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1 – 10 of over 4000Idrees Waris, Norazah Mohd Suki, Adeel Ahmed and Waseem Barkat
Environmental issues have triggered the need for sustainable behavior around the globe. The tourism industry’s rapid growth also contributes to environmental degradation through…
Abstract
Purpose
Environmental issues have triggered the need for sustainable behavior around the globe. The tourism industry’s rapid growth also contributes to environmental degradation through natural resource depletion and excess water and energy utilization. Based on social identity theory, this study aims to assess the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives on green customers’ citizenship behavior. Furthermore, the study assesses the mediating effects of green trust, customer–company identification and green image.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a quantitative approach, and purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data from the hotels’ customers from northern areas of Pakistan. This study used partial least square-structural equation modeling to analyze the data of 426 customers.
Findings
The study’s findings show that environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives significantly impact green customers’ citizenship behavior, green trust, customer–company identification and green corporate image. However, the relationship between green corporate image and green customers’ citizenship behavior was insignificant. Furthermore, the study’s results revealed that green trust and customer–company identification partially mediate between environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that hotels’ environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives improve green customer citizenship behavior, green trust and enhance customer–company identification. Therefore, hotel industry managers should consider reinforcing existing environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and make further efforts to highlight the importance of such initiatives for environmental sustainability, which ultimately affects customers’ green customer citizenship behavior.
Originality/value
This research developed a novel framework to understand green customers’ citizenship behavior in the tourism industry. It extended the literature on environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior. In addition, the research adds value by confirming the significant direct and mediating role of customer–company identification in tourism industry context.
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Thamaraiselvan Natarajan and Deepak Ramanan Veera Raghavan
The online brand advocacy behaviors of omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on integrated brick-and-mortar stores (recognized as a vital channel for delivering a seamless…
Abstract
Purpose
The online brand advocacy behaviors of omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on integrated brick-and-mortar stores (recognized as a vital channel for delivering a seamless shopping experience and meeting the dynamic needs of the shoppers), are still understudied. This study aims to investigate how integrated store service quality (ISSQ) may elicit both positive and negative emotions that contribute to a memorable omnichannel shopping experience and have an impact on shoppers' attachment to the store, leading to their exhibition of online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression).
Design/methodology/approach
The study is a cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative investigation. The research participants were chosen using a purposive sampling technique. Using a validated self-administered questionnaire, data were gathered from 886 Indian omnichannel shoppers who often purchase at the integrated brick-and-mortar store. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Smart PLS software for partial least squares-structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that positive and negative emotions mediate the relationship between ISSQ and memorable omnichannel shopping experiences, subsequently impacting omnichannel shoppers' attachment to the store and leading to online brand advocacy behaviors. The relationship strength perceived by shoppers significantly positively moderated the relationship between store attachment and different online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression).
Research limitations/implications
The study relied upon single cross-sectional data from the Indian population, where omnichannel retailing is still nascent.
Originality/value
This study addresses the need to investigate the different emotions that arise while evaluating service quality in omnichannel retail purchase journeys leading to memorable shopping experiences. Emphasizing post-purchase behaviors like different online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression), this study is the first to show that ISSQ might affect four different OBAs through memorable omnichannel shopping experience and the shopper's sense of attachment to the store. The moderating effect of relationship strength perceived by shoppers with the retailer on a few proposed hypotheses was also tested to give managerial recommendations.
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Yilmaz Akgunduz, Mehmet Alper Nisari and Serpil Sungur
This study proposes a model that influences customer citizenship behavior during COVID-19, and empirically tests the effects of fast-food restaurant customers' perceptions of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study proposes a model that influences customer citizenship behavior during COVID-19, and empirically tests the effects of fast-food restaurant customers' perceptions of justice (price and procedural justice) on trust; trust on satisfaction and loyalty; and trust, satisfaction and loyalty on customer citizenship behavior. Furthermore, it was questioned whether there was a disparity between customer expectations based on the restaurant's image and consumption experience.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were gathered from customers of fast-food restaurants in the shopping centers in Turkey. The data set, which included 437 valid questionnaires, was subjected to CFA for validity and reliability, SEM analysis for hypothesis and paired sample t-Tests for the research questions.
