and high touch enables patient engagement to mitigate vulnerability and improve well-being.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-12-2020-0292 [Google]
Mulcahy, R. F. and A. Riedel (2022): “Going on a sensory adventure, a touchy subject?”: investigating haptic technology and consumer adventure orientation, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 32(2630), pp.5-29
Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it seeks to extend service and retailers understanding of how the inclusion of haptics can gamify digital service experiences. Second, it seeks to understand the moderating role of consumers orientation towards adventure in service experiences. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts a two-study, 2 (haptic technology: present vs absent) × 2 (adventure orientation: high vs low) to test the proposed hypotheses (Study 1 n = 210, Study 2 n = 452). The data are tested using ANCOVA’s and Hayes PROCESS Macro to investigate mean differences and the potential presence of two different moderated mediated relationships. Findings The results are consistent across the two experimental studies evidencing that the inclusion of haptics to gamify the service experience leads to significantly improved outcomes for service brands and channels. Further, the results demonstrate that the impact of haptics is greater for consumers with a lower, compared to higher, sense of adventure. Thus, the results demonstrate that whilst haptics improves consumers experiences with technological services overall, this is more prevalent for those who have “less sense of adventure”. Originality/value This paper sheds insight into the emerging area of haptic technology and is one of the first to specifically examine the impact of consumers “sense of adventure.”
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-11-2020-0244 [Google]
Schuster, L. and J. Parkinson (2022): Personal goals in consumers’ adoption of mHealth services, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 32(2630), pp.30-51
Purpose mHealth services are effective and cost efficient, yet wide-scale adoption of these services by consumers has yet to be achieved, constraining their public health benefit. Further investigation of non-technological determinants of mHealth adoption is needed; specifically, the role of consumers’ goals has received scant attention and forms the research focus. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 comprised 20 interviews with participants who possess a health goal, with the data analysed using an abductive reasoning approach. Study 2 was a 15-min online survey (n = 653), with the data analysed using multi-group structural equation modelling. Findings Study 1 identified several antecedents to the desirability and feasibility of consumers’ health goals, which influence their desire to use mHealth services. Study 2 shows significant differences in the determinants of mHealth service acceptance depending on whether consumers set concrete as opposed to abstract goals, but social acceptance of mHealth services of these services is important for both groups. Practical implications The findings suggest emphasising the importance of health goals to achieving other consumer goals (e.g. work or travel goals), the efficacy of mHealth services relative to other service alternatives for achieving those health goals, and the social acceptance of mHealth services to increase their uptake. Originality/value This study is the first to use construal-level theory to improve understanding of the role of consumers’ goals in the adoption of mHealth services. By identifying the antecedents to goal desirability and feasibility, it also broadens the model of goal-directed behaviour.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-11-2020-0245 [Google]
Butt, A., H. Ahmad, A. Muzaffar, F. Ali and N. Shafique (2022): WOW, the make-up AR app is impressive: a comparative study between China and South Korea, Journal of Services Marketing, 36(2630), pp.73-88
Purpose: Consumers today actively participate in online purchasing experiences. As a result, it is critical to comprehend the behavioral aspects of novel technology usage, such as augmented reality (AR). AR apps enable beauty companies to create and design more immersive experience services. This study aims to highlight consumers’ perspectives on their continued desire to use AR app services. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative study between China and South Korea was conducted with sample sizes of 458 and 315, respectively. Smart PLS was used for analysis. Findings: The findings suggest that AR apps influence innovative consumers in China and South Korea to be satisfied with and continue to use such services. Previous research on technology acceptance model, information system success, AR and artificial intelligence (AI)-context-specific variables supported the findings. Practical implications: This study contributes to the development of AR apps for beauty brands, as such technology revolutionizes how beauty brands work and grow. As a result, AR apps can pave the way for brands to provide an immersive experience to their customers. Originality/value: The current study contributes to AR and AI drivers in the context of beauty brands by using novel technologies such as AR. AR integration with AI-context-specific variables indicates that consumers in China and South Korea are innovative and accept such technologies when purchasing beauty products online.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-12-2020-0508 [Google]
Lefebvre, S. and K. Cowart (2022): An investigation of influencer body enhancement and brand endorsement, Journal of Services Marketing, 36(2630), pp.59-72
