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Examines how customers react to service extensions, or the use of an established company name to enter new service categories or classes. Reports the findings of an experiment designed to assess the effectiveness of the extensions. Discusses the managerial implications of the results for service extension strategies in the marketplace.

Reports the findings of a study that examined the relative impact of various marketing strategies on the performance of mature products in a rapidly developing country, South Korea, from a contingency theory perspective. The results indicate that the competitive environment of the maturity stage in the product life cycle in Korea can be classified into four distinctive types and that different strategies have different effects on product performance for each type of environment. The results also suggest that generally, vertical integration and product/ service improvement strategies have the most significant influence on the performance of the mature products in Korea. Discusses implications of the results for domestic and international marketers in the country.

The present study compares two types of compensation – i.e. on‐the‐spot and delayed – and tries to reveal how and when firms can utilize delayed compensation effectively. For this, failure severity is considered how these two types of compensation affect satisfaction and repurchase intentions.

A scenario‐based experiment in the hotel and restaurant industries was used with a sample of 292 students.

The results show that failure severity acts as a moderating variable in a recovery process of compensation‐satisfaction‐repurchase intention. The more severe consumers perceive the failure is, the more they depend on satisfaction to decide repurchase intentions. The two types of compensation are also moderated by failure severity on their effects on satisfaction and repurchase intentions. On‐the‐spot compensation leads to more satisfaction and repatronage intentions when failures are severe, but the results are not as straightforward when failures are insignificant. Under such a condition, while delayed compensation does not engender customer satisfaction with recovery as much as on‐the‐spot compensation, repatronage intentions for both types of compensation were similar in the hotel industry and even higher in restaurant services.

Industry differences such as ease of visit, frequency of visit, competition factors, and primary value (e.g. hedonic versus utilitarian) are expected to influence the effects of on‐the‐spot versus delayed compensation.

The study provides practitioners with the implication that the timing of compensation should be approached strategically according to the severity of failure and recovery outcomes they expect to achieve.

The present study tries to focus on compensation, one of the most commonly used recovery strategies, and tries to find the effects of different timings of it.

Discusses and applies a general framework for services quality to make a comparative evaluation of ten dimensions of service quality between developed and developing countries. Derives specific hypotheses for each of the service quality dimensions based on the relevant environmental factors characterizing developed and developing economies. Discusses managerial implications of the hypotheses that are derived, and proposes the empirical investigation of these hypotheses as a direction for future research.

A growing number of US fast‐food franchises are expanding operations to overseas markets. Critical to the success of these service firms is an understanding of the way consumers in foreign markets evaluate their services. Reports the findings of a study that examined and compared the expectations and perceptions of US customers with those of South Korean clients about an international fast‐food chain. Reveals several important differences between the two groups of customers. Discusses the implications of the results for US fast‐food companies in international markets.

Despite the rapid growth and internationalization of services, marketers of services realize that to successfully leverage service quality as a global competitive tool, they first need to correctly identify the antecedents of what the international consumer perceives as service “quality.” This paper aims to examine the differences in perception of service quality dimensions between developed and developing economies.

Parasuraman et al. proposed a framework consisting of ten determinants or dimensions of service quality: reliability, access, understanding of the customer, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, and tangible considerations. The authors propose 14 hypotheses emphasizing differences in the perception of these dimensions between developed and developing economies by linking these with economic and socio‐cultural factors. Extensive survey data are collected in the context of banking services from three countries: USA, India, and the Philippines and statistically tested using multivariate analysis of variance.

Of the 14 hypotheses, 13 were supported (five partially) in that the results for the USA were systematically and significantly different from those for India and the Philippines in the predicted direction.

While almost all of the hypotheses are supported, future research should look at multiple service sectors and include alternative service quality models to further validate this study.

Despite limitations, current results have significant implications for international marketing in service strategy formulation, service development, pricing, communications, and service delivery.

International service managers need to understand the value of environmental differences between countries in terms of economic development and cultural value system and accordingly emphasize the various dimensions of service quality differentially.

This research seeks to provide guidance for the global manager by determining the manner through which social interaction influences service quality evaluation. Furthermore, the paper aims to explore the function of economic development in altering the role of social relationships in service quality evaluation.

Consistent with the critical realism paradigm a multi‐method design is adopted for this study. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's structuralist perspective of culture is utilised as the analytical framework.

