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The purpose of this paper is to examine whether customer-company identification (CCI) can transfer from one organization to the next within the context of service alliances.

A between-subjects experiment using a fictitious alliance and a field study focused on a real alliance tests identification transfer at the time of a service alliance announcement and while the service alliance is in operation.

Identification transfer is enabled by an exclusive service alliance but not an inclusive one. For identification transfer to be maintained, customers must perceive the companies as a coherent group (i.e. high entitativity) and have close physical proximity to the alliance.

By drawing heavily on self-categorization theory for the proposed effects, the current research provides a new theoretical framework to the service and brand alliance literature that contrasts with the attitude-based theories commonly used. Furthermore, the current research explores how company-company relationships influence CCI whereas most research has focused on characteristics of the customer-company relationship. These two differences suggest service alliances provide more value to the companies and customers than currently realized.

Customer complaints and service recovery via virtual customer service channels (VCSCs) present unique recovery situations unlike those commonly found in traditional complaint handling channels. Some of these distinct challenges include the presence of multiple customers during a recovery, which creates the possibility for uncivil customer-to-customer (C2C) exchanges to harm a complainant’s experience. To this end, this paper aims to explore customer- and firm-level aspects as they relate to social media complaint handling. A customer-level moderator (attitude toward complaining) and a firm-level moderator (relative promptness of the response) are examined.

Data from three studies use partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze hypothetical failure and complaining scenarios on VCSCs. Study 1A (a firm’s social media channel) and Study 1B (a firm’s online support community) investigate how a complainant’s predisposition toward complaining ultimately influences their experiential value (hedonic, pragmatic and sociability) during a virtual service recovery that includes uncivil communication from another customer. Study 2 further examines how the relative promptness of a service provider’s response either before or after uncivil C2C interactions hinders a complainant’s experiential value during the service recovery encounter.

The results show support for the influence of attitude toward complaining and the relative promptness of response as impactful to a complainant’s hedonic, pragmatic and social experience in virtual service encounters that involve one customer rudely interjecting into a complainant’s online service recovery encounter.

This research is one of the first to apply both customer- and firm-level moderating aspects associated with virtual service recovery encounters. The studies quantitatively assess the moderators’ influence on online dysfunctional behavior’s relationship with C2C fairness perceptions, and the subsequent experiential value a complainant receives on VCSCs. In particular, the investigation of relative promptness of a service provider’s response is a unique conceptualization that expands prior recovery studies’ focus on promptness or quickness of a recovery. The authors put forth a more prompt response that benefits the firm by purposively and symbolically closing out the encounter on VCSC, which somewhat reduces the negative effects of rude follow-up comments. This study is also novel because of the experiential focus on C2C interactions during recovery, rather than focusing on how a firm resolves a failure. In addition, this is the first service recovery study to assess multiple types of online customer service channels. Implications are put forth for service recovery theory and managers who attend to customer complaints on virtual channels.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of different antecedent factors (contingencies) on the design of a service recovery system (SRS).

A conceptual model was framed and a series of hypotheses generated and tested using data from 158 practicing managers using a multivariate general linear modeling technique.

The analyses indicated that firms, by and large, mainly considered environmental factors in the SRS design. Additional evidence suggests that managers do consider other contingencies but may do so in a fragmented manner. The results presented herein indicate that firms design back-office aspects of SRS in response to external factors (i.e. the environmental contingency). In contrast, the front-office components appear to have more diverse antecedents but are strongly influenced by the firm’s recovery orientation. The specific recovery practices appear to be implemented per industry standards. In sum, evidence indicates that there are diverse driving factors to total SRS design.

Limitations are based primarily on the methodology as data were obtained from a single person who represented the entire SRS. Care was taken in the study design in order not to compromise the validity of the findings.

The results indicated that managers responsible for system design need to be holistic in SRS design to more tightly link decisions across multiple contingencies so as to more fully integrate total service system design. This is potentially accomplished through the inclusion of aspects of all relevant contingencies when designing recovery systems.