Purpose: As the cosmetic surgery industry grows and diversifies, societal beauty standards have shifted to include images of surgically enhanced bodies. With the increased use of influencer marketing, it is important for marketers to understand consumer perceptions of these modified appearances. This paper aims to use the lens of perceived morality (PM) to investigate consumer perceptions of cosmetic surgery services and the effect of enhanced body appearance on consumer interest in an endorsed brand. Interpersonal similarity (IS) is tested as a boundary condition. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach was taken with a qualitative study and two online experiments. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling (NStudy 1 = 133) and Amazon Mechanical Turk (NStudy 2 = 202; NStudy 3 = 270). Findings: The themes uncovered in the qualitative study revealed that cosmetic surgery services were acceptable when internally motivated but may signal inauthenticity. The findings of Study 2 suggested consumer interest in an endorsed brand was negatively impacted by body enhancement (BE), with PM as the underlying mechanism. Study 3 results demonstrated IS moderated this effect. The indirect effect was significant only for those low in IS. Originality/value: This research contributes to the underexplored area of cosmetic surgery services and its role in influencer marketing. The findings extend the literature on consumer attitudes and perceptions toward these services and provides insight into the intersection of BE and morality. The contribution is notable, as marketers increasing rely on social media influencers, many of whom have undergone cosmetic surgery services and enhanced their body appearance, to promote their brands.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-12-2020-0509 [Google]
Liu, Y.-F. and I. L. Ling (2022): Keep fighting or give up? An investigation of consumer regret over repetitive failures in weight loss services, Journal of Services Marketing, 36(2630), pp.29-43
Purpose: Weight loss services feature high consumer involvement that is sometimes marked by repetitive failures. These features can affect regret and its associated factors differently from the way that discrete failure can. The purpose of this study is to investigate consumer regret over repetitive failures in weight loss services as well as its antecedents (overeating and insufficient exercise), consequences (rumination and reflection) and moderators (failure experiences and required effort). This study also investigates how rumination and reflection affect persistence intention. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 318 samples were collected through three surveys, one of which contained a scenario, provided to consumers who experienced repetitive failures in weight loss. The proposed relationships were tested using structural equation modeling, dominance analysis and PROCESS modeling. Findings: The results of this study reveal that overeating contributes to regret more saliently than does insufficient exercise. The effect of regret on rumination (thoughts about continuing to blame oneself and giving up the pursuit of goals) is stronger than on reflection (thoughts about learning from prior failures and willingness to try again), and greater reflection results in higher persistence intention. Moreover, the effect of insufficient exercise on regret and the effect of regret on rumination are augmented with cumulative failure experiences, whereas required effort enhances the impact of regret on reflection. Originality/value: This study is the first to focus on regret over repetitive failures in weight loss. It advances the literature by clarifying the antecedents and consequences of regret, showing how failure experiences influence the relationships between regret and its associated factors as well as identifying interventions that benefit from regret.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-12-2020-0499 [Google]
Rodner, V., A. Goode and Z. Burns (2022): “Is it all just lip service?”: on Instagram and the normalisation of the cosmetic servicescape, Journal of Services Marketing, 36(2630), pp.44-58
Purpose: To better understand the uptake of cosmetic procedures in the wake of Instagram, this study aims to unravel how the aesthetic labour of influencers acts as the packaging of the cosmetic servicescape. In doing so, the authors contribute to theorising of aesthetic and emotional labour within the services marketing literature, fleshing out the bodywork of influential others not as employees but endorsers, who act like the “walking billboards” (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003) for the cosmetic service industry. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a dual qualitative approach to data collection, coupling netnographic material from Instagram posts with 16 in-depth interviews with female Instagram users who have undergone or hope to undergo cosmetic surgery. Using mediated discourse analysis, the authors weave their visual and discursive data together for a richer account of the commoditisation of cosmetic surgery. Findings: Adopting a postfeminist neoliberal lens, where women are viewed as aesthetic entrepreneurs who are constantly working on the body and the self, the findings of the study reveal how influencers’ aesthetic and emotional labour help package, propagate and demystify the cosmetic servicescape. Through their visual storytelling, we see how influencers help endorse (local) cosmetic services; commoditise cosmetic procedures through the conspicuous display of their ongoing body projects whilst masking the labour and pain involved; and how face-filters that use augmented reality (AR) technology foster new forms of (digitised) body dysmorphia. Originality/value: The authors shed light on the darker side of social media and body-enhancing technologies, where tales of body transformation trivialise cosmetic intervention and AR technology induces a digitised body dysmorphia.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-12-2020-0506 [Google]
