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1 – 10 of 37Nathalie Kron, Jesper Björkman, Peter Ek, Micael Pihlgren, Hanan Mazraeh, Benny Berggren and Patrik Sörqvist
Previous research suggests that the compensation offered to customers after a service failure has to be substantial to make customer satisfaction surpass that of an error-free…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research suggests that the compensation offered to customers after a service failure has to be substantial to make customer satisfaction surpass that of an error-free service. However, with the right service recovery strategy, it might be possible to reduce compensation size while maintaining happy customers. The aim of the current study is to test whether an anchoring technique can be used to achieve this goal.
Design/methodology/approach
After experiencing a service failure, participants were told that there is a standard size of the compensation for service failures. The size of this standard was different depending on condition. Thereafter, participants were asked how much they would demand to be satisfied with their customer experience.
Findings
The compensation demand was relatively high on average (1,000–1,400 SEK, ≈ $120). However, telling the participants that customers typically receive 200 SEK as compensation reduced their demand to about 800 SEK (Experiment 1)—an anchoring effect. Moreover, a precise anchoring point (a typical compensation of 247 SEK) generated a lower demand than rounded anchoring points, even when the rounded anchoring point was lower (200 SEK) than the precise counterpart (Experiment 2)—a precision effect.
Implications/value
Setting a low compensation standard—yet allowing customers to actually receive compensations above the standard—can make customers more satisfied while also saving resources in demand-what-you-want service recovery situations, in particular when the compensation standard is a precise value.
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Jannik Kretschmer and Peter Winkler
The debate on digitalization in the public relations (PR) literature has fragmented considerably over the past decade because of its focus on upcoming media-technological…
Abstract
Purpose
The debate on digitalization in the public relations (PR) literature has fragmented considerably over the past decade because of its focus on upcoming media-technological innovations, required professional skills and management concepts. Yet the field has difficulties in developing an integrative perspective on the implications of digitalization as a broader socio-technological transformation with a balanced consideration of prospects and risks.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes an integrative perspective that focuses more on the enduring imaginaries of how digitalization can transform society for better or worse. It traces the historical roots of five imaginaries of digitalization, which have already emerged over the past century yet have experienced a significant revival and popularization in the current debate. Based on these five imaginaries, the authors performed a narrative literature review of the digitalization debate in 10 leading PR journals from 2010 to 2022.
Findings
The five imaginaries allow for a systematization of the fragmented digitalization debate in the field, reconstructing recurrent narratives, prospects and risks.
Originality/value
The originality of this contribution lies in its reconstructive approach, tracing societal imaginaries of digitalization and their impact on the current disciplinary debate. This approach provides context for a balanced assessment of and engagement with upcoming, increasingly fragmented digital advancements in PR research and practice.
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Vonny Susanti and Andreas Samudro
This paper aims to investigate the influential aspects of industrial branding in building customer brand engagement from the buyer’s and the seller’s points of view. Collecting…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the influential aspects of industrial branding in building customer brand engagement from the buyer’s and the seller’s points of view. Collecting buyer and seller information is essential to understand business-to-business interaction better. Buyer’s and seller’s perspective integration is significant for stakeholders to develop proper strategies to achieve customer brand engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a structural equation model to examine the antecedents of customer brand engagement from the buyer’s perspective; then, the result is compared with the seller’s view by conducting an analytical hierarchy process. The authors exercise 140 valid data from the buyer’s industry and 9 experts from the seller’s industry.
Findings
This study finds that in developing customer brand engagement, rational brand quality is the most influential from the buyer’s view and top priority from the seller’s view. Surprisingly, both parties have different perspectives about the second and third priorities. The buyers put emotional brand associations as a second priority; perceived value is meaningless and insignificant. On the contrary, the sellers set the perceived value as the second priority and emotional brand associations as the last.
Research limitations/implications
The respondents from the buyer industry cover various industries, and the research is limited to the buyer and the seller in the chemical polymer emulsion market, a market where product quality and application quality on the buyers’ side are essential and where the buyer–seller interaction is intense. Replicating the study in other industries and cultural backgrounds is recommended for generalization.
Originality/value
The paper’s novelty is that there are different priorities and perspectives from the buyer’s and the seller’s views. This study contributes to industrial brand engagement research studies. Investigation of the buyer’s and the seller’s perspectives in industrial brand engagement research studies is still limited.
