Sources of Customer Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction with Information Technology Help Desks

As the use, development, and control of information systems diffuses through organizations and society, the importance of the information technology help desk in effective management and use of information resources increases. This study examines service encounters with help desks to understand the events and behaviors that cause customers to distinguish very satisfactory from very dissatisfactory service. While considerable research has investigated the determinants of customer satisfaction with service encounters in retail industries such as airlines, restaurants, and hotels, there has been little work investigating the dimensions of professional service encounters. Using the critical incident technique, the authors analyzed over 500 incidents from customers of information services. Help desk critical incidents were classified into three broad categories which were further subdivided into 12 categories which lead to satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The three broad categories, core service delivery failures, customer situation, and helper characteristics and behavior, were consistent with categories found in previous service encounter research, while the subcategories were different in several ways. This suggests that some dimensions of service encounter satisfaction are consistent across service industries, while others are context specific.     

The influence of customer-to-customer interactions and role typology on customer reaction

The service encounter is an important topic in service management. Although researchers have argued that customer-to-customer interactions may affect customers' evaluation of the service experience in service encounter contexts, the impact of customer-to-customer interaction on customer reaction has not been sufficiently studied. Consequently, the objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between customer-to-customer interactions, role typology and customer reaction. This research adopted questionnaires to investigate tourists traveling to foreign areas and concluded that the perception of customer-to-customer interaction incidents could be extracted into six factors. ‘Protocol and sociability incidents’ have a significant positive impact on customer satisfaction; ‘malcontent incidents’ have a negative impact; ‘crude incidents’ and ‘malcontent incidents’ have significant negative impact on customer loyalty; and finally, the customer's role typology moderates the relationship between ‘protocol and sociability incidents’ and customer satisfaction.     

An examination of consumer embarrassment and repatronage intentions in the context of emotional service encounters

Using an experimental repeated-measures design (n=240), this study examines the level of felt embarrassment and repatronage intentions in relation to 13 embarrassing service encounters. The manipulation of two independent variables, i.e. embarrassment source (i.e., service provider, others present and consumer) and embarrassment stimuli (violations of privacy, awkward acts, forgetfulness/error, image appropriateness and criticism) are represented by 13 hypothetical scenarios included in a self-report survey. The findings have relevance for theory and practice and provide direction for future research in this area.     

The journey from customer participation in service failure to co-creation in service recovery

Customer participation is growing into a widespread phenomenon in the service context. Despite the inherent significance of customer expectations to service failures in the high-participation service context, scant research exists on studying the links among customer participation, customer expectation of service recovery, and service outcomes (e.g., word-of-mouth or WOM). Even more pressing is the lack of research on the type of service recovery that can countervail the inflated customer expectation of service recovery and restore service outcomes. This research demonstrates that high contribution of customers in the beginning of service provision procedure leads to high recovery expectations and low satisfaction. The results also support that co-created service recovery (CCS-R), as contrasted to firm and customer recoveries, has a greater positive effect on satisfaction. Further, the contrasting impacts of each service recovery type on positive and negative WOM are presented. An experiment was conducted using service failure and recovery scenarios. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The current research has some important implications for scholars and managers who wish to effectively recover failed high-participation service encounters.     

Retail Banking and Customer Behaviour: A Study of Self Concept,Satisfaction and Technology Usage

Prior research has investigated the effects of self-image congruence on satisfaction and brand preference. With the help of empirical research, the paper argues that, while self-image congruence may be related to customer satisfaction in a normal context, it may not necessarily affect satisfaction levels when customers are using technology-based self-services. Furthermore, during encounters involving self-service technologies, customers might experience satisfying or dissatisfying incidents which may not be related to their overall satisfaction and brand preference levels. The paper discusses implications for brand managers in the retail banking sector and suggests future research directions.     

A cross-cultural perspective on the role of emotion in negative service encounters

The purpose of this research is to examine cross-cultural differences in emotional responses to negative service encounters and the consequent impact on behavioural intentions. Focus groups of UK and West African consumers discussed two video scenarios, described employee and consumer behaviour, and projected emotional responses. Although anger was a major emotion, African consumers emphasised feelings of ‘sadness’ (humiliation and embarrassment). Such feelings were more likely to influence switching and other behavioural intentions when attributable to employee behaviour. Differences were also identified in interpretations of employee behaviour and perceived attribution of negative emotions.     

