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1 – 10 of 77Zeeshan Riaz and Muhammad Ishfaq Khan
The purpose of this paper is to examine the asymmetric impact of service failure severity and agreeableness on consumer switchover intention with the mediating role of consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the asymmetric impact of service failure severity and agreeableness on consumer switchover intention with the mediating role of consumer forgiveness in the aftermath of service failure.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 364 university students were given a hypothetical service failure situation and their response was collected through a standardized questionnaire. Multiple regression and Preacher and Hayes (2004) mediation analysis tests were conducted to analyze data.
Findings
The findings reveal that service failure severity has a direct positive impact on switchover intention and it also has an indirect impact on switchover intention through consumer forgiveness which it tends to weaken. On the other side, agreeableness has a direct negative impact on switchover intention, and it inhibits switchover intention indirectly too by stimulating forgiveness.
Research limitations/implications
A cross-sectional study involving convenience sampling has been conducted through self-report measures. Generalization of the research findings shall therefore be done with caution.
Practical implications
Severity of failure hampers forgiveness and therefore service managers should check factors that may challenge the tolerance level of consumers. While gauging satisfaction in post failure scenario, it is equally important to gauge consumer forgiveness.
Originality/value
This study is among the initial endeavors to explore forgiveness in service failures context. Also it is the first validation of a direct positive relationship between agreeableness and forgiveness in a South Asian country.
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Myriam Ertz, Émilie Boily, Shouheng Sun and Emine Sarigöllü
The purpose of this study is to examine the process underlying how consumers shift roles from users to suppliers of goods or services in the collaborative economy (CE). It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the process underlying how consumers shift roles from users to suppliers of goods or services in the collaborative economy (CE). It examines quantatively the impact of a series of explanatory variables underlying that switchover process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study identifies and tests the key factors that motivate the user-provider transition by introducing the spillover effect from the proenvironmental literature into collaborative practices and using four experimental designs. Considering behavioral characteristics, context, intrinsic variables and socialization, this study provides an in-depth understanding of the process of transition from user to supplier in the CE.
Findings
The results suggest the interactive nature of the spillover as peer influence boosts changes in individual motivations, preferences and behaviors. Furthermore, promoting solidarity between members of the CE platform facilitates the transition of participants from users to providers. In addition, the users’ perception of socialization, satisfaction and sense of indebtedness may also play a significant role in the transition.
Research limitations/implications
The study highlights the process underlying the switchover from user to provider at the prosumer level. More specifically, this study identifies key variables influencing the intention to switchover in the CE by drawing on the spillover effect from pro-environmental behavior and considering the spillover as an interactive process.
Practical implications
Managers who wish to develop collaborative systems must attract a critical mass of providers to ensure the viability of their systems. Instead of recruiting new providers, managers may convert existing users into providers. This study identifies the key variables to modulate to this end.
Originality/value
The findings offer important managerial implications and shed new light on the CE literature.
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Carlo Giglio, Irina Alina Popescu and Saverino Verteramo
This paper aims at understanding the differences between user profiles in collaborative consumption (CC) platforms in order to improve their management approaches and set up…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at understanding the differences between user profiles in collaborative consumption (CC) platforms in order to improve their management approaches and set up customized strategies. Particularly, the authors investigate the emerging role of prosumers and their influence on the active participation and growth of CC platforms. Moreover, the authors study user experience to help promoting users' recommendation and offering intention.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample includes responses from 6,388 users of CC platforms across the EU. The data were collected through the European Commission's Flash Eurobarometer survey 467 and analyzed through a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).
Findings
The PLS-SEM findings suggest that prosumers are more likely than consumers to recommend and offer services through CC platforms. Furthermore, previous experience using platforms positively affects the switch from consumers to prosumers. The fsQCA suggests that only economic advantages affect the switchover decision.
Research limitations/implications
This study deepens the hitherto unexplored prosumer role in CC platforms and its antecedents and drivers.
Practical implications
The main limitations concern the generalizability outside of the EU, the unbalanced coverage of sectors and the number of moderator variables.
