The Effects of Airline Mergers on Consumers' Perceptions of Services and Behavioral Responses

Prior literature focuses on customer satisfaction in the airline industry, while research on consumers' perceptions and behavioral responses to airline mergers is limited and understudied. This paper conducts a field survey on the merger between United and Continental Airlines to examine the effects of an airline merger on passenger satisfaction, service value, and behavioral intentions through perceived service quality. Data were collected from airline passengers arriving at three US airports in two phases: before and after the merger across a period of four years. The results show a noticeable increase in customer satisfaction and positive behavioral responses with the postmerger United Airlines due to the perceived improvement in service quality. This study provides insights into the role of airline mergers in improving customer satisfaction, implications for airline managers, and directions for future research.     

Customer response to intangible and tangible service factors

This research investigates the question: Does the physical environment of service delivery settings influence customers' evaluations of the service experience and subsequent behavioral intentions? Theoretical and empirical data from environmental psychology suggests that customer reactions to the tangible physical environment may be more emotional than cognitive, particularly when involving hedonic consumption. This article integrates environmental psychology into SERVQUAL (a current measure of service quality) to enable a fuller assessment of the role of the tangible aspects of service delivery. Based on consumer surveys in three leisure service settings, the findings are that the tangible physical environment plays an important role in generating excitement in leisure settings; excitement, in turn, plays a significant role in determining customers repatronage intentions and willingness to recommend. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The effects of social justice and stigma-consciousness on gay customers' service recovery evaluation

This study examines how social justice and the stigma-consciousness level of gay customers influence their service recovery perceptions. The results, based on an experiment involving 379 gay respondents, indicate that distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice significantly affect gay customers' service recovery evaluations (satisfaction) and post-complaint behavioral intentions (negative word-of-mouth and repatronage). Also, higher stigma-consciousness gay customers show more negative service recovery evaluations and behavioral intentions than those with lower stigma-consciousness. Service providers who are interested in attracting and maintaining gay customers should create awareness among their employees about stigma-consciousness.     

Customer Satisfaction with Consumption Systems

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research examines how satisfaction toward a product and its associated services offered together by a single provider jointly affects behavioral intentions toward the provider.

Design/methodology/approach: In this study, empirical tests were conducted using longitudinal data spanning 5 years from a multinational company that offers both products and associated services as part of a consumption system to their customers.

Findings: Results show a joint congruent effect of product and services satisfaction on behavioral intentions is linear and positive. It appears that offering great service cannot compensate for less-than-adequate satisfaction toward the product. The results further highlight decreasing customer sensitivity to improvements in both sources of satisfaction and imply that focusing on too high levels of one type of satisfaction for their customers can actually be counterproductive for firms.

Research Limitations: Our model was tested using the data obtained from a single firm. Future research could test this model with data from multiple firms in various different industries and establish broader generalizability to the findings.

Practical Implications: Findings provide managers with insights on how to allocate resources across product and service spaces and to manage product and services revenues over time. Results also indicate that customer behavioral intention ratings are more weighted on product quality over the service received by them. However, mere improvements in the product cannot provide the highest desired results and therefore quality improvements in the product need to be complemented by improvements in service quality.

Originality/Value: There is a rapid emergence of the phenomenon of manufacturers providing both products and services as an integrated consumption system to their customers. While the provision of both product and service subsystems by the same firm leads to certain synergies, there are obvious costs to the development of new service capabilities and coordination with existing product capabilities. Our research intends to address this issue.     

The Impact of “Encouragement” in the Development of Professionals for the Non-Profit Service Sector

Abstract

This study examines the role of perceived intent in the context of penalty evaluation. Based on prior attribution research, the study proposes that customers' responses to penalties are different depending on their perceptions of the organization's intent of using penalties. Using the data collected across the service industry, the study shows that when customers perceive the organization's intent as defensive rather than offensive, their evaluations of the penalty and the organization (e.g., perceived justice, satisfaction, behavioral intentions) are more positive than when they do not. Managerial implications are offered.     