This paper’s main contribution is that it employs established theory to develop and test a model to show that firms consider multiple contingencies while designing SRS. It contributes to the emerging body of work on SRS design by providing insights that can be considered as driving forces behind the design of SRS.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently having a dramatic impact on marketing. Future manifestations of AI are expected to bring even greater change, possibly ushering in the realization of the fourth industrial revolution. In accord with such expectations, this paper aims to examine AI’s current and potential impact on prominent service theories as related to the service encounter.

This paper reviews dominant service theories and their relevance to AI within the service encounter.

In doing so, this paper presents an integrated definition of service AI and identifies the theoretical upheaval it creates, triggering a plethora of key research opportunities.

Although scholars and practitioners are gaining a deeper understanding of AI and its role in services, this paper highlights that much is left to be explored. Therefore, service AI may require substantial modifications to existing theories or entirely new theories.

Previous studies of general practitioner views of paediatric home care have presented a rather negative view of such services. This study examines GPs’, nurses’ and managers’ views of a new, acute paediatric hospital‐at‐home nursing service in Rugby. Methods used are qualitative and quantitative questionnaires and interviews, including Likert‐type scales and open questions. Contrary to the mixed and somewhat negative findings of previous studies, this study reports positive views on the impact of hospital‐at‐home in Rugby, in terms of acceptability and impact on the roles and responsibilities of GPs.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

Inside information about companies is in demand. Out of some 400 CD‐ROMs related to business, for instance, over a third deal with company data (141 titles). Even so, when information managers and business librarians were asked to suggest ideas for new CD‐ROM titles, several said they wanted even more company information discs. Online, you can find more information about more companies in more countries every month. The big boom at the moment is in data from East European and Soviet companies. Yet here, again, there is a cry for more — especially in the way of reliability and quality.

Future needs play an important part in economic action. They urge private householders as well as society as a whole to choose between the immediate consumption of income and the saving of income for present and future satisfaction. In this situation of choice in economic conduct, Böhm‐Bawerk (1851–1914), the well‐known Austrian economist of the second generation, analysed the subject of time preference and put forward an explanation for interest. The aim of this essay is to review this theory and to assess its significance for present‐day economics.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of user personality and vlaues on the number of connections users make, the number of requests for connections that users give out, and the number of connections invitations users receive.

This is a field study of 179 participants interacting in a novel virtual world. The world’s server logs are used to capture sociometrics about the users and their interaction.

Findings suggest that personality and values influence the number of friends users make and the number of friendship requests users give out, but not the number of friendship invitations users receive. Only one personality trait – conscientiousness – exhibits homophily.

Perosnality and social value orientation have rarely been studied together in information systems (IS) research, despite research showing the two have an impact on IS relevant constructs. The use of server logs for data capture is novel. Avatar friendship is an under-researched concept in IS.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the aftermath of the 2006-07 financial crisis and attempts to identify a range of causes that were responsible for it and are likely to trigger similar events in the future. The analytical tradition established by the study of white-collar crime provides the background for such an examination, which avails itself of some conceptualisations derived from classical economic thought.

Explanations of financial crime can resort to general theories based on allegedly universal values. They can posit the existence of criminaloids, namely, individuals who indulge in illegal practices, or ‘honest fraud’, while not deeming themselves culpable. Anomie and control theory in criminology have highlighted how the causes of financial crime are associated with general criminogenic contexts or with individual propensities or mindsets. This paper adds to the existing perspectives a number of variables that can provide a more nuanced picture of financial crimes.

This paper attempts to identify a range of discrete variables that can be termed interstitial in the sense that they can accompany a variety of theoretical hypotheses, locate themselves in the space left in between the different approaches while providing supplementary analytical foci. Ignorance, entitlement, reverse Keynesianism, recklessness, efficiency and the finance curse may offer additional angles from which the causation of financial crime can be observed. Sociological and criminological arguments, in this paper, are interspersed with notions derived from classical economics.

The originality of this contribution is to be found in its use of different theoretical traditions, establishing a dialogue between social theory, criminology and economic thought.