Social implications
Prosumers act as golden actors because they contribute to enlarge both the customer base (through recommendations) and the provider base (through offering intention). Hence, managers should focus on prosumers' experiences to increase the critical mass and positive externalities of CC platforms.
Originality/value
This study helps understand the importance of the role of prosumers in the growth of CC platforms. The study provides more robust results through a cross-country and mixed-method research.
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Mengwei Zhang, Jinsheng Cui and Jianan Zhong
With the increasing use of robots in service scenarios in hospitality industries, service failure frequently occurs during the service process, and consumers may react differently…
Abstract
Purpose
With the increasing use of robots in service scenarios in hospitality industries, service failure frequently occurs during the service process, and consumers may react differently toward humanoid vs. nonhumanoid robots due to different performance expectancies. This study focuses on consumers' reactions to service failures by humanoid vs. nonhumanoid robots and the different impacts on brand forgiveness and revisit intentions through performance expectancy for different genders.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a sample of 280 participants to test the moderated chain mediation model. The participants were instructed to report their performance expectancies for humanoid/nonhumanoid robots and imagine a hotel check-in scenario in which a service failure occurs. Brand forgiveness, brand revisit intention and other demographic information were assessed.
Findings
The results show that consumers have higher performance expectancy for nonhumanoid robots. This performance expectancy generates brand forgiveness and revisit intentions for male consumers but does not affect female consumers' forgiveness and revisit behaviors.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by taking a long-term perspective to investigate the outcomes after service failure, providing evidence for pending questions in previous studies and enriching studies of gender differences. Additionally, this study provides practical implications to consider the use of anthropomorphism in robots, advocate for functional confidence in robots and target consumers across genders.
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Ramakrishna Salagrama, Sanjeev Prashar and Sai Vijay Tata
This study aims to investigate antecedents of forgiveness from the non-complainers point of view after a service failure in India.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate antecedents of forgiveness from the non-complainers point of view after a service failure in India.
Design/methodology/approach
This study bases itself on the theoretical foundations of the Cognitive Emotive Coping model. In the first study, a survey-based design was used for soliciting responses from 291 respondents. An experimental research design was undertaken in the second study, and data were recorded from 120 respondents. Data were analysed using both SPSS and AMOS.
Findings
All the antecedent variables, except, affective commitment was found to influence forgiveness significantly. Further, forgiveness also positively influenced repurchase intentions and had a negative influence on negative word-of-mouth. The findings also suggest that the service failure severity effectively moderates the relationship between empathy and forgiveness.
Originality/value
This paper extends the cognitive emotive coping model from the non-complainers point of view by adding relational constructs to it. This study observes that affective commitment is not necessarily related to forgiveness in contrast to existing literature. The relationship between empathy and forgiveness is stronger when failure severity is low.
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Marc Fetscherin and Alexandra Sampedro
This paper aims to explore and discuss the concept of brand forgiveness. It empirically assesses the relationships among three types of brand transgressions, brand forgiveness and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore and discuss the concept of brand forgiveness. It empirically assesses the relationships among three types of brand transgressions, brand forgiveness and three consumer coping strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
A 3 × 2 research design is used to evaluate the effects of three types of brand transgression (performance, image and value) and two degrees of severity (high vs low) for brand forgiveness. Then, this paper use a 2 × 3 research design, evaluating two degrees of brand forgiveness (high vs low) together with their effects on three different consumer coping strategies (switching, attacking and purchasing again). Using a representative sample of 472 US consumers, various hypotheses related to these research designs are tested.
Findings
The results show that almost half (48 per cent) of the consumers are unlikely or very unlikely to forgive a brand compared to about a third (32 per cent) who are likely or very likely to forgive. The results of ANOVA show the more severe the brand transgression, the less likely the forgiveness. Consumers who are more likely to forgive are less likely to avoid the brand or engage in attacking behaviors; they are also more likely to purchase the brand again. The results of regression analyses show that consumers witnessing a performance-based brand transgression are more likely to forgive the brand than in the case of image- or value-based brand transgressions.
Originality/value
This paper explores and outlines the brand forgiveness construct, both theoretically and empirically.
