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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the service literature by investigating post-consumption evaluation in the context of unwanted services. In particular, it intends to delineate the main characteristics of funeral services.

Given the lack of substantive literature on funeral services, a qualitative exploratory design was used from in-depth interviews with ten managers of funeral services companies in Quebec (Canada).

The study shows that compared to other traditional services, funeral services are characterized by their strong emotiveness, non-recurrence, irreversibility, uncommonness, high level of symbolism and personalization and emotion control of the service provider. The study also argues that funeral services quality is strongly dependent on funeral houses’ integrated logistics, proximity and integrity.

Because of consumers’ lack of competency, funeral companies need to guide and educate consumers about the criteria they should use to evaluate the service quality. Because funeral consumers are strongly emotion-driven at the purchase time, funeral services providers should find the right balance of emotions to express. Thus, more staff training is needed.

Because funeral services are emotionally challenging and deal with grief and distressed clients, the present study contributes in shedding light on service quality assessment in the funeral industry. Although they have some characteristics of traditional services (intangibility, perishability and variability), funeral services are also different in many ways.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of multiple actors in the value creation process for a preventative health service, and observe the subsequent impact on key service outcomes of satisfaction and customer behaviour intentions to use a preventative health service again in the future.

An online self-completion survey of Australian women (n=797) was conducted to test the proposed framework in the context of a free, government-provided breastscreening service. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM).

The findings indicate that functional and emotional value are created from organisational and customer resources. These findings indicate that health service providers and customers are jointly responsible for the successful creation of value, leading to desirable outcomes for all stakeholders.

The results highlight to health professionals the aspects of service that can be managed in order to create value with target audiences. The findings also indicate the importance of the resources provided by users in the creation of value, signifying the importance of customer education and management.

This study provides a significant contribution to social marketing through the provision of an empirically validated model of value creation in a preventative health service. The model demonstrates how the creation and provision of value can lead to the achievement of desirable social behaviours – a key aim of social marketing.

The use of humor is quite prevalent in the promotion of US goods and services. Estimated expenditures on humorous advertisements are in the billions and a majority of advertisements may contain some humorous elements. Unfortunately, not much attention has been focused specifically on the role of humor in the advertising of services. By using the available humor‐related literature and synthesizing it with services marketing literature, a set of logically supported propositions was determined. Specifically, propositions are offered regarding the ability of humor to attract attention, increase comprehension, effect source credibility, and enhance liking. In addition, audience factors, the nature of the service product, the superiority of humor over non‐humor, the relatedness of humor to the product and the extension of humor into the international marketplace are examined.

This paper seeks to draw from services marketing theory as an alternative and under-used pathway to social and behaviour change for the achievement of societal well-being. Social marketing services are an important part of social change programmes as they contribute towards service users’ health, well-being, and the fulfilment of social marketing goals. However, value destruction can occur in users’ service experiences, leading to a decline rather than improvement of their well-being. The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of the value destruction process and identify the outcomes in social marketing services from a consumer’s perspective.

A qualitative exploratory study using a focus group (n = 4) and individual depth interview (n = 4) methods was undertaken. The discussions were guided by a semi-structured interview guide and were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim.

Thematic analysis of the data revealed two value destruction processes: incongruent resource application and misuse of firm resources. The value destruction processes suggest three types of outcomes: reduced usage of the service, termination of service and strategic behavioural actions.

This study is the first to examine value destruction processes and outcomes in social marketing services from a consumer’s perspective. This study contributes towards the small but growing body of research on value destruction in both commercial and social marketing by challenging the assumption that value creation is always positively valenced and responding to critique that there is currently insufficient focus on value destruction in service research and its impact on well-being.

This paper aims to explore a health at work initiative (“Fair Chance at Work”) for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and identify opportunities for improving engagement of businesses in such activities.

A case study approach is used

Two problems are identified ‐ engagement and participation. A model of engagement incorporating aspects of Prochaska and DiClemente's transtheoretical model of behaviour change is proposed based on findings from the case study and existing literature. It is concluded that improving the engagement of SMEs requires a greater understanding of their current needs, perceptions and attitudes towards health at work. Schemes such as the Teaching Companies Scheme could be useful in testing the model.

