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Article
Publication date: 13 November 2009

Scott Colwell, Sandra Hogarth‐Scott, Depeng Jiang and Ashwin Joshi

Within the service industry, the serviceperson enhances customer loyalty by increasing customer benefits and decreasing customer costs, but is also embedded within and influenced…

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Abstract

Purpose

Within the service industry, the serviceperson enhances customer loyalty by increasing customer benefits and decreasing customer costs, but is also embedded within and influenced by the organizational context. Thus, the influence of a serviceperson's orientation may differ or even conflict with the organization's orientation. There are two purposes to this paper. The paper first aims to develop a conceptual model that clearly distinguishes between benefit‐ and cost‐based explanations of the effect of the serviceperson. The paper's second aim is to examine the impact of the organization on the serviceperson's ability to foster customer loyalty through interactions with customers.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey methodology is used and data gathered from managers and customers. Multi‐group structural equation modeling is employed to test partial mediation and partial moderation theses.

Findings

In line with social exchange theory, the paper finds that a serviceperson's customer orientation can reduce customer costs and increase customer benefits. Furthermore, consistent with the literature on strategic orientations, when the serviceperson's organization evinces a low competitive service orientation, it attenuates the direct effects of a serviceperson's customer orientation on customer loyalty, such that the direct effect no longer exists.

Originality/value

The paper shows how multiple direct and indirect pathways connect serviceperson customer orientation to customer loyalty. It also shows how the effect of serviceperson customer orientation on customer loyalty depends on the organizational context and specifically the extent to which the organization embraces a competitive service orientation. The moderating role of organizational context has implications both for social exchange theory specifically and theories of exchange, such as transaction cost analysis more generally.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 47 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 July 2023

Chunfeng Chen and Depeng Zhang

This research focuses on the role of product acquisition cues in positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) content on social media, comparing the characteristics of different sources of…

Abstract

Purpose

This research focuses on the role of product acquisition cues in positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) content on social media, comparing the characteristics of different sources of product acquisition (purchased vs. gifted) and exploring whether and how they affect consumers' reliance on word-of-mouth (WOM).

Design/methodology/approach

The research model was developed based on the mental imagery theory. Two offline experiments and two online experiments were used to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that, compared to the purchased source, the gifted source evokes more positive mental imagery and greater emotional attachment to the product, resulting in greater consumer reliance on PWOM. In addition, the effect of the source of product acquisition on reliance on PWOM was stronger for experiential (vs. material) products and for consumers with higher interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal.

Originality/value

This research highlights the role of product acquisition cues in PWOM in influencing consumers' evaluation of WOM, while also revealing the processes inherent in how consumers process information through mental imagery. The findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of reliance on WOM and offer new insights and recommendations for management practitioners.

Details

Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7122

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 April 2023

Chunfeng Chen and Depeng Zhang

The rapid development of live-streaming commerce has increased companies’ marketing effectiveness. While previous studies have explored the effects of its technical features on…

2235

Abstract

Purpose

The rapid development of live-streaming commerce has increased companies’ marketing effectiveness. While previous studies have explored the effects of its technical features on consumers, the effects of marketing-related factors remain unknown. This study aims to investigate the effects of the marketing elements of live-streaming commerce on consumers’ purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model is derived from the Yale model and the benefit–risk framework. To test the study hypotheses, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 392 live-streaming shoppers and analyzed using SmartPLS.

Findings

The empirical results indicate that broadcaster competence and online crowding increase consumers’ perception of price attractiveness while reducing their perceived uncertainty. Information diagnosticity also reduces consumers’ perceived uncertainty. Furthermore, purchase intention is positively and negatively affected by perceived price attractiveness and perceived uncertainty, respectively. Finally, product scarcity moderates the relationships between broadcaster competence, online crowding, information diagnosticity, perceived price attractiveness and perceived uncertainty.

Originality/value

The study identifies the different marketing elements in live-streaming commerce and their effects on consumers’ value evaluations and purchase intentions. The findings provide comprehensive insights into the antecedents of live-streaming shopping and offer new perceptions and recommendations for practitioners.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 37 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2023

Ji Li, Pradeep Thaker, Deshou Jiang, Qingrong Huang and Chi-Tang Ho

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the functionalities, safety regulations and product applications of herb Stevia rebaudiana extract. This plant material is…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the functionalities, safety regulations and product applications of herb Stevia rebaudiana extract. This plant material is embedded with multiple functionalities such as antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation and antimicrobial. The regulations released from global authorities are covered to ensure the safety premise of stevia. Besides, the product applications of the extract of aerial parts of the herb S. rebaudiana helps us to recognize its value from commercial side.

Design/methodology/approach

Relevant literatures are selected and obtained from main scientific databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed and trade magazines published between 2000 and 2023. The keywords and their possible combinations such as sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation, safety and product development were used to ensure the preciseness and completeness of literature searching. Major data such as sweetness, total phenolic content and dose together with latter critical conclusions from searched publications were appropriately used and discussed. In this review, approximately 150 scientific literatures were meticulously ordered and analyzed. In applications, it is the first time that sentiment analysis was used to obtain a market assessment of the stevia-containing products.

Findings

This review paper helps rearrange the scientific affairs of those stevia extract’s functions like sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics and inflammation. Sweetness indexes of steviol glycosides were summarized together for comparison while various in vitro and in vivo approaches were reviewed to quantify those functions’ capacities and to depict the related mechanism. The regulation of steviol glycoside compounds such as rebaudioside A was established by global authorities such as US Food and Drug Administration and Joint FAO/World Health Organization Expert Committee to ensure the safety endorsement before commercialization. Then, this study discussed about the market performance of stevia ingredients or products with the self-developed data analytics. This study also investigated the product development progress of stevia-containing food products in the categories of beverage, bakery, dairy and confectionery. Those stevia-containing food consumer goods can be acceptable by certain consumers.

Originality/value

This review paper precisely presents the evidential information about the stevia’s multiple functionalities with mechanisms and global regulation milestones. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is then the first time to probe the stevia-containing products’ market performance through data analytics.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science , vol. 53 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

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