Relational benefits,their consequences,and customer membership types

The purpose of this research is to develop and test a theoretical model in which customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between a firm's relational benefits efforts (i.e. psychological, social, and special treatment benefits) and customer voluntary performance behaviors. Through a review of literature, a conceptual model was developed and then tested utilizing data collected from 522 hotel restaurant patrons. The results indicated that customer relational benefits influence customer voluntary behaviors, the impact of which is mediated by customer satisfaction. More importantly, it was found that the relationships among relational benefits, customer satisfaction, and customer voluntary performance differ depending on whether the surveyed customers had paid or free memberships with the companies in question. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed in the latter part of this article.     

A conceptual framework for healthy food choice in full-service restaurant

The reasons for people’s food choices are complex and result from the interplay of several influences throughout various contexts. Although research has found that various factors influence people’s food choices, investigators have not considered the diverse elements affecting the methods or the procedures that people employ for selecting healthy foods in the context of full-service restaurants. Therefore, the current study was conducted to better comprehend family or casual dining consumers’ choices in relation to healthy eating behaviors. This qualitative study purposefully sampled three focus group interviews with three different types of participants (mature, nonmature, and chef/manager) to identify important factors that can encourage people to buy or eat healthy foods when dining at full-service restaurants. Content analysis of 16 interviews revealed three levels of healthy food choice factors that affect customers who want to enjoy healthy foods in full-service restaurants.     

Commitment,satisfaction, and customer loyalty: a theoretical explanation of the ‘satisfaction trap’

This paper examines the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty and the moderating effects of affective and calculative commitment. The results suggest that while customer loyalty increases monotonically with the enhancement of satisfaction, the marginal effect of satisfaction on customer loyalty actually decreases. Calculative commitment positively moderates the curvilinear relationship of satisfaction and customer loyalty, i.e. enhancing calculative commitment could intensify the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty. Affective commitment has no significant moderating effect on the relationship of satisfaction and customer loyalty, but it can directly enhance the customer loyalty. The research findings can help us to explain the phenomenon of the ‘satisfaction trap’.     

Turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours in Korean firms: the interactional effects of organizational and occupational commitment

This study investigated the effects of the organizational commitment and occupational commitment of employees in Korean firms on their turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours. In addition, using the interactional effect analysis, this study examined the interactional effects of the two types of commitment on turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours. A total of 209 employees in nine different firms participated in this study. The results revealed that organizational commitment had a negative effect on turnover intentions, while occupational commitment had a positive effect. In addition, organizational commitment had a positive effect on organizational citizenship behaviours, whereas occupational commitment did not have any noticeable effect thereupon. Both organizational commitment and occupational commitment showed certain overall interactional effects regarding organizational citizenship behaviours as well as turnover intentions.     

体验价值驱动下网购顾客公民行为形成机制研究

本文基于社会交换理论和“评价－情感－应对”模式理论,从顾客主体价值视角切入,通过构建体验价值、顾客承诺与顾客公民行为相互作用的理论模型,弥补了“S－O－R”旧有范式在解释顾客公民行为生成机制方面的不足。通过对727个有效样本数据的研究发现,效率价值对计算性承诺和情感性承诺均具有显著正向影响;服务卓越价值、审美价值和趣味性价值对情感性承诺具有显著正向影响;相比于计算性承诺对顾客公民行为的影响,情感性承诺对顾客公民行为三维度的影响更强;计算性承诺和情感性承诺在体验价值与顾客公民行为的关系中存在部分中介效应。研究结论为探讨顾客主体视角下顾客公民行为的生成机制提供了新的理论支持,也为我国网络零售商的网络营销实践提供了决策依据。     

Core service versus relational benefits: what matters most?

Services literature has extensively examined the effects of core service and relational benefits on behavioral outcomes arguing that both components, studied separately, contribute significantly to customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, an integrative examination of the relative importance of both core service and relational benefits is missing. This study examines the combined impact of an extended typology of core service and relational benefits on satisfaction and relational outcomes. One qualitative and one quantitative study are conducted within a banking context. Findings confirm a more extensive typology of relational benefits and reveal that competence (part of the trust benefit) and convenience significantly affect satisfaction; however, when core service is introduced to the model, the effect of relational benefits ceases to be significant. Several future research opportunities for an integrated service benefits approach are identified; and implications for managers on how to allocate their efforts across the various types of service benefits are discussed.     

Relationship commitment and value creation in sponsorship relationships

Purpose: The sponsorship industry has evolved considerably in recent years due to the strategic business opportunities that it provides. Despite increased interest in sponsorship, analysis of the relationship between relationship commitment and value creation and of relationship commitment as comprising multiple types or components in the context of sponsorship relationships is lacking. To address these gaps, this paper analyzes relationship commitment (in terms of affective commitment and value-based commitment) as a significant mediating variable, and value creation in the context of sponsorship relationships.

Methodology/approach: A questionnaire was sent to Swedish Hockey League sponsors to collect data and to verify the study’s conceptual model and relationships. The response rate for the survey was 19.8%, that is, 122 completed questionnaires out of 616 sent. The respondents represented the most common industries in Sweden, but most of them belonged to the construction, repair, and electronics industries (18.0%), manufacturing and production industry (13.1%), and commerce industry (11.5%). Most sponsoring companies (30.3%) were categorized as medium-sized (50–249 employees). Most respondents (38.5%) had invested EUR 4300–15,000, whereas 11.5% had invested less than EUR 4300. Moreover, we found that most sponsors had been in their sponsorship relationships for more than 10 years (32.8%). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for the data analysis.