Findings
The findings of the study indicate that perceived justice affects customer trust, which, consequently, affects customer loyalty and satisfaction during the COVID-19 period. Findings also demonstrate that, while customer loyalty and trust increase customer citizenship behavior, customer satisfaction alone is insufficient to increase customer citizenship behavior. The study also shows that during the COVID-19 period, fast-food restaurants should have raised awareness of employees’ fair behaviors toward the customers and provided additional services to differentiate themselves in the market. Also, it indicates that customer expectations related to price, cleanliness and professional appearance of staff are not met after taking service.
Originality/value
No research has been found in the literature focusing on the expectations, justice, trust, satisfaction, loyalty and citizenship behaviors of fast-food restaurant customers in the COVID-19 pandemic process. Therefore, the results can fill the gap in relevant literature by testing the relationships between justice, trust, satisfaction, loyalty and citizenship during the pandemic and provide inferences for fast-food business owners.
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Rakesh Kumar, Tilottama Singh, Sachi Nandan Mohanty, Richa Goel, Deepak Gupta, Meshal Alharbi and Rupa Khanna
The main purpose of this paper is to explain the preferences of consumers for using online payment services. This paper applies a unified theory model named…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to explain the preferences of consumers for using online payment services. This paper applies a unified theory model named stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory for exploration.
Design/methodology/approach
This is quantitative research based on the structural equation modelling method. The stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory was applied, whereby the author conducted an online survey through a structured questionnaire with users of mobile payment services. These consumers are using online payments for online shopping purposes. The survey was conducted all over India. The sample size is 355.
Findings
The study found that utilitarian, hedonic value and salesperson behaviour impact consumers satisfaction and behaviour while using online payment services. The study found that there is a significant direct relationship between consumer satisfaction and consumer behaviour. This study examines how financial mobile services contribute to e-commerce implementation, especially in the context of India.
Practical implications
This study incorporates a variety of factors, including the behaviour of salespeople, which affect consumer happiness, satisfaction and behaviour intention. This study reveals a direct relationship between consumer satisfaction and behavioural intention. Accordingly, the use of mobile banking and digital financial services has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. This study suggested that awareness about e-commerce services and mobile financial services is an important aspect of consumers satisfaction. Effective e-commerce services and mobile financial services have a positive impact on consumer behaviour.
Originality/value
This is a comprehensive model used for online payment services and directly related to emerging economies like India. This study examines the consumer willingness of the digital market in relation to online payment services. This study contributes to the relevant literature by simultaneously examining the role of e-commerce platform characteristics and online consumer psychology in influencing behavioural intention. Numerous factors have been revealed by this investigation.
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Jongsik Yu, Nancy Grace Baah, Seongseop (Sam) Kim, Hyoungeun Moon, Bee-Lia Chua and Heesup Han
This study aims to develop a robust theoretical framework to explain the impact of hotels’ green brand authenticity on guests’ perceptions of well-being, customer engagement and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a robust theoretical framework to explain the impact of hotels’ green brand authenticity on guests’ perceptions of well-being, customer engagement and approach behaviors toward green brands.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors examined the effect of green brand authenticity on perceptions of well-being, customer engagement and approach behaviors toward green brands. For the quantitative empirical analysis, 352 samples were used. Green brand authenticity integrates quality commitment, heritage, uniqueness and symbolism as high-dimensional factors.
Findings
The study conceptualizes green brand authenticity as a multi-dimensional phenomenon with four dimensions: quality commitment, heritage, uniqueness and symbolism. The results showed that green brand authenticity has a positive effect on hotel guests’ perceived well-being and behavioral intentions. Interestingly, environmental values did not have a statistically significant regulatory role, while green behavior in everyday life had a partial regulatory role.
Practical implications
This study aims to develop and empirically test a conceptual model that depicts the function of green authenticity in explaining customer responses to green brands. The results and the theoretical framework proposed in this study provide significant insights for researchers and practitioners in the hotel industry.
Originality/value
Further than evaluating brand authenticity generally, this study evaluates the authenticity of a brand's environmental protection efforts. As a result of the empirical analysis conducted in this study, the green brand authenticity of a hotel had a positive effect on customers’ emotional and behavioral aspects. This finding provided valuable and meaningful insights for green hotels and hotel brand-related research.