< Sood, A., V. A. Quintal and I. Phau (2022): Through the looking glass: perceiving risk and emotions toward cosmetic procedure engagement, Journal of Services Marketing, 36(2630), pp.14-28
Purpose: This research aims to develop a user risk segmentation typology and implement a method that traces how user emotions adapt before, after and toward a next cosmetic procedure. It introduces the user risk segments to an empirical framework to explain re-engagement with the procedure. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was self-administered to online consumer panels in the USA. The survey targeted users who had previously undertaken one of three elective procedures, namely, Botox (N = 550), hair transplant (N = 350) or liposuction (N = 350). Findings: The typology identified timid image seekers, daring image crafters, approval-seeking socialites and mainstream image adopters. The method tracking user emotions found significant differences before, after and toward a next cosmetic procedure in the user risk segments. The framework predicted user re-engagement with the procedure for each segment. Research limitations/implications: The typology presents more sophisticated user risk profiles. The method maps adapting user emotions toward engagement pre- and post-procedure. However, findings are limited to the USA and three cosmetic procedures. Practical implications: The typology offers a profile of users and their risk perceptions of a behavior. The method presents an instrument that follows how user emotions adapt. The framework advances understanding of user re-engagement with the behavior. Originality/value: Arguably, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to explore how perceived risk operates on emotional states and adaptation, which manifest user well-being and impact user behavior.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-11-2020-0473 [Google]
Berry, L. L., D. J. Attai, D. L. Scammon and R. L. A. Awdish (2022): When the Aims and the Ends of Health Care Misalign, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.160-184
In health care, a high-emotion service, unintended consequences can be especially problematic. People’s physical, psychological, and financial well-being—even their lives—are at stake. As scientific, technological, and demographic changes make health care a much more complex service to deliver, efforts to anticipate, avoid, and correct unintended consequences become more crucial. Using narrative examples and an extensive review of the data and the literature, we explore these efforts in four domains of U.S. health care: (1) the increasingly widespread, often challenging use of electronic health records; (2) the threat to the patient-clinician relationship from a greater, sometimes narrow emphasis on productivity metrics; (3) the culture of medicine’s frequently misguided prioritizing of treatment over true healing; and (4) the overreliance on family caregivers who are often poorly prepared to care for the seriously ill. We then apply lessons from health care’s unintended consequences to non-health-care services and suggest opportunities for service researchers to contribute to improving health care delivery, a service that all of us need.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670520975150 [Google]
Addis, M., W. Batat, S. S. Atakan, C. G. Austin, D. Manika, P. C. Peter and L. Peterson (2022): Food Experience Design to Prevent Unintended Consequences and Improve Well-being, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.143-159
This article introduces a novel and comprehensive conceptual framework for designing innovative food experiences that enhance food well-being. We call this framework the novel food experience design. It supports managers in cocreating customer-centric food experiences to limit unintended detrimental consequences and enhance individual and societal food well-being. The novel food experience design (1) employs a systemic (vs. endemic) approach to the innovation process and (2) promotes prioritizing ethical decision-making alongside economic decision-making. Building on insights derived from ecosystem theory and the ethical principles literature, we develop four fundamental propositions to innovate food experiences: do no harm, do good, ensure autonomy, and ensure fairness. Our framework promotes higher levels of individual and societal food well-being than restricted food design innovations, preventing unintended consequences. Finally, we illuminate the implications for service research and practice.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211057593 [Google]
Bieler, M., P. Maas, L. Fischer and N. Rietmann (2022): Enabling Cocreation With Transformative Interventions: An Interdisciplinary Conceptualization of Consumer Boosting, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.29-47
Service research emphasizes the relevance of consumers’ participation in the cocreation of transformative outcomes like health and well-being. However, in complex services, consumers’ limited operant resources and lacking resource integration efficiency hinder transformative value cocreation. Service research on mechanisms that facilitate well-being through efficient resource integration is sparse, but several disciplines elaborate cognitive interventions with that target. These interventions have been validated in various contexts. Nevertheless, concerns persist that they can hurt, rather than help, individual consumers. Overcoming such limitations requires an interdisciplinary effort. The present article outlines the new research area “transformative consumer interventions” (TCI) by integrating interventions theory, consumer psychology, and transformative service research in a health context. TCI provide theory-driven principles for the selection and design of interventions that facilitate operant resource integration in complex services. Additionally, we conceptualize consumer boosting, the first TCI-based intervention construct. Consumer boosts are efficient, context-specific, and personalized interventions that enhance individuals’ operant resources. Consumer boosting provides a pathway to transformative cocreation and alleviates the risk of unintended consequences and value co-destruction. This research illustrates that the transformative service domain stands to benefit substantially from getting involved in the discussion on consumer interventions and offers a unique perspective for further conceptual elaboration.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211003676 [Google]
