Search results

This article explores the impact of crises, such as the coronavirus pandemic, on service industries, service customers, and the service research community. It contextualizes pandemics in the realm of disasters and crises, and how they influence actors' well-being across the different levels of the service ecosystem. The paper introduces a resources–challenges equilibrium (RCE) framework across system levels to facilitate service ecosystem well-being and outlines a research agenda for service scholars.

Literature on disasters, crises, service and well-being is synthesized to embed the COVID-19 pandemic in these bodies of work. The material is then distilled to introduce the novel RCE framework for service ecosystems, and points of departure for researchers are developed.

A service ecosystems view of well-being co-creation entails a dynamic interplay of actors' challenges faced and resource pools available at the different system levels.

Service scholars are called to action to conduct timely and relevant research on pandemics and other crises, that affect service industry, service customers, and society at large. This conceptual paper focuses on service industries and service research and therefore excludes other industries and research domains.

Managers of service businesses as well as heads of governmental agencies and policy makers require an understanding of the interdependence of the different system levels and the challenges faced versus the resources available to each individual actor as well as to communities and organizations.

Disasters can change the social as well as the service-related fabric of society and industry. New behaviors have to be learned and new processes put in place for society to maintain well-being and for service industry's survival.

This paper fuses the coronavirus pandemic with service and well-being research, introduces a resources-challenges equilibrium framework for service ecosystem well-being and outlines a research agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to replicate the EXQ measurement scale in the business-to-business (B2B) environment of two African countries. This paper contrasts EXQ’s measurement specification and structure in these two countries with a European sample.

This paper carried out two empirical studies to replicate and test the EXQ scale in an African context. Following the scale’s previous application, this paper replicated the EXQ in Morocco and South Africa, and added a European study conducted in the UK.

The findings highlight that, despite having the same customer experience (CX) delivery structure, the B2B experience in Africa differs significantly from other countries. Further research replicating CX measurement in the African environment is therefore needed, preferably starting with a qualitative study.

This study provides insight into how the B2B CX, measured by EXQ, differs from one country to another. Most significantly, the Moroccan sample demonstrates a never-before-reported high correlation between the service and post-purchase experience.

This viewpoint sheds light on an as yet underrepresented consumer group. Considering impaired consumers in our theories would not only change these theories’ meaning but also add variance. These theories would therefore develop from a specific case theory to a broadly acceptable and applicable theory.

As a viewpoint paper, this work relies on previously published literature and highlights exemplary shortcomings in the servicescape and customer experience theory.

The paper specifies shortcomings in the current theory development and application. While service marketing scholars consistently consider the normal and representative consumer, changing the customer groups will lead to a broader understanding of consumer behavior.

This paper not only highlights impaired consumers’ different needs and expectations, but also discusses the difference between impairment and disability. Given this distinction, the paper calls for further research on such consumers.

The customer experience (CX), as revealed in the literature-based debate, has been variously viewed as either a driver or an outcome of customer-perceived value (CPV). However, the association of CPV, CX and word-of-mouth (WoM) behavior remains nebulous to date, thereby generating an important research gap. In response and to bridge this gap, this study aims to explore CX’s role in the CPV–WoM behavior relationship, the role of WoM behavior arising from CX and whether CX acts as a core mediator (vs a moderator) in the association of CPV and subsequent consumer-behavior outcomes.

By conducting two studies spanning a broad range of services, this paper explores the relationship between CPV, CX, and WoM behavior through structural equation modeling.

The findings are that CX plays a crucial role in the CPV–WoM relationship, thereby confirming the existence of a direct link between CPV (social/hedonic/utilitarian value), CX and WoM. The results also highlight CX’s mediating role in the relationship between social and utilitarian (but not hedonic) values. Moreover, the results reveal that the EXQ scale, measuring CX, comprises distinct experiences perceived by high and low CX-based customer segments, respectively.

CPV (utilitarian, hedonic, social) not only affects consumers’ behavioral intentions but also, more importantly, their WoM behavior. Therefore, managers need to consider all three values. Moreover, managers should shift their focus from social value perceptions to CX. The results suggest that managers need to devote additional resources to the development of a suitable CX, which will help mitigate consumers’ online and/or offline brand-related WoM. This study indicates the context in which managers must emphasize the construct that produces positive outcomes.

By identifying a direct relationship between CPV, CX and the ensuing consumer-behavior outcomes, the study offers important theoretical insight into CX’s nomological network.

This empirical study examines the drivers of consumer intention to adopt wearable technology for healthcare in a South American country. Specifically, it proposes and tests a model of nonuser consumer intention to adopt fitness trackers for healthcare purpose in Chile.

This study draws on the technology acceptance framework UTAUT2 to develop and test a conceptual model of wearable technology adoption. Data were collected through an online survey applied to 470 nonusers of wearable technology in Santiago, Chile.

Findings indicate that hedonic motivation, social influence and perceived usefulness have the strongest influence on intention to adopt fitness trackers in Chile for healthcare. In addition, health motivation is an indirect predictor of consumer's intention to adopt wearable technology through its effect on perceived usefulness.

The study contributes to a better understanding of consumer intention to adopt wearable technology for healthcare objectives in a less developed country in South America. Findings are useful for wearable technology managers, retail business and public policymakers.

Despite the vast growth and importance of wearable technology for healthcare purposes, academic research considering less developed countries is scarce, especially the South American region. The proposed model and findings can extend this research gap. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed as well as implications for public policy.

