An integrated model of service experience design improvement

Service experience design, addressing an overall experience problem with user-centered design thinking is a critical issue. This study proposes an integrated model of service experience assessment that addresses the relationship between user value and experience based on the importance and satisfaction concept. Refined improvement index of this study was developed for the determination of improvement priority. The paper then presents an empirical study of 3C (computer, communication, consumer-electronics) retail stores in which the proposed model was used to identify the critical servicescape items requiring improvement, and ranked on the strategies of improvement. The model requires a systematic approach to (i) examine the performance of these retail service processes; (ii) determine the items to be improved; and (iii) select appropriate and feasible strategies to improve these items. This integrated model is valuable for practical implementation in service firms to investigate and prioritize service design actions based on user experience data gathered from service sites.     

An integrated model of advertising clutter in offline and online media

The rapid growth of online advertising raises concerns about advertising clutter in the online media environment. This paper proposes an integrated model of advertising clutter that addresses the unique characteristics of the online media environment. We review the structural, information processing and functional approaches to advertising clutter, and integrate these approaches into a new comprehensive framework that explains consumer response to advertising clutter by differentiating consumer-centred analysis from media-centred analysis. The differences between online media and offline media are compared in terms of audience control and advertiser control. Attitudes towards advertising in general and in specific media contexts, and task orientations are introduced as mediating factors that affect the perception of and the subsequent response to advertising clutter. This paper offers a set of propositions on the factors affecting perception of advertising clutter, the relationship between physical characteristics and perception of advertising clutter, and how perception of clutter creates negative advertising effects. Managerial and theoretical implications of this framework are discussed.     

Changing household formation patterns: implications for consumption and nutrition

The effects of anticipated changes in the composition of U.S. households on food consumption patterns and on levels of nutrition are projected to the year 1995. Despite rather substantial demographic shifts, the estimated impact on aggregate food budget shares is small for 13 aggregated food groups. Stratification of cross-sectional data by income and household composition is important to identify potential household groups at risk with respect to selected nutrition categories. Results from this analysis are useful in developing policies which can be geared to target those groups deficient in nutritional intake.     

An integrated model of customer social exchange relationship: the moderating role of customer experience

This article addresses how the customer social exchange relationship affects customer satisfaction and, in turn, repurchase intention. On the basis of the stimulus–organism–response model, this article argues that perceived organisational support, perceived customer support, and perceived service provider support influence customer satisfaction, which in turn affects repurchase intention. Furthermore, this study argues that perceived organisational support is the most important predictor of customer satisfaction for high-experience customers, whereas perceived customer support is the most important predictor of customer satisfaction for low-experience customers. A survey of 144 users of the foreign language institute on a university reveals that most of these hypotheses are supported.     

An integrated attitude model of self-service technologies: evidence from online stock trading systems brokers

This study develops an integrated causal path analysis, based on both category-based affect theory and the technology acceptance model (TAM), to identify the antecedents of consumers' attitudes toward self-service technologies. Using online stock trading systems as an example (N?=?267), this study employs structural equation modeling to confirm the research structure. The results reveal that consumers' attitudes toward self-service technologies depend on their attitude toward technologies and attitude toward self-services, in support of category-based affect theory. Further, computer self-efficacy and network information literacy positively influence attitude toward technologies, and both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness positively influence attitude toward self-service technologies, which were proposed in the two theories, were also found. Therefore, this study suggests that integrated attitude model of the category-based affect and TAM can be applied to properly explain the attitude forming toward self-service technologies, and can be fruitful for future research on the diffusion of Internet-based technological systems.     

Ostentation and funk: An integrative model of extended and expanded self theories under the lenses of compensatory consumption

In the last decade, economic growth have created in Brazil and other emerging countries a ‘new middle class’, a group that left the poverty line and entered the consumption markets. In this scenario, a musical movement with many traces of this ‘new middle class’ has emerged. Known as Funk Ostentação (ostentation funk), the movement is formed by young singers whose lyrics and promo videos refer to the consumption of designer's clothes, cars and aspirational products. We have studied Funk Ostentação by means of its promo videos, personal interviews and a group discussion with its fans (young adults) and found meaningful relations between consumption and identity building. We developed a framework that integrates the extended and expanded self theories under the lenses of compensatory consumption. This framework can be applied to studies with other groups that have similar characteristics of vulnerability with other niches of the ‘new middle class’ in emerging markets.     

