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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Haenel, C. M., H. A. Wetzel and M. Hammerschmidt (2019): The Perils of Service Contract Divestment: When and Why Customers Seek Revenge and How It Can Be Attenuated, Journal of Service Research, 22(3), pp.301-322
Profitability considerations lead service providers to divest from customer service contracts, either by service contract demotion (cutting back services) or by service contract termination (ending service provision). Such initiatives have been associated with customer revenge. The pressing question for practitioners is which divestment approach has a stronger or weaker effect on customer revenge. Drawing on justice and appraisal theories, the authors suggest that the answer depends on customers’ predivestment satisfaction and on the provision of financial compensation or apology. Three experiments and a critical incident study reveal that for previously satisfied customers, service termination entails a stronger effect on customer revenge, while for previously dissatisfied customers, service demotion entails a stronger effect. The findings further demonstrate that offering financial compensation or an apology can mitigate or exacerbate the effect, highlighting the need to align these divestment handling instruments with the divestment approach chosen and customers’ predivestment satisfaction. The findings also show that the effect can be explained by customer anger. Overall, this article provides guidance on how to divest whom in order to mitigate detrimental effects.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670519835312 [Google]
Hazée, S., Y. Van Vaerenbergh, C. Delcourt and L. Warlop (2019): Sharing Goods? Yuck, No! An Investigation of Consumers’ Contamination Concerns About Access-Based Services, Journal of Service Research, 22(3), pp.256-271
Although access-based services (ABS) offer many benefits, convincing consumers to use these service innovations remains challenging. Research suggests that contamination concerns are an important barrier to consumer adoption of ABS; they arise when a person believes someone else has touched an object and transferred residue or germs. However, systematic examination of this phenomenon is lacking. We conduct four experiments to determine (1) the impact of contamination concerns on consumer evaluations of ABS, (2) when such concerns become salient in ABS, and (3) how ABS providers can reduce these concerns. The results reveal that consumers experience more contamination concerns about objects used in proximity to their bodies, especially when those objects are shared with unfamiliar users, and that such concerns negatively influence their evaluations of ABS. Consumers also exhibit less contamination concerns about ABS that have high brand equity because of their elevated stereotype-related perceptions of the competence of those users. Firms’ advertisements depicting physical contact between shared objects and other users negatively influence ABS evaluations by consumers whose contamination concept is activated. This article provides insights for developing product, branding, and communication strategies to reduce consumers’ contamination concerns and maximize ABS adoption.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670519838622 [Google]
Cabiddu, F., F. Moreno and L. Sebastiano (2019): Toxic Collaborations: Co-Destroying Value in the B2B Context, Journal of Service Research, 22(3), pp.241-255
Service research and marketing theory have found value co-creation to be a key element in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Value can also be co-destroyed by the same actors who interact to create it. However, very few studies have examined service provider-customer work practices when value co-destruction (VCD) occurs. In this qualitative study, we approach VCD by combining social interactions and resource integration practices with a notion of value that reveals its multiform nature. We adopt a value definition that enables us to show that the notion of co-creation and co-destruction should be viewed conceptually as representing a value variation space rather than as being dichotomous or mutually exclusive. Our research allows practitioners to recognize and contrast VCD, as it emerges and impacts their B2B relations.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670519835311 [Google]
Glikson, E., L. Rees, J. Wirtz, S. Kopelman and A. Rafaeli (2019): When and Why a Squeakier Wheel Gets More Grease: The Influence of Cultural Values and Anger Intensity on Customer Compensation, Journal of Service Research, 22(3), pp.223-240
When customers express anger, do they gain greater returns, as suggested by the proverb “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”? If so, does the intensity of the squeak matter? In four studies, we explore employee compensation responses to customers who express relatively high- versus low-intensity anger in service-failure settings. The studies demonstrate that the cultural value of power distance (PD) moderates the relationship between emotional intensity and customer compensation: High-PD service employees offer less compensation to customers expressing higher intensity anger, and low-PD service employees offer more to customers expressing higher intensity anger. For high-PD service employees, this relationship between emotional intensity and compensation is mediated by the perceived appropriateness of the anger expression; for low-PD employees, it is mediated by perceived threat. However, when perceptions of threat are mitigated, low-PD service employees offer higher compensation to lower intensity anger, and this effect is mediated by perceptions of appropriateness. This research is the first to examine the effect of anger intensity in service-failure settings. For managers, the findings illuminate the importance of adopting a cultural lens when designing emotion management training programs and when setting practices for compensating angry customers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670519838623 [Google]
Liu, X.-Y., N.-W. Chi and D. D. Gremler (2019): Emotion Cycles in Services: Emotional Contagion and Emotional Labor Effects, Journal of Service Research, 22(3), pp.285-300