Guillemot, S., M. Dyen and A. Tamaro (2022): Vital Service Captivity: Coping Strategies and Identity Negotiation, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.66-85
Nursing homes are the quintessential example of vital service captivity. Consumers need vital services when they can no longer fulfil their basic needs on their own and their only choice is to delegate them to the market (e.g. care services for long-term and chronic illnesses, eating assistance at mealtimes). The service is referred to as ‘captive’ because older people are generally unwilling to use it, and when they have to, their options are limited. For elderly consumers, there is ‘no exit possible’, and as such they must integrate the service into their sense of self. The paper aims to (1) identify strategies for coping with vital service captivity and (2) present the identity negotiation mechanisms that lead people to choose one strategy over another. The study was conducted over a 6-month period in three nursing homes. Data collection includes semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observations, and micro-interviews with consumers – elderly residents and their families – and nursing home staff. Its main contribution is to highlight that coping with vital service captivity is a differential process. Consumers implement multiple coping strategies simultaneously, and these strategies are linked to three areas: routinization, socialization, and assimilation of a new social status. Moreover, implementing coping strategies means striking a balance between ‘disengagement’ and ‘engagement’ that not only takes into account former life trajectory, future prospects, and social comparisons, but also any changes in physical or cognitive skills and family support. Understanding these coping strategies and identity negotiation mechanisms highlights some unintended consequences on residents’ well-being, such as the importance of standardizing how the service is organized because it provides a stable framework, or the importance given to the well-being of all stakeholders (other consumers, staff) as a result of the community living situation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211044838 [Google]
Hamby, A. and T. van Laer (2022): Not Whodunit But Whydunit: Story Characters’ Motivations Influence Audience Interest in Services, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.48-65
Service providers and consumer well-being advocates often share stories to promote audience interest in relevant behavior. This research examines how characters’ motivations for engaging in service-related behavior in such stories influence consumers’ interest in services. Across five studies, we show that audiences are more interested in services after reading about a character who acts for intrinsically (vs. extrinsically) motivated reasons. We show that this occurs because the audience identifies more with intrinsically motivated characters. We also examine how consequences of characters’ actions (both for others and for themselves when they make miscalibrated decisions) shape an audience’s service interest in targeted ways, specifically encouraging interest in services that help people while avoiding unintended negative consequences. The results of this work suggest that stories can be an effective way to encourage consumers’ interest in services that enhance personal and societal well-being and identify critical story elements that influence their success in doing so.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211003672 [Google]
Lu, L., G. D. Gregory, L. V. Ngo and R. P. Bagozzi (2021): Managing Customer Uncertainty in Making Service Offshoring Decisions, Journal of Service Research, 24(2630), pp.500-519
Despite a long-standing interest in service offshoring from both academics and practitioners, the questions how and under what conditions customers react when a well-known national brand decides to outsource its services to an offshore service provider (OSP) is an understudied area. Drawing on cognitive consistency theory, we test a new construct called, “service offshoring fit” (SOF) that captures customer overall perceptual consistency in their memory networks between the focal firm and the OSP as indicated by the suitability, appropriability, and logicality of the alliance. Using 393 responses from a panel of customers of focal brands, we show that customer certainty mediates the relationship between SOF and intention not to switch by current customers. Our findings also reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between marketing communications and customer certainty at different levels of SOF. Specifically, if firms communicate consumers’ benefits associated with offshoring, they can mitigate or avoid negative customer reactions (and subsequently increase customer certainty); however, after a certain point, such effects are reduced.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670521992130 [Google]
