Influence of customer–firm relationships on customer participation in the service industry

Previous research has focused on relationship value and outcome as ‘consequence variables’ of customer participation (CP). This study examines customer–firm relationships as an ‘antecedent variable’ of CP. Early contact and relationships with customers build confidence in the service encounter and create customer trust, which leads to commitment and improves customer cooperation. Likewise, interaction and relationship building in the service encounter encourage active customer cooperation and participation in the later stages of interaction. This study analyzes the influence of relational antecedent factors affecting customer participation intention, examines the moderating effects of customer relationship proneness, and suggests some theoretical and practical implications.     

Antecedents and performance outcomes of flexibility in industrial customer–supplier relationships

This paper deals with the impact of suppliers' flexibility in the industrial markets and presents empirical results from the market research sector including outcome variables (market-uncertainty, relationship-specific investments, mutuality, opportunism, long-term orientation, planning, conflict management). We examined the antecedents of supplier flexibility. Buyers need to know whether supplier will modify existing agreements in cases where environmental factors change. Insufficient flexibility can lead to problems, such as having to accept services which no longer meet the buyer's needs. Accordingly, identifying indicators of supplier flexibility is an important objective for managers involved in the purchasing process of services.     

Predicting customers’ intentions to check in on Facebook while patronizing hospitality firms

Within the last decade, the introduction of Web 2.0 has created many opportunities for hospitality organizations. Facebook has become one of the most influential and powerful social media platforms. However, limited efforts have been made to explore customers’ intentions to check in on Facebook while visiting hospitality companies. Based on motivation theory, this study developed a research model containing two main categories of variables: (1) extrinsic factors (i.e. social influence, external rewards, and Cyber community utility) and (2) intrinsic factors (i.e. presenting oneself, perceived enjoyment, and altruism), and suggested that these potential variables can directly influence customers’ behavioral intention to check in. Data collected from 490 respondents in Taiwan were tested against the research model using the structural equation modeling approach. The results indicated that all the proposed variables (i.e. social influence, external rewards, Cyber community utility, presenting oneself, perceived enjoyment, and altruism) were the critical components significantly influencing online customers’ intention to check in on Facebook; the proposed model accounted for 70.7 % of the variance. The findings of this study will not only help hospitality and tourism practitioners in understanding the perceptions of potential customers, but also provide insights into research on technology’s influence on hospitality.     

Antecedents and consequences of psychological contracts: Does organizational culture really matter?

Exploring the role of psychological contracts, this study proposes that different organizational cultures are associated with relational psychological contracts compared to transactional contracts while both types of contracts serve as mediators. While clan cultures positively impact relational contracts and are negatively associated with transactional contracts, hierarchical cultures have the reverse effect. In addition, psychological contract types mediate the two culture types' relationship to both organizational commitment and employee yearly earnings. In sum, clan cultures relate to more positive organizational outcomes than hierarchical cultures, a finding which as implications for future research and practice.     

Exploring the role of extrovert-introvert customers’ personality prototype as a driver of customer engagement: Does relationship duration matter?

Drawing on social exchange theory, the current study examines new drivers and their associated processes of customer engagement. In spirit, the study tests the direct and indirect impacts of the extraversion–introversion personality trait on customer engagement. The study takes into consideration the contingency role of time by testing the moderating role of relationship duration. Results demonstrate that the more extraverted customers are, the more they are likely to engage with service firms. Further, extraversion is positively related to customer–employee interaction, which in turn leads to more utilitarian and hedonic values perceived by customers. Both types of value, then, induce higher customer engagement behaviors in terms of customer referrals, knowledge sharing, and social-influence. Findings demonstrate that relationship duration moderates some of the examined relationships. The current study contributes to the literature by extending the knowledge on customer engagement's predisposition and social causes.     

What’s in a crowd? Exploring crowdsourced versus traditional customer participation in the innovation process

This study explores the emerging crowdsourcing phenomenon, that is, the outsourcing of idea generation to the product users (‘the crowd’), typically via online platforms to interact with many and diverse customers and glean valuable market insights. The study focuses on this phenomenon and the factors that determine the value of crowdsourced customer participation over more traditional market research methods. The authors present the results of an extensive, in-depth qualitative case-study analysis pertaining to the media industry. The authors find that crowdsourced customer participation is not consistently superior in enabling firms to discover how to serve their customers better. Instead, the results unearth a catalogue of seven interrelated value determinants that show where the boundaries of both crowdsourcing and traditional customer participation in innovation lie. These value determinants fall into three main categories: (1) innovation-specific value determinants, (2) firm-specific value determinants, and (3) managerial value determinants.     