The findings challenge both marketing and sociology theory that propose that individuals are less focussed on nurturing inter‐personal relationships as they are empowered economically. Indeed it is found that social networks (i.e. social capital) perform a key role in service quality preference formation and dissemination. The evidence suggests that economic development has not mitigated the influence of social relationships upon service consumption.

The paper identifies a research agenda towards developing a measure of service quality that more comprehensively probes the social element of the service encounter. In order to more fully explore the impact of economic capital on the service quality construct it is identified that a longitudinal study is required that focuses upon nations as they transition from developing to developed nation status.

This study has significant implications for marketing managers seeking to build a presence in Taiwan or other similarly profiled Confucian based societies. It is advised that strategists should adopt a customised strategic plan when operating within Taiwan and similarly profiled cultures. In particular this study encourages a focus upon nurturing inter‐personal relationships and leveraging these relationships to effectively communicate to target markets in Confucian societies.

This study adopts a sociological perspective of the cultural influence upon the service quality evaluation process.This approach is presented as preferable to the national values‐oriented studies that have dominated research in the area.

Measuring service quality in online retail is critical. The purpose of this paper is to put in foreground key methodological issues of prevailing research related to scale development for the measurement of service quality in the context of online retail.

Content analysis of 30 research papers sourced from prestigious databases has been done to detect defects within research and sampling methods, survey administration, item generation and purification, dimensionality analysis, reliability and validity assessment. Also observations regarding dimensionality of online service quality constructs have been highlighted.

Study revealed deficiencies in sample size and composition, quantitative orientation in research methods, leniency in item generation/purification and negligent assessment of reliability and validity. It was found that e-service quality is multidimensional in nature and there is no consensus on number and nature of dimensions, although security/privacy, website design, reliability, responsiveness and information emerged as most cited dimensions. Electronic and traditional service quality dimensions displayed analogy in direct or adapted form.

This paper is first to highlight key methodological issues of prevailing research on e-service quality scale development in context of online retail. Implications for researchers and managers are summarized at the end of the study.

Prior research examining cultural effects on customer service expectations has primarily used more generic Western cultural theory on an aggregate scale or with only a single variable to draw conclusions on a customer’s underlying reasoning for buying a service. This study aims to focus on culturally distinct clusters within non-Western nations, specifically exploring within-cluster differences in service expectations within the Confucian Asia cluster.

This study developed a measurement model of Chinese cultural values and service expectations, consisting of a three and five-factor structure, respectively. Data from a sample of 351 diners were analysed using SmartPLS software. The data was compared with similar studies within the Confucian Asia cluster to understand the culture effect on service expectations and within-cluster variations.

The findings underscore the varying importance of cultural values in shaping customer service expectations, emphasizing their relative, rather than equal, significance. The study provides insights into potential within-group differences in customer service expectations within the same cultural cluster – without losing sight of the fundamental cultural heterogeneity of the Confucian culture.

Managers should leverage the distinct cultural values of their operating country to gain insights into diverse customer groups, predict their behaviours and meet their needs and expectations.

This study offers valuable insights to both service management scholars and practitioners by focusing on culturally distinct clusters of non-Western nations and exploring their effects on variation in service expectations within these clusters.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a better understanding of managing engagement in an emerging economy service. It explores the role of organisational climates for initiative and psychological safety as the key drivers of employee engagement (EE). It also examines the effects of EE on customer engagement (CE) and, in turn, on relationship commitment and switching intention.

Data were collected through a structured survey of service employees and customers of 69 bank branches in Bangladesh using two survey instruments. Responses were collected from 156 employees and 316 customers. A dyadic data set was created by matching customer data with the corresponding employee data collected from each bank branch. Structural equation modelling using AMOS (version 22.0) was employed for data analysis.

Organisational climates for initiative and psychological safety positively influence EE. In turn, EE significantly influences CE which has a significant impact on customer relationship commitment and switching intention.

Future research could consider actual customer behaviour, such as repeat purchase, as the key outcome variable.

The findings emphasise that investment by service managers in organisational resources to facilitate favourable climates for initiative and psychological safety would engage employees at work, which would ultimately help to attain CE and commitment, and reduce switching intention.

This research extends the existing engagement literature with empirical evidence supporting two new EE drivers and two new CE outcomes. It offers a better understanding of managing engagement in the financial services industry of an emerging economy, focussing on the relationship chain from organisational climate to EE, CE and customer-based outcomes.