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1 – 10 of over 83000Syed Tehseen Jawaid, Aamir Hussain Siddiqui, Rabia Kanwal and Hareem Fatima
This study aims to find the determinants of internal and external customer satisfaction of Islamic banks of Pakistan through service quality indicators that are assurance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to find the determinants of internal and external customer satisfaction of Islamic banks of Pakistan through service quality indicators that are assurance, reliance, empathy, tangibility, responsiveness. Compliance has also been added as a determinant of customer satisfaction. In this study, customers are divided into two groups, internal customers are those who are an employee in the Islamic bank and also an account holder. While external customers are account holders only in Islamic banks of Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, a quantitative research approach is used for analyzing the behavior of internal and external customers of Islamic banks in Pakistan. The instrument which is used to analyze the study’s data, is a structured five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. The structural model was analyzed with the help of the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach.
Findings
This study concluded that internal customers of Islamic banking are well aware and have full information and their level of satisfaction is positive toward the bank’s services. While external customers feel satisfied while using the Islamic banking services in Pakistan. Service quality indicators are positively and significantly related to customer satisfaction in the external customer model. On the other hand, some of the indicators are not showing a significant impact on the internal customer multi-group analysis shows a difference of coefficients are insignificant between internal and external customers.
Practical implications
This study helps policymakers, to understand the behavior of internal and external customers of Islamic banking in Pakistan for creating favorable policies for an interest-free banking service.
Originality/value
This research study provides an analysis of the customer satisfaction of Islamic banks in Pakistan by dividing Islamic bank customers into two groups (internal and external customers). The purpose for dividing Islamic bank customers into two groups is that this study wants to highlight that external customer’s perception is the same as internal customers or not? Before this study, it is difficult to find single research on this topic, whereas only one study is find-out on the factors that affect internet banking adoption among internal and external customers.
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Elizabeth Hirons, Alan Simon and Clive Simon
The aim of this study was to determine whether customer satisfaction can be used as a reliable measure of the performance of the management of a research and development (R&D…
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine whether customer satisfaction can be used as a reliable measure of the performance of the management of a research and development (R&D) department. A study of a research and development department of an Australian manufacturing company was undertaken in 1995. R&D performance and external customer satisfaction were measured using seven dimensions of technical performance and seven dimensions of service quality. Expectations of external customer satisfaction were measured from the internal (staff of R&D department) and external customers’ (production, sales and administration) points of view. This was to highlight the gap between the staffs’ perceptions and the external customers’ perceptions of service provided. The study provides research and development managers with an additional tool for measuring their management performance.
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Nancy Bouranta, Leonidas Chitiris and John Paravantis
The purpose of this paper is to provide experimental evidence supporting the view that internal service quality has a direct effect on external service quality.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide experimental evidence supporting the view that internal service quality has a direct effect on external service quality.
Design/methodology/approach
The study focuses on the restaurant industry in Greece. Waiters are considered as internal customers and kitchen personnel as internal suppliers. Inferential analysis included factor analysis on individual waiter and customer data as well as canonical correlation analysis on a restaurant level.
Findings
Factor analysis of external service quality revealed six factors including product, organizational image, safety and choice, empathy, reliability as well as responsiveness. Internal service quality factors, additional to those found in external service quality research, included professionalism and internet. Canonical correlation revealed that the internal service quality dimensions of safety, reliability and internet exert a direct positive influence on the external service quality dimensions of organizational image, empathy and responsiveness.
Originality/value
The paper shows that service firms should focus on internal service quality in order to improve external service quality.
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Carmela Peñalba-Aguirrezabalaga, Paavo Ritala and Josune Sáenz
The importance of integrating both internal and external knowledge into the product/service innovation process has been widely recognized in the knowledge management and…
Abstract
Purpose
The importance of integrating both internal and external knowledge into the product/service innovation process has been widely recognized in the knowledge management and innovation literature. Likewise, the role of the marketing and sales function as a driver of innovation has been stressed because of its market-facing role. However, limited research has investigated the complementarity of both internal and external knowledge regarding product/service innovation performance in a marketing context. The purpose of this study is to analyze marketing departments’ role in accessing internal and external knowledge resources (i.e. marketing-specific relational capital [RC]) to reach improved product and service innovation performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis uses empirical evidence collected by a structured survey of 346 respondents representing marketing and sales functions in Spanish companies.