Perceived quality, emotions, and behavioral intentions: Application of an extended Mehrabian-Russell model to restaurants

In order to address a lack of comprehensive evaluation of restaurant quality, this study extends Mehrabian and Russell's stimulus-organism-response framework by incorporating restaurant-specific stimuli and including restaurant-specific measures of emotion. Using structural equation modeling, this study shows that atmospherics and service function as stimuli that enhance positive emotions while product attributes, such as food quality, act to relieve negative emotional responses. Results also suggest that positive emotions mediate the relationship between atmospherics/services and future behavioral outcomes. The results are theoretically and practically meaningful because they address the relationships among three types of perceived quality (product, atmospherics, and service), customer emotions (positive/negative), and behavioral intentions in the restaurant consumption experience. Managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions are also suggested.     

The Effect of Requests for Positive Evaluations on Customer Satisfaction Ratings

In order to focus service employees’ attention on delivering high levels of customer satisfaction, many companies directly reward (or punish) employees who deliver high (low) levels of satisfaction as reported in companies’ formalized satisfaction measurement processes. As a result, many frontline service employees attempt to influence their customers’ satisfaction evaluation by specifically asking them for positive ratings on surveys completed after the service encounter. Using psychological reactance theory, this research considers the impact of requests for positive evaluations on customers’ satisfaction and future intentions. The results indicate that customers who were asked to provide a positive evaluation actually report lower levels of satisfaction compared to customers who were not asked. The results also indicate that the request for positive evaluation has a negative influence on customers’ repurchase intentions and positive word‐of‐mouth intentions, but only for customers who had a more internal locus of control compared to those with a more external locus of control.     

Predicting satisfaction and intentions to use online food delivery: What really makes a difference?

ABSTRACT

Online food delivery (OFD) is no longer a new concept for the majority of Americans. Large food delivery companies make millions in revenues and those numbers are expected to increase. This study was conducted to investigate customer intentions to use OFD services through the evaluation of satisfaction, food quality, and OFD service quality. The OFD service quality was assessed via e-SELFQUAL dimensions, and included perceived control, service convenience, customer service, and service fulfillment. The study determined that food quality, control, customer service, and service fulfillment affect customer satisfaction in online food delivery services. Customer satisfaction showed a strong positive impact on behavioral intentions to use OFD.     

Conceptualising consumers’ word-of-mouth behaviour intention: evidence from a university education services in Malaysia

The aim of this study is to propose a theoretical model to examine consumer word-of-mouth (WOM) behavioural intention in Malaysian education services. The results from a survey of 247 respondents indicate that servicescape, service recovery, service quality and satisfaction significantly affect consumers’ intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The results support majority of the hypothesized relationships, suggesting that servicescape and service recovery function as antecedents, directly affecting consumer perceptions of education service quality. The analytical results also demonstrate that perceived service quality positively affects satisfaction, which subsequently induces consumers’ behavioural intentions. Consistent with previous empirical studies, our findings suggest that satisfaction is a super-ordinate construct with a positive relation to behavioural intention, and significantly mediates the effect of service quality on the intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The insignificant direct effect from service quality to WOM further suggests the role of satisfaction as a complete mediator in the university education service setting. Implications for future research are discussed and limitations noted.     

Revisiting customers' perception of service quality in fast food restaurants

This research is an extension to previous work in fast food restaurant marketing. The population of this research consists of actual fast food restaurant customers. Following the literature, data are analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Structural Equation Modeling, and Path Analysis. Findings of this work identify factors impacting customer satisfaction, as well as dimensions of service quality and their rankings in the fast food restaurant context. Results indicate that there is no direct way of increasing behavioral intentions through improving service quality for fast food restaurants. Rather, behavioral intentions can be improved through customer satisfaction as an intermediary. Further, this work finds evidence that customer satisfaction can be improved through service quality, food quality, and price-value ratio, which in turn would pave an indirect path toward improvement in behavioral intentions in this industry. Results of this research shed light on prioritizing managers’ focus and resource allocation for customer satisfaction and different dimensions of service quality and can be used by fast food restaurant managers to set guidelines and strategies in providing better service to their customers.     

