When more pain is better: Role of need for uniqueness in service evaluations of observable service recovery

Service encounters may occur at public settings, providing an opportunity for other customers to observe a target customer’s experience, which, per se, may exert some social pressure on the target customer. However, this research argues that for some customers the observability of their encounters is an opportunity to satisfy their social needs. In particular, this research investigates the impact of consumer need for uniqueness on service evaluations of observable versus unobservable recovery encounters. Across three experimental studies, this research finds that following observable recovery encounters, consumer need for uniqueness enhances service evaluations. Findings also indicate that customers who appreciate uniqueness have similar reactions to an elaborate apology and high compensation. The results indicate that the observability of recovery efforts leads to lower perceived severity among customers high in need for uniqueness and thereby enhances their service evaluations. This research concludes with contributions, implications, limitations, and future research.     

Effects of employees’ social exchange and the mediating role of customer orientation in the restaurant industry

This study aims to investigate the consequences of customer-employee exchage at work based on the social exchange theory. Moreover, it is to understand how the social exchange leads to employees’ prosocial service behaviors by investigating the mediating role of customer orientation. This study applied quantitative research design using cross-sectional survey approach by targeting frontline employees who had customer interactions in the full-service restaurant industry. The results present that the more employees have social exchange with customers, the more they tend to show customer service behaviors within and beyond their role requirements. In addition, customer-employee exchage leads to employees prosocial service behaviors indirectly by increasing the level of customer orientation. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in the study.     

A multilevel study on preferences for self-service technology versus human staff: Insights from hotels in China

Rapid technological developments bring with them an inevitable, still unresolved debate over high-tech versus high-touch service. Technology adoption usually involves multilevel phenomena (e.g., individual, organization, and industry-wide). Moving beyond previous work, which has focused primarily on individual-level adoption, this research aims to develop a hierarchical framework integrating multiple domains. Based on 59 in-depth interviews with hoteliers and customers, the framework unveils the mechanisms of organizational and individual preference construction for self-service technologies compared with human-delivered services. Findings reveal that the interplay between the external environment, organizational context, internal service encounters, and core customer experience influences customers’ and hoteliers’ preference construction. Results further show that organizations pay more attention to the environment and organizational context, whereas individuals tend to highlight differences between customers more strongly. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.     

Hospitality aesthetic labor management: Consumers’ and prospective employees’ perspectives of hospitality brands

This research addresses a critical phenomenon in the global hospitality industry: aesthetic labor management. The study examines how frontline service employees’ managed display of aesthetics influences consumers’ (Study 1) and prospective employees’ (Study 2) brand evaluations along with other behavioral responses. Study 1 revealed that consumers’ perceived aesthetic labor fit regarding employees’ static appearance and performative mannerisms can lead to positive brand evaluations and customer-based brand equity via the mechanism of conceptual fluency. Study 2 found, via the same mechanism, that prospective employees’ perceived aesthetic labor fit of performative mannerisms—but not static appearance—can lead to positive brand evaluations, perceived value fit with the organization, and intentions to join the organization. Theoretical implications, practical recommendations, study limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided on the basis of these findings.     

Negative affect,deep acting,and customer compensation as responses to customer mistreatment: The effect of customer-based perspective-taking

Customer service employees often deal with customer mistreatment, eliciting negative affect, which subsequently influences service performance. Using affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) as the theoretical framework, perspective taking was examined as an intervention to influence negative affect elicited from customer mistreatment in two experiments. Study 1 examined and found that customer perspective taking led to less negative affect, and subsequently more customer compensation and more deep acting through serial mediation effects. Study 2 tested the moderating effect of the service failure locus of causality (i.e., hotel or customer). The most important theoretical contribution is understanding how having employees shift the focus away from their own emotions, towards why a customer is being rude or difficult, influences deep acting and customer compensation via reduced negative affect. This paper provides a promising intervention and training tool that hospitality organizations can use to influence employee service recovery strategies and customer service.     

A triple whammy effect of employees' gender,job type,and service outcomes on consumer behavior

The extant literature reports inconsistent results regarding the effect of employee gender on customers' attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, the previous research on congruency bias has mainly focused on female-dominant jobs. To address these issues, this study examined how customers' gender stereotypes affect their service evaluations and revisit intentions. Grounded in role congruity theory, congruency bias, and justification-suppression models, the results showed that employee gender and gender congruency with the norm for the job have differential impacts on customer evaluations. Furthermore, this study found asymmetric impacts of congruency bias on customer experiences. For example, customers showed lower satisfaction and revisit intention when female employees failed in a male-dominant job than when their male counterparts did. However, they showed equal levels of satisfaction and revisit intention when male and female employees failed in a female-dominant job. The results provide important insights into how to reduce customers' gender bias toward different gender-dominated jobs.     

