Service sabotage: A study of antecedents and consequences

Although much of the existing research on employee sabotage and deviance focuses on the manufacturing sector, studies have also found evidence of deliberate employee misbehavior in a variety of service settings. In this study, the authors conceptualize and test a model of service sabotage dynamics that incorporates both the antecedents and the consequences of such behaviors. In doing so, the study contributes contemporary empirical evidence of factors associated with the deliberate sabotage of service by frontline customer-contact personnel. Using a survey-based approach, the authors collected data from 259 respondents from a sample of 1,000 respondents. The findings largely support the hypothesized antecedents of service sabotage and show that a range of individual characteristics, management control efforts, and perceived labor market conditions are linked with service sabotage. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that service sabotage behaviors are associated with individual and group rewards, effects for customers, and other performance measures. Lloyd C. Harris (Harris@Cardiff.ac.uk) (PhD, Wales) holds the Sir Julian Hodge Chair in Strategic Marketing at Cardiff Business School. His main research interests include dysfunction at work, the marketing-organizational behavior interface, market orientation, dysfunctional behavior during consumption, e-loyalty, and organizational culture. His work has been published in theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Service Research, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Management Studies, theInternational Journal of Human Resource Management, and theJournal of Services Marketing. Emmanuel Ogbonna (Ogbonna@Cardiff.ac.uk) (PhD, Wales) is a professor of management and organizational behavior at Cardiff Business School. His major research interests are in the areas of organizational strategy, culture, human resource management, and the U.K. food retail sector. His other research interests cover all aspects of race discrimination on government-sponsored training programs. His work has been published in theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Service Research, theJournal of Management Studies, theBritish Journal of Industrial Relations, andWork, Employment and Society. He serves on the review board of several international journals.     

Customer engagement: the construct,antecedents, and consequences

In this study, we highlight the need and develop a framework for customer engagement (CE) by reviewing the marketing literature and analyzing popular press articles. By understanding the evolution of customer management, we develop the theory of engagement, arguing that when a relationship is satisfying and has emotional connectedness, the partners become engaged in their concern for each other. As a result, the components of customer engagement include both the direct and the indirect contributions of CE. Based on the theoretical support, our proposed framework elaborates on the components of CE as well as the antecedents (satisfaction and emotion) and consequences (tangible and intangible outcomes) of CE. We also discuss how convenience, nature of the firm (B2B vs. B2C), type of industry (service vs. product), value of the brand (high vs. low), and level of involvement (high vs. low) moderate the link between satisfaction and direct contribution, and between emotions and indirect contribution of CE, respectively. Further, we show how customer engagement can be gained and how firm performance can be maximized by discussing relevant strategies.     

Consumer switching costs: A typology,antecedents, and consequences

The management of customer switching costs has been hampered by the lack of a comprehensive typology for conceptualizing, categorizing, and measuring consumers' perceptions of these costs. This research develops a switching cost typology that identifies three types of switching costs: (1) procedural switching costs, primarily involving the loss of time and effort; (2) financial switching costs, involving the loss of financially quantifiable resources; and (3) relational switching costs, involving psychological or emotional discomfort due to the loss of identity and the breaking of bonds. The research then examines the antecedents and consequences of switching costs. The results suggest that consumers' perceptions of product complexity and provider heterogeneity, their breadth of product use, and their alternative provider and switching experience drive the switching costs they perceive. Furthermore, all three switching cost types significantly influence consumers' intentions to stay with their current service provider, explaining more variance than does satisfaction. In view of the potential importance of switching costs, the impact of all strategic moves on switching costs should be considered Michael Porter (1980:122). Thomas A. Burnham (Tburnham@scu.edu) (Ph.D., University of Texas) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. His research investigates the strategic management of consumer switching costs and the use of customer suggestions in product improvement. Prior to obtaining his doctorate, he developed strategic reports and budgets for MCI Telecommunications and consulted with the management of a cooperative in Paraguay as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Judy K. Frels (Jfrels@rhsmith.umd.edu) (Ph.D., University of Texas) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on the marketing of high-technology products, innovation adoption, and consumer switching costs. Prior to obtaining her Ph.D., she spent 10 years developing operating systems and compilers, as well as managing and marketing software and hardware products at IBM and at Tymlabs Corporation. She has consulted with firms including SAIC, Imation, Input-Output, Inc., and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Vijay Mahajan (Vmahajan@mail.utexas.edu) is John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. He is currently serving as dean of the Indian school of Management, Hyderabad, India. He has published extensively on innovation diffusion, new product development, and strategic marketing.     