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Xinxue Zhou, Jian Tang and Tianmei Wang
Customers' co-design behavior is an important source of knowledge for product innovation. Firms can regulate the focus of information interaction with customers to set goals and…
Abstract
Purpose
Customers' co-design behavior is an important source of knowledge for product innovation. Firms can regulate the focus of information interaction with customers to set goals and motivate their co-design behavior. Drawing on regulatory fit theory and construal level theory, the authors build a research model to study whether the fit between the regulatory focus of firms' task invitations (promotion focus vs prevention focus) and their feedback focus (self-focused vs other-focused) can enhance co-design behavior by improving customers' experiences (perceived meaning, active discovery and perceived empowerment).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two online between-subjects experiments to validate the proposed research model.
Findings
The two online experiments reveal that customers' experiences are enhanced when the feedback focus is congruent with the regulatory focus of the firm's task invitations. Specifically, self-focused feedback has a stronger positive effect on customers' experiences in the prevention focus context. Other-focused feedback has a stronger positive effect on customers' experiences in the promotion focus context. Moreover, customers' experience significantly and positively affects co-design behavior (i.e. co-design effort and knowledge contribution).
Originality/value
This work provides theoretical and practical implications for firms to improve the effectiveness of information interaction with their customers and eventually ensure the sustainability of co-design.
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Thamaraiselvan Natarajan and Deepak Ramanan Veera Raghavan
The different dimensions of the online engagement behaviors exhibited by omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on the online channel for information search, are still…
Abstract
Purpose
The different dimensions of the online engagement behaviors exhibited by omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on the online channel for information search, are still understudied. This study aims to investigate how service journey quality (SJQ) has an impact on the overall omnichannel customer experience leading to customer identification (CI) with the store, subsequently leading to their exhibition of online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is cross-sectional, quantitative and descriptive. Purposive sampling was used to choose the research's participants. Data were collected from 591 Indian omnichannel customers who had previously made an omnichannel purchase that included the concurrent usage of various channels of a retailer using a verified self-administered survey. Using the Smart PLS 4.0 software, the proposed conceptual model has been evaluated.
Findings
The results indicate that omnichannel customer experience mediates the relationship between SJQ and CI with the store, subsequently leading to their exhibition of online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions). The perceived customer gratitude toward the store significantly and positively moderated the direct relationship between SJQ and different online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions).
Research limitations/implications
The study relied upon the omnichannel shoppers of only Indian population and relied on a cross-sectional data collection procedure for this research.
Originality/value
Post-pandemic, with highly dynamic shifts in customer preferences, the need for channel-agnostic shopping leading to the unpredictability of purchase patterns has made SJQ the only dimension to achieve sustainable loyalty intentions through value co-creation in an omnichannel retail context. Emphasizing post-purchase behaviors like different online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and services online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions), this study is the first to show that SJQ might affect four different online customer engagement behaviors through omnichannel shopping experience and CI with the store. The moderating effect of customer-perceived gratitude toward the retailer on a few proposed hypotheses was also tested to give managerial recommendations. The study also answers the call to investigate the moderating role of customer gratitude in determining service quality-driven engagement behaviors.
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Thamaraiselvan Natarajan, Deepak Ramanan Veera Raghavan and Jegan Jayapal
Building on stimulus organism response theory, the current study examines the influence of channel integration quality dimensions (channel service configuration and integrated…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on stimulus organism response theory, the current study examines the influence of channel integration quality dimensions (channel service configuration and integrated interactions) on the omnichannel retail store's shoppers' satisfaction, trust and commitment, subsequently leading to customer citizenship behavior (CCB). It examines the relationships proposed against boundary conditions, the number of channels used during the purchase and gender.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional investigation. It was conducted using data from 451 Indian omnichannel shoppers using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The proposed conceptual model was tested using PLS-SEM and PLS-MGA.