Parkinson, J., L. Schuster and R. Mulcahy (2022): Online Third Places: Supporting Well-Being Through Identifying and Managing Unintended Consequences, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.108-125
Unintended consequences of service are important yet infrequently examined in transformative service research. This research examines an online service community that transformed into an online third place, with consumers socializing and forming lasting relationships. Using practice-informed theory-building and an abductive reasoning approach, findings are presented from both manual and automated coding of three qualitative data sets that form the basis of a case study examining an online weight management service forum. Extending beyond current conceptualizations of the third place, this study is the first to propose a framework delineating online third place characteristics and their impact on consumers’ eudaimonic (the capacity for self-realization) and hedonic (attainment of pleasure and avoidance of pain) well-being. Findings show that in the absence of a physical or virtual servicescape, social factors including social density, equity, and personalization are key to constructing an online third place that supports well-being through building social connections and enjoyment. The new framework provides guidance for service managers to transform their online service communities into online third places to support consumer well-being and to identify and manage potential unintended consequences, for example, by ensuring segmentation of the community based on consumer groups’ shared interests and consumer empowerment through participation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211018860 [Google]
Sandberg, B., L. Hurmerinta, H. M. Leino and M. Menzfeld (2022): Autonomy or Security? Core Value Trade-Offs and Spillovers in Servicescapes for Vulnerable Customers, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.9-28
This study deepens knowledge on the implementation of core values in servicescapes by analyzing how core value trade-offs and spillovers occur within servicescapes and how vulnerable stakeholders cope with them. We use an explorative approach and draw on rich data collected in two nursing homes. Our study demonstrates how the autonomy-security trade-offs originate in different dimensions of the servicescapes. Further analysis reveals how individual customers may conflict with the core values and core purposes of the respective servicescapes. We also contribute to the discussion on customer vulnerability by considering vulnerability in the extended customer entity and by identifying the active coping mechanisms of vulnerable customers. Practitioners can increase the quality of care by identifying and taking into account the core values of both vulnerable primary and secondary customers and by deliberately supporting their coping with core value trade-offs and spillovers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211012472 [Google]
Varman, R., D. Vijay and P. Skålén (2022): The Conflicting Conventions of Care: Transformative Service as Justice and Agape, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.86-107
In this study, we examine the conflicts and unintended consequences that arise from the diverse social conventions constituting a transformative service. We draw on convention theory and an ethnographic study to interpret a community-based palliative care initiative in Kerala (India) as a transformative service system. We contribute to transformative service research by developing a dialectical transformative service system framework that is a synthesis of the calculative conflict-ridden regime of justice and the noncalculative regime of agape based on love. In this framework, the calculative regime of justice has civic conventions at its core and industrial, inspired, market, domestic, and fame conventions as ancillaries. While the regime of justice is associated with the undesired, unintended consequence of conflicts, the regime of agape constitutes a desirable unintended consequence. Our framework provides a microlevel understanding of disputes and their reconciliation, advances a diffused understanding of worth that ruptures the binary of legitimate or illegitimate actions, and delineates the significance of morality. Our study also contributes by explaining agape’s role in transformative service, particularly in health and caregiving.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211018503 [Google]
Vlahos, A., A. E. Hartman and J. L. Ozanne (2022): Aesthetic Work as Cultural Competence: Chasing Beauty in the Coproduction of Aesthetic Services, Journal of Service Research, 25(2630), pp.126-142
Prior research stresses the importance of consumer participation in service coproduction. We examine the coproduction of aesthetic services, which are services in which beauty is a critical outcome. Consumers face challenges communicating their aesthetic tastes because of technical constraints that are understood by service providers but that consumers do not fully understand. To fill this gap, consumers do aesthetic work in communities of practice. Service providers also face challenges, as they must coproduce with consumers whose aesthetic tastes are formed amid shifting social standards. In this qualitative study, we highlight aesthetic work as a different type of consumer work that involves developing cultural competence. We identify four types of aesthetic coproduction in which cultural competence is distributed differently within the service dyad: aesthetic codesigning, aesthetic consenting, aesthetic yielding, and aesthetic reigning. We explore the managerial implications that arise as consumers increasingly use online social resources that shape and increase aesthetic expectations. We examine the unintended consequences of aesthetic service coproduction in which providers’ technical and aesthetic expertise is difficult for consumers to understand often leading to disappointing outcomes.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705211047983 [Google]