Increasing customer loyalty and WOM in an age of terror: Cross-cultural development and validation of the customers’ reactions to terror scale (CRTS)

The threat of terror places customers in a vulnerable situation, giving rise to a variety of protective behaviors. The ability to employ these behaviors dictates customers' preferences for specific services. To enable a better understanding of this dynamic and its implications for positive customer outcomes, the current study developed a customers’ reactions to terror scale (CRTS) in a four-stage process. Data were collected from customers in France and Israel across two service contexts, hospitality and public transportation. Nomological examinations showed that services that enable customers to employ protective behaviors under the threat of terror can facilitate increased loyalty and word of mouth (WOM).     

Trialogue on Facebook pages of grocery stores: Customer engagement or customer enragement?

Abstract

The pervasiveness of social media is compelling businesses to review their way of managing customer experiences. Businesses use social media to interact and engage with customers. Several studies have studied why businesses have adopted social media. However, there is a dearth of research as to why customers interact with businesses on social media in the grocery sector. This paper aims to explore how and why customers react to corporate messages on Facebook pages of Tesco and Walmart. Netnography approach was adopted to gain an insight into the various ways customers engage with the grocery stores on its Facebook pages. This study reveals that social media empower customers, influence the relationships customers have with grocery stores and generate customer engagement. Findings also show that the social customer is both a curse and a blessing to Tesco and Walmart when they create or destroy value for the business. This paper contributes to knowledge by (1) uncovering how customers react to corporate and customer posts on corporate Facebook pages; (2) showing how value can be created and destroyed; and (3) proposing a model illustrating how the main constructs of the study are interconnected: social media, relationship marketing, customer empowerment and customer engagement.     

Unravelling the impact of psychological empowerment on customer service behaviours as a consequence of ‘Leader-Member Exchange’

This study aims to investigate the cognitive process by which perceived organizational justice and leader–member exchange (LMX) are channelized into role-prescribed and extra-role customer service behaviours. It proposes the mediating role of three forms of psychological empowerment (goal internalization, perceived competence, and perceived control) in the predictor–outcome relationship, and examines this relationship from a comparative view of the role-prescribed and extra-role behaviours. Valid and reliable self-report and supervisory evaluation measures were administered to 282 nurses in Korea. The results indicate that LMX had a significantly greater effect on extra-role behaviours than on role-prescribed behaviours, and that perceived control mediated the relationship between LMX and extra-role behaviours. In terms of justice perceptions, there was no significant comparative effect on customer service behaviours. Furthermore, perceived competence mediated the relationship only between distributive justice and role-prescribed behaviours.     

The benefits and implementation of performance transparency: The why and how of letting your customers ‘see through’ your business

While some organizations swear by the benefits of transparency and are eager to learn and implement transparency practices, many managers are still reluctant or even afraid to use them. Our research reveals that only a few innovative companies have taken steps to leverage a potentially useful form of transparency: the provision of accessible and objective information to customers (e.g., sharing unbiased benchmark data, publishing unfiltered customer comments, or providing candid product reviews that may praise but also criticize the company’s products). Our study also shows that many companies remain wary and view greater calls for transparency as a challenge to be managed rather than an opportunity to be traded upon. This is partly due to limited research into the performance benefits of giving customers access to objective information, and lack of practical guidelines on how to actually implement it. This article addresses these shortcomings. First, we investigate whether performance transparency leads to customer outcomes that can be profitable for an organization and, second, we analyze the characteristics of successful transparency initiatives in a wide range of industries. Our research shows that customers exhibit more trust and are willing to pay a premium to deal with transparent businesses. Also, it uncovers seven effective strategies to leverage transparency. This article provides convincing empirical evidence for the benefits of performance transparency and the ways in which management may implement it successfully.     