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Jorge Carlos Fiestas Lopez Guido, Jee Won Kim, Peter T.L. Popkowski Leszczyc, Nicolas Pontes and Sven Tuzovic
Retailers increasingly endeavour to implement artificial intelligence (AI) innovations, such as humanoid social robots (HSRs), to enhance customer experience. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Retailers increasingly endeavour to implement artificial intelligence (AI) innovations, such as humanoid social robots (HSRs), to enhance customer experience. This paper investigates the interactive effect of HSR intelligence and consumers' speciesism on their perceptions of retail robots as sales assistants.
Design/methodology/approach
Three online experiments testing the effects of HSRs' intellectual intelligence on individuals' perceived competence and, consequently, their decision to shop at a retail store that uses HSRs as sales assistants are reported. Furthermore, the authors examine whether speciesism attenuates these effects such that a mediation effect is likely to be observed for individuals low in speciesism but not for those with high levels of speciesism. Data for all studies were collected on Prolific and analysed with SPSS to perform a logistic regression and PROCESS 4.0 (Hayes, 2022) for the mediation and moderated-mediation analysis.
Findings
The findings show that the level of speciesism moderates the relationship between HSR intellectual intelligence and perceived competence such that an effect is found for low but not for high HSR intelligence. When HSR intellectual intelligence is low, individuals with higher levels of speciesism (vs low) rate the HSR as less competent and display lower HSR acceptance (i.e. customers' decision to shop using retail robots as sales assistants).
Originality/value
This research responds to calls in research to adopt a human-like perspective to understand the compatibility between humans and robots and determine how personality traits, such as a person's level of speciesism, may affect the acceptance of AI technologies replicating human characteristics (Schmitt, 2019). To the best of the authors' knowledge, the present research is the first to examine the moderating role of speciesism on customer perceptions of non-human retail assistants (i.e. human-like and intelligent service robots). This study is the first to showcase that speciesism, normally considered a negative social behaviour, can positively influence individuals' decisions to engage with HSRs.
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Riktesh Srivastava, Jitendra Singh Rathore, Samiksha Vyas and Rajita Srivastava
The purpose of this study is to look at the factors that drive people to participate in the sharing economy (SE). Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of…
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to look at the factors that drive people to participate in the sharing economy (SE). Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the study proposes a mathematical model. The study’s ultimate objective is to help businesses attract more involved customers and promote collaborative consumption as a sustainable alternative to typical consumption patterns. The study offers a conceptual framework established via a thorough literature review to examine Indian customers’ use behavior toward SE platforms. A one-sample two-tailed t-test is used to assess the framework’s efficacy. The research fills gap in the literature on the SE by investigating the factors that determine subjective norms (SN), attitudes (A), and perceived behavioral control (PBC). A framework is provided that takes behavioral intention (BI) contemplated as a mediating variable. The research improves TAM and TPB by including new factors such as technical characteristics. This research adds to the body of knowledge on the digital SE by underlining the relevance of usage behavior in comprehending Indian customers, where A, SN, and PBC are important aspects. The research presents a paradigm for better understanding customers’ attitudes and behaviors toward various SE platforms, which might help academics, practitioners, and policy makers situate their initiatives within the larger field of sharing. The study’s categorizations of Indian consumers’ A, SN, PBC, and BI toward the SE might potentially advise on future research and government policies.
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Shih Yung Chou, Katelin Barron and Charles Ramser
This article aims to develop a new theory that can better explain and predict how and when humans interact with commercial robots. To this end, utility maximization theory (UMT…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to develop a new theory that can better explain and predict how and when humans interact with commercial robots. To this end, utility maximization theory (UMT) along with four principles and propositions that may guide how human-to-commercial robot interactions are developed.
Design/methodology/approach
This article conceptualizes UMT by drawing from social exchange, conservation of resources, and technology-driven theories.
Findings
This article proposes UMT, which consists of four guiding principles and propositions. First, it is proposed that the human must invest sufficient resources to initiate a human-to-commercial robot interaction. Second, the human forms an expectation of utility gain maximization once a human-to-commercial robot interaction is initiated. Third, the human severs a human-to-commercial robot interaction if the human is unable to witness maximum utility gain upon the interaction. Finally, once the human severs a human-to-commercial robot interaction, the human seeks to reinvest sufficient resources in another human-to-commercial robot interaction with the same expectation of utility maximization.
Originality/value
This article is one of the few studies that offers a theoretical foundation for understanding the interactions between humans and commercial robots. Additionally, this article provides several managerial implications for managing effective human-to-commercial robot interactions.