Findings
The survey revealed that marketing-specific internal relational capital at the department and inter-department levels, as well as noncustomer external RC, are directly associated with product/service innovation performance. Further, the analyses show that the relationship between customer-specific RC and innovation performance is mediated by other types of RC, making it a fundamental antecedent to the innovation process. Finally, significant differences in marketing-specific RC subcomponents were found between business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) firms.
Originality/value
This study makes a valuable contribution to marketing and management literature by revealing the types of social interactions in the marketing function that enable access to knowledge sources that promote successful product/service innovation.
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Drawing on open innovation and knowledge-based view, this study was initiated by investigating the fact that despite the growing literature on external knowledge being important…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on open innovation and knowledge-based view, this study was initiated by investigating the fact that despite the growing literature on external knowledge being important for bridging the knowledge gap across the new product development (NPD) processes, gaps exist to explore as to what are the potential knowledge sources and their contribution for the Fuzzy-Front end (FFE-) (i.e. idea-generation) phase of the NPD process?
Design/methodology/approach
Thirty-seven open-ended interviews with the NPD managers in large firms from the Chemicals and Electronic industries have been conducted to collect the data following thematic analysis into NVIvo 12.
Findings
The findings reveal customers, suppliers and external research organizations are the potential knowledge sources. Each of the sources delivers distinct knowledge for FFE of the NPD process. The empirical analysis of this study demonstrates that each of the potential knowledge sources though bridges the knowledge gap that innovative firms seek for the FFE of the NPD process, however collaboration with such sources incurs significant costs, risks, resources, capabilities and management practices which differs noticeably among different kinds of knowledge sources.
Practical implications
Managers must need assessing not just the gains but also the pains associated with each of the knowledge source before deciding to make additional investments in terms of resources and capabilities dedicated to learning from them while considering any of these for the FFE.
Originality/value
This new conceptualization of FFE offers a better theoretical and practical rationale for how and what types of different sources of knowledge can bridge the knowledge gaps for the FFE of NPD processes provided that innovative firms have necessary resources to entail a successful collaboration.
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Geir Grundvåg Ottesen and Kjell Grønhaug
This paper explores whether and how firms and their management are influenced by two types of environmental turbulence which have only been given scant attention in past research…
Abstract
This paper explores whether and how firms and their management are influenced by two types of environmental turbulence which have only been given scant attention in past research on market orientation, i.e. turbulence due to unpredictable supply conditions and turbulence created by frequent and unpredictable interactions with multiple market actors. The paper reports a case study of one successful firm exposed to these types of environmental turbulence. Here, the focus is on central aspects of the firm's environmental contact over time, including who it interacts with and the informational content and direction of interactions. In this way the authors are able to investigate important aspects of how firms keep in touch with, learn about, and are influenced and restricted in a turbulent environment. The study reveals several intriguing findings. For example, external actors initiated the majority of firm‐environment interactions and the firm focuses more on other constituencies than customers. Findings are discussed and implications highlighted.
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Dwayne D. Gremler, Mary Jo Bitner and Kenneth R. Evans
An internal customer′s (i.e. employee′s) satisfaction with a servicefirm can be significantly influenced by service encounters experiencedwith internal service providers. For…
Abstract
An internal customer′s (i.e. employee′s) satisfaction with a service firm can be significantly influenced by service encounters experienced with internal service providers. For example, a loan officer′s satisfaction with the bank he/she works for may well be influenced by internal services provided by the data processing group. Introduces the concept of the “internal service encounter” and presents the results of an initial study of internal service encounter satisfaction. The empirical study builds on previous research in using the critical incident methodology to examine internal services in a large US bank. Indicates that internal customers are similar to external customers in that, with a few interesting differences, the same types of events and behaviours distinguish satisfactory and dissatisfactory incidents in both internal and external encounters. Implications for managers and suggestions for future research are also presented.
