The service triad: modelling dialectic tensions in service encounters

Models of service encounters are often fraught with reductionism, describing business relationships as mathematical combinations of dyadic constellations. Metaphors of ideal social relationships (marriages or friendships) are highlighted to stress normative aspects of equal, balanced and long-term business partnerships. However, these approaches are limited in their analytical sensitivity, as they cannot address the complexity of multipart relationships, where meanings, roles and relationships are continuously constructed and reconstructed. In order to understand the ambivalent quality of business interactions, this article analyses the corporate travel market by applying Simmel's depiction of the triad as a specific social form. Triadic constellations and more complex service networks involve dialectic tensions, simultaneously exhibiting loyalty and disloyalty, trust and distrust, empowerment and disempowerment. It is argued that a qualitative methodology is a more adequate approach to grasp such dynamic and contextual social realities, because (opposed to a quantitative approach) it is not confined to operate with mutually exclusive analytical categories.     

The influence of guanxi on physical distribution service quality availability in e-commerce sourcing fashion garments from China

The purpose was to investigate the influence of guanxi (personal relationships) on availability within physical distribution service quality (PDSQ) for sourcing high street fashion garments from China via e-commerce. The research reviewed articles on guanxi and although it is still widely considered important its contribution and nature appears to be changing as Chinese business practises and sourcing policy have matured over time. Qualitative research was used in two Chinese based case study companies with detailed access through semi structured face-to-face and telephone interviews. The findings suggest that personal relationships through guanxi can facilitate e-commerce availability of fashion product, particularly where there is limited lead time in the sourcing activity, although its form and application in each case study company and their respective supply network was not as widespread as had been previously reported. The form of guanxi was observed as personal relationships but some aspects of co-operative relationships were also found. Since the paper is based on a phenomenological ontology the findings are largely exploratory. Future research should focus on understanding physical distribution service quality and personal relationships in other sectors. Guanxi by definition is an unstructured array of socially-based relationships without a simplistic rationale or logic. By understanding how guanxi is applied in a supply chain management context will aid those practitioners involved in an e-commerce Chinese business practise.     

中国服务贸易发展影响因素的实证分析

国际服务贸易的迅速发展使其逐渐成为国际经贸竞争的新领域。改革开放以来,中国服务贸易虽然取得迅速发展,但其总体发展水平仍然相对滞后,加快服务贸易发展已经成为中国对外贸易发展的主要任务。本文运用最小二乘法分析了影响中国服务贸易发展的因素,指出国内服务业发展、国际货物贸易发展与服务贸易发展具有正向的关联关系,并提出加快发展中国服务业和服务贸易的政策建议。     

The effect of the Internet on front-line employee skills: exploring banking in Sweden and France

This paper aims to explore (1) the Internet effects on the nature of the face-to-face service encounter and (2) what demands this introduces on front-line service employee skills in a banking context. The paper draws on empirical data generated from two banks in Sweden and France, where in-depth interviews with 21 managers have been carried out. The paper argues that in light of the Internet, the face-to-face service encounter is becoming increasingly interactive and customized, where much attention is paid towards building and maintaining relationships with customers, providing advice and support in customer's decision making, and also, learning from and acquiring qualitative information about the customer. This up-scaling of the face-to-face service encounter entails an increase in job complexity and task discretion, involving demands for high-level skills such as information provisioning and evaluation, and emotional skills such as empathy, interpretive skills, conversational skills, and management of body language.     

Unchained from the chain: Supply management from a logistics service provider perspective

The last few years have seen increasing recognition of the work of logistics service providers, as well as the significance of functioning supply relationships. This paper proposes an alternative view of supply management that builds on the observation that traditional supply chain management focuses on logistics clients rather than the service providers themselves. The paper utilizes the 4 Resource Interaction tool to illustrate how a logistics service provider faces different idea structures and activated structures than its clients in three different markets. The resulting resource perceptions and preferred resource combinations create tensions and tradeoffs between the logistics service provider and its clients. Unchaining logistics from the conventional chain structures achieves a more comprehensive understanding of interactions between shippers and logistics service providers.     