The moderation influence of warranty on customer satisfaction’s antecedents: an empirical evidence from automotive dealerships

The purpose of this article is to investigate the differential influence of product quality and service quality on customer satisfaction (CS) along with the interaction role of warranty presence in the context of automotive dealerships. Survey-based research methodology is adopted in which the population are the car owners who perform repair and maintenance jobs in authorized service centres. It is found that the warranty moderation role is supported wherein the relationship between service quality and CS is strengthened by the warranty presence, contrary to the insignificant relationship between product quality and CS influenced by the warranty moderator; besides, the empirical results provide an evidence that the CS value relies on metrics comprising operational measures for service quality and product quality. The outcome of this study contributes to sensitizing the decision makers from manufacturing and service disciplines to the interdependencies and the prerequisite for overall collaborative development. This study presents the first systematic approach that differentiates the influence of product quality and service quality on CS, wherein the warranty service is primarily introduced as a moderator affecting the antecedent relationship in the context of automotive dealerships.     

The consequence of possessions: Self-identity,extended self,psychological ownership and probabilities of purchase for pet’s fashion clothing

This research attempts to exemplify whether pets ascribed as possessions can be regarded, as part of our selves, i.e., a metaphoric relationship with pets, by examining the dynamic relationship between beliefs, extended self, self-identity concerning possessions, and psychological ownership.This study extends the literature by developing a conceptual model asserting that probabilities of purchase for pets, in particular, are contingent on possessions and the extended self. A sample of 326 pet owners was selected, and by using SEM, the direct and indirect relationships were explored. Self-identity and beliefs were significantly associated with psychological control and the extended self, however, beliefs were negatively related to the probabilities of purchase. The extended self and the psychological ownership demonstrated mediating relationships. The study contributes to an understanding of the theoretical relationship between the role of possessions and provides scholars and retail practitioners with an understanding of probabilities of purchase for pet fashions.     

It’s all in the mindset: Effects of varying psychological distance in persuasive messages

The current research shows that the persuasive impact of messages can be maximized if their framing is matched to where target consumers are in their decision making process at the time they evaluate the message. Results from two experimental studies show that consumers who are in the predecisional phase of decision making are more likely to be persuaded by messages framed using psychologically distant orientation (i.e., focusing on the future or targeting a distant other), whereas consumers who are in the postdecisional phase are more likely to be persuaded by messages using psychologically close orientation (i.e., focusing on the present or targeting a close other). Evidence of the process through which these effects occur is provided by showing that consumers in a pre- versus postdecisional mindset identify their actions in terms of the actions?? high- versus low-level identities, respectively.     

Tourists’ participation and preference-related belief in co-creating value of experience: a nature-based perspective

We draw theoretical support from the concept of customer participation and cognitive dissonance theory to investigate the moderating effects of the preference-related belief of nature-based tourists, that is, the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP), on relationships between tourist experiential components and outcomes. The responses of 500 visitors to the Yangmingshan National Park, Taiwan indicate that actively participative experiences (APEs)—that is, education and escapism—are more positively related than passively participative experiences (PPEs)—that is, entertainment and esthetics—to pleasure and memorability. Furthermore, tourists’ NEP appears to reinforce the effects of APEs and to weaken the effects of PPEs. We also found that tourists’ NEP has a stronger reinforcing effect than a weakening effect. Our study contributes further evidence to current insights into the importance of tourists’ participation in co-creating value of tourist experiences.     

Promoting employees’ pro-environmental behaviour through empowering leadership: The roles of psychological ownership,empowerment role identity,and environmental self-identity

This study develops a theoretical model to investigate when and why empowering leadership promotes employees’ pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). Synthesising psychological ownership theory and role identity theory, we propose that empowering leadership positively affects the employees’ PEB and that this relationship is mediated by psychological ownership. Furthermore, we examine the moderating roles of empowerment role identity and environmental self-identity in this relationship. By employing 203 leader–follower dyads as a sample, we find that empowering leadership is positively related to employees’ PEB and that employees’ psychological ownership mediates this relationship. Besides, we find that empowerment role identity plays a moderating role in the relationship between empowering leadership and employees’ psychological ownership such that the relationship is positive and significant when empowerment role identity is high but not significant when it is low. Finally, we observe that environmental self-identity moderates the relationship between employees’ psychological ownership and PEB such that the relationship is positive and significant when environmental self-identity is high, but not significant when it is low. Practically, we offer new insight into how and when organisations can leverage the positive effect of empowering leadership in the pursuit of promoting employees’ PEB.     