The role of ethnicity in domestic intercultural service encounters

The current study investigates how ethnicity influences consumer (dis)satisfaction regarding service encounters in multicultural domestic service markets. The study interviews 306 ethnic Malay and Chinese respondents in Malaysia using the critical incident technique. The respondents provide 612 critical incidents for content analysis. Based on content analysis and inter-judge reliability, seven sub-categories (grouped within three major categories) emerge as integral determinants of service encounters in multicultural domestic service markets. The findings suggest intra- versus inter-ethnic affiliation between consumer and service provider influences the evaluation of domestic intercultural service encounters. Specifically, consumers are found to be more satisfied (dissatisfied) when service encounters are with service providers with the same (different) ethnic affiliation as themselves. The present study extends current literature by examining the role of ethnicity in service encounters in multi-cultural service markets. The identified determinants and associated findings from the present study further provide practical insights for managers regarding how different ethnic consumers are likely to respond to service encounters in such markets. The study indicates that different service expectations exist between consumers from different ethnic affiliations.     

Electronic and in-person service quality of hybrid services

The service industries have experienced dramatic changes in service delivery format because of fast-paced innovation in information technology. Hybrid services involve service deliveries through conventional and technology-enabled environments, each of which is complementary and non-interchangeable. However, limited research has examined consumer behavior in response to a series of relevant service episodes in different channels at different points in time. In other words, how customers perceive service quality at each service encounter and how the cumulative effect of these perceptions influences customers’ overall service value assessment and satisfaction remain unclear. This study addresses this research gap by investigating the sequential influence of e-service quality on in-person service quality in a hybrid service format in which interpersonal and computer-mediated services coexist but at different points in time. Empirical analysis shows that e-service quality directly and positively affects in-person service quality, which fully mediates the effects of e-service quality on perceived value and customer satisfaction. The sequence of service encounters matters because in-person service quality perception has a stronger effect than e-service quality on customer metrics. Cumulative quality perceptions significantly influence perceived value and overall customer satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented in the discussion.     

Effects of face masks and photo tags on nonverbal communication in service encounters

Facial expressions convey critical information for customers to evaluate a service encounter. Widespread mask-wearing since the pandemic began has brought challenges in decoding individuals' facial expressions. This study investigates the effects of face masks on customers' interpretations of frontline employees’ facial expressions across retailing and healthcare service contexts. The findings show that mask-wearing improves customer perception of service employees and behavioral intention when the employees display neutral or negative emotions. Photo tags, as an additional nonverbal signal, can enhance the positive perceptions of masked employees. This research suggests that service companies could incorporate face masks and photo tags as a cost-effective practice to improve service encounters beyond the current pandemic.     

Negative and positive customer shopping experience in an online context

Underpinned by the Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) goal setting and striving framework this research firstly develops a negative online customer experience model after which regulatory focus theory is used to compare this model with a positive online customer experience model. Analysis of responses from 201 respondents in the first study shows service failure causes negative affective and cognitive experience and has an impact on dissatisfaction and negative word of mouth in the online retailing context. Moreover, results of a second study among 200 respondents indicates that while customer priority in a successful shopping context is affective experience, in a service failure the customer priority moves from an affective to a cognitive experience. Similarly, compared to cognitive experience, affective experience has a higher impact on customer satisfaction and positive word of mouth in a successful shopping context, while in an unsuccessful shopping context cognitive experience has higher impact on dissatisfaction and negative word of mouth. The findings of this study contribute to customer experience management in both successful and unsuccessful shopping situations.     

Employee Mere Presence and Its Impact on Customer Satisfaction

Existing research suggests that humans are hardwired to be sensitive to the presence of other humans, and that the mere presence of someone is likely to affect human behavior. So far, however, this issue has been under‐researched in physical environments in which retail and service transactions take place and with respect to the mere presence of employees. This study examined empirically if the mere presence of an employee in a physical environment has an impact on customer affect (in terms of pleasure) and customer satisfaction. Two between‐subjects experiments, in two different settings, showed that the absence of an employee produced lower levels of pleasure and lower levels of customer satisfaction than the mere presence of an employee. The results also indicate that pleasure mediated the association between employee presence and customer satisfaction. In addition, a field study with mystery shoppers confirmed that the employee absent condition produced lower levels of satisfaction than conditions in which employees were visible.     

Employee display of burnout in the service encounter and its impact on customer satisfaction

This study examines if employee display of burnout symptoms in service encounters has an impact on customer satisfaction. An experimental approach was used in which the employee's display of burnout (absent vs. present) and the service performance level (low vs. high) were the manipulated factors. The results show that employee display of burnout had a negative impact on customer satisfaction, that this effect was mediated by customers’ appraisals of the employee's emotional state, and that the effect was stronger under the condition of low service performance.     

The role of memorable experience and emotional intelligence in senior customer loyalty to geriatric hotels

Drawing on service encounters and experiential marketing theories, this study examined the relationship between geriatric service, memorable experience, emotional intelligence, and senior customers' attitudinal and behavioural responses. The research was conducted at geriatric hotels in Portugal. The results showed that, compared to impersonal encounters, employee service has a significantly greater effect on customer satisfaction, memorable experience, and customer loyalty. In addition, customers' memorable experiences mediated the relationship between different service encounters and organisational outcomes. However, customers’ emotional intelligence had minimal effects on these relationships. The discussion and implications of these findings are offered to researchers and practitioners.     