Hollebeek, L. D., S. Urbonavicius, V. Sigurdsson, M. K. Clark, O. Parts and R. A. Rather (2022): Stakeholder engagement and business model innovation value, Service Industries Journal, (2630), pp.1-17
Despite important strides made in the business model literature, substantially less is known regarding its constituent sub-concept of
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2022.2026334 [Google]
Tan, W.-K. and W.-H. Chen (2022): How potential customers perceive companies’ reply to negative reviews?, Service Industries Journal, (2630), pp.1-29
Companies are increasingly using humorous replies as a service recovery method to respond and apologize to complainants. However, there is a lack of clarity regarding the effectiveness and appropriateness of humorous replies. Drawing on information processing theory, this study assesses how consumers as onlookers view former customers’ negative word-of-mouth relating to service failures (vindictive and nonvindictive reviews) and humorous and standard replies provided by service operators in the context of hostels, and effects on booking intentions. To compare consumers’ responses to various combinations of reviews and replies, this study administered survey questionnaires to 377 respondents. A series of independent-sample t test analyses and partial least squares (PLS) path analyses revealed that standard replies are effective for responding to both review types. Humorous replies have better performance when responding to nonvindictive reviews than vindictive reviews. This study contributes to the scarce research on humorous replies in the service recovery context. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2022.2030718 [Google]
Ali, M., M. Usman, G. T. Soetan, M. Saeed and Y. Rofcanin (2022): Spiritual leadership and work alienation: analysis of mechanisms and constraints, Service Industries Journal, (2630), pp.1-22
In the present study, we propose a negative association between spiritual leadership and work alienation. We also propose service employee social capital as a mediator of the spiritual leadership-work alienation link and political skill as a boundary condition of the direct association between spiritual leadership and social capital and the indirect association between spiritual leadership and work alienation. Time-lagged (three rounds, three weeks apart) survey data collected from 283 service sector employees supported our proposed hypotheses. Despite the prevalence of work alienation in service organizations and the recognition that it can lead to several negative outcomes, little is known about how managers can address service employees’ feelings of work alienation. We address this crucial theoretical gap and offer several practical implications that can help managers in service organizations enhance employees’ social capital and undermine their feelings of alienation at work. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2022.2026333 [Google]
DeFranco, A., Y. Koh, P. Prem and B. Love (2022): Inclusion of Condominium Units in Luxury Hotels as a Diversification Strategy: Property Performance Perspective, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.108-118
There is a new wave of mixed development where luxury hotels come with condominium units, though this type of diversification has gained scant attention. Prior hospitality literature on diversification strategies has mostly taken the firm-level approach and documented its impact on performance from various angles such as brand diversification, segment diversification, and geographic diversification, therefore leaving a void. In this work, we use the multilevel mixed effect model to examine 15,340 property-level data points from 2010 to 2019 for U.S. luxury hotels with and without condominium units. Our objective is to compare, at a property level, the performances of luxury hotels with condominium units with the performances of those not having condominium units and to determine whether the difference varies by hotel location. Our findings suggest that the Average Daily Rate (ADR), Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), and Total Revenue per Available Rooms (TRevPAR) of luxury hotels with condominium units were significantly higher than those of hotels without condominium units. Significant moderating effect of location was found for Occupancy, ADR, Food and Beverage Revenue per Available Rooms (F&B RevPAR), and TRevPAR while no such effect was found for RevPAR and GOPPAR.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211050398 [Google]
Gong, T., P. Sun and M. J. Kang (2022): Customer-Oriented Constructive Deviance as a Reaction to Organizational Injustice Toward Customers, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.119-135
To date, research on the deontic model and third-party reactions to injustice has focused primarily on individuals’ tendency to punish the transgressor. In this study, we seek to extend the extant research by arguing that punishment may not be the only deontic reaction and that third-party observers of injustice should engage in activities that help the victim. More specifically, we explore employee’s customer-oriented constructive deviance as a reaction to organizational injustice toward customers. We also investigate how this deviance influences customer satisfaction. In addition, we explore service climate, driven by servant leadership as a moderator on the relationship between employees’ perceptions of organizational unfairness and customer-oriented constructive deviance. The study collected three-level survey data from 95 hotel managers, 396 employees, and 1,848 customers. We find that servant leadership increases service climate, which in turn strengthens the relationship between organizational injustice toward customers and customer-oriented constructive deviance. The findings also reveal that customer-oriented constructive deviance increases perceived service quality, leading to customer satisfaction. Our study significantly contributes to the emerging theory concerning customer-oriented constructive deviance by explaining the antecedents, consequences, and moderators. The study also helps managers deal with customer-oriented constructive deviance in the workplace.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211012327 [Google]