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Anupama Sukhu and Anil Bilgihan
The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of service recovery experiences on customer engagement in negative word-of-mouth (WOM) in the hotel industry and explore…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of service recovery experiences on customer engagement in negative word-of-mouth (WOM) in the hotel industry and explore the psychological motives and mediating mechanisms driving consumer behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
A scenario-based experimental design on Qualtrics was used, with a pre-test (N = 200). The main study data were collected using Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform.
Findings
Findings reveal that negative service experiences lead to higher engagement in negative WOM compared to positive and satisfactory recovery service experiences. Even well-executed recovery efforts may not completely eliminate negative WOM. The mediating role of emotional responses is substantiated, as heightened negative service experiences result in more intense negative emotional responses, leading to increased engagement in negative WOM.
Originality/value
The study emphasizes the importance of service recovery strategies and the need for businesses to consistently strive for exceptional service quality. It also highlights the complexity of customer reactions to service experiences, suggesting that further research is needed to explore the factors that minimize negative WOM across various service contexts.
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Paola Lara Machado, Montijn van de Ven, Banu Aysolmaz, Alexia Athanasopoulou, Baris Ozkan and Oktay Turetken
Business models are increasingly recognized as a concept to support innovation in organizations. The implementation and operation of a new or altered business model involves the…
Abstract
Purpose
Business models are increasingly recognized as a concept to support innovation in organizations. The implementation and operation of a new or altered business model involves the (re-)design of an organization's business processes and their successful execution. This study reviews and synthesizes the existing body of literature to guide organizations in systematically moving from a business model design to the implementation and operation of the business model through their underlying business processes.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review of the methods that bridge business models and business processes is performed. The selected 34 studies are classified according to the method's characteristics and the support in the design, implementation and operation of business models.
Findings
The results of the systematic review provide an overview of existing methods that organizations can adopt when moving from business model design into the implementation and operation of their business model using processes.
Originality/value
This work provides a comprehensive overview and detailed insight into the existing methods that align business models and business processes. It increases the understanding on how these two concepts can be synthesized to support more effective digital innovation in organizations. Based on the review results, knowledge gaps are identified and an agenda for future research bridging the fields of business models and business processes is proposed.
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Johanna Gummerus, Catharina von Koskull, Hannele Kauppinen-Räisänen and Gustav Medberg
Past research on luxury is fragmented resulting in challenges to define what the construct of luxury means. Based on a need for conceptual clarity, this study aims to map how…
Abstract
Purpose
Past research on luxury is fragmented resulting in challenges to define what the construct of luxury means. Based on a need for conceptual clarity, this study aims to map how research conceptualises luxury and its creation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a scoping review of luxury articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Of the initial 270 articles discovered by using the database of Scopus, and after control searching in Web of Science and reference scanning, 54 high-quality studies published before the end of 2020 were found to meet the inclusion criteria and comprised the final analytical corpus.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that research approaches luxury and its creation from three different perspectives: the provider-, consumer- and co-creation perspectives. In addition, the findings pinpoint how the perspectives differ from each other due to fundamental and distinguishing features and reveal particularities that underlie the perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
The suggested framework offers implications to researchers who are interested in evaluating and developing luxury studies. Based on the identified luxury perspectives, the study identifies future research avenues.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the luxury research stream by advancing an understanding of an existing pluralistic perspective and by adding conceptual clarity to luxury literature. It also contributes to marketing and branding research by showing how the luxury literature connects to the evolution of value creation research in marketing literature.
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Konstantinos Solakis, Vicky Katsoni, Ali B. Mahmoud and Nicholas Grigoriou
This is a general review study aiming to specify the key customer-based factors and technologies that influence the value co-creation (VCC) process through artificial intelligence…
Abstract
Purpose
This is a general review study aiming to specify the key customer-based factors and technologies that influence the value co-creation (VCC) process through artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a theory-based general literature review approach to explore key customer-based factors and technologies influencing VCC in the tourism industry. By reviewing the relevant literature, the authors conclude a theoretical framework postulating the determinants of VCC in the AI-driven tourism industry.
Findings
This paper identifies customers' perceptions, attitudes, trust, social influence, hedonic motivations, anthropomorphism and prior experience as customer-based factors to VCC through the use of AI. Service robots, AI-enabled self-service kiosks, chatbots, metaversal tourism and new reality, machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) are technologies that influence VCC.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this research inform a theoretical framework articulating the human and AI elements for future research set to expand the models predicting VCC in the tourism industry.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined consumer-related factors that influence their participation in the VCC process through automation and AI.
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