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The purpose of the study is to develop a structural and a predictive model of the future purchase behavior of the consumers from value, quality and satisfaction and also finding the role of consumer loyalty in the above-mentioned model.

Based on survey and purchase data of a sample of 235 respondents, the authors have used structural equation modeling to develop a structural model and three-stage least square regression to develop and validate the predictive model.

In the structural model, the authors found that perceived service quality and network quality leads to customer satisfaction which also leads to loyalty intentions. However, neither past purchase behavior nor loyalty has significant predictive power to predict future usage. But the interaction effect of loyalty and past purchase predicts future purchase significantly.

The study went beyond structural model and developed a behavioral predictive model which can overcome self-reporting bias. Also, the study focused on the moderating role of loyalty in predicting future purchase quantity, thus contributing toward the theoretical understanding of the effects of loyalty.

Other than providing a forecasting model, the study helps the service managers to understand the importance of the relational constructs than the tangible constructs. Moreover, it also suggests optimally target the big buyers through the loyalty programs to ensure higher future revenues.

The study provides new insight on the impact of loyalty intention of consumer’s purchase behavior and shows the boundary conditions of predictive power of loyalty intention and past purchase on future purchase. Moreover, this is one of the very few studies that have focused on these relationships in Indian context.

Indian healthcare system, especially in rural regions, faces several problems that prevent it from achieving universal and sustainable healthcare coverage. The purpose of this paper is to capture such problems through expert opinions and provide solution concepts that are derived from other similar scenarios.

Delphi study has been conducted with 38 experts from diverse areas related to the Indian healthcare sector. Nineteen theses were formulated based on the discussion with experts and were reconfirmed through intensive desktop research. Finally, theses were subjected to expert panel member’s evaluation.

The pool of arguments provided by the participating experts included 415 written statements explaining the (dis-)agreement with the theses. The experts achieved consensus in six theses with interquartile ranges smaller or equal to 20. The written arguments provided by experts were summarized into five different categories, namely interrelations/dependencies in healthcare, inequalities in healthcare, lack of proactive measures, importance of healthcare personnel and role of government in healthcare. Finally, a framework is proposed mapping the issues identified at different stages of the healthcare value chain. Problem-based cost allocation and hub-and-spoke model are discussed as potential solutions for the issues identified.

Lack of empirical and statistical data on the effective cost arising from the present issues suggests future research to determine these expenses and therefore examine the feasibility of applying the problem-based cost allocation framework discussed in this study.

Results show that merely targeting the supply side of healthcare falls short of the mark, especially in a country, such as India, with large socio-economic differentials. Healthcare system, hence, should be viewed from a market perspective, taking both forces of supply and demand into consideration.

This study intends to allow for a comprehensive approach to identify the issues in Indian healthcare system by reviewing the existing key studies in literature and validating it through empirical inputs from experts in the domain. Based on the validation, a framework is proposed mapping the issues identified at different stages of the healthcare value chain.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of an additional service on existing consumers’ usage of existing services from the same service provider. Research has often focused on marketers’ efforts to sell new offerings to existing customers. However, does the consumption of these new offerings by existing customers affect their usage of the firm’s existing services? This research examines this question in the context of a subscription service.

This study uses matched consumer- and firm-level data from a leading telecom service provider in India. These data include responses from 230 consumers, as well as details on their usage of existing and additional services. The data are analyzed using three-stage least squares regressions while controlling for consumers’ past usage of the existing services.

The results indicate that existing consumers’ cross-buying of the new service results in a reduction of their future usage of existing services. Most consumers also managed to maintain their monthly payments constant, even though they had subscribed to the new service. Together, these findings imply that consumers reallocate their budget by reducing their usage of existing services to accommodate the usage of an additional service from the same service provider. Consequently, the revenue of the firm might not always increase when the consumer cross-buys an additional service from the firm.

Marketing research on cross-buying has so far neglected to look at the effects of existing consumers’ adoption of an additional service on existing services of the service provider. This study focused on this gap in knowledge, in the context of subscription services. Using consumers’ perceptions and matched service usage data, the authors extend the literature that tries to understand why cross-buying may not be beneficial to the firm in certain service settings.

The purpose of this paper is to look back at the first year of publication of the Journal of Indian Business Research (JIBR) and to provide details of the current issue.

It is time to look back at the first year of launch of the JIBR. After all, it is widely believed in the academic publishing world that the first year of a new journal is the most crucial one. This editorial gives details of the current issue, paper by paper.

