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The purpose of this paper is to test the efficacy of disclosing unit pricing and increasing the type size of complex terms and conditions in advertising. This is in line with recommendations made by global telecommunications regulators, including in Australia, to protect consumers in selecting mobile plans.

The authors employed a 2 (unit price disclosed: no, yes)×3 (type size: nine-, 12- and 15-point terms and conditions) full factorial, between-subjects experimental design using a scenario and fictional advertisements for 24-month mobile phone plans. This was complemented by 24 in-depth interviews with consumers who had recently purchased “real” plans and their assessment of these.

Extra information in the form of unit pricing has a positive influence on consumers’ value perceptions, but not on perceived confusion or risk. Presenting complex terms and conditions in larger type increases consumers’ perceived confusion and risk, but not perceived value, as consumers have difficulty understanding the complicated information presented.

This study focused on a single country market for one product type of mobile phones, using a limited range of mobile plans.

Public policymakers and providers are advised to pre-test planned changes to advertising’s informational content prior to implementation to identify the efficacy of proposed changes to protect consumers. Consumers may also need to be educated to accurately interpret complex plans.

The study contributes to the domain of informational content in advertising as a form of consumer protection. The effect of unit pricing and larger type for terms and conditions on consumer perceptions has not been examined previously in complex product settings.

This paper aims to present two updated typologies of service failures and recoveries in the omni-channel context. These typologies are based on customer complaints and recoveries collected from the corporate Facebook pages of four omni-channel department stores, two operating in Australia and two in the UK.

A document review is used of 400 customer complaints and recoveries. Content analysis is used to condense the Facebook data into categories of failures and recoveries.

Customer complaints on Facebook were triggered by a multitude of varying failures in the omni-channel context, given that it is the service brand that customers are experiencing, not just retail channels. The most prevalent failures were “bricks and mortar” shopping, delivery, marketing activities including communications and pricing, quality of goods and customer service. For service recoveries on Facebook, the four-dimensional justice framework appears valid.

Study limitations include potentially missing details about the nature of the service failures and recoveries, including customer satisfaction with service recovery.

The typologies offer guidance to omni-channel retailers by showing the range of online and offline situations, including those unrelated to actual transactions that trigger customer complaints on Facebook and the tactics of recovering.

The authors contribute to the service domain by updating failure and recovery typologies to reflect the emerging omni-channel context, jointly exploring failures and recoveries on Facebook and applying a four-dimensional justice framework for recoveries on Facebook.

This paper aims to develop and empirically test a theoretical framework of consumer engagement with brands on Twitter.

Depth interviews were conducted to gain initial insights into consumer engagement on Twitter. Using a blend of the extant literature and interview findings, a theoretical framework, including antecedents, outcomes and moderators, was developed and empirically tested using cross-sectional survey data.

Brand customer service and brand intimacy positively influence consumer engagement on Twitter, and consumer engagement mediates the relationship between these antecedents and consumer co-promotion intentions. Consumer perceptions of a brand account’s popularity on Twitter and their likelihood of adding value to a brand are found to be moderators within the conceptual framework.

Caution needs to be exercised in generalising these findings beyond the Twitter context, and the use of a cross-sectional survey means causality cannot be inferred.

Brands need to be perceived as providing excellent customer service and intimate brand knowledge on Twitter to drive consumer engagement and co-promotion. Brands are recommended to develop strategies to increase their Twitter following, including rewarding consumers for their contributions on the brand’s Twitter account to signal that they are valued.

The authors add to the emerging literature on consumer engagement on social media in two key ways, by developing and testing a theoretical framework of consumer engagement in the Twitter context and by identifying moderators in the consumer engagement process on Twitter.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the factors driving and mitigating the experienced vulnerabilities of women undergoing the transformative service of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), and how this influences women’s evaluations and intentions.

The conceptual framework was tested using quantitative data collected via an online survey of Australian women who have undergone IVF treatment. Hayes’ PROCESS macro was used to analyse the data.

The results indicate that women’s persistent goal-striving alongside their perceived personal sacrifices influence the association between their need for parenthood and their experienced vulnerability. Institutional factors such as IVF clinic technical and interpersonal quality influence these consumers’ IVF experience evaluations and word-of-mouth (WoM) intentions.

