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Companies are discovering the power of crowdsourcing as a source of new ideas for products and services. It is assumed that the personal engagement and the continuous involvement with a company’s products or services over a period of several weeks positively affect participants’ loyalty intentions toward the host companies. The research leads the authors to challenge this assumption. In addition to mere participation in crowdsourcing initiatives, the authors argue that perceptions of fairness will explain changes in customer relationship-related consequences such as loyalty, perceived innovativeness and product interest. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors analyzed a real-life crowdsourcing contest launched by a leading lighting manufacturer and investigated the impact of two fairness dimensions (distributive and procedural) on participants’ future behavioral and attitudinal intentions (n=121). The analysis was performed with SEM.

The results suggest that fairness perceptions are significantly related to evoked product interest, perceived innovativeness and loyalty intentions. The analysis reveals that the influence of the fairness dimensions is asymmetric: while distributive fairness can be considered as a basic factor that must be fulfilled in order to avoid negative behavioral consequences, procedural fairness instead is an excitement factor that causes truly positive behavioral consequences.

The results are particularly relevant for companies launching a crowdsourcing competition under their own brand name, and for broadcasting platforms. For companies with no relations to end-users, these findings may not be as relevant.

Organizers of crowdsourcing contests should be aware that such initiatives can be a double-edged sword. Fair Play is a must to gain the positive effects from crowdsourcing initiatives for both new product development and the customer relationship. For companies lacking the capabilities to manage crowdsourcing initiatives professionally it is advisable to rely on intermediary broadcasting platforms.

The research is the first to investigate systematically the consequences of fairness perceptions in a real-life crowdsourcing idea contest. The authors demonstrate the asymmetric nature of fairness perceptions on three different outcome variables that are important for the customer relationship.

Virtual crowdsourcing initiatives, and in particular crowdsourcing competitions, have become a promising means of harnessing users’ creativity to help corporate innovation. To date, research has tended to focus on the outcome of the competition, i.e. on the creative solution. There is, however, a lack of understanding in such crowdsourcing environments of the creative process itself and the influence of social interaction on the platform during this process. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors conducted a series of qualitative interviews with participants from a major European crowdsourcing platform. The platform acts as an intermediary between companies and firms, and has launched more than 370 idea competitions.

The results suggest that there are not only positive interactions going on between participants. Below the surface, there also appear destructive processes provoked by the fierce competition among the contestants for prizes and a position in the Top Innovator lists. Such destructive behavior includes bullying of successful contestants, excessive use of like-functions among befriended contestants, and mutual donation of prize money among in-group members.

Negative social interaction among contestants of crowdsourcing communities can potentially threaten the platform provider’s business model. Managers of crowdsourcing platforms should engage in the development of strong social norms explicitly disapproving destructive behavior.

This study is the first to investigate in detail the phase of idea generation on crowdsourcing platforms, and the nature and impact of social interactions among contestants.

Customer satisfaction is seen to be one of the main determinants of loyalty. However, the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty does not seem to be linear, many researchers have reported doubts about the predictability of loyalty solely due to customer satisfaction ratings which ignore image as predictor of loyalty. This paper aims to address the issues.

The authors report a study of ski resorts where they first established a causal model of customer satisfaction and image predicting customer loyalty, and then map the scores in a four‐fields‐grid. Additionally the authors conducted a moderator analysis to assess the relative importance of image and satisfaction for loyalty intentions between two different groups (first‐time‐visitors, and regular guests).

The results show that those ski resorts with the highest satisfaction ratings and the highest image ratings have the highest loyalty scores. Among first‐time‐visitors overall satisfaction is more important than image, with increasing number of repeat visits the importance of overall satisfaction declines and that of image relatively augments.

Besides measuring customer satisfaction, managers must assess also image ratings in order to get a realistic view of the loyalty intentions of their customer base. The scores can than be mapped together with the ratings of other ski resorts, and serve as a benchmark study.

Second order analysis of image (comprising three different dimensions), the image‐satisfaction‐grid, moderating effect of experience to relative importance of satisfaction and image on loyalty.

The purpose of this study is to replicate and extend the findings of Matzler et al.'s recent paper on the dimensionality of price satisfaction. Furthermore, a test is performed to ascertain whether the relationship between satisfaction with the individual price dimensions and overall satisfaction is symmetric or asymmetric, as the three‐factor theory of customer satisfaction suggests.

Based on a random sample of 406 bank customers, the impact of five price dimensions (price‐quality ratio, price fairness, price transparency, price reliability, and relative price) on overall satisfaction is tested using structural equation modeling with Partial Least Squares (PLS). The asymmetric relationship is tested using regression analysis with dummy variables.

The results confirm Matzler et al.'s findings and show that price satisfaction can be conceptualized as a multidimensional construct and that the five price dimensions have a strong and significant impact on overall satisfaction. Furthermore, it is shown that the relationship between satisfaction of individual price dimensions and overall price satisfaction can be asymmetric, indicating that the three‐factor theory of customer satisfaction is applicable also to price satisfaction.

