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1 – 10 of over 8000This article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role…
Abstract
Purpose
This article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role of employees. This focus complements the Marketing discipline’s heavy emphasis on customers, largely true of service research, overall.
Design/methodology/approach
Ten OB/HRM frameworks/perspectives are applied to analyzing the roles of people (with a focus on employees and modest consideration of customers as “partial” employees who co-create value) in a service organization context. Also, commentary is offered on how the frameworks relate to six key themes in contemporary service research and/or practice. The article concludes with five reflections on the role and status of employees in service research—past, present and future.
Findings
Employee roles in evolving service contexts; participation role readiness of both employees and customers; role stress in participating customers; an employee “empowered state of mind”; an emphasis on internal service quality; “strong” HRM systems link individual HRM practices to firm performance; service-profit chain with links to well-being of employees and customers; a sociotechnical system theory lens on organizational frontlines (OF); service climate as an exemplar of interdisciplinary research; emotional labor in both employees and customers; the Human Experience (HX); specification of employee experience (EX).
Originality/value
Service remains very much about people who still guide organizational design, develop service strategy, place new service technologies and even still serve customers. Also, a people and organization-based competitive advantage is tough to copy, thus possessing sustainability, unlike with imitable technology.
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Revanth Kumar Guttena, Cedric Hsi-Jui Wu and Ferry Tema Atmaja
This study aims to investigate how the gratifications obtained through brand-related social media content affect brand intimacy and thereby influence customer extra-role behavior.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how the gratifications obtained through brand-related social media content affect brand intimacy and thereby influence customer extra-role behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the uses and gratification theory, this study proposes information, entertainment and remuneration content that motivates customers to develop brand intimacy and thereby perform customer extra-role behavior. The study also tests the moderated moderation effect of self-congruence and customer experience using 704 observations from South India in the food industry context.
Findings
The study’s results reveal the influence of entertainment and remuneration content on brand intimacy, which further influences customer extra-role behavior (civic virtue, cocreation, sportsmanship and helping behaviors). The study confirms a moderated moderation effect in the relationship between brand intimacy and civic virtue and brand intimacy and sportsmanship behaviors.
Practical implications
The study suggests that brands may include entertainment and remuneration elements in their social media content to build intimate customer relationships, further influencing customers’ extra-role behaviors. Besides, brands should focus on customers’ self-concepts and experiences to encourage them to act voluntarily.
Originality/value
This study makes a unique contribution by investigating the influence of brand-related social media content on customer extra-role behavior through brand intimacy. It uses self-congruence and customer experience to test their moderated moderation effect in the relationship between brand intimacy and customer extra-role behavior.
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Oussama Saoula, Muhammad Farrukh Abid, Munawar Javed Ahmad, Amjad Shamim, Ataul Karim Patwary and Maha Mohammed Yusr
It is widely evident that trust and commitment are important pillars for strengthening the relationship between financial service firms and their customers. However, it has not…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely evident that trust and commitment are important pillars for strengthening the relationship between financial service firms and their customers. However, it has not been explored how the service quality, perceived cost and role of agents are important for financial service firms. To overcome this gap, this study aims to investigate the role of service quality, perceived cost and the role of agents as the commitment–trust factors in the financial insurance service (Takaful) in Malaysia, enhancing customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The study follows a quantitative design in which primary data was collected using a survey instrument. The measurement instrument was adapted from the previous research, and data were collected from 264 customers of the Takaful financial service organizations in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using variance-based structural equational modeling in Smart-PLS software.
Findings
This research has revealed several useful insights that demonstrate a significant impact on service quality, perceived cost and the agents’ role in forging close relationships with their customers. Corporate image has a moderating role in relationships and has significantly impacted takaful insurance companies. The results imply that regardless of the corporate image of the financial service organizations, customers are concerned about the prices and the quality of the agents’ services.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, only the predictors such as service quality, perceived costs and agents’ roles as trust–commitment factors were examined to determine customer satisfaction. Other investigations are highly recommended, such as value co-creation in takaful, takaful customer experience and takaful trust. This study offers insights to takaful insurance companies on how to keep up a positive corporate image, which will boost their trust–commitment factors and ultimately increase customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
By presenting commitment–trust factors and company image in an identifiable framework, the current study has expanded the discussion on takaful financial insurance services. The methodology is developed and rigorously tested to gauge customer satisfaction in takaful financial service organizations’ context.