Service recovery model: the integrated view

Through the integrated analytical view of overall cultural values and individual emotional intelligence (EI), psychological empowerment and management involvement, this research explores influences on service recovery. It combines the methods of linear multivariate data analysis and nonlinear fuzzy neural network methods to analyze data and verify the hypotheses. Through an investigation on the subsidiaries of financial groups in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the empirical results showed that the employees with lower EI would be affected by the involvement of management and adopt different service recovery measures; for the employees having traditional eastern cultural values, because of the involvement of management, they would adopt different service recovery measures; when the employees' perceived psychological empowerment level was higher, they were more likely to manage active recovery measures. The characteristic of this research combines the empirical methods of linear multivariate data analysis and the nonlinear fuzzy neural network model. There were rare related studies in the past and in addition, in the comparative studies of the related issues in the past, there were rare focuses on enterprises with different nationalities but sharing the same specific language, which was worthy of further exploration.     

An integrated model for predicting consumer's intention to write online reviews

For marketers, consumers’ increasing use of online reviews in arriving at purchase decisions is a double edged sword. On one hand, it presents opportunity for manufacturers and sellers to be highlighted for their good work, but at the same time, there remains a possibility of negative review impacting goodwill and reputation. Hence, it is important for managers to identify factors that impact consumers’ intentions to write online reviews. This research delves into this aspect by trying to identify the factors that impact reviews writing intentions of consumers for restaurants. The study extends the theory of planned behaviour with additions of variables such as ego involvement, taking vengeance and helping a restaurant. For this, 252 valid responses were obtained, and structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model. Results indicate that perceived behavioural control, subjective norms, ego involvement and taking vengeance are significant predictors of intention to write online reviews for the restaurants.     

An interpretive study of purposeful,mood self-regulating consumption: The consumption and mood framework

Although much research has been conducted on mood in relation to purchase behavior, relatively little has focused on how it functions in the actual use of products and services. There are also research gaps with respect to a more multidimensional and holistic understanding of mood and its self-regulatory processes. To address these issues, an interpretive study, applying written protocols, was conducted with 70 consumers. The results indicate support for an emergent theoretical framework, the consumption and mood framework (CMF), which consists of four dimensions: (1) products and services as consumption tools, (2) mood states, (3) processes of mood self-regulation, and (4) individual differences. Further thematic aspects of each dimension and linkages among them are also discussed. Based on these findings, implications that utilize the CMF are drawn for future research. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Parenthood and wildland recreation consumption: An unexplored phenomenon

The effects of parenthood on consumer decision making have not been systematically studied in prior research of the wildland recreation phenomenon. The present study utilizes data from the most recent National Survey of Recreation to assess the direct effects of parenthood on wilderness-related or wildland outdoor recreation behavior. Additionally, a framework for the conceptualization of the interrelationship between human values, demographics, attitudes toward the environment, wildland management policy variables, attitudes toward wildland recreation, and wildland recreation consumption is proposed. The findings suggest that parenthood is an important variable in understanding wildland outdoor recreation consumption. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Underdog consumption: An exploration into meanings and motives

Marketers frequently position business concerns - whether brands, teams, or stores - as the non market-dominant entity (or the “underdog”). This article examines the motives for underdog support through in-depth interviews and a focus group. Findings suggest that underdog consumers support underdogs out of empathy, as a way to ensure the maintenance of equal opportunity in competition, and as a way to provide personal inspiration. Some motives for underdog support can be interpreted to be anti-consumption (or, at least, anti-corporate) in nature. On the other hand, many underdog consumers support and identify with underdogs not necessarily as a way to keep the top dog down, but as a means to keep the little guy competing. Rather than solely “vote-against” behavior, “vote-for” behavior is very evident as well.     

Reduce product counterfeiting: An integrated approach

There is substantial interconnection between the reduction of product counterfeiting and quality management. This article seeks to demonstrate how integrating anti-counterfeiting initiatives into quality management strategies can reduce risk in the supply chain. We explore issues pertaining to product counterfeiting, the practical application and constraints of anti-counterfeiting initiatives within the supply chain, and the intersection of anti-counterfeiting initiatives with quality management programs. Gaps in current management strategies to address these issues are identified, and a potential remedy to address these deficiencies is proposed. Practical suggestions regarding the application of quality principles to offset counterfeiting should reduce risk in the supply chain.     

Purchase power: An examination of consumption as voting

Abstract

There has been a reported increase in political activity through the marketplace in the form of ‘consumer votes’. The use of marketplace votes by consumers to address their concerns about societal issues is a phenomenon that has growing relevance for firms, since they are often affected by such consumer citizenship. Therefore, this paper aims to enhance our conceptual understanding of the consumer voting phenomenon. It explores marketplace power relations and the constraints and enabling mechanisms they may pose to consumers seeking change through consumer voting. Consumer voting practices, consumer sovereignty discourses, and power tensions in marketplace encounters are examined in relation to Foucault's notions of power, technologies of the self, and governmentality. Foucault provides a critical lens to illuminate the potential for consumer resistance, an approach that so far has been somewhat neglected by the extant marketing and consumer research literature.     