Findings
The results indicate that channel service configuration positively impact the dimensions of relationship quality of the omnichannel shoppers. However, integrated interactions influence trust and commitment directly but affect satisfaction indirectly through trust. Subsequently, relationship quality significantly explains CCB. The model results show r2 = 0.402 for CCB; that is, 40.2% of CCB is explained by channel integration and relationship quality. The moderating effect of the number of purchase channels used and gender on all proposed relationships were tested. PLS-MGA results revealed channel service configuration led to shopper commitment, subsequently impacting CCB. The effect was more among shoppers who used more than 2 channels. The impact of channel service configuration on commitment was seen more among female shoppers. Male and female shoppers exhibited satisfaction-driven and trust-driven citizenship behavior, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The study is carried out in the Indian population, where omnichannel retailing is still in the nascent stage.
Originality/value
This is the first study to demonstrate channel integration quality may influence customer citizenship behavior through relationship quality dimensions, tested against boundary conditions, the number of channels used during the purchase and gender. The findings from this research would help retail store managers design their omnichannel operations to encourage firm-beneficial value co-creation behaviors among omnichannel shoppers.
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Thamaraiselvan Natarajan and Deepak Ramanan V
Building on Stimulus Organism Response theory, the current study examines the influence of Integrated store service quality (ISSQ) on the omnichannel customer experience…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on Stimulus Organism Response theory, the current study examines the influence of Integrated store service quality (ISSQ) on the omnichannel customer experience dimensions (Cognitive, Affective and Relational), subsequently leading to their psychological ownership of the store, which eventually explains their Augmenting, Co-developing, Influencing and Mobilizing behaviors. The moderating role of omnichannel shopper perceived relationship investment in a few proposed relationships was tested.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is a descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional investigation. A purposive sampling technique was used. It was conducted using data collected from 554 Indian omnichannel shoppers using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The proposed conceptual model was tested using PLS-SEM.
Findings
The results indicate that ISSQ positively impacts all three dimensions of omnichannel customer experience (cognitive, affective and relational). All three dimensions directly affect psychological ownership, eventually impacting their (Augmenting, Co-developing, Influencing and Mobilizing) engagement behaviors. The moderating effect of the omnichannel shopper, perceived relationship investment, revealed that it had a significant positive impact on the relationship between dimensions of omnichannel customer experience and psychological ownership of shoppers towards the store, which eventually fosters the customer–retailer value co-creation like engagement behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
The study is conducted in the Indian population, where omnichannel retailing is still nascent.
Originality/value
This study addresses the need to investigate other dimensions (apart from cognitive and affective) of the omnichannel customer experience that might eventually influence various service firms' customer engagement behaviors. This study is the first to show that integrated store service quality might stimulate (Augmenting, Co-developing, Influencing and Mobilizing) engagement behaviors through customer experience dimensions and the customer's sense of belongingness to the store. The moderating role of omnichannel shoppers' perceived relationship investment in a few proposed relationships was tested.
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Xinyuan (Roy) Zhao, Fujin Wang, Anna S. Mattila, Aliana Man Wai Leong, Zhenzhen Cui and Huan Yang
Customer misbehavior has a negative impact on frontline employees. However, the underlying mechanisms from customer misbehavior to employees’ negative outcomes need to be further…
Abstract
Purpose
Customer misbehavior has a negative impact on frontline employees. However, the underlying mechanisms from customer misbehavior to employees’ negative outcomes need to be further unfolded and examined. This study aims to propose that employees’ affective rumination and problem-solving pondering could be the explanatory processes of customer misbehavior influencing employee attitudes in which coworker support could be a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method approach was designed to test this study’s predictions. Study 1 conducted a scenario-based experiment among 215 full-time hospitality employees, and Study 2 used a two-wave, longitudinal survey of 305 participants.
Findings
The results demonstrate the impact of customer misbehavior on work–family conflict and withdrawal behaviors. The mediating role of affective rumination is supported and coworker support moderates the processes.
Practical implications
Customer misbehavior leads to negative outcomes among frontline employees both at work and family domains. Hotel managers should help frontline employees to cope with customer misbehavior by avoiding negative affective spillover and providing support properly.
Originality/value
The studies have unfolded the processes of affective rumination and problem-solving pondering through which customer misbehavior influences work–family conflict and withdrawal behaviors among frontline employees. The surprising findings that coworker support magnified the negative effects have also been discussed.
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