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Sara Quach, Wei Shao, Mitchell Ross and Park Thaichon
The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between customer participation, co-created value and customer engagement as well as customer motivation involved in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between customer participation, co-created value and customer engagement as well as customer motivation involved in this process.
Design/methodology/approach
Respondents were randomly exposed to one of the six types of social media scenarios. A total of 181 respondents were drawn from an MTurk opt-in survey panel of individuals who resided in America and were over the age of 18 years.
Findings
Overall, the results of this study showed that as the level of customer participation increased, the level of co-created value decreased. The relationship between customer participation and customer engagement was fully mediated by co-created value. Extrinsic motivation was found to moderate the relationship between customer participation and co-created value but did not moderate the relationship between customer participation and customer engagement. Moreover, customer engagement was at its highest when an external reward was not offered, in other words, when customers were intrinsically motivated. Furthermore, when an external reward was offered, a significant effect of privacy concern on customer engagement was observed.
Originality/value
The study extends the current understanding of customer engagement through value co-creation, customer participation and perceptions of privacy in firm-initiated activities in social media.
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Nawar N. Chaker, Edward L. Nowlin, Doug Walker and Nwamaka A. Anaza
Salespeople frequently face the predicament of wanting to protect their market knowledge from coworkers while not appearing recalcitrant. Considering the choice of disclosing…
Abstract
Purpose
Salespeople frequently face the predicament of wanting to protect their market knowledge from coworkers while not appearing recalcitrant. Considering the choice of disclosing information or refusing to disclose, they may choose a third option: appearing to share knowledge while concealing substantive information, which this study calls evasive knowledge hiding. This study surmises that the consequences of these choices impact perceptions of customer outcomes. Using social exchange theory, the purpose of this article is to examine the internal relational antecedents and perceptions of external customer outcomes of evasive knowledge hiding, as well as the moderating effects of pushover manager and environmental dynamism.
Design/methodology/approach
A moderated mediation model was used to analyze survey data from 234 business-to-business salespeople.
Findings
Internal competition and coworkers’ past opportunistic behavior increase evasive knowledge hiding. These effects are attenuated if the manager is not a pushover. Evasive knowledge hiding decreases perceptions of external customer outcomes, particularly at low levels of environmental dynamism.
Research limitations/implications
Data was collected from salespeople, which presents a look from perpetrators themselves. While directly observing salespeople was the goal, sourcing and matching customer and manager data would only strengthen the results.
Practical implications
Salespeople evasively hide their knowledge if it is in their best interest, which may unwittingly hurt perceptions of customer outcomes.
Originality/value
This study formally introduces salesperson evasive knowledge hiding into the marketing and sales literature. The research highlights the dark side of social exchange theory by demonstrating how internal coworker relationships affect perceptions of external customer relationships via evasive knowledge hiding. This study also introduces pushover manager as an enabling moderating variable.
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Xi Yu Leung, Ruiying Cai, Huiying Zhang and Billy Bai
Virtual kitchens are a new business phenomenon, and how customers react to the new business model is still a largely unexplored topic. The purpose of this study is to examine the…
Abstract
Purpose
Virtual kitchens are a new business phenomenon, and how customers react to the new business model is still a largely unexplored topic. The purpose of this study is to examine the underlying mechanisms of consumers’ different responses to their reasoning of the new and disruptive business model of the virtual kitchen.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the attribution theory and situated focus theory of power, this study conducts three online experiments to test the proposed framework. A total of 487 US residents who had prior experience with restaurant food delivery participated in the studies.
Findings
The results indicate that external attribution (vs internal attribution) and ethnic cuisine (vs mainstream cuisine) are more likely to elicit customers’ empathy and justice, leading to higher purchase intentions with virtual kitchens. A mainstream virtual kitchen is better off attributing itself to external factors. The significant effects of causal attribution and cuisine type on purchase intention only exist with powerful customers and those with high moral identity.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study provide valuable insight to virtual kitchen businesses to better position and market themselves to gain customers’ support. The findings also suggest that ethnic and mainstream restaurants should strategize their marketing communications about virtual kitchens differently.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to provide in-depth insight into the growing phenomenon of virtual kitchens. It also contributes to the extant literature on attribution theory and situated focus theory of power.
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