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Ilias Vlachos and Vasiliki Polichronidou
Third-party logistics providers (3PLs) have significantly evolved during the last decades, yet their role within a supply chain triad has been overlooked; this study examines…
Abstract
Purpose
Third-party logistics providers (3PLs) have significantly evolved during the last decades, yet their role within a supply chain triad has been overlooked; this study examines empirically the 3PLs' role using four established theories: resource-based view, social capital perspective, agency theory and transaction cost economics.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the role of 3PLs in four supply chain triads, using the case study approach. Sources of evidence include interviews and secondary data.
Findings
The 3PL had different roles in multi-demand triads as service developer, customer adaptor and customer developer. The 3PL, by offering advanced services, became a service developer. The 3PL as a customer adaptor offered customised services and gain the client's trust. As a customer developer, the 3PL acted on behalf of its client in expanding its operations and meeting competitive needs.
Research limitations/implications
The results of the case study methodology can only be generalised to similar types of 3PL. Supply chain triads are an emerging research field; theories like the resource-based view and transaction cost economics are established in the dyadic context and require further elaboration when applied in triadic contexts.
Practical implications
The findings provide practical insights into the role that 3PL can play in supply chain triads, how they can upgrade their role by long-range planning and extending their services to create supply chain efficiency.
Social implications
Understanding the 3PL's role in triads can improve how companies and economies respond to crises like the recent pandemic outbreak.
Originality/value
It uncovers three different 3PL roles in supply chain triads by using four established theories.
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Ismail Golgeci, Yusuf Kurt, Ksenia Vashchillo-Mollett, René Chester Goduscheit, Ahmad Arslan and Volkan Yeniaras
Research examining the joint role of serial acquisitions and subsidiary autonomy in holistic value provision within servitizing industrial firms is scarce. Thus, this paper aims…
Abstract
Purpose
Research examining the joint role of serial acquisitions and subsidiary autonomy in holistic value provision within servitizing industrial firms is scarce. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the role of serial acquisition and subsidiary autonomy in providing value within servitizing industrial networks.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework is developed based on the case study of a large Swedish industrial group specializing in selling industrial products and providing industrial solutions to business customers through its numerous subsidiaries.
Findings
The analysis of 14 interviews with the five subsidiaries and seven customer firms and secondary data reveals interesting findings concerning the role of serial niche acquisition strategy and subsidiary autonomy in customer value provision in servitizing organizations. In particular, the authors find that the role of acquisitions in industrial firms extends beyond growth to customer sensing and proximity. Likewise, the authors find that subsidiary autonomy facilitates value provision to customers in industrial networks.
Originality/value
The paper provides a more nuanced understanding of how serial acquisitions and subsidiary autonomy are intertwined and jointly affect industrial firms’ value provision activities amidst the servitization transition in an intraorganizational network.
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Hossein Norouzi and Roghayeh Teimourfamian Asl
The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of initiating corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a service-based company (Pasargad Bank in Tehran) on customers'…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of initiating corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a service-based company (Pasargad Bank in Tehran) on customers' extra-role behaviors, known as customer citizenship behavior (CCB). The mediating roles of perceived service quality (PSQ) and corporate image (CI) are measured in this model to find out whether they foster this relationship or not.
Design/methodology/approach
This study has been conducted on Iranian Pasargad Bank customers. This study is an empirical study using the questionnaire survey method. Structural equation modeling is used to measure the research framework.
Findings
It is revealed that the PSQ has a partial and positive effect on CCB. Moreover, the variance accounted for index has been used to examine the mediating roles of PSQ and CI in the model of this study. Furthermore, according to the results, CSR positively and directly affects CCB. Among the mediators, PSQ is a partial mediator in the relationship between CSR and CCB. On the other hand, CI was found not to be a mediator in the mentioned relationship in this study.
Originality/value
Studying PSQ would give a broader insight into service providers initiating CSR activities and their outcomes as CCB. Linking the service industry and citizenship behavior would enlighten researchers and service providers to improve their levels of standards.
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Sharon Grant, Toby Mizzi and Elyse O’Loghlen
The thin feminine body ideal in Western society has persisted, despite becoming less representative of the female population, with obesity rates consistently rising since the…
Abstract
The thin feminine body ideal in Western society has persisted, despite becoming less representative of the female population, with obesity rates consistently rising since the 1980s. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated obesity rates, due to curtailed interventions, restricted mobility/enforced physical inactivity and increased reliance on processed food with a longer shelf life due to social isolation (World Obesity Foundation, n.d.). Individuals with obesity report weight discrimination in a broad range of settings, including employment, where researchers have documented weight discrimination in relation to hiring, job assignment, promotion, remuneration and work stability. Weight discrimination may be worse for jobs involving public interaction, particularly for women, because heavier women do not conform to societal body ideals, leading to weight stigmatisation such as anti-fat attitudes and beliefs (e.g. negative stereotypes) and prejudice. This chapter presents a systematic literature review of studies that have examined weight discrimination against women with obesity in jobs involving public interaction, i.e. ‘customer-facing roles’.