Workplace ostracism and proactive customer service performance: A conservation of resources perspective

This study tests the impact of workplace ostracism on hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP). Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, we investigate the effects of two sequential mediators (i.e. job tension and customer orientation) and the moderating effect of need for affiliation. Using a time-lagged research design and the data from 16 hotels in China, we find that workplace ostracism positively influences job tension; job tension decreases customer orientation, which in turn undermines employees’ PCSP. Moreover, we find that need for affiliation exacerbates the effect of workplace ostracism on job tension such that the effect is stronger when employees’ need for affiliation is high rather than low. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications subsequently.     

Why won’t she break rules to promote service? Effects of gender,gender identification,and honesty

This paper investigates the reason and the condition under which gender is related to employee’s prosocial rule-breaking to promote service (PSBS) in two studies. Unlike typical rule-breaking, PSBS aims to improve guest service. Drawing on social identity theory and gender research, we suggest that female hospitality employees engage in fewer PSBS than their male counterparts. We further propose the moderating role of gender identification and the mediating role of honesty. Study 1 sampled 324 hospitality workers through Qualtrics and showed that female employees engage in fewer PSBS. However, the effect of gender on PSBS was weaker when gender identification was low. Study 2 sampled 246 hospitality employees who are working in the hospitality industry and studying in a college. Path analyses showed that the gender – honesty – PSBS relationship was weaker when gender identification was low. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

如何提高饭店业一线员工的服务补救绩效:模型与实证

文章应用巴顾兹(Bagozzi)的态度模型,采用结构方程建模方法,构建并验证了基于饭店业一线员工感知视角的服务补救绩效预测模型。实证结果表明:(1)一线员工对授权、培训、奖励以及对饭店进行顾客抱怨管理的感知正向影响其工作满意度;(2)顾客抱怨管理和授权不仅通过一线员工情感变量(工作满意和情感承诺)的中介作用间接正向影响服务补救绩效,还能够直接预测服务补救绩效;(3)一线员工的情感变量是解释员工培训和奖励正向影响其服务补救绩效的完全中介变量;(4)工作满意直接正向影响一线员工的情感承诺,而在工作满意和服务补救绩效之间的间接正向影响关系中,情感承诺变量起到了全部中介效应。文章最后总结了对服务补救理论和饭店业管理实践的贡献。     

Customer opportunistic complaints management: A critical incident approach

Although customer complaints are valued in the hospitality industry in order to create service recovery opportunities and improve service quality, there are occasions when customers knowingly and incorrectly report service failures or make illegitimate complaints. The purpose of this study is to investigate how service employees handle opportunistic customer complaints in service encounters. By using the critical incident technique, we classify 346 incidents from hotel and restaurant services based on complaint source, evidence, compensation, handling, follow-up, and customer return. Managerial implications for these challenging situations are discussed and suggestions are made for improvement.     

Mobile technology adoption among hotels: Managerial issues and opportunities

Mobile technology in hotels is to provide innovative service solutions for both employees and customers, yet underexplored, and managerial and operational issues remain. This study aims at identifying those issues involved in adopting and implementing mobile technologies by a thematic analysis of focus group interviews of luxury hotel managers and executives. Eighteen managerial issues surfaced, leading to a mobile technology management framework consisting of six themes: strategic goal, customer management, operations management, process design, provider management, and infrastructure management. This mobile technology management framework provides guidelines for the successful adoption and implementation of mobile technologies in hotels. Implications are discussed with future research issues at the end.     

Customer mistreatment and service performance: A self-consistency perspective

The service encounter is an important social context for hospitality service providers who strive to satisfy their need for job competence by delivering excellent customer service. Customer mistreatment may be perceived as a sign of work-related goal failure by hospitality service providers. Building on the literature of goal attainment and failure in the workplace, we propose that hospitality employees, who experience customer mistreatment, undergo diminished organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), decreasing service performance. Moreover, employees’ locus of control is proposed to interact with customer mistreatment and predict service performance through the mediation of OBSE. The results of a multi-wave and multi-source survey, administered to a sample of hotel frontline employees (N = 180) and their direct supervisors (N = 38), show that customer mistreatment has a negative influence on service performance through OBSE, but only among employees with an external locus of control.     

Fostering employee-customer identification: The impact of relational job design

By integrating insights from the literature on relational job design and relational identification, we provide theoretical and empirical account of whether relational job design can foster employee-customer identification (ECID) and subsequently, enhance service performance. This research suggests that relational job characteristics likely foster service employees’ ECID by relating employees to the positive impact they have on customers as well as by leading employees to gain valuable personal resources from customer interactions. Using time-lagged data collected from 255 frontline service employees matched with 92 supervisors in 47 restaurants, we found that job impact on customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was mediated by ECID. Results also showed that job contact with customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was partially mediated by ECID.     