The influence of the DinEX service quality dimensions on casual-dining restaurant customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions

The following empirical study examines the effects of specific service quality dimensions from the DinEX model on customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The originality of DinEX over other restaurant service quality instruments is primarily its focus on dimensions such as social connectedness and homophily, which represent social constructs that portray an internal sense of belonging and the tendency for people to affiliate with similar others. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed in an independent casual-dining restaurant located in the southeastern United States and a sample of 209 respondents was obtained. Results show that food healthfulness and food quality have an influence on customers’ satisfaction, which in turn affects their behavioral intentions. The implications for practitioners are discussed in detail.     

Equity ownership and control of international joint ventures in the retail sector

Abstract

This study examines the relationships that exist between consumers' perceptions of a retail environment and their emotions, satisfaction and behavioural intentions with respect to that shopping setting. A model of these relationships is developed and then tested in two distinct retail settings—shopping centres and traditional retailing areas. The results show that, in general, positive perceptions of a retail environment have a positive influence on positive emotions, on repatronage intentions, and on the desire to remain longer in the shopping area in both retail settings. However, some interesting differences emerge between shopping centres and traditional retailing areas: (i) the internal environment has a stronger effect on emotions in shopping centres than in traditional retailing areas; and (ii) the internal environment has a negative effect in shopping centres on the disposition to pay more.     

Retail service quality,corporate image and behavioural intentions: the mediating effects of customer satisfaction

This study investigates the relationships between service quality, corporate image, satisfaction and behavioural intentions. A structural equation modelling (SEM) approach is applied to test the proposed conceptual framework, using data collected from 404 supermarket customers in China. The structural model suggests that customer satisfaction fully mediates the impact of retail service quality on behavioural intentions (e.g. intention to recommend and repurchase). The results also indicate that retail service quality significantly influences customer perceptions of corporate image. The relationship between corporate image and behavioural intentions is fully mediated by satisfaction.     

An integrative model of customers' perceptions of health care services in Taiwan

As the health care service gets more competitive, health care practitioners and academic researchers are increasingly interested in exploring how patients perceive the quality and value of their care before building up their satisfaction levels and generating behavioural intentions. Drawing some theories from marketing and health care service literature, this study tries to propose an integrative model of customers' perceptions of health care services based on the established relationship among four key constructs (service quality, perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions). Structural equation modelling is then used to validate the model. As Taiwan's universal health insurance offers every citizen equal financial access to all health care providers, Taiwan offers a good opportunity to study how the patients' perception model is structured. The findings reveal both perceived quality and value as antecedent variables in this model illustrating direct and indirect paths from perceived quality and value to patient satisfaction and behavioural intentions.     

The impact of buy-online-and-return-in-store channel integration on online and offline behavioral intentions: The role of offline store

Retailers have treated the buy-online-and-return-in-store (BORS) policy as an important initiative to reduce return losses and provide a better customer experience. Studies on BORS policy have primarily focused on the retailer's strategic value, but not on how such a seamlessly integrated omnichannel operation affects customer behavior. Using Chinese customer data and the structural equation model (SEM), we investigate how BORS channel integration impacts customer behavioral intentions, with the consideration of the mediating effect of customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of offline store characteristics. Based on the stimulus-organism-response framework, our research found that two dimensions of BORS channel integration (integrated return fulfillment and integrated customer service) positively impact customer satisfaction and subsequently impact behavioral intentions in different channels. Furthermore, offline store convenience moderates the relationship between integrated customer service and customer satisfaction. Product variety in the offline store moderates the relationship between customer satisfaction and offline behavioral intentions, while it is not statistically significant in the relationship between customer satisfaction and online behavioral intentions. Compared to the younger group, the older group who is satisfied with BORS service is more likely to purchase offline. These findings generate important theoretical and practical implications for omnichannel return operations.     