Global corporate governance: On the relevance of firms’ ownership structure

This article addresses reviews research on corporate governance of the modern corporation around the world, with particular attention to the key variable of ownership structure. We first review the evolution of ownership studies from the early days of the Berle and Means to more contemporary research on how ownership has defined the various corporate governance systems around the world. We maintain that concentrated and family ownership structures in emerging economies, the role of the diverse type of large blockholders, and the evolution to more dispersed structures can help to inform broader questions around corporate governance and its relationship to economic development and the role of institutions in these economies. We propose that future research should draw on micro data on firm specific ownership structures and their corporate governance practices to better understand the cross-national diversity of governance and its meanings and consequences. We close by identifying some fruitful areas of future research.     

The Achilles’ heel of the platform business model: Disintermediation

Multisided marketplaces have become fixtures in many contemporary industries. From Amazon to Google, platforms dominate entire markets and have become some of the world’s most valuable companies. Despite their success, these companies have a subtle but potentially fatal weakness: disintermediation. This occurs when buyers and sellers find each other on the platform and then bypass that very platform—and its commission—to complete their transaction directly, off of the platform. This article compiles and illustrates the causes of and remediations to platform disintermediation.     

The effect of interactivity of brands’ marketing activities on Facebook fan pages on continuous participation intentions: An S–O-R framework study

Social media platforms have become crucial in helping brands build their marketing activities. We investigate the effect of interactivity of brands' marketing activities on Facebook fan pages on continuous participation (i.e., commenting and sharing) intentions. The S–O-R (stimulus-organism-response) framework is used to examine consumers' psychological states (perceived brand fan page experience and attachment) and subsequent behavioral responses (continuous participation intentions) after being stimulated (social media marketing activity interactivity). Using an online questionnaire, this study surveyed the top 15 brands' Facebook fan page users worldwide. We obtained 216 valid responses and used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data. Results show that the more interactive a brand's marketing activities are on its Facebook fan page, the higher the perceived experience. In addition, perceived experience positively affects brand fan page attachment. Perceived experience and brand fan page attachment positively affect continuous participation intentions. Perceived experience partially mediated the relationship between interactivity and continuous participation intentions. Brand fan page attachment also partially mediated the relationship between perceived experience and continuous participation intentions.     

Chatbots in retailers’ customer communication: How to measure their acceptance?

Currently, online retailers evaluate whether chatbots—software programs that interact with users using natural languages—could improve their customers' satisfaction. In a retail context, chatbots allow humans to pose shopping-related questions and receive answers in natural language without waiting for a salesperson or using other automated communication forms. However, until now, it has been unclear which customers accept this new communication form and which factors determine their acceptance. In this paper, we contrast the well-known technology acceptance model (TAM) with the lesser known uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, applying both approaches to measure the acceptance of the text-based “Emma” chatbot by its target segment. “Emma” was developed for the prepurchase phase of online fashion retailing and integrated into Facebook Messenger by the major German online retailer Zalando. Data were collected from 205 German Millennial respondents in a usability study. The results show that both utilitarian factors such as “authenticity of conversation” and “perceived usefulness,” as well as hedonic factors such as “perceived enjoyment”, positively influence the acceptance of “Emma”. However, privacy concerns and the immaturity of the technology had a negative effect on usage intention and frequency. The predictive power of both models was similar, showing little deviation, but U&G gives alternative insights into the customers’ motivation to use “Emma” compared to the TAM.     

Relevant knowledge and recipient ownership: Chinese MNCS’ knowledge transfer in Africa

This paper examines emerging market multinational corporations’ (EMNCs’) knowledge transfer (KT) in emerging markets using case studies of Chinese MNCs (CMNCs) in Africa. CMNCs are found to transfer “relevant knowledge”, existing knowledge reconfigured so that recipients can apply it more effectively with less effort in the new context. Relevance is ensured through recipients exerting ownership of the KT process, influencing what knowledge is transferred and how it is transferred. We summarise EMNCs’ KT process in a “relevant knowledge recipient ownership model”. The model contributes to KT theory by refining and empirically testing a new type of knowledge – relevant knowledge – and a new transfer model – recipient ownership – associated with EMNCs. It leads to a “relevance-based view” in which EMNCs’ competitive advantage in emerging markets is significantly enhanced by knowledge relevance rather than superiority. This contributes to a better understanding of EMNCs’ competitiveness in emerging markets as created from distinct characteristics of their relevant knowledge (applicability, assimilability, affordability) and recipient-driven transfer (selection, scrutiny and synthesis).