Effect of experiential value on customer satisfaction with service encounters in luxury-hotel restaurants

Exactly how the restaurant industry creates good quality service experiences has attracted the attention of scholars and practitioners. Some scholars advocate creating high quality service encounters to enhance customer satisfaction. However, recent research has not examined hotel restaurant service, and a detailed understanding of its potential effects on the customer meal experience and customer satisfaction is needed. Consequently, this study of service encounters and restaurant consumer behavior constructed a comprehensive framework via a literature review. Empirical data were collected by a questionnaire distributed to luxury-hotel restaurant customers. The empirical results indicated that restaurant environmental factors and interactions with service employees and other consumers positively influence the consumer experiential value. Additionally, only interactive relationships with service employees directly and positively affect consumer satisfaction. Restaurant environment factors and interactions with other consumers indirectly and positively influence consumer satisfaction through experiential value. Finally, with respect to marketing and development initiatives, the results of this study can help improve the physical attractiveness of the examined luxury-hotel restaurants.     

Willingness to pay in negative restaurant service encounters

The aim of this research is to propose and test a comprehensive research model to understand the influence of food quality, service quality, ambiance, and value on consumer WTP in negative service encounters. Using DINESERV as the theoretical background, a mixed methodology (ANOVA and structural equation modeling) was utilized for the study using a between-subjects experimental design. Data was collected using an online survey from students (Study 1) as well as restaurant consumers (Study 2). The structural equation modeling provided evidence for the arguments that food quality, ambiance, and value are significant predictors of customer WTP in a negative restaurant service encounter. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.     

Service recovery evaluations: GLBT versus hetero customers

Although Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) customers have been acknowledged as a growing market segment in the hospitality and tourism industry, our understanding with regard to their perceptions of service encounters barely exists. During service encounters, outcome quality and process quality are generally understood as being the two main components of service evaluations. Yet, two competing theories (fairness heuristic and two-factor theories) suggest opposite patterns of interaction effects of the two qualities. This study examines the effects of outcome and process qualities on GLBT and heterosexual customers’ evaluation of service recovery in a hotel setting. Our findings, based on 374 respondents, suggest that the effects of process quality are more pronounced when outcome quality is favorable, thus supporting the two-factor theory. Also, GLBT customers’ overall recovery evaluation is more positive than heterosexual customers’. Implications of these findings for service managers are discussed.     

Impact of Customer Orientation and ICT Use on the Perceived Performance of Rural Tourism Enterprises

This article sets out to highlight the importance of adopting customer orientation and information and communications technology (ICT) in tourism service delivery if the rural tourism sector is to succeed. A model is proposed and validated which encompasses the effects of customer orientation adoption and the use of ICT on the rural tourism sector, taking into account the enterprises’ financial results, improvements to the rural destination, and the more personal, intangible impact on the owner-manager. The major contributions of this work are in finding that customer orientation adoption that contributes to ICT use, and that both ICT use and customer orientation adoption contribute to better outcomes from rural tourism activity.     

A systematic review of AI technology-based service encounters: Implications for hospitality and tourism operations

The hospitality and tourism industry faces serious challenges during public health emergencies such as COVID-19. Managers are concerned not only about how to maintain business and provide humanized services but also about social distancing. This study presented artificial intelligence (AI) technology-based service encounters as a possible solution and examined the antecedents and consequences of the encounter triad including customers, employees, and AI. Based on a systematic literature review, the study identified 4 modes of AI technology-based service encounters: AI-supplemented, AI-generated, AI-mediated, and AI-facilitated encounters. In addition, the study developed an integrated model to specify the factors that influence AI technology-infused service encounters in general and the customer service outcomes that result from the encounters. The findings contribute to service management and AI application theoretically and practically.     

The impacts of complementary information technology resources on the service-profit chain and competitive performance of South African hospitality firms

The potential of information technology (IT) resources to empower employees, to shape customer service and contribute to the competitive performance of hospitality firms has received much attention. Yet empirical evidence has been lacking. This study draws on the resource-based view of the firm and the service-profit chain framework to develop and test a model of the effects of a complementary system of tangible and intangible IT resources on employee and customer service outcomes and on competitive performance. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 112 hospitality establishments operating in South Africa. Results revealed that the complementary system of IT resources has significant direct effects on competitive performance whilst its effect on customer service outcomes is fully mediated by employee outcomes. Results support the contention that hospitality service is information intensive. In addition to employees, tangible and intangible IT resources demand the attention of hospitality managers and their role in competitive strategy must be considered.     

Listen to their heart: Why does active listening enhance customer satisfaction after a service failure?

A service employee’s active listening plays a crucial role in restoring a damaged customer relationship. However, previous studies reveal little about how listening to customer complaints operates in recovering a service failure. The purpose of this research is to explore when and why the employee’s active listening has a positive influence on customer response. We define active listening as (1) listening to customers’ concerns before apologizing and (2) verbally acknowledging them. Using scenario-based experiments, we demonstrate that active listening improves customer satisfaction, which in turn increases tip size (Study 1). Moreover, we find that active listening fosters customers’ perceptions of preferential treatment, which lead to greater customer satisfaction (Study 2). Yet, such positive effects of active listening diminish when customers are unexpectedly offered a complimentary service such as a room upgrade. The implications for academic researchers and marketing managers are discussed.