Relationships and impacts of service quality,perceived value,customer satisfaction,and image: an empirical study

In today's world of intense competition, satisfying customers is only the base line and may not be sufficient for survival. Management should focus on gaining customer loyalty by enhancing customer perceptions of service quality and increasing as perceived by the consumer value. Although previous studies have addressed the importance of service quality, satisfaction, perceived value, and image, the precise nature of the relationships that exist between these constructs and the understanding of their effect on customer behaviour still remains a key issue. This empirical study seeks to understand the relationships that exist between service quality and perceived value and how they impact customer satisfaction, corporate image, and behavioural intentions. The proposed model indicates that delivering high quality service and creating superior customer value can result in achieve high customer satisfaction, thus effecting the firm's corporate image, and ultimately leading to consumer retention.     

A valued agent: How ECAs affect website customers' satisfaction and behaviors

Building on literature related to selling and embodied conversational agents (ECA), this research seeks to determine how the use of an ECA might improve users’ perceptions of shopping value (hedonic and utilitarian) and the consequences for their purchase intentions and satisfaction with the website. This analysis focuses specifically on three ECA usage consequences: playfulness, decision quality, and social presence. Hedonic value mediates the effects of playfulness and social presence on satisfaction and behavioral intentions; utilitarian shopping value mediates the effects of decision quality. The results highlight the importance of accounting for both utilitarian and hedonic features to understand ECA outputs in e-commerce sites.     

Providing a critical service today for tomorrow's consumers: A relational model of customer evaluations and responses in the child care industry

Based on data collected in the important and rapidly expanding child care services industry, this study develops and tests a model that examines the relationships among customers’ evaluations of service performance dimensions, their satisfaction with and trust in the organization, as well as their word-of-mouth intentions and also investigates the role of social status in the proposed relationships. The results show that non-interpersonal (i.e., hard) service quality attributes have a greater impact on customer satisfaction while interpersonal (i.e., soft) service quality attributes have more influence on trust. Word-of-mouth intentions are primarily driven by trust and the hard dimension of service performance. Social status is shown to act as a moderator of many of the relationships in the model. The findings of the study offer important implications for providers of child care and other consumer services that are high in credence qualities.     

The influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention

The impact of employee performance on customer behavioural intentions and consumption behaviour is important to service marketers. In many service settings, service organizations require emotional display and personal selling to stay competitive in todays market. Based on a review of service literature, this study investigates the effect of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer purchase amount and re-patronage intention in convenience-goods retail service settings. This work applies mystery shopper methods to data collected from a Taiwan bakery chain. Analysis of the results from 519 responded questionnaires in this study reveal that positive emotions displayed by contact personnel are unrelated to consumption expenditure, but do affect re-patronage intention. Further, the results show that personal selling negatively influences consumption amount. This study suggests that service managers consider enhancing their emotional display perspective in human resource practices, and focus on performing personal selling as a consumer need, in different service industries.     

The behavioural sequence of the financial services industry in Taiwan: Service quality,relationship quality and behavioural loyalty

This study develops and empirically tests a model for examination of the relations among service quality scales, relationship bonding tactics, customer satisfaction, trust and commitment, and customer behavioural loyalty in a relationship marketing system. This paper aims to test the relationship between perceived service quality satisfaction and relationship intentions, or, in other words, whether or not consumers will consider building long-term relationships with service providers on the basis of a single instance of perceived service quality. Based on three groups of samples from XYZ bank, one of the most famous banks providing merchant banking services in Taiwan, the findings suggest that financial products with different product attributes need different kinds and levels of service and relationship investment. The findings also suggest that there does exist a positive relationship between service quality satisfaction and perceived relationship investment.