This study’s results are limited to women who are undergoing IVF treatment. Further empirical work is needed to deepen the understanding of the role played by partners and other family members in women’s IVF experiences.

IVF clinics can reduce women’s experienced vulnerability by encouraging women who have a good probability of succeeding to persist in the pursuit of the goal of conceiving a child via IVF. This can be achieved by enabling and empowering them so that they give themselves the best chance during treatment, thus facilitating their control. Managing the expectations of those women with a lower probability of success is also recommended. The importance of the technical and interpersonal quality delivered by IVF clinics in influencing the positive evaluations and behavioural intentions of women experiencing vulnerabilities is further highlighted.

This study contributes to the transformative service research literature by: examining the IVF transformative experience, which has been largely overlooked; focussing on the intersection of transformative services and consumers experiencing vulnerability, which is an emerging research area; and testing a framework quantitatively that intermingles individual and institutional factors as antecedents and consequences of consumers’ experienced vulnerabilities, advancing the existing conceptual and qualitative work.

This study aims to examine the influence of different self-service technologies (SSTs) on customer satisfaction with and continued usage of SSTs. Specifically, it compares an interactive voice response (IVR) SST and an online SST from the same provider to assess how to manage these parallel SSTs.

A tracking study was used, beginning with a survey of n = 957 SST users to test a model pertaining to SST satisfaction across IVR and online SSTs. These SST users were then tracked over 12 months. The association between customer satisfaction with and continued usage of the SSTs was examined using behavioural data from the service provider.

While the overall model was found to be valid across both types of SSTs, perceptions of factors including ease of use, perceived control and reliability differed for IVR and online SSTs. Satisfaction with SSTs is linked with users’ continued use of SSTs, but is not a barrier to users’ adoption of newer SST forms.

Highlighting the rapid developments in this field, a new SST was introduced by the provider to respondents during the 12-month tracking period, thus complicating the results. Further studies could include the customer purpose for using SSTs as a variable.

The findings offer support for organisations offering a suite of SSTs, even if they serve the same purpose. Customers evaluate SST types differently, and even satisfied SST users switch to different SSTs when they become available. Allowing customers to choose the SST that best suits them appears to be good practice.

This study develops a comprehensive model of customer SST satisfaction that is used to undertake a comparison of two different types of SSTs, which has been missing from prior research.

This is a systematically conducted study to design, develop and validate a measuring instrument to assess the nurses quality of work life (QWL) and determine the vital components of nurses' QWL.

In this methodical study, vital dimensions of nurses QWL are identified using Pareto analysis; data and information were collected from 474 nurses through the structured questionnaire. By conducting exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the number of dimensions and items was reduced. Through the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using SPSS 21 software, nine predominant dimensions were confirmed, they are work environment, working condition, work–life balance, compensation, relationship and cooperation, stress at work, job satisfaction, career development and organization culture. Additional structural equation modeling (SEM) was done to determine the interrelationships between extracted nine components using AMOS. By performing different statistical tests like reliability test, content validity, construct validity, convergent, divergent validity and multicollinearity, the proposed nine-component nurses QWL instrument was validated.

The proposed measurement model explained 73.18% of total variance; reliability of the instrument Cronbach's alpha value is 0.902. Model fit indices like chi-square df (CMIN) = 685, df = 523, CMIN/DF = 1.310, goodness-of-fit index (GFI) = 0.965, adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) = 0.937, parsimony goodness-of-fit index (PGFI) = 0.918, incremental fir index (IFI) = 0.933, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.921, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.931 and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.036 fulfill the acceptable criteria. The nine factors nurses QWL measuring instrument is reliable and statistically valid.

Data were collected from 474 nurses, poor responses and time constraints.

Hospitals are trying to improve the quality of patient caring by enhancing the nurses' skill sets, knowledge and attitude to meet global challenges. In this unstable business environment, hospitals face challenges like the high attrition rate and skilled nurses shortage. In this scenario, this study provides a valid instrument to measure the QWL of nurses to know the status of QWL, which will help to build a strategic plan to improve retention rate and to attract the talented workforce to the hospitals.

As a result, the scale developed in this study contributes to the body of the literature on nurses QWL. It seems to be more advantageous for carrying out further research in this field.