Service organizations encourage employees to express positive emotions in service encounters, in the hope that customers “catch” these emotions and react positively. Yet customer and employee emotions could be mutually influential. To understand emotional exchanges in service encounters and their influences on customer outcomes, the current study models the interplay of emotional contagion and emotional labor, as well as their influence on customer satisfaction. Employees might catch customers’ emotions and transmit those emotions back to customers through emotional contagion, and employee emotional labor likely influences this cycle by modifying the extent to which emotional contagion occurs. Data from 268 customer-employee dyads, gathered from a large chain of foot massage parlors, confirm the existence of an emotion cycle. Deep acting, as one type of emotional labor used by employees, hinders the transmission of negative emotions to customers, whereas surface acting facilitates it. Both customer emotions and employee emotional labor thus have critical influences on service encounters. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the potential influence of customer preservice emotions and the presence of an emotion cycle during service delivery.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670519835309 [Google]
van der Borgh, M., A. de Jong and E. J. Nijssen (2019): Balancing Frontliners’ Customer- and Coworker-Directed Behaviors When Serving Business Customers, Journal of Service Research, 22(3), pp.323-344
In this digital era, where many product-oriented business-to-business companies are shifting to a product-service systems approach, frontline employees (FLEs) are urged to complement customer-directed behaviors with coworker-directed prosocial behaviors to achieve optimal performance. Surprisingly, little is known about the relationship between FLEs’ coworker-directed and customer-directed behaviors in product-service systems settings. This research addresses this void and serves two purposes. First, drawing on role balance theory, the authors develop and test a model of an FLE’s relative emphasis on serving coworkers (i.e., helping) relative to the emphasis on serving business customers (i.e., proactive selling) as well as the antecedents and consequences of customer-coworker (im)balance. Second, the authors propose that managers can influence antecedents and consequences through an incentive system and access to information sources, respectively. Multivariate time-lagged analyses using survey and secondary performance data reveal that customer-coworker balance is beneficial for an FLE’s performance, especially when leveraging their coworkers as a prime information source. Interestingly, the increasingly damaging impact of an imbalance toward customer-directed behaviors can be countered by using the information technology (IT) system. Also of interest is that managers can correct imbalance—caused by either work group identification or expected customer demand—via individual-based incentives.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670519835313 [Google]
Viglia, G., M. Maras, J. Schumann and D. Navarro-Martinez (2019): Paying Before or Paying After? Timing and Uncertainty in Pay-What-You-Want Pricing, Journal of Service Research, 22(3), pp.272-284
Pay what you want (PWYW) is a relatively new and promising pricing mechanism, where consumers have full control over the price they pay. It can potentially increase profits, but its practical applications have produced mixed results. The time of payment, and its implications for consumer uncertainty, might constitute an important determinant of the profitability of such pricing schemes for service providers. A large field experiment conducted in conventional and fast-food restaurants provides initial support that paying after consumption increases PWYW amounts. A laboratory study then details the underlying psychological process; payments after consumption help resolve uncertainty about the service process and service outcome. Another study affirms these insights and further shows that PWYW after consumption, compared with fixed pricing, can increase profitability due to enhanced service capacity utilization. By detailing how timing and uncertainty reduction affect consumers’ chosen payments, this article contributes to PWYW research in particular, as well as more general literature pertaining to the dynamics that affect consumers’ service experiences and service pricing studies.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670519835308 [Google]
Gong, T. (2019): How does dysfunctional customer behavior affect employee turnover, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(3), pp.329-352
Purpose Dysfunctional customer behavior is believed to engender employee stress and, in turn, fuel employee turnover. However, little research has examined the moderating role of individual-level and contextual-level resource variables. The purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps by examining employee embeddedness and individualism–collectivism as putative moderators of the hypothesized mediation chain.Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a field study involving 264 service employees working in two hotels operated by the same international hotel chain, one in South Korea (n=138) and the other in the UK (n=126).Findings Results show that employee embeddedness weakens the impact of dysfunctional customer behavior on employee turnover via employee stress. In addition, findings suggest that collectivists (individualists) are more (less) likely to be receptive to embeddedness cues.Originality/value This is the first known study to show that employee embeddedness can mitigate the impact of dysfunctional customer behavior on turnover via employee stress. This moderated-mediation model is further moderated by employees’ cultural value orientation (individualism–collectivism). Prior literature is not explicit on these complex models.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-04-2018-0081 [Google]
Jung Hyo, S. (2019): The effects of social undermining on employee voice and silence and on organizational deviant behaviors in the hotel industry, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(2), pp.213-231