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Muhammad Junaid, Kiane Goudarzi, Muhammad Faisal Rasheed and Gilles N’Goala
Contrary to want-based services, customer participation has got lesser attention in high-credence services like health care. Customer participation for patients with chronic…
Abstract
Purpose
Contrary to want-based services, customer participation has got lesser attention in high-credence services like health care. Customer participation for patients with chronic illnesses could be life-threatening and goes beyond the service organization’s physical environment. Realizing the importance of transformative service research in health-care services, this study aims to propose and validate the conceptualization of customer participation for patients with chronic illnesses.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses sequential exploratory research design with mixed method research. The first phase is a qualitative exploration of the nature and meaning of customer participation by synthesizing theory and insights from semi-structured interviews (N = 75) with doctors, patients and paramedical staff. Next, survey data (N = 690) of patients with chronic illnesses is used to validate the proposed conceptualization. Finally, nomological validity was also tested on an additional survey data set (N = 362) using SEM and FsQCA.
Findings
The findings reveal that health-care customer participation is a three-dimensional behavioral construct in which a customer can participate by sharing information, involving in decision-making and ensuring compliance. The study also demonstrates that customer participation is a critical driver of satisfaction with life and perceived control on illness.
Practical implications
The research provides policy guidelines for owners and operators of health-care organizations in developing frameworks for collecting participation data, which can be used in strategies for seeking customer participation.
Originality/value
The research conceptualizes and validates “customer participation” as a multidimensional higher-order construct for patients with chronic illnesses, rarely focused in services marketing and management research on health care.
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Katrien Verleye and Sofie Holvoet
The aim of this research is to provide insight into how organizations can co-create value with family members engaged in service journeys of customers experiencing…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to provide insight into how organizations can co-create value with family members engaged in service journeys of customers experiencing vulnerabilities, thereby paying attention to their organizational practices (i.e. recursive or routinized patterns of organizational actions and behaviors).
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate, this research relies upon a multiple case study in a group of nursing homes in Flanders that had the ambition to engage family members in service journeys of their loved ones while measuring their value perceptions as a performance indicator (here, satisfaction with nursing home services).
Findings
The case evidence shows that nursing homes co-create value with family members through caring practices that focus on their role as secondary customers (i.e. welcoming, connecting and embedding) and empowering practices that focus on their role as partial employees (i.e. teaming up, informing and listening practices). However, the way in which the different caring and empowering practices are enacted by the nursing home and its staff affects their value co-creation potential.
Originality/value
By focusing on the practices with which organizations can co-create value with family members engaged in service journeys of their loved ones, this research bridges the service literature with its attention for value co-creation practices and the literature on customers experiencing vulnerabilities with its focus on extended customer entities.
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Diem-Trang Vo, Long Thang Van Nguyen, Duy Dang-Pham and Ai-Phuong Hoang
Artificial intelligence (AI) allows the brand to co-create value with young customers through mobile apps. However, as many brands claim that their mobile apps are using the most…
Abstract
Purpose
Artificial intelligence (AI) allows the brand to co-create value with young customers through mobile apps. However, as many brands claim that their mobile apps are using the most updated AI technology, young customers face app fatigue and start questioning the authenticity of this touchpoint. This paper aims to study the mediating effect of authenticity for the value co-creation of AI-powered branded applications.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from regulatory engagement theory, this study conceptualize authenticity as the key construct in customers’ value experience process, which triggers customer value co-creation. Two scenario-based online experiments are conducted to collect data from 444 young customers. Data analysis is performed using ANOVA and Process Hayes.
Findings
The results reveal that perceived authenticity is an important mediator between media richness (chatbot vs AI text vs augmented reality) and value co-creation. There is no interaction effect of co-brand fit (high vs low) and source endorsement (doctor vs government) on the relationship between media richness and perceived authenticity, whereas injunctive norms (high vs low) strengthen this relationship.
Practical implications
The finding provides insights for marketing managers on engaging young customers suffering from app fatigue. Authenticity holds the key to young customers’ technological perceptions.
Originality/value
This research highlights the importance of perceived authenticity in encouraging young customers to co-create value. Young customers consider authenticity as a motivational force experience that involves customers through the app’s attributes (e.g. media richness) and social standards (e.g. norms), rather than brand factors (e.g. co-brand fit, source endorsement).
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