Kim, J., S. I. Kim and M. Lee (2022): What to Sell and How to Sell Matters: Focusing on Luxury Hotel Properties’ Business Performance and Efficiency, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.78-95
Due to service product characteristics and a mix of complex sales, it is crucial for hotel firms to efficiently design limited physical spaces that serve multiple purposes to optimize revenue and maximize profit. Since luxury hotel properties have different operation strategies than limited-service hotels, their operational efficiency should be a reference during strategic decision-making processes. Primary research purpose is to identify the most efficient operation model for luxury hotel properties. The study computed operation efficiency scores using the data envelopment analysis approach to rank the property efficiency of 37 fully equipped luxury hotels in the United States. Each property can utilize slack analysis to discover a strategic benchmarking company (best efficient frontier) and intuitive strategic recommendations and gain superior input and output productivity. Tobit model analysis provides supplemental understandings regarding the additional operational factors impacting luxury hotel properties’ efficiency score variations. Operating efficiency was found to be achieved by multiple operating inputs and influenced by relative price, fixed costs, and management systems. Theoretical comprehensiveness of luxury service mix has been empirically tested by highlighting efficiency as a key measure. In addition, RevPAR’s ratio on TRevPAR further highlights the importance for luxury hotels to increase non-room sales and revenues to accomplish efficiency.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211020254 [Google]
Kim, K. and M. A. Baker (2022): Luxury Branding in the Hospitality Industry: The Impact of Employee’s Luxury Appearance and Elitism Attitude, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.5-18
Some of the luxury consumption literature suggests that luxury consumption is a beneficial social signal for the actor which facilitates social interaction. However, a different stream of recent research suggests that luxury consumption bears social costs to the actor. In the employee–customer interaction context, wearing luxury brands can either benefit or backfire for the employee depending on the situation whether luxury status or warmth is necessary. Based on the gaps in the literature, this study examines the impact of employee conspicuous cues by utilizing luxury consumption and elitism attitude on employee–customer rapport and behavioral intentions. The study results show that employees wearing luxury brands increase customers’ perceived impression management toward the employee. Such perception is strengthened when employees show an elitism attitude. In addition, when employees wear luxury brands, customers are more likely to build rapport with employees when they show a democratic attitude, as they perceive the employees are less likely to involve in impression management than showing an elitism attitude. The results build upon the luxury hospitality literature, aesthetic labor, impression management, and rapport literature.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211022660 [Google]
Kleinhans, J. and K. A. LaTour (2022): Underpricing Luxury: When a Lower Price Results in Higher Reputation, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.96-107
Determining the price point is a vexing problem for firms: price too high and there is no market, but price too low and money is left on the table. Complicating matters further, for many goods there is a secondary market where products can be resold following the initial sale by the firm. Here, the open market determines the price point that end consumers pay. Often that price is higher than the price offered by the firm for goods such as premium handbags, wine, high-end watches, and works of art, so the consumer will see the product’s quality or appeal validated by the market, which leads to a reputation gain for the firm. This phenomenon goes beyond physical products and includes a variety of services, such as live concerts, as reflected in their ticket prices in primary and secondary markets. However, the secondary market can also offer a lower price than the firm’s original offering, which hurts the firm’s reputation. Typically, the luxury market equates higher prices with higher status but neglects the impact of the secondary market. Our research considers the case where initially underpricing a good may be in a luxury firm’s long-term interest. Although underpricing has been used in initial public offering (IPO) markets to increase the firm’s reputation, it has been viewed as a problem or discouraged in other market industries. Our hypothesis is that reputation has long-term value for firms and, in industries where a visible secondary (i.e., resale) market exists for products, price increases after product release lead to gains in reputation as higher resale prices signal quality and value.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211042874 [Google]
Kwon, W., M. Lee and J. T. Bowen (2022): Exploring Customers’ Luxury Consumption in Restaurants: A Combined Method of Topic Modeling and Three-Factor Theory, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.66-77