Purpose Drawing on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether social undermining significantly influences employee voice (or silence) and organizational deviant behavior in the hotel industry regarding three types of social undermining: by supervisor, coworker and customer.Design/methodology/approach The study provided a self-administered questionnaire to 344 five-star hotel employees in South Korea. SPSS (version 22.0) and AMOS (version 20.0) were used to analyze the data.Findings Being undermined by customers negatively affects employee voice and positively affects employee silence. Supervisor and coworker undermining also negatively affects employee voice and positively affects employee silence. Employee voice does not significantly affect organizational deviant behavior, but employee silence significantly affects deviant employee behavior. This was also verified by the potential mediating effect of supervisor undermining on silence as a form of deviant employee behavior.Originality/value This study contributes to the development of long-term manager-centered measures to combat the effect of social undermining among frontline employees in the hotel industry. It can be difficult to differentiate clearly between the conflicts and stress experienced by employees at the service frontline and the social undermining they experience during diverse social interactions. In confirming the effects of social undermining on employees at a five-star hotel, the study also found no clear organizational provisions or legal recourse for victims. The findings suggest that hotel employees are easily exposed to social undermining as a result of the industry culture and socialization process.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-06-2018-0131 [Google]
Kim, J. (2019): Customers’ value co-creation with healthcare service network partners, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(3), pp.309-328
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify customers’ service network partners in medical encounters and demonstrate the extent to which customers’ evaluation of each co-creation practice with their service network partners affects their perceived service quality and satisfaction. In addition, the moderating effect of patient age is examined.Design/methodology/approach By using a field survey, data collected from 164 inpatients were examined through structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis.Findings The value-creating activities of customers with service providers, companions and other customers during healthcare service encounters have a positive effect on their perception of service quality and satisfaction related to behavioral intentions. Co-creating with service value network partners has a greater impact on perceived service quality and service satisfaction for patients aged 60 or older.Research limitations/implications By focusing on participants in customers’ service value co-creating networks, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by confirming the importance of each actor and analyzing customers’ value co-creating activities.Originality/value This is the first study to show that when customers’ level of involvement is high, such as in healthcare services, their value-creating activities when interacting with medical staff, companions and other patients positively affect perceived service quality and satisfaction.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-08-2018-0178 [Google]
Mayer, J. (2019): Scaring the bras off women, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(3), pp.233-257
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of perceived threat, brand congruence, and social support on consumer coping strategies for a preventative health service.Design/methodology/approach An online survey of 570 women aged over 50 in one Australian state was conducted (users and non-users of the service). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.Findings A competing models approach reveals that threat on its own is associated with avoidance coping; however, when brand congruence is high, there is an association with active coping. Social support appears to have a buffering effect on threat and is associated positively with active coping and negatively with avoidance coping.Originality/value The study findings suggest that threat appeals should be used with caution in increasing participation in transformative preventative health services due to its double-edged sword effect (increasing both avoidance and active coping). When consumers have social support, this results in active coping and buffers avoidance coping. This research offers useful insights for social marketing and transformative service research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-11-2017-0196 [Google]
Parkinson, J. (2019): A transformative value co-creation framework for online services, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(3), pp.353-374
Purpose Online offerings for transformative services create value for consumers, although little research examines the process through which these services deliver this value. The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive framework to capture the complexity of the co-creation of transformative value experienced by the consumers of online transformative services.Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a netnography approach to examine longitudinal data from an online weight management program. In total, this research examines 15,304 posts from 3,149 users, including eight staff users.Findings Consumers integrate a range of social support resources, from informational support to esteem support, which provide a range of benefits such as new ideas and self-efficacy that underpin the different types of value such as epistemic and personal value. The degree of co-created value differs across the consumption experience but culminates over time into transformative value.Research limitations/implications The proposed framework may be useful beyond the weight management and online contexts; however, further work is required in a range of behavioral contexts and other modes of service delivery.Practical implications By understanding the resources consumers integrate and value, co-created services can develop appropriate value propositions to assist in improving consumers’ well-being.Originality/value This research provides a comprehensive framework of the transformative value co-creation process, extending on existing frameworks which examine either the process, value co-creation or the types of value co-created.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-04-2018-0098 [Google]