The negative effects of expecting to evaluate: Reexamination and extension in the context of service failure

Service managers implement customer satisfaction evaluation cards (CSECs) to help them better understand and serve their customers. Yet a robust finding from recent research is that consumers who expect to evaluate provide lower satisfaction ratings than customers who are asked to evaluate without prior notice. This article reports results of two experiments that examine the effects of expecting to evaluate (here, the CSEC effect) in the negative context of service failure. The experiments utilize thought‐listing protocols to differentiate between vigilant processing (VPT) and negativity bias (NBT) theories and reinforce the internal validity of the CSEC effect. The studies also extend prior research by separating CSEC effects on evaluations of the service employee from CSEC effects on the service firm overall. Study 2 examines consequences of the CSEC effect not previously studied (switching, complaining, and negative word‐of‐mouth intentions) and extends external validity through an international replication. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploring the forms of dysfunctional customer behaviour: A study of differences in servicescape and customer disaffection with service

Abstract

Although wide agreement exists between scholars and marketing practitioners concerning the prevalence of dysfunctional customer behaviour, to date empirical research into this phenomenon is lacking. This article aims to identify empirically grounded categories of dysfunctional customer behaviours and examine the extent to which customers' perceptions of physical servicescape environments, social facets of servicescape, and customer disaffection with service differ for each category. Based on a quantitative sample of 380 consumer perpetrators, cluster analysis reveals three clusters of dysfunctional customer behaviour forms labelled ‘petty norm infringements’, ‘felonious norm infringements’, and ‘belligerent norm infringements’. Subsequent variance analysis assesses the perceived differences between perceived physical servicescape, social servicescape, and customer disaffection for each identified form cluster. Specifically, the study findings reveal statistically significant differences between the forms of dysfunctional customer behaviour that are perpetrated across different service environments. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study for theorists and practitioners.     

Consumer advocacy: Examining the feeling and doing following a failed service encounter

Dissatisfactory service experiences and consumer complaints following such experiences are everyday occurrences. Prior research has not only examined the emotions experienced because of failed service encounters but also has explored the resultant behaviours towards the service provider and the service. However, prior research does not distinguish between negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) motivated by marketplace-helping behaviour such as consumer advocacy and NWOM as venting triggered by emotions such as anger and frustration. The current study examines the direct relationship between regret and disappointment and consumer advocacy. Unlike past studies, the current study explores two types of customer dissatisfaction: agent based and outcome based. Study 1 uses a vignette methodology, and Study 2 uses experience sampling in which respondents provide personal episodes of failed service encounters. In contrast with a previous proposition, we find that regret has a significant negative relationship with consumer advocacy. Disappointment based on external events demonstrates a significant positive relationship, whereas disappointment caused by another person has a weaker relationship with consumer advocacy.     

White response to potentially discriminatory actions in a services setting

Discrimination in the marketplace is a significant problem for many blacks and for service providers. However, recent research suggests that some whites may respond similarly to blacks when they witness what they perceive to be a discriminatory act in a service encounter. Using an experimental design methodology, this research investigates the extent to which this occurs. The degree to which an observing customer values the other customer's welfare and feels empathy has been found to explain differences in service failure perceptions among white study participants. White participants high in empathy for blacks were found to react similarly to blacks relative to the inherent negativity of the service failure. This suggests that a service failure involving black customers that hints of discrimination has a greater overall impact on the long‐term success of the service firm than originally envisioned. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Collaborating online: the roles of interactivity and personalization

Collaborating with customers is considered a new source of competitive advantage so customer participation and involvement are emerging as key strategic factors. This research studies how interactivity and personalization influence both customers' participation during the online purchase of information services and their intentions to continue participating. It also analyzes whether personalization and interactivity improve customer involvement with the service purchased in online environments. Results verify the importance of interactivity and personalization to foster customer participation, involvement and intentions to continue participating. Moreover, it is found that interactivity moderates the effect of personalization, increasing its influence on service involvement and intentions to participate. This paper demonstrates the convenience of analyzing involvement and participation together in order to understand customer collaboration, as well as the importance of the purchase context from a participation and socialization perspective in the services arena.     

The impact of mood on customer behavior: Staff mood and environmental factors

This review looks at the effect of staff/server mood on customer/client mood and various outcome behaviours such as such as product and service evaluation. It also looks at the role of other stimulus factors such as scent, sound and light on customer affect and cognitions and thence the effects on purchase behaviours. Based on the service-profit chain model, this review considers the scattered research which empirically demonstrates the impact of staff mood upon customer mood and behaviour. The review then goes on to discuss the various ways in which a customer's mood influences their buying behaviour, as well as considering why and when this occurs. Other physical factors that influence customer mood are also considered. Implications for the management of sales staff and sales environments are considered.