Consumers' captive service experiences: it's YOU and ME

Consumers in captive services often do not have the same experiences as consumers in typical service situations; this reality is largely ignored in existing service literature. To fill this void, this research makes a qualitative exploration of consumers' lived captive service experiences. It finds that consumers face several negative service processes. At the heart of these negative service experiences are the interactions of consumers with the service workers on whom they depend. Power has shifted to providers and this permits service organizations to deviate from accepted prudent service practices. Consumers experience service captivity and feel they have little or no recourse to the poor service treatment they receive. This does not, however, stop them from attempting to take back control of their consumption experience when and where possible. Consumers show marked resilience in the face of dehumanizing service interactions. Understanding developed in this research can be used to guide transformative service redesign in contexts of captive service and consumer service captivity.     

Key service drivers for high-tech service brand equity: The mediating role of overall service quality and perceived value

Abstract

This study investigates how different aspects of service quality could have effects on overall perception of service quality, perceived value, and service brand equity. Based on a survey of active users of mobile telecommunications services in Taiwan, we obtained the following findings. First, we found that empathy, network quality, reliability, and assurance, but not tangibles and responsiveness, have a significant effect on service quality and value perception. Second, the effect of overall service quality on brand equity is partially mediated by perceived value. Third, overall service quality has differential mediation effects on the relationships between specific service quality dimensions and perceived value. Finally, empathy and network quality have direct effects on brand equity. For managers, our study suggests the importance of identifying key service drivers for building strong service brand for high-tech service firms. The identification of key service drivers could then enable these firms to make strategic decisions on services investments. It also demonstrates the importance of the humanisation of technology for services firms. This study is original in that it explores the path from specific services qualities to service brand equity.     

Examining the consequences of customer-oriented deviance in retail

Retail employees sometimes breach company rules and policies in order to assist their customers. Referred to as customer-oriented deviance (COD), the phenomenon is defined as intentional behaviours that depart from the norms of a referent group in honorable ways. While researchers have begun to examine the important organisational contributions that positive deviance delivers, there have been calls to develop a better understanding of the direct and indirect consequences of such behaviours. Accordingly, conceptual model was tested on a sample of 390 frontline service employees, elucidating the complex relationships between COD behaviours, self-perceptions of service quality and organisational commitment intentions. The current research also examines the moderating effect of gender on these complex relationships. The model offers a strong psychological explanation of how an employee's COD behaviours impact on their self-perception of their service reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, which leads to greater overall commitment to the organisation. This research also finds an employee's gender moderates several of these relationships. The work offers practitioners insight into the important role of employee empowerment in service organisations. The research calls for further empirical examinations of COD behaviours, including antecedents and the mediating roles of perceived risk and tenure.     

Individual Differences Among Service Employees

SUMMARY

To do an excellent job of managing external relationships, service firms must be prepared to do an excellent job of managing internal relationships. This effort begins with recruiting, selecting, and retaining employees who are likely to serve customers well. While service firms strive to match the knowledge, ability, and skills of potential employees to the requirements of the job, most do not have the time or the resources to implement elaborate recruitment and selection systems. This is especially true among services where relatively high turnover levels mandate that recruitment and selection processes be fast and inexpensive. To meet this challenge, managers often focus on a set of easily identifiable individual characteristics, such as experience, job tenure, age, or education that can be assessed during the time of an interview or scan of a job application. This study examines the effect of these characteristics on the attitudes and responses of service employees that are critical for the effective delivery of quality service (job satisfaction, self-efficacy, role stress, organizational commitment). The results indicate that satisfied and committed service employees tend to be older, better educated, and possess a great deal of service experience. These employees also appear to be better able to handle the stress associated with service positions. These characteristics are atypical of the service industry, where employees tend to be younger, possess relatively little experience in any one industry, and are less educated. Implications for managing the recruitment, selection, and retention of service employees are offered, as are directions for future research.     

Interactions,innovation, and services

Although research has acknowledged the importance of supplier–buyer relationships for goods innovation, empirical evidence on the extent and nature of the effects of original equipment manufacturing (OEM) supplier–buyer relationships on service innovation remains scarce. Based on a survey of 152 suppliers in Taiwan, this study concludes that the interaction orientation of OEM suppliers is a key factor influencing the development of two competencies: joint innovation competence and cross-functional information dissemination competence. These two competencies contribute to OEM suppliers’ exploitative service innovation and explorative service innovation, respectively. In other words, applying a resource-based view, this study provides clarity regarding the linkages shown below (an organization’s strategic orientation influences its development of organizational capabilities and results in organizational performance) for the purpose of exploring the relationship between interaction orientation and service innovation.     

