Search results

Hairstyling entrepreneurs are experiencing increasing customer demand alongside the market competition. Building commercial friendships are one of their strategies to beat the competition. However, the marketing benefits in terms of loyalty and pricing from this strategy are unknown. Following suggestions from the relationship marketing theory (RMT) that business benefits are gained from commercial friendships, this study aims to use ideas from RMT and those from models proposed by Bove and Johnson (2002) and Han et al. (2008) to examine the impact of hairstylist-client commercial friendship on four dimensions of personal loyalty to individual hairstylists and clients’ willingness to pay a premium price (WTPP).

Quantitative methods were used to collect and analyse data obtained from 562 hairstylists’ clients who had maintained the same hairstylist for 10 months in Johannesburg metropolis. Structural equation modelling using SmartPLS was used to test a conceptual model with eight hypotheses.

The results revealed that commercial friendship positively impacted affective, intention and behavioural personal loyalty dimensions and explained 49%, 47.9% and 46.9% of the variances, respectively. Of the four dimensions of personal loyalty, only behavioural loyalty positively influenced WTPP.

Unlike previous studies’ main focus on business-to-customer relationships and loyalty from a unidimensional perspective, this study contributes by revealing four dimensions of personal loyalty applicable in the haircare service sector. The findings confirm the business benefits suggested by the RMT, by showing that commercial friendship generates clients’ WTPP when they are behaviourally loyal. This guarantees profits and highlights the importance of nurturing close relationships in personal services.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate which types of service employees provide their customers with social support and to understand why they do so.

The article employs a network‐based inventory method to evaluate a customer's commercial‐based social support network and grounded theory to develop a framework illustrating the interdependence between service providers and their customers regarding the exchange of intrinsic support and extrinsic financial incentives and gifts.

Indirect service employees who do not directly receive tips from customers emerge as key providers of social support. Also, commercial friendships are not marketplace niceties. Service providers and customers engage in a mutually beneficial exchange of social support, gifts, and tips under the guise of commercial friendships.

The article is based upon service provider and customer relationships in an American diner. Researchers may want to apply the offered model to other contexts and locals. Also, researchers may want to reconsider the idea that service providers willingly provide social support to their customers.

The hiring and training of service employees, such as cashiers, hostesses, and “bus boys,” should be taken into consideration as they may be key providers of social support. Service providers should realize the extrinsic and intrinsic benefits or providing support.

The paper empirically investigates the role of indirect service employees in providing customers with social support. Also, it demonstrates that commercial friendships are mutually beneficial relationships where service providers and customers realize extrinsic and/or intrinsic benefits from these relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of conversation as an element of interaction that occurs in a hairdressing service encounter with the aim of seeking to understand variations in conversation between “short” and “long‐term” clients; how conversation contributes to the development of “commercial friendships”; and how relationships develop through conversation.

Quota sampling is used to select eight hairdressing service encounters in one Australian salon for recording and subsequent interviews with clients. Quotas address gender and duration of continued patronage. Conversations and interviews were analysed thematically and using conversation analysis.

The progress and evolution of conversations varied between short and long‐term customers; topics also varied by this classification as well as gender. Conversation played an important function with respect to building friendship with the service provider; conversation also assisted in the development of long‐term relationships.

Apart from the small sample, the study was highly contextualised because it investigated encounters in a single hairdressing salon and explored perceptions of the service conversation from the perspective of only one party to the conversation, the client.

The findings point out the important role non‐task conversation can play in retaining customers in people‐processing services. Service providers perhaps can achieve more to improve the service experience and satisfaction of customers by placing less emphasis on the need for physical resources or promotion, instead focussing on the intangible of improving the conversation skills of their providers. More non‐task conversation and less task‐related talk may also facilitate a closer relationship between hairdresser and client. Further research on the nature and role of conversation during service encounters should offer guidance for improving the conversation skills of service providers and in improving customer retention.

This study specifically focuses on the role and nature of non‐task conversation as a specific aspect contributing to a customer's service encounter experience in a people processing service.

Argues that the aim of marketers should be to build positive relationships with customers. However, the nature of such relationships is unclear. Examines the one‐to‐one relationship between customers and individual employees and highlights key implications for managers.

This paper aims to explore the role of personal relationships (friendships) in mitigating knowledge hiding behaviour between managers.

This study uses a phenomenological methodology by studying seven UAE-based firms. Furthermore, 30 semi-structured (15 dyadic) interviews with senior managers are undertaken. The senior managers were chosen from multiple industries including plastic, frozen food, logistics, etc.

Based on 30 semi-structured interviews and comprehensive data analysis, results reveal that the development of personal relationships between managers results in higher interpersonal trust, mutual loyalty, higher cooperation, strong mutual goals and cultivation of reciprocity. The result further states that these factors diminish knowledge hiding behaviour between them.

This study has some limitations. First, this study explores behavioural patterns concerning the United Arab Emirates culture only. Second, the results presented in this study should be quantitatively tested to demonstrate their generalizability.