Pham Tram-Anh, N. (2019): Customer value cocreation activities, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(3), pp.282-308
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to suggest a typology of customer value cocreation activities and explore the psychological drivers and quality of life outcomes of such activities in a complex health care service setting.Design/methodology/approach Focus groups with people with Type 2 diabetes and in-depth interviews with diabetes educators were conducted.Findings Four types of customer value cocreation activities were found (mandatory (customer), mandatory (customer or organization), voluntary in-role and voluntary extra-role activities). In addition, health locus of control, self-efficacy, optimism, regulatory focus and expected benefits are identified as key psychological factors underlying the customers’ motivation to be active resource integrators and resulting in physical, psychological, existential and social well-being.Originality/value The study highlights the various types of customer value cocreation activities and how these affect the various quality of life dimensions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-07-2018-0163 [Google]
Song, X. (2019): Applying Schema Resonance Model in live chat e-service, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(3), pp.258-281
Purpose Live chat e-service provides a communication platform for online customers to make information inquiries and receive instantaneous assistance from a service representative. It is important for organizations to explore ways to improve their live chat e-service. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new organization–customer communication model (Schema Resonance Model), explicate how schema resonance can be achieved in live chat e-service, and investigate the impact of schema resonance on live chat e-service effectiveness, efficiency, customer satisfaction and intention of continued use.Design/methodology/approach A post-test only, between-subjects experiment was conducted. A total of 409 participants completed the experiment sessions, and 389 of these participants were used in the analysis.Findings Research results suggest schema resonance could improve the time efficiency of the live chat e-service while maintaining e-service effectiveness. Schema resonance could increase customer satisfaction with the overall e-service, the communication approach used by the representative and the information provided.Research limitations/implications Because a convenience sample was used in the experiment, results cannot be generalized to all live chat e-service users. Future research should include observation of real-world organization–customer live chat e-service sessions.Practical implications Organizations can consider applying the Schema Resonance Model in live chat e-service practices to enhance customer satisfaction and increase representatives’ service productivity.Originality/value This research proposes and tests a new organization–customer communication model to explore how organizations can improve live chat e-service in response to customers’ information inquiries.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-10-2018-0215 [Google]
Tan Adrian Heng, T. (2019): The role of empathy in the service experience, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(2), pp.142-164
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of empathy in the student service experience. Taking a dyadic perspective, both students’ and staff’s perceptions are analyzed to determine if empathy matters to both actors alike; and which differences in perceptions about the role of empathy between these actors exist.Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt a multi-method approach and used data from 256 usable survey responses from 11 higher education service providers in Singapore. Empathy was operationalized by six cognitive and affective independent variables and multiple multivariate analyses are applied, such as multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant analysis and multiple regression analysis.Findings Results show that both students and staff alike evaluate empathy as important in the co-created service experience. The provision of individualized attention to students to positively influence student experience in learning was deemed important by both staff and students. Yet, there are also distinct differences. For students, it is essential that staff members have students’ best interests at heart; for staff members, knowledge of students’ needs and show of care and concern are important.Practical implications Students and staff perceive empathy in higher education service provision differently. Interestingly, whilst staff think caring for students is important, students feel that too much care and concern from staff has a negative effect on their experience. Hence, too much care and concern might cause potential issues with the students’ perception of “over-servicing” which might manifest as “spoon-feeding.” Instead, students are asking for individualized and professionalized attention to be taken seriously and to be involved in the co-creation of the education service experience.Originality/value This study advances the understanding of affective and cognitive aspects of empathy and their influence on students’ service experiences.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-10-2018-0221 [Google]
Tanouri, A. (2019): Transformative gamification services for social behavior brand equity: a hierarchical model, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(2), pp.122-141
Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to test a hierarchical model with interrelationships between social support, value and brand equity to examine the effect of a transformative gamification service on users’ well-being behaviors; and second, to demonstrate the usefulness of brand equity to measure social behavior brands encouraged via transformative gamification services.Design/methodology/approach Data were collected (n=351) via users of a transformative gamification service delivered via mobile in Iran. Structural equation modeling was used to test the model.Findings The results revealed that the hierarchical model had a superior fit to the data over rival models measuring constructs at lower orders. The results also reveal that value mediates the relationship between social support and brand equity for social behavior.Originality/value This is the first study to hierarchically test a model for transformative gamification services. Furthermore, it begins to shed light on the antecedents of value created within transformative gamification services, which to date have not been thoroughly explored. Finally, the study demonstrates brand equity is applicable beyond commercial campaigns and services and can be used to measure social (well-being) behaviors.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-06-2018-0140 [Google]