Temptation and the efficient taxation of education and labor

This paper studies efficient tax policies in Ramsey's tradition when consumers face temptation and self control problems in intertemporal decision making. We embed the class of preferences developed by Gul and Pesendorfer into a simple two‐period life‐cycle model and show that education should be effectively subsidized if the elasticity of the earnings function is increasing in education and if temptation problems are sufficiently severe. By contrast, if temptation problems are not sufficiently severe, efficient education policy calls for taxing education. Moreover, efficient labor taxation calls for subsidizing qualified labor if the strength of temptation is sufficiently large.     

Determinants of switching intention in the electricity markets - An integrated structural model approach

This study adopts an integrated approach and combines the theory of planned behavior and push-pull theory to unpack the antecedents of customer switching intention in a contextual setting (Western Australia) that has a regulated electricity market. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from a survey of 405 retail electricity consumers, which reveals that perceived relative price, electronic word-of-mouth, customer-based reputation of a service provider, past switching experience, and subjective norms significantly influence attitude toward switching and switching intention. Our findings contribute to the literature on retail electricity markets by showing the importance of customer-based reputation and positive electronic word-of-mouth in shaping consumers’ attitude and intention toward switching their electricity providers. The results also provide insights for electricity retailers to design better offerings and control customer switching.     

Implementing global corporate citizenship: An integrated business framework

Recent economic, social-political, and natural disasters have all served to highlight the fragility of the global marketplace. As such, it is no longer questioned as to whether or not companies should be good corporate citizens; that is a given. Rather, concern in the 21^st century centers on how businesses can become better global corporate citizens. Unfortunately, without clear guidance regarding how this may be accomplished, global corporate citizenship will remain a fringe activity and not become a critical component of an organization's core business strategy. The integrated framework presented herein identifies key elements and tips for implementing a business-based approach to global corporate citizenship.     

A structural equation model of impulse buying behaviour in grocery retailing

PurposeEnvironmental changes, specifically the economic crisis and the growing penetration of digital technologies, have produced significant changes in shopping habits designed to create new paradigms for impulse buying behaviour. A new scenario seems to be opening up where customers enter the store much more prepared than in the past searching for products they had planned to buy. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of impulse buying in a context of more planning and preparation for shopping.Design /methodology/approachThe data were obtained using a structured questionnaire from 316 respondents interviewed instore thanks to the cooperation of a leading Italian retail chain. We conducted a two-stage approach mall-intercept survey method to collect data. Firstly, we interviewed customers before entering the store, enquiring them about the pre-shopping preparation and shopping enjoyment tendency. Secondly, we interviewed the same customers at the end of their shopping trips, asking them to indicate which purchases were unplanned. Then, shoppers answered to questions regarding their general tendency to engage in impulse buying, the urges experienced to make impulse purchases, the level of positive and negative affect experienced during the shopping trip.FindingsIn the structural model tested with LISREL 8, we found that pre-shopping tendency influences directly impulse buying: confirming our hypotheses, a higher pre-shopping preparation lead to lower levels of impulse buying. Results also showed that the personality variables (shopping enjoyment tendency and impulse buying tendency) influenced impulse buying through positive affect and urge to purchase. Our research did not find support for the relationship between negative affect and urge. Finally, higher levels of urge to buy impulsively lead to higher levels of impulse buyingOriginality/valueFrom the review of past and recent literature, we have not found a model that considers the influence of pre-shopping tendency on impulse buying behaviour. This paper addresses this major gap in extant literature by including pre-shopping tendency among the individual characteristics (impulse buying tendency and shopping enjoyment tendency) taken into consideration by past contributions.     

Collaborative consumption in China: An empirical investigation of its antecedents and consequences

The aim is to clarify the impact of values on the general attitude towards collaborative consumption in a Chinese context, and the impact of the general attitude towards collaborative consumption on the intention to use and actual use of various specific collaborative consumption services. A total of 600 responses were collected in 2019. The results showed that non-ownership orientation, guanxi networking orientation, materialism, novelty orientation, and frugality orientation significantly influenced positively collaborative consumption attitude. It was also found that the impact of guanxi networking orientation on collaborative consumption attitude was mediated by non-ownership orientation. The results also showed that general collaborative consumption attitudes positively influence the intention to use all specific collaborative consumption, such as shared bicycles, shared cars, shared goods, carpooling services, and peer-to-peer accommodation. Moreover, the predictive power of the intention to use collaborative consumption on actual use is only strong in shared bicycle and carpooling services.