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Andreawan Honora, Kai-Yu Wang and Wen-Hai Chih
This research investigates the role of customer forgiveness as the result of online service recovery transparency in predicting customer engagement. It also examines the…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates the role of customer forgiveness as the result of online service recovery transparency in predicting customer engagement. It also examines the moderating roles of timeliness and personalization in this proposed model.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey study using retrospective experience sampling and a scenario-based experimental study were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
Customer forgiveness positively influences customer engagement and plays a mediating role in the relationship between service recovery transparency and customer engagement. Additionally, timeliness and personalization moderate the positive influence of service recovery transparency on customer forgiveness. The positive influence of service recovery transparency on customer forgiveness is more apparent when levels of timeliness and personalization decrease.
Practical implications
To retain focal customers' engagement after a service failure, firms must obtain their forgiveness. One of the firm's online complaint handling strategies to increase the forgiveness level of focal customers is to provide a high level of service recovery transparency (i.e. responding to their complaints in a public channel), especially when the firm is unable to respond to online complaints quickly or provide highly personalized responses.
Originality/value
This research provides new insights into the underlying mechanism of customer engagement by applying the concept of customer forgiveness. It also contributes to the social influence theory by applying the essence of the theory to explain how other customers' virtual presence during the online complaint handling influences the forgiveness of focal customers in order to gain their engagement. Additionally, it provides insight into the conditions under which the role of service recovery transparency can be very effective in dealing with online complaints.
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Rana Muhammad Umar and Salman Saleem
Employees' emotional competence (EEC) is gaining increasing attention in service failure and recovery research. This study investigates the mediating role of consumer forgiveness…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees' emotional competence (EEC) is gaining increasing attention in service failure and recovery research. This study investigates the mediating role of consumer forgiveness between perceived EEC and recovery satisfaction among casual dining consumers. Additionally, this study examines the effect of perceived EEC on recovery satisfaction across process failure vs outcome failure.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical incident technique (CIT) in conjunction with a self-administered online survey was carried out. Using the snowball sampling technique, a total of 204 useable responses were collected. To test the hypotheses, this study used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The study finds that perceived EEC influences service recovery satisfaction. Additionally, the study identifies the mediating role of consumer forgiveness in the relationship between perceived EEC and recovery satisfaction. Multi-group moderation analysis shows that the relationship between perceived EEC and recovery satisfaction is weaker in process failures as compared to outcome failures.
Practical implications
Based on obtained results, this study recommends that after service failure consumer forgiveness and subsequent recovery satisfaction can be obtained with perceived EEC. To do so, managers need to incorporate emotional competence while recruiting and training the employees. Moreover, managers need to train employees on failure types and respective recovery strategies. Lastly, the study suggests that in emerging markets managers should pay greater emphasis on process failure, because such failure decreases customer satisfaction greatly than outcome failure.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the impact of perceived EEC on consumer forgiveness which subsequently determines the recovery satisfaction in the emerging markets. It extends the application of the emotional contagion and affect infusion theories by exposing the effect of perceived EEC on recovery satisfaction through consumer forgiveness. In addition, the study provides insights that the influence of perceived ECC on recovery satisfaction significantly varies across service failure types.
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Mahafuz Mannan, Md. Fazla Mohiuddin, Nusrat Chowdhury and Priodorshine Sarker
The purpose of this paper is to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness in the context of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness in the context of the Bangladeshi mobile telecommunications market (MTM). In addition, this study develops three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction: financial factor, technological factor, and customer service factor.
Design/methodology/approach
A model is developed and tested using PLS-SEM with a sample size of 442 respondents. The three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction were developed using a panel of five industry experts.
Findings
Financial, technological, and customer service factors were found to have significant positive effects on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction and perceived switching costs were found to have a significant direct effect on switching intentions, and perceived switching costs and perceived alternative attractiveness were found to have significant moderating effects on switching intentions through customer satisfaction. However, no significant direct effect of perceived alternative attractiveness on switching intentions was found.
Originality/value
This is the first study to link customer satisfaction, switching intentions, perceived switching costs, and perceived alternative attractiveness using structural equation modeling in the context of the Bangladeshi MTM. In addition, three key formative determinants of customer satisfaction are developed.
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