The Teaching Companies Scheme could be useful in testing the model.

These findings may inform the development of health promotion projects to SMEs using an applied model behaviour change.

This paper is useful to health promotion workers when developing projects in SMEs.

This research aims to focus on the impact of the metaverse on services marketing. After reviewing the past, current and anticipated future of the metaverse, the authors offer multiple research opportunities in accordance with theories germane to the services literature.

The current research uses a conceptual approach focused on key service theories and their relevance in the metaverse.

The metaverse presents a new paradigm of the customer experience, thus providing an opportunity for service researchers to advance this developing field. Further, the potential shortcomings of existing theory are explored, both within and external to services, to discover important areas for service scholars to examine. This results in research opportunities and questions for scholars to pursue as the metaverse continues to develop and shape consumer experiences.

Technological advancements have enabled the service sector to grow and thrive in the metaverse. It is evident that despite the metaverse’s growth, there remains a tremendous amount left to examine. Existing theories need to be reexamined and modified, or alternative theories reviewed to inform service research on the metaverse. Thus, the present research seeks to provide insight into opportunities for theory development by service researchers and identifies important areas of future scholarly work on the metaverse.

Marketing literature on consumer behavior has been generally oriented toward the “at‐need” purchase, goods that are purchased only when current consumption needs are felt. Marketing management strategies have been proposed under the assumption that buying occurs shortly before actual consumption. Behavior patterns that did not fit this mold were either ignored or given the label of unsought goods. This standard approach has overlooked purchase behavior that has a time Jag to consumption. “Pre‐need” goods are purchased in anticipation of their future use. This article identifies the characteristics of “pre‐need” goods and services and elaborates on them through case examples. Finally, a case is advanced for the important managerial and research implications of including the “pre‐need” dimension in consumer behavior analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of Malaysian consumers' personal values and sales promotion preferences on their overall behavioural intention and purchase satisfaction.

In total, 1,300 questionnaires were distributed and collected by hand through hired enumerators in 13 different states in Malaysia (Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor and Terengganu). This research was carried out for four different type of consumer product (convenience, shopping, specialty/luxury and unsought product). Data were analysed using General Linear Model-Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and General Linear Model-Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to test for difference between independent and dependent variables.

The findings suggest that sales promotion technique preferences will have an impact on consumers' behavioural intention and purchase satisfaction for all the product types studied. On the other hand, there is no significant impact in consumers' purchases satisfaction and behavioural intention by personal value for all the product type studied.

The findings from this research have expanded current knowledge and academic studies done on similar areas of research where this research detail the association of personal value and sales promotion techniques preferences on consumers' purchase satisfaction (attitude) and behavioural intention (behaviour) for different types of consumer products. The research suggests to managers in Malaysia that it is crucial to understand the characteristics of their products when selecting appropriate strategies and sales promotion techniques for better market segmentation and targeting.

This research is the first of its type where only a minimal number of studies have looked into these issues (personal values and sales promotion techniques preferences) from a business perspective.

This study aims to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) companies build brand personality via the products they provide and via their interactions with customers.

A multiple case study, which spans 10 years, investigates via interviews, observations, workshops and document analysis how two fast-growing B2B companies selling industrial equipment to manufacturers build brand personality.

The studied companies concentrate on different brand personality dimensions depending on the activities in which they engage. By focusing on brand competence in the realm of the actual product and brand warmth in the realm of the augmented product, the companies manage to create a complete and consistent brand personality.

The research approach provides in-depth knowledge on how the companies build brands for a specific type of B2B product. However, the article’s perspective is limited to that of management and therefore does not take customer reactions into account.

The study describes how firms can build strong B2B brands by emphasizing competence in product design and R&D and warmth in activities related to sales and customer service.

The study introduces a conceptually consistent view of brand personality in the form of warm and competent brands to the B2B marketing literature. It builds on and contributes to the emerging research on B2B brand personality. By relating the companies’ brand-building activities to the type of products they sell, this study illustrates how context affects B2B brand building, and by integrating brand personality theory with product levels and marketing philosophy, it extends previous theory on B2B branding.