The study replicates previous findings and supports the multi‐dimensional nature of price satisfaction and shows that the three‐factor theory of customer satisfaction applies also to price satisfaction.

The measurement of price satisfaction at the level of individual price dimensions and the assessment of asymmetric relationships provides managers with more precise data in order to take the right measures to increase satisfaction.

This paper confirms previous findings on the dimensionality of price satisfaction in a random sample of bank customers using structural equation modeling with PLS. Hence, it provides strong empirical support for Matzler et al.'s findings.

This study seeks to investigate the role of internet trust as a specific form of technology trust in the context of internet banking. Furthermore, the integration of propensity to trust within the hierarchical structure of personality and its applicability to technological systems are investigated.

The approach takes the form of an empirical study with 381 bank customers in Austria (adopters and non‐adopters) and the use of a basic model of the adoption of internet banking with structural equation modelling (SEM).

The results confirm the influence of internet trust on risk perception and consumer attitudes towards internet banking. Propensity to trust is a determinant not only for interpersonal relationships but also for trust in technological systems.

This is not a representative study. Future research is encouraged to systematically investigate further facets of the personality structure in trust and adoption research, as well as to test interaction effects of psychological determinants (from the study) and external stimuli (web site characteristics).

Making the internet banking interface for the customer more attractive and easier to navigate is not enough to increase the adoption rate of internet banking. Trust‐creating activities to increase internet trust and to diminish perceived risk must be continuously pursued. Propensity to trust is an important determinant in the fruitfulness of these actions.

The paper presents the conceptualization of internet trust as a specific form of technology trust, and its pivotal role in the adoption process of internet banking, together with the extension of the propensity to trust concept to technological systems.

This study intend to investigate a theoretical model looking at how particular tourist emotions, such as “joy,” “love,” and “positive surprise,” might predict their behavior by looking at how satisfied they are with their whole experience when visiting spas, and to examine the relationship of emotional experience, destination image, satisfaction and intention to revisit for spa tourism.

A sample of 345 individuals who traveled to Alleppey as domestic tourists participated in the research study. A non-probability (purposive) sampling method in this study. The structural model was analyzed using Structural Equation modeling (SEM), and the path coefficients were examined to test the hypotheses.

The results supported the hypotheses, indicating that specific emotions, image of the destination, and satisfaction significantly impacted tourists' intentions to revisit Alleppey as a spa tourism destination. This study demonstrated that “emotions of joy, love, and positive surprise” have a considerable influence on the image of the destination and satisfaction. The findings reveal a substantial correlation between satisfaction and behavioral intention (“Intention to revisit”). The research suggests that a higher degree of satisfaction would encourage visitors to revisit the location.

The research suggests that a higher degree of satisfaction would encourage visitors to revisit the location. This research offers vital information for developing, planning, and putting into practice tourism policies in the spa tourism sector. This article focuses on domestic travelers who travel to Alleppey, so the conclusions may not be relevant to research utilizing foreign tourists.

According to the literature study, and to the authors` knowledge, only limited number of studies that look at spa tourism from a wellness perspective. Additionally, Alleppey is used in the study as the study’s setting, providing insight into the visitor experiences of this expanding spa tourism business. This study gives understanding about how emotional experience predicts behavioral intentions.

This study aims to empirically develop a reliable and valid instrument measuring the online service quality in the context of the banking sector in India.

The methodological framework of this research comprises developing an instrument that is based on previous literature, qualitative and quantitative procedure. The study used the survey method and collected data via a well-structured questionnaire from a sample of active Internet banking users. The proposed instrument is identified by the data-reduction technique that is exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and validated through the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The results confirmed that the digital banking service quality scale (DBSQual) contains 24 items in seven dimensions: (1) web architecture, (2) user friendliness, (3) efficiency of website, (4) reliability, (5) responsiveness, (6) security and (7) personalization. The relationship between digital banking service quality and e-customer satisfaction has also been found to be significant in this study.

The results of this study do not find general application for different banks operating in the same sector in India. More testing of DBSQual is required across various different contexts for validity augmentation. In addition, findings would be more reliable if the non-Indian context could be taken into consideration. Thus, such limitations open a window for future research.

This study is quite fruitful for the banking organizations in measuring their online services, and enables them to implement their marketing and operational strategies more effectively and efficiently.

The contribution of this study is the development and validation of a new instrument that is DBSQual that contains seven determinants of customers' e-service quality perception, emphasis on measuring online service quality in the Indian banking sector. These determinants will offer banks a promising starting idea for establishing an effective quality management for their online businesses. They will be able to increase the opportunities by tapping themselves at a competitive edge.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the degree of satisfaction and loyalty of Chinese and Swiss fast‐food consumers. The aim is to compare Chinese/Swiss consumers' perception of meal quality, service quality, price and their influence on their satisfaction and loyalty. The image of fast‐food restaurants in the two countries is also compared.