Firms can use this study’s findings to understand how and why personal relationships between managers within firms diminish knowledge hiding behaviour.

There is a dire need for research exploring how knowledge hiding can be mitigated in firms. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the role of personal relationships in the knowledge hiding literature.

Entrepreneurs and individual sellers heavily leverage their social ties embedded in social media, expressive or instrumental, to penetrate the market and achieve business success. However, the extant social commerce literature offers limited understanding on how different forms of buyer−seller social ties embedded in social media affect buyers' purchase behaviors. The study draws on the theoretical lens of social ties and proposes an integrative theoretical framework to understand the direct and indirect influences of expressive and instrumental ties (ExTSM and InTSM) between buyers and sellers on buyers' purchase intention (PI) in social commerce.

The authors first validated the measures of ExTSM and InTSM with survey data from 166 Weibo commerce buyers. They then tested their theoretical framework and hypotheses with survey data from 246 buyer−seller dyads in WeChat commerce.

With a buyer-centric view, (1) ExTSM and InTSM, respectively, had a direct negative and a positive influence on PI; (2) both trust and perceived product value displayed inconsistent mediation effects on the negative relationship between ExTSM and PI; and (3) only perceived product value mediated the positive influence of InTSM on PI. From sellers' viewpoint, (1) their ExTSM and InTSM with buyers were mixed up, and (2) the mingled social ties negatively impacted buyers' purchase intention.

The findings of the study advance the theoretical understanding of social commerce and offer practical guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises to effectively utilize social media for business purposes.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how personal relationships influence behavior within a supply-chain context.

This research employs a qualitative methodology that allows for a rich assessment of how buyers and suppliers of logistics services interact within the context of personal relationships (e.g. friendships), that are themselves embedded within interfirm relationships. Based on a grounded theory approach, a model is developed describing how and why personal relationships are important for supply-chain managers to consider when cultivating interfirm connections.

The findings reveal how managers act/interact within the context of personal relationships, as well as the outcomes/benefits associated with the development of personal relationships.

This study uses qualitative interviews to generate theory. The generalizability of the findings will have to be empirically examined in future research.

Managers can use the findings to understand explicitly what types of benefits personal relationships can yield. Further, this study presents to managers the specific actions that buyers and suppliers of logistics services engage in, when developing a personal relationship, in order to facilitate the generation of positive business outcomes.

A notable weakness in the supply-chain relationship literature is the unfulfilled need for research examining interfirm relationships at a micro/individual level, rather than the traditionally adopted firm-to-firm view, in order to account for the social/relational elements of firm-level relationships. This paper addresses that gap by exploring personal relationships within supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate selling actors in multi-actor sales ecosystems. When selling actors start taking over tasks that were formerly performed by salespeople, the distribution of tasks, allocation of responsibilities and finally the role of the salespeople changes. However, little is known about salespersons’ perceptions of selling actors’ identities and participation behavior in multi-actor sales ecosystems.

The authors conducted a World Café, a new qualitative method to the field of sales research, to obtain first data on selling actor identities in multi-actor sales ecosystems. Salespeople, who had the chance to observe and interact with more than 98,000 selling actors, disclosed their perceptions of selling actors’ participation behavior in a multi-actor sales ecosystem. Four different data sources were analyzed using qualitative content analysis to develop a comprehensive understanding of the topic and to test validity through the convergence of information from different sources.

Using identity theory, a salesperson–selling actor relationship/behavior typology for multi-actor sales ecosystems was developed. Eight different selling actor identities were identified: avoider, observer, receptive actor, prepper, expecter, savvy actor, challenger and coworker.

The typology provides researchers and managers with a tool to better understand and evaluate sales ecosystems. This knowledge can be used as a starting point for the reassessment of the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for salespeople in multi-actor sales ecosystems and to improve their training and coaching. The firsthand experiences reported by the participants of the World Café enable salespeople to identify different selling actors faster and prepare fitting approaches for all selling actor identities.

The purpose of this paper is to understand conflicts that emerge between managers of buying and supplying firms when a personal relationship (friendship, etc.) is present between them in the supply chain context.

This research uses a case study methodology and relies on data obtained from 30 qualitative interviews with managers of buying and supplying firms, having a personal relationship within inter-firm relationships to promote the interest of the firm.

Results from this study reveal conflicts between managers of buying and supplying firms due to the presence of a personal relationship between them. Specifically, results suggest that managers face ego conflict, supplier’s selection conflict and conflict on accepting late deliveries when they rely on personal relationships, which are themselves embedded within inter-firm relationship.

This study has some limitations. First, this study examines behavioural patterns in Australian cultural context. Second, results of this study are not generalizable to a broader population.

Firms can use the findings to understand conflicts, which arise between managers of buying and supplying firms, as a result of a personal relationship between them in the supply chain.

This is, perhaps, the first study contributing to the supply chain relationship literature by unveiling conflicts between managers of buying and supplying firms, when a personal relationship is present between them.