Findings: This study demonstrates that relationship commitment is an important driver of value creation in sponsorship relationships. Furthermore, the various forms of affective commitment and value-based commitment should not be considered merely components or forms but distinct types. Certainly, there is interaction between the two types, but sequentially in such a way that affective commitment is a prerequisite for value-based commitment. This means that a sponsor must have an emotional relationship with the sponsee in order to understand, perceive, and calculate the sponsorship relationship’s future business value in terms of profits and other benefits. This study also finds that value-based commitment is the most significant type of commitment in sponsorship relationships.

Research implications: The study demonstrates that shared values, trust, and affective commitment are fundamental conditions for value-based commitment. If the parties agree on how they should behave in the relationship, the rules and objectives that apply lead to the emergence of mutual trust, which in turn makes the parties want to continue the relationship for emotional reasons. But this is not enough for value creation; they must also see that there are future business benefits from the relationship. Therefore, the parties more or less explicitly make calculations. If the calculations indicate that the long-term benefits of the relationship outweigh the short-term sacrifices, they are prepared to invest in the relationship, and this may lead to value creation. In other words, there is both interplay and tension between shared values, trust, and affective commitment, on one hand, and value-based commitment, on the other. Another theoretical contribution is that previous research has considered the links between relationship commitment and value but has ignored the different types of commitment that play key roles in the value-creation process; this study has addressed that oversight. The study demonstrates that affective commitment and value-based commitment have different roles and meanings. Affective commitment indirectly affects value creation, while value-based commitment directly affects value creation. Affective commitment has the role of partial mediator, while value-based commitment has the role of full mediator. Furthermore, they differ in their basic characteristics: affective commitment is an emotional aspect, while value-based commitment is a calculative aspect.

Originality/value/contribution: Previous studies have not analyzed the relationship between relationship commitment and value creation. However, this study demonstrates that relationship commitment is an important driver of value creation in sponsorship relationships. Furthermore, most previous research argues that relationship commitment consists of various components or forms that interact in parallel with each other. However, this study demonstrates that the various forms of affective commitment and value-based commitment should not be considered merely components or forms but distinct types. Certainly, there is interaction between the two types, but sequentially in such a way that affective commitment is a prerequisite for value-based commitment. Furthermore, previous studies have consistently noted that affective commitment is the most important component, form, or type of relationship commitment. However, this study finds that value-based commitment is the most significant type of commitment in sponsorship relationships.     

The Management of Meaning – Conditions for Perception of Values in a Hierarchical Organization

This article argues that the introduction of value based management in a decentralized, hierarchical, and rule-based organization will add to existing informal and formal systems instead of replacing them. Consequently, employees’ perception of and willingness to embrace and operationalize centrally imposed values were assumed to be dependent upon existing emotional, social, and formal processes and structures. Hierarchical regression analysis on data from a maritime company (N = 408) gathered in Norway in 2004 – which claims to be a learning and value based company – showed that affective commitment and group coherence correlated positively with perception of values among employees. Formalization was positively but insignificantly correlated, whereas loyalty toward immediate superiors was significantly negatively correlated with perception of values.     

What makes a good citizen in service settings?

As service firms face intense pressure to improve service quality, contact employees have been asked to do more with less. It is important that managers understand the concept of organisational citizenship behaviours and attempt to motivate employees to exhibit such behaviours. This study developed and tested a model of how employees' perception of organisational support affects affective commitment (AC), which contributes to their citizenship behaviours in service settings. Questionnaire data from matched pairs of 318 contact employees and their supervisors demonstrated that both perceived organisational support (POS) and AC play strong, central roles in determining contact employees' exhibition of citizenship behaviours. In addition, AC was found to be an effective mediator linking contact employees' perception of organisational support to their citizenship behaviours.     

The role of commitment on the customer benefits–loyalty relationship in mobile service industry

The purpose of this study is to identify appropriate combinations between various types of commitment and benefit, to induce and enhance loyalty behaviours, such as customer retention, cross-selling, and customers' positive word-of-mouth, in a matured service market. The results show that functional and economic benefits have significant effects on customer retention through calculative commitment, while experiential and symbolic benefits significantly affect cross-selling and positive word-of-mouth via affective commitment. Normative commitment mediates the relationship between affective commitment and customer retention. The implications of these findings for loyalty management strategy related with service benefits and type of commitment are discussed. Limitations and recommendations for future research are also presented.     

工作满意度、情感承诺和工作投入对工作技能评价结果的影响

In this study, we surveyed 272 post-holders from four different occupations, namely, public servants in charge of HR administration, software engineers, web editors, and newspaper advertisement salesperson. We found that the three job attitude variables of job satisfaction, affective commitment and job involvement all have significant effects upon job skill importance ratings and skill level ratings after controlling for occupational and demographic variables. Further comparison revealed that job satisfaction has a greater influence upon the above two ratings than affective commitment and job involvement. Also, we studied several occupations comprehensively in the present article, which is beneficial to a deeper understanding of factors influencing job analysis ratings and is thus of great importance to future job analysis research and practice. __________ Translated from Xinli xuebao 心理学报 (Acta Psychological Sinica), 2007, 39(1): 146–154