浅论重点学科建设与高校图书馆的发展

论述了重点学科建设与高校图书馆发展之间的关系,指出重点学科建设与高校图书馆的发展息息相关,在新的形势下图书馆针对重点学科开拓新的服务手段、服务方式,不断地提高信息服务水平,更好地为重点学科建设服务,是高校图书馆建设与发展中的一项重要工作。     

How does a new institution spread? Travel agencies' adoption of the service quality assurance programme

Despite the recognition of service quality as a major advantage in service industries, the travel agency sector in Taiwan has lacked any service quality certification regime that could optimize service provision or reduce customers' transaction costs. Since the introduction of such a quality-assurance programme in Taiwan in mid-2003, local travel agencies have responded differently. With a sample of 167 uncertified Taiwanese travel service operators, this study argues that firm responsiveness to a new institution depends on two distinct motives, rational and normative, and that such relationships are contingent upon CEO's background and market conditions. The results detail the varied responses as a result of rational and normative considerations and highlight the context-dependent nature of the motivation–behaviour relationships. This study yields important implications for quality credentialing bodies regarding how a new institution may diffuse in a field.     

Evaluating the impact of service user involvement on research: a prospective case study

As service user involvement in health and social care research has become more firmly embedded in health policies, both in the UK and internationally, there is increasing interest in evaluating its potential benefits and outcomes. Impact studies have highlighted a range of different types of service user involvement, using diverse research methods, within various research topics and involving different stakeholders. Potential benefits to research, researchers and the service users actively involved in research have been identified, along with the possibility of some negative consequences. Many impact studies have been criticized for being based on informal retrospective accounts of researchers and service users working together. Few have been underpinned by conceptual models, and there is a paucity of detailed accounts of the process of involvement that would enable replication. This paper reports an account of a prospective, qualitative exploration of service user involvement within a study, where the aims of the evaluation were agreed beforehand. Reflective discussions about the process and progress of service user involvement at different stages of the study were recorded, transcribed and analysed. The qualitative analysis identified perceived benefits to research, researchers and service user researchers that endorsed previous findings. The analysis also highlighted subjective and interpersonal aspects of service user involvement that have seldom been reported. This evaluation demonstrates the benefits of allowing time for structured reflection and adds to the understanding of the process and meaning of service user involvement in research.     

Factors influencing employee perceptions of customer service climate

This study examines the relationships between certain organizational variables and employees' perceptions of the customer service climate in their organization. In addition, the role of organizational commitment in this process is examined. Results indicate that rewarding employees for service excellence, allowing their voice to be heard by upper management, providing employees with the information and technology needed to do their jobs, providing adequate training to customer contact employees, allowing employees enough time to get their tasks done, and providing a work environment conducive to getting work done are all positively associated with employee perceptions of customer service climate. Based on mediated regression and a LISREL analysis, these relationships are all found to be partially mediated by organizational commitment. These results are consistent with previous customer service research, which has found organizational support and rewards to be positively related to customer service. We extend this literature by showing that organizational commitment may be a key variable linking organizational support and rewards to customer service. Implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are offered.Lincoln National Corporation     

Managing for customers and employees in Hong Kong: The quality and teamwork challenges

Service marketing, total quality management, and human resource management researchers have proposed that employee teamwork is a foundation for service quality. North American research suggests that developing cooperative relationships and constructive controversy among employees can empower employees to serve customers and to strengthen their work relationships and commitment to the organization. Chinese employees in an American-style restaurant in Hong Kong were interviewed on specific incidents that affected service quality. Correlational and structural equation results support the hypotheses that cooperative goals help employees discuss their diverse views open-mindedly and that this constructive controversy results in quality customer service. Competitive and independent goals were largely negatively correlated with dynamics and outcomes. Results were interpreted as suggesting that service teams should develop strong cooperative goals and the skills and procedures of constructive controversy. Deutsch's theory of cooperation and competition, although developed largely through North American research, seems useful for understanding and developing service quality teamwork in Asia.     