Tatavarthy Aruna, D. (2019): Exploring the moderating role of construal levels on the impact of process vs outcome attributes on service evaluations, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(3), pp.375-398
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an integrated conceptual framework using construal level theory (CLT) to explain the differences in the effects of process and outcome service attributes on overall service evaluation and customer satisfaction based on consumption context (social), evaluation context (temporal) and individual characteristics (expertise).Design/methodology/approach The authors use two lab experiments (hotel and restaurant settings) and a field study of online reviews posted by actual hotel customers to test all the hypotheses.Findings Process (outcome) attributes have a stronger influence on service evaluations under low-level (high-level) construal. Specifically, process attributes have a stronger influence when customers are accompanied by proximal (vs distal) social group, evaluate a service under near (vs distant) temporal frame or have high (vs low) level of customer expertise.Practical implications Service managers can use the findings about the differences in the influence of social, temporal and individual variables on customer evaluations under process and outcome attributes to improve customers’ service experiences and satisfaction.Originality/value This paper extends past research on the influence of construal levels on customer decision making by exploring the differences in the effects of process vs outcome service attributes on overall service evaluation and customer satisfaction, under the influence of low (vs high) construal levels triggered by social, temporal and individual variables.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-10-2018-0229 [Google]
Wang, X. (2019): A critical review on value co-creation: towards a contingency framework and research agenda, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(2), pp.165-188
Purpose Although a dominant marketing concept, value co-creation (VCC) is not without controversy. Inspired by value co-destruction (VCD), the purpose of this paper is to review the scattered literature on the uncertainties in collaborative value formation, synthesising contingency factors of value outcomes in VCC.Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on an examination of 84 peer-reviewed journal articles. Recognising the drawbacks of the macroscopic abstraction in existing the VCC literature, the authors adopt a zooming-in approach to identify distinct patterns of contingency factors in the collaborative value-formation process.Findings From a macro-social perspective, VCC may connote a sense of exploitation of “consumers” and a need for consumer control of “producers”, impeding harmonious value formation. Zooming into actor-to-actor interactions, the collaborative relationship is found to be a source of uncertainties in value formation, which is further complicated by differences in the knowledge intensities of services. Finally, reviewing the individual consumer reveals a most nuanced picture that demonstrates heterogeneities of consumers’ VCC involvement and complexities in their perceptions and behaviours. Five propositions and a contingency framework are proposed.Research limitations/implications Six value formation mechanisms are proposed based on interconnected and multi-level perspectives, providing implications for managers and future researchers.Originality/value This paper contributes to rebalancing VCC research by synthesising insights on the potential contingencies, which are relatively under-explored yet vital to keep the controversy alive and relevant, and re-invigorating business processes.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-11-2017-0209 [Google]
Wongkitrungrueng, A. (2019): Customer deference to service providers in ordinary service encounters, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 29(2), pp.189-212
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of customer deference to service providers in service encounters, and articulate its chief antecedents, experiences and consequences.Design/methodology/approach Data were collected in Thailand, using critical incident technique. A total of 253 subjects share their experiences of being “deferential” (i.e. “kreng-jai” in Thailand) during everyday service encounters.Findings The findings indicate that in cultures in which the cultural norm (i.e. kreng-jai) is to be considerate of others, customers often become deferential of the service provider during service encounters, especially when customers perceive that the service provider’s well-being is compromised. However, customer deference involves aversive feelings which lead customers to devise coping strategies and avoid future contact with a company.Research limitations/implications Using a specific cultural norm, the findings challenge prior finding that people from collectivist culture are more likely to tolerate and be satisfied with service encounters, and document the role of previously unexamined customer-related factors in driving satisfaction in ordinary service encounters.Practical implications The findings recommend service providers to preempt customers’ deference by establishing and communicating the role and acceptable behaviors, managing physical distance with customers, and monitoring customer non-verbal behavior and facial expressions to detect the customers’ true feelings.Originality/value No prior research has comprehensively examined the phenomenon whereby consumers seek to benefit service providers at the expense of their own well-being. This study demonstrates that customer deference degrades customer satisfaction even in ordinary service encounters.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-02-2018-0031 [Google]