This study explores customers’ perceptions and underlying factors related to luxury consumption in restaurants. Although many studies have explored customers’ consumption of luxury goods, very few of these studies involved luxury hospitality services. Furthermore, hospitality literature has rarely discussed the emerging identification of inconspicuous consumption in luxury. By applying topic modeling to analyze online customer reviews, the current study identifies the essential elements of visiting luxury restaurants. Moreover, it elicits the asymmetric role of the identified factors in accelerating overall customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction through impact-asymmetry analysis, which adopts the three-factor theory. Findings suggest that many inconspicuous factors exist in luxury consumption and that the mechanisms that affect satisfaction differ among a satisfier, a dissatisfier, and a hybrid. The acknowledgment of the asymmetric effects will help practitioners in luxury restaurants enhance their understandings of customer perceptions and efficiently improve service management and marketing.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211037667 [Google]
Ryu, S., Y.-n. Park and J. Park (2022): Looks Clear and Sounds Familiar: How Consumers Form Inferential Beliefs About Luxury Hotel Service Quality, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.48-65
The purpose of this study is to examine how varying levels of brand familiarity and photographic image quality of hotel pictures influence consumers’ perceptions about luxury hotel services and attitudinal responses and whether their visual aesthetic experience and inferential beliefs about service quality can mediate such effects. This is a 2 (brand familiarity: familiar vs. unfamiliar brand) × 2 (image quality: high vs. low image resolution) factorial design randomized experiment and the proposed model was tested using a structural equation model (N = 430). The proposed model was confirmed that consumers viewed the visual appearance of a hotel suite room (varying in image quality) and brand name (varying in brand familiarity), experienced processing fluency, drew inferential beliefs (about tangible and intangible service quality), formed attitudes toward the brand, and purchase intentions. The study presents an explanatory framework that delineates how varying hotel-related cues in an online setting can shape consumers’ perceptions and judgments of a luxury hotel brand. To one’s best knowledge, no research has examined the impact of both brand familiarity and photographic image quality of a hotel room. More importantly, this study reveals to what extent consumers’ inferential beliefs about service quality can be influenced by the heuristic cues and provides direct evidence for the mediating role of processing fluency and aesthetic appreciation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211016831 [Google]
Shi, D., B. Yi, F. Shi and S. Satta (2022): Motivation Configuration of Bluxury Tourism Behavior: An FsQCA Application, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.33-47
This study investigates the motivation configuration of bluxury tourism behavior. According to complexity theory and push and pull motivation theory, we establish a framework of complex configuration conditions, including push forces, pull forces, and constraints that lead to bluxury tourism. Based on fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we identified seven main motivation configurations of bluxury tourism behavior covering three core factors: physical factors, seeking/exploration in push forces, and intangible factors in pull forces. In addition, combinations of constraints in the configuration demonstrate various paths leading to bluxury tourism behavior. These findings provide unique insight into bluxury tourism participation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211014472 [Google]
Shin, M., K.-J. Back, C.-K. Lee and Y.-S. Lee (2022): The Loyalty Program for Our Self-Esteem: The Role of Collective Self-Esteem in Luxury Hotel Membership Programs, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 63(2630), pp.19-32
This research explores the social mechanism of luxury hotel membership programs and extends current loyalty program literature that has mainly examined membership programs from a mental-accounting perspective. By building upon the social identity theory, this study posits that luxury hotel membership programs provide social platforms, allowing members to construct a collective identity and collective self-esteem. Consequently, collective self-esteem is proposed as an antecedent of customer–brand relationship constructs, such as commitment, switching resistance, and word of mouth. Members from two South Korean luxury hotel membership programs were recruited to participate in a survey to test these constructs’ relationship, and findings demonstrate that membership programs’ effectiveness in cultivating a robust customer–brand relationship is contingent upon members’ collective self-esteem with the program. This correlation involves the four dimensions of collective self-esteem: membership esteem, private esteem, public esteem, and importance to identity. This study is preeminent to the current literature by identifying a critical psychological mechanism, which luxury hotel brand managers can leverage to successfully launch a membership program that ultimately cultivates enduring customer–brand relationships. The results of this study also suggest several managerial implications for hotel marketers to effectively design and manage membership programs by considering collective self-esteem’s four dimensions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19389655211017449 [Google]