The existing literature dealing with attractiveness during a service encounter focuses on employee attractiveness and its consequences. This paper aims to consider the other side of the coin by focusing on customers’ attractiveness.

On the basis of two studies, this paper presents and tests a model explaining the specific role that employee social attraction plays in customer service perception and satisfaction judgment.

It suggests that the appraisal of customers’ physical attractiveness and homophily may lead to situations in which employees are socially attracted to customers, thus influencing customer service perception.

Consequently, this research provides insights into the role of attraction determinants in a service context. In addition, it demonstrates how employees’ social attraction is triggered in a service context. The findings contribute to satisfaction research by extending prior research perceptions on dyadic service encounters and examining both employee attitude and customer perceptions in service interactions.

The purpose of this paper is to challenge earlier recommendations and explanations regarding companies’ behaviour after an economic shock and analyses worldwide retail companies’ internationalization processes before and after the 2008 crisis.

Drawing on information published between 2003 and 2012, the authors focus on the 2008 crisis and analyse 1,500 different internationalization moves by 109 companies from 26 countries.

The analyses confirm that the pace of retail internationalization increased after the 2008 crisis, that these companies had mainly moved into countries with newly developing economies, and that the entry modes ranged from high-cost entry modes and low-cost strategies.

This paper provides an initial indication of retailers’ actual internationalization behaviour in the period considered. Such material has not been available previously as international retailing research has primarily focused on theoretical assumptions. By focusing on the current financial crisis, the authors highlight the problem that researchers investigating various company behaviours face when comparing these to the theoretical expectations. By using a worldwide, multisectorial, and longitudinal retailing sample to illustrate the internationalization process, the authors not only generalize companies’ internationalization behaviour, but also challenge earlier recommendations and explanations regarding their behaviour after an economic shock.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of marketing in today's enterprises and examines the antecedents of the marketing department's influence and its relationship with market orientation and firm performance.

Data were collected from the West (i.e. the USA and Europe) and the East (i.e. Asia). Partial least squares (PLS) was used to estimate structural models.

The findings support the idea that a strong and influential marketing department contributes positively to firm performance. This finding holds for Western and Asian, and for small/medium and large firms alike. Second, the marketing department's influence in a firm depends more on its responsibilities and resources, and less on internal contingency factors (i.e. a firm's competitive strategy or institutional attributes). Third, a marketing department's influence in the West affects firm performance both directly and indirectly (via market orientation). In contrast, this relationship is fully mediated among Eastern firms. Fourth, low-cost strategies enhance the influence of a firm's marketing department in the East, but not in the West.

The paper assumes explicitly that a marketing department's influence is an antecedent of its market orientation. While the paper finds support for this link, the paper did not test for dual causality between the constructs.

Countering the frequent claim in anecdotal and journalistic work that the role of the marketing department diminishes, the findings show that across different geographic regions and firm sizes, strong marketing departments improve firm performance (especially in the marketing-savvy West), and that they should continue to play an important role in firms.

This paper aims to demonstrate how psychological safety influences individual contributions in customer groups where multiple customers co‐create a service experience. It also shows the influence of other customers' contributions on an individual customer's own contribution to the service experience as well as the individual customer's perception of his/her own and of other customers' contributions toward service satisfaction.

This empirical research paper is based on structural equation modelling to examine customer group experiences of two different service providers, a white water rafting company and an indoor soccer company. Data from a survey of a combined total of 273 consumers were utilised to test the research model.

The results demonstrate that, on an aggregate level, psychological safety affects an individual customer's perception of his/her own and others' contributions to a service experience. The findings show that the contributions of others have a significant influence on one's own contribution. No influence or relationship could be found regarding one's own contribution and service satisfaction; however, other customers' contributions have a negative effect on an individual's service satisfaction. The results vary on a subsample level.

The generalisability of the findings is limited to two customer group services, one group sport experience and one group leisure experience.

This research provides insights for service firms with respect to managing the provider‐to‐multi‐customer co‐creation interface.

This article contributes to the analysis of co‐creation efforts of individuals in groups with respect to a specific environment (psychological safety). It adds value to the discussion of factors that influence the partial creation of a service by individuals while interacting with one another and the impact on the perceived outcome. The paper provides a platform for further research on aspects of co‐creation in customer groups.

The authors aim to present partial least squares (PLS) as an evolving approach to structural equation modeling (SEM), highlight its advantages and limitations and provide an overview of recent research on the method across various fields.

In this review article, the authors merge literatures from the marketing, management, and management information systems fields to present the state-of-the art of PLS-SEM research. Furthermore, the authors meta-analyze recent review studies to shed light on popular reasons for PLS-SEM usage.

PLS-SEM has experienced increasing dissemination in a variety of fields in recent years with nonnormal data, small sample sizes and the use of formative indicators being the most prominent reasons for its application. Recent methodological research has extended PLS-SEM's methodological toolbox to accommodate more complex model structures or handle data inadequacies such as heterogeneity.

While research on the PLS-SEM method has gained momentum during the last decade, there are ample research opportunities on subjects such as mediation or multigroup analysis, which warrant further attention.

This article provides an introduction to PLS-SEM for researchers that have not yet been exposed to the method. The article is the first to meta-analyze reasons for PLS-SEM usage across the marketing, management, and management information systems fields. The cross-disciplinary review of recent research on the PLS-SEM method also makes this article useful for researchers interested in advanced concepts.