Filling a much‐felt gap for a high‐quality publishing outlet on Indian business research, JIBR has attracted the attention of leading scholars in the discipline in the very first year of its existence. Renowned scholars such as Jagdish Sheth, Alok Chakrabarti, Raj Aggarwal, Madhukar Angur, G.K. Kalyanaram and Rajendra Sisodia have published their research and/or viewpoints/commentaries in JIBR in its very first year. This issue begins with “Corporate social responsibility communication in the Indian context” wherein Brigitte Planken, Subrat Sahu, and Catherine Nickerson report on research, which investigates the CSR platforms and the communication surrounding those platforms in India. In the second paper titled “Effectiveness of integrated marketing communications: empirical analysis of two brands in India,” Mehir Baidya and Bipasha Maity utilize quarterly, time‐series data over 2000‐2005 for two competing brands in packaged goods business to assess the impact of marketing communication on sales. Pramila Rao, in the third paper titled “A resource‐based analysis of recruitment and selection practices of Indian software companies: a case study approach” enhances our understanding on senior‐level staffing practices of Indian software companies. The next paper by Federica Collato is a case study titled “Is Bangalore the Silicon Valley of Asia? Analysis of the evolution and the structure of this Indian local economy organization.” The final paper of this issue is a viewpoint article on “Overcoming decision flaws from framing” by V.N. Bhattacharya.

The Editorial provides an overview of the inaugural volume of JIBR.

The objective of this research is to empirically validate the underlying mechanisms by which consumers develop trust in service providers and investigate the impact of consumer's perceptions of trustworthiness and trust on their loyalty intentions. It also aims to study the differential impact of consumers' trustworthiness beliefs on two distinct aspects of a service, namely the front line employees (FLEs) and management policies and practices (MPPs).

The paper proposes and empirically validates a parsimonious but multidimensional and multifaceted model of consumer's trustworthiness beliefs, trust and loyalty intentions. Retail banking services in India provide the setting for the study. The analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling.

The results support a multidimensional and multifaceted model linking the influence of consumers' trustworthiness beliefs related to the competence, benevolence and problem solving orientation of FLEs and MPPs on their trust in FLEs and MPPs and loyalty intentions.

The research highlights that consumers' evaluation of trust operates at multiple dimensions for employees as well as the organization. The study is based on a cross‐sectional survey. A possible extension is to conduct longitudinal studies to map the evolving nature of trust and loyalty over time and customer life stages.

Organizations can measure trustworthiness beliefs and manage them to build trust and reinforce loyalty intentions among their consumers.

The study proposes and validates a parsimonious model of trust and loyalty intentions in the context of retail banking. Thus this research supports and extends the extant knowledge of relationship marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a research model examining the impact of five social media marketing (SMM) elements–entertainment, customization, interactivity, electronic-word-of-mouth (eWOM) and trendiness–on consumers' intent to participate in value co-creation and on consumer–brand engagement (CBE) and perceived brand value in turn.

The research model is tested for wearable healthcare technology, a smart-technology product. Data were collected in China from 294 users using a self-administered online survey. Data analysis uses partial least squares – structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Entertainment, customization and eWOM are the key predictors in driving consumers' value co-creation intention, thereby strengthening the value co-creation process, CBE and perceived brand value. In contrast with previous studies in the area of value co-creation and CBE, the impact of interactivity and trendiness on value co-creation intention is non-significant.

The research contributes to the literature by providing an understanding of how to use SMM dimensions to drive consumers' value co-creation intention for smart-technology products, such as healthcare-wearable technology. However, this study is cross-sectional in nature and its focus is solely on wearable healthcare technology in China. To enhance the generalizability of the findings, future research might consider a longitudinal design and include comparisons between countries with diverse cultures, along with other types of smart-technology products.

The findings provide guidance for marketers to enhance CBE and perceived brand value by strengthening consumers' value co-creation intention, using SMM with entertaining and customized content and encouraging positive referrals on social-media platforms.

Scholarly attention on the importance of SMM in strengthening consumers' value co-creation intention and CBE is limited, and the question of which SMM elements are effective in driving value co-creation and its link to perceived brand value has not been examined. This paper contributes to the marketing literature by developing and empirically testing a research model, revealing entertainment, customization and eWOM as key SMM elements driving value co-creation intention and CBE for a smart-technology product in China.

This study attempts to contribute to the knowledge of how service climate improves customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry based on evidence from mainland China. It considers different dimensions of service climate separately, including customer orientation, managerial support and work facilitation, and introduces an important mediator – employee commitment – to examine the relationship between service climate and customer satisfaction.

A theoretical framework is proposed to suggest links among the three dimensions of service climate, employee commitment and customer satisfaction. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data from employees in the hospitality industry of China. The constructs were measured by using established scales. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the theoretical hypotheses.

Empirical results indicate that different dimensions of service climate have different effects on customer satisfaction. For instance, customer orientation, as one dimension of service climate, has a direct and positive influence on customer satisfaction, while two other dimensions of service climate, managerial support and work facilitation, have indirect positive influence on customer satisfaction, through improving employee commitment.

The results indicate that managers should create customer orientation in hotels, including clarifying the value of providing customers with high quality service, and developing a system of emphasizing the importance of customer feedback. Meanwhile, managers need to pay attention to two neglected components of service climate, managerial support and work facilitation, rather than focusing on physical infrastructure only.

This paper makes an important empirical contribution by treating various dimensions of service climate separately, and exploring their relationships with customer satisfaction by introducing a mediator, employee commitment. The results indicate that various dimensions of service climate play different roles in improving customer satisfaction. This study contributes to the theories of service climate and customer satisfaction.