Two on‐line surveys were conducted with two samples. The first one was conducted with Chinese consumers in China and the second one was conducted with Swiss consumers in Switzerland. The authors selected McDonald's as it is globally a standardized and well‐known fast‐food chain. They adapted items of SERVQUAL in order to apply it to the fast food industry and to measure service quality. Data analysis was performed using ANOVA. As they had several latent variables, the authors also used partial least squares (PLS), a variance‐based structural equation modeling method.

Results showed that Chinese consumers have a better perception of meal quality and a more positive image of McDonald's. As far as service quality perception is concerned, no major differences were observed. However, reliability and tangibles dimensions seem to be more positively perceived in China. The degree of consumer satisfaction is very similar between the two samples. However, the degree of loyalty of Chinese consumers is higher compared to Swiss consumers. In addition, the image of McDonald's seems to have a stronger influence on Swiss consumers' loyalty. Finally, the level of service quality perceived seems to have less impact on the image of McDonald's for Chinese consumers than for Swiss consumers.

First, as the authors selected McDonald's, they must be careful in the generalization of their findings to all fast‐food restaurants. Second, the two samples consist of students, which limits the generalizability of the findings. However, students are identified to be the current customers of fast‐food restaurants and consequently possess an intuitive understanding of fast‐food outlets.

As consumers in China perceive a better quality of meal in McDonald's, they might be willing to pay a higher price relative to their earnings. Compared to China, fast‐food managers in Switzerland should work harder in order to improve their image. Fast‐food managers must adapt themselves to the preferences of local consumers. However, this study also shows that not all variables are perceived differently by Swiss and Chinese consumers. This implies that some measures can be standardized in order to save costs.

The study investigates the impact of nationality on the whole model, defined by customer perception of fast‐food restaurants' image, product/service quality, satisfaction/loyalty, and finally price fairness. As China is a major player in the global market based on its size and growth potential, it is interesting to compare the antecedents of customer satisfaction and loyalty in China, with a culturally different country such as Switzerland.

This paper aims to explore the impact of the experience of a winery visit to the visitor’s emotions and the effect of these emotions on visitor’s intention to revisit and recommend a winery as consequences of visitor satisfaction.

The study adopted a multi approach of customer experience, suggesting that visitors base their experience perception on the servicescape attributes, other visitors’ suitable behaviours and their own yearn for cognitive learning and fun. Path analysis is adopted to measure the impact of these constructs on visitor’s emotions and the role of these emotions in predicting visitor’s satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Data are collected through a self-administered highly structured questionnaire, self-completed by respondents at each winery. A total of 615 usable responses are obtained from eight wineries.

The results indicate that emotions are arisen – in a context of wine tourism – as a result of visitor’s evaluation of winery environment (especially Atmospherics, Signage and Facilities), other visitors’ appropriate behaviour and visitor’s desire to learn something new and to have fun during the winery experience. Also, it is revealed that visitor’s emotions positively impact on his/her satisfaction, which in turn seems to be a significant predictor of his/her intention to revisit the winery and give positive word-of-mouth.

The findings broaden the knowledge on visitor’s winery experience and its impact on visitor’s satisfaction and future behavioural intentions. However, because the study focuses only on winery visitors in Greece, the research results may lack generalizability. The application of the study to other wineries would allow for wider generalisations to be made from the results obtained.

The overall findings may have significant implications for wine tourism industries. Also, it might be beneficial for wineries in their effort to provide a more valuable experience to wine tourists and in increasing wine tourists’ loyalty.

The paper’s originality lies in providing information to clarify the relationships between the constructs of experience, visitor’s emotions, satisfaction and future behavioural intentions in a winery setting. Also, this study provides new and practical insights of winery experience in the Greek context, an area where very limited research has been conducted. Finally, this is one of the few studies that focus on more than two servicescape elements and their impact on visitor’s emotions.

Based on a stimulus–organism–response theory, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine structural equation model linking personal involvement, positive emotions, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty among sport tourists to a mega sport event. Moreover, moderating effects of place attachment on the relation between the aforementioned variables were investigated.

The validities and reliabilities of the measures were investigated through confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha and correlation analysis. A structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood estimation was tested to analyze the relationships among the research variables using 383 participants.

The results revealed positive associations among stimulus (personal involvement), organism (positive emotions) and response (tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty). Moreover, the authors found moderating effect of place attachment on the relationships between personal involvement and positive emotions, personal involvement and tourist satisfaction and tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty.

This study holds the potential to aid destination managers in acquiring a more profound comprehension of how personal involvement contributes to elicit positive emotions, keep tourists satisfied and build destination loyalty as well as demonstrating the moderating roles of place attachment. However, generalizing the findings to alternative contexts presents a formidable challenge. Enhancing the applicability of these findings could be achieved through prospective research endeavors that explore visitors in diverse cities spanning various continents.

The study contributed to the literature by providing empirical evidence that personal involvement evokes positive emotions while also plays significant role in improving satisfaction and loyalty. Given the importance of experiences in sport tourism, this study also confirmed the role of positive emotions on tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty. Additionally, this study examined the moderating effect of place attachment, which has not been investigated in sport tourism context.