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This paper aims to examine the role that personal cultural orientations play in customer attributions in intercultural service encounters.

A conceptual model was developed depicting the relationships between service delivery outcome, personal cultural orientations and customer attributions. Data were collected from 640 Chinese and Western customers using scenario-based experiments in a restaurant context to assess the hypothesized relationships in the model.

The findings show that compared to service delivery success, customers tend to hold service employee and firm responsible for service delivery failure rather than themselves and cultural differences. Moreover, personal cultural orientations partially moderated the influence of the service delivery outcome on customer attributions.

Future research could adopt different methodologies such as critical incident techniques and surveys to replicate the study.

Service firms are recommended to design programs to influence customer attributions such as “customer education programs” and “customer appreciation programs” to achieve high customer satisfaction.

This study examines the differences in customer attributions between successful vs unsuccessful service delivery. It also sheds light on the potential moderating role of personal cultural orientations on the relationship between service delivery outcome and customer attributions.

Looks at consumer research in Greater China including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Maps out the contributions within this area and guides future research. Examines the state of the art over the 1979‐97 period, with particular emphasis on the topics that have been researched, the extent of the theory development in the field and the methodologies used in conducting research. Uses content analysis to review 75 relevant articles. Suggests that, while a considerable breadth of topics have been researched, there remains much to be done, there is further room for theoretical development in Chinese consumer behaviour studies; and the methodologies used need improvement and further refinement.

One of the major hot research topics is relationship marketing. However, limited research has been carried out on the complex notion of guanxi (literally, relationship) in Chinese society. Misunderstandings and misconceptions concerning this significant topic persist. Aims to explore the mapping of guanxi in relationship marketing so as to present a comprehensive guanxi model suitable for businessmen in a Chinese context. Case examples were also used to test the model in a real‐life situation. Both theoretical and managerial implications are given. The theoretical framework includes a new model of various systems: guanxi perceptual map, routings and yin‐yang dynamic. The managerial implications explore guanxi mechanisms and different dynamic perspectives with mind‐heart and insider‐outsider dimensions. In addition, recommendations for future research are made.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effects of brand familiarity on satisfaction evaluations and behavioral intentions.

A longitudinal survey involving pre‐purchase measures and post‐purchase measures was conducted with consumers in a restaurant setting. The hypotheses were assessed through LISREL methodology.

The results showed that there are some similarities and differences among customers with different levels of brand familiarity regarding satisfaction formation and behavioral intentions.

A self‐reported item was used to measure brand familiarity. Although there was some evidence to support that the measure captured what it was intended to measure, it would be desirable to develop a multi‐item scale for this construct. There is also a need to extend the findings to other service industries.

Marketers should familiarize customers with a service while capturing opportunities to create a positive experience to gain customers' future purchases.

The study offers some insights into the effects of brand familiarity on satisfaction evaluations and behavioral intentions. It is particularly relevant for marketing services that are high in experience qualities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the impact of improvement in service‐delivery quality on customer satisfaction and repeat patronage, in the context of health services.

A longitudinal study of patients at a health care centre in Hong Kong assessed the effect of quality improvements made in response to the findings of its first phase, with respect to patient satisfaction and intention to revisit. Data were collected by questionnaire‐based interviews with more than 1,000 patients visiting the centre.

Exploratory factor analysis, varimax rotation and t‐tests show that basing a service quality improvement programme on feedback from the patient survey did improve satisfaction and intention to revisit. Conclusions include the importance of management commitment to quality for effective outcomes.

The results are based on the responses of clients of a single health centre, during surveys conducted outside the premises in real time, and can be generalized to other settings only with due caution.

Empirical evidence is provided of the positive impact of quality improvement on patient satisfaction and revisit intention in a real situation.

This paper aims to extend the intercultural service encounters (ICSE) framework using role theory and information asymmetry perspective, to hypothesize differences in the strength of many relationships based on service role (customers versus employees).

The paper presents the results of a field‐experiment with 204 restaurant employees and 241 customers in Hong Kong using a service failure scenario and photographs of Western versus Asian customers to manipulate perceived cultural distance.

Perceived cultural distance has a stronger negative effect on inter‐role congruence, interaction comfort has a stronger positive effect on perceived service level and inter‐role congruence on adequate service level, for customers versus employees. Intercultural competence has a stronger positive effect on inter‐role congruence for employees versus customers, and it moderates the influence of perceived cultural distance on interaction comfort and inter‐role congruence.

This paper reports the findings from a field‐experiment study using an imaginary service failure scenario in a restaurant setting with ethnic Chinese customers and employees in Hong Kong, which may not be generalizable to other contexts.

The findings highlight the need to recognize and manage the differences in the expectations and perceptions of service customers and employees, and the importance of inter‐cultural competence in managing intercultural service encounters.

The study extends the original ICSE framework by highlighting important differences between customers and employees in the strength of various relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a comprehensive framework incorporating service roles (customer vs employee) and outcomes (failure vs success) as moderators in the process by which perceived cultural distance (PCD) affects customers and employees in intercultural service encounters (ICSEs).

The authors used a 2×2×3 between-subjects experimental design with Chinese undergraduate students, manipulating service role (customer and employee), outcome (failure and success) and PCD (low, medium and high).

Compared to service employees, customers perceive higher cultural distance and lower interaction comfort (IC), service quality and satisfaction; and stronger negative moderating effect of PCD in ICSEs. Compared to service success, failure results in lower IC; perceived service quality and satisfaction, and these effects are stronger for customers (vs employees).

The authors used shorter versions of all the scales to minimize participant fatigue and to increase their involvement along with an experimental design with imaginary service scenario, both of which may restrict the generalizability of the findings.

Service managers should focus on customer education and employee training to reduce the negative impact of PCD and prevent service failure rather than try to improve service quality and satisfaction beyond customers’ expectations.

The authors extend prior research by exploring the moderating effects of service role (customer vs employee) and outcome (success vs failure) on the direct and indirect effects of PCD on IC, service quality and satisfaction.

In the 1990s and into the twenty‐first century, there has been a growing interest in understanding the development of service relationships. Trust and satisfaction have been highly recognized in the literature as effective elements for establishing successful relationships. However, little is known regarding their importance in cultivating relationships in an interactive‐selling context. The present study attempts to examine the influence of behavior and performance of salespersons on customers’ trust and satisfaction and, in turn, their anticipations of future interactions with the salesperson in the context of insurance services. A survey was conducted with customers from a large UK insurance company based in Hong Kong. The results show that satisfaction, the salesperson’s self‐disclosure and relation orientation significantly influenced future business opportunities. From the findings, a dynamic framework incorporating a set of interactive elements will be proposed. Managerial implications and directions for future research will be outlined and suggested.