服务失误及服务补救理论研究进展综述

本文认为,大规模定制生产模式旨在以大批量生产的成本和速度向客户提供个性化的产品。具有柔性和快速响应能力是面向大规模定制制造系统的主要特点,它要求必须以信息集成技术、先进的制造技术和管理技术为支撑,实现制造系统模块化、动态组合的布局方式、柔性物流系统、动态响应的控制结构并减少生产准备工作。文章提出,大规模定制企业在构建物流系统时,要紧紧围绕用户需求这个中心,以产品生产企业为核心,通过对物流、信息流和资金流的控制,从原材料采购开始到最终将产品送达用户,将供应商、制造企业、分销商、零售商、第三方物流和最终用户连接成一个链状网络机构。     

Impact of Traditional Chinese Culture on Business-to-Business Relationship Marketing and Service Firm Performance

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This work addresses the mixed findings in relationship marketing studies regarding the importance of traditional culture-level (i.e., interpersonal) relationships on service firm outcomes.

Methodology/approach: This article leverages customer relationship marketing (CRM) theory to advance a framework for understanding the causal relationship between the Chinese cultural worldview and relationship marketing in order to better predict firm performance.

Findings: The author suggests that five major Chinese cultural characteristics—iren-qing, wa-pao, mianzi, chaxu-geju, and collectivism—can qualify the business-to-business (B-to-B) relationship building process and impact the effectiveness of interpersonal and/or group relationships on service firm outcomes.

Research implications: The study’s framework suggests that Chinese cultural characteristics, universal concepts manifest in the activities of Chinese society and organizations, have a positive effect on customer relationship marketing. Chinese culture characteristics can be used to generate excellent relationships with customers and thus create a consumer preference for certain companies and drive service marketing repurchase.

Originality/value/contribution: This study’s theoretical framework (a) distinguishes between Chinese cultural characteristic and relationship marketing relationships; (b) suggests that Chinese cultural characteristics and customer relationship marketing have a positive and substantial effect on service firm performance and that Chinese cultural characteristics are related to customer relationship marketing in their effect on service firm performance; and (c) provides managerially relevant guidelines for strategic sales planning.     

混合服务质量：研究述评与未来展望

信息技术的进步极大地改变了服务生产、传递和消费的形式，促进了人-人交互和人-技术交互结合的混合服务发展。单渠道情境中的传统服务质量和电子服务质量已受到广泛关注，但多渠道融合情境中的混合服务质量还缺乏深入探索。混合服务质量逐渐成为近年来服务营销和管理领域新的研究主题。文章按照混合服务质量的内涵、构成、测量、影响因素以及对顾客行为的影响研究，对国内外该领域的研究情况进行了系统回顾和全面梳理，掌握了国内外的最新研究动态，并对未来研究方向进行了展望，以期促进国内学术界对混合服务质量的关注与探索。     

The Influence of Service Innovation Capability for Self‐Service Technology Investment

The purpose of this paper is to predict self‐service technology (SST) investment from the extents of service innovation capability (SIC) and electronic customer relationship management (e‐CRM) practices. This study proposes a theoretical framework that delineates the relationships among SIC, e‐CRM practices, and SST investment. The results indicate that SIC has positive impacts on e‐CRM practices, which in turn are positively related to SST investment. Moreover, e‐CRM practices have partial mediating effects on the relationships between SIC and SST investment as well as have partial moderating effects on the relationships between SIC and SST investment. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managerial approaches towards service quality: the case of three service organisations

Using a multiple case study, this paper is concerned with assessing the impact of senior management's approach and attitudes on service quality and its implications for middle and firstline managers. Date from 52 semi-structured interviews representing a variety of managerial levels suggests that there exist many conflicts and differences in senior management's orientation and approach towards quality management (QM) with that of middle and firstline managers. The results further indicate that getting such consistency appropriate to the needs of top, middle, and firstline management, and of the QM itself, is one of the key problems of current management of service quality. However, the findings highlight that where there is consistency between senior managers' underlying approaches towards service quality goal with that of middle and firstline managers, service quality programmes will highly likely produce expected results. Finally, the implications of these findings as well as future research are put forward.