Word-of-mouth communications in marketing: a meta-analytic review of the antecedents and moderators

Although word-of-mouth (WOM) activity has been studied as an outcome variable of other constructs such as satisfaction, less attention has been given to the antecedents and moderators of WOM when considering WOM as a central construct. Hence, we propose a model of WOM antecedents and moderators using a meta-analytic review. The results show that all antecedents have significant effects on WOM activity, with customer commitment showing the strongest effect. The following hypotheses are also supported: (1) WOM valence is a significant moderator, (2) cross-sectional studies show a stronger influence of satisfaction and loyalty on WOM activity than longitudinal studies, and (3) studies of WOM behavior show a weaker link between loyalty and WOM activity than studies of WOM intentions. In addition, we show that satisfaction has a stronger relationship with positive WOM than loyalty, whereas (dis)loyalty has a stronger relationship with negative WOM than does (dis)satisfaction. We discuss this finding based on the different natures of positive and negative WOM. This article is based on the first author’s dissertation.     

Organizational antecedents to and consequences of service business orientations in manufacturing companies

Although various manufacturing companies have developed into total solution providers, no research addresses their service orientations. Building on the literature on organizational service climate, this study explores the organizational parameters and service business orientations that explain relative product sales and service volume of manufacturing companies. Following an exploratory study involving in-depth interviews, the authors conducted an empirical survey of 137 companies in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. The study assesses the effects of organizational parameters on the implementation of service business orientations and validates the important distinction between services in support of the client’s actions (SSC) and services in the support of the product (SSP). The findings demonstrate that services in support of the client’s action leverage relative product sales, while services in support of the product generate service volume. In addition to the main effects, the moderating effects of the organizational parameters are discussed.

Export marketing,interfunctional interactions,and performance consequences

Firms with export operations have internal environments that are often geared toward serving the home market. As a result, export marketing and other business functions compete for resources, which thus increases the likelihood of conflict between them. Using survey responses from more than 700 exporting firms, the authors test a model of the antecedents and consequences of two important interaction variables: exporting’s interfunctional connectedness and conflict. The model explains 52 percent and 49 percent of variance in exporting connectedness and conflict, respectively. The authors identify the key drivers of successful interactions as follows: management commitment, organizational training and reward systems, relative functional identification, centralization, and export employee job satisfaction and commitment. The authors also demonstrate that connectedness is most critical for export success when export markets are in a state of turbulence, whereas conflict is most detrimental when the firm’s export environment is stable. John W. Cadogan (j.w.cadogan@lboro.ac.uk), Ph.D., is a professor of marketing in the Business School at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. His primary areas of research interest are international marketing, marketing strategy, and sales management. He has published on these issues in theJournal of International Business Studies, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theInternational Marketing Review, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Strategic Marketing, and other academic journals. He received his degree from the University of Wales (United Kingdom). Sanna Sundqvist (sanna.sundqvist@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in international marketing in the Department of Business Administration at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland). Her research interests deal with the international diffusion of innovations, market orientation (especially in an international context), and consumers’ adoption behavior. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Risto T. Saiminen (risto.salminen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor of industrial engineering and management, especially marketing, in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. His primary areas of research interest are customer relationships and networks in business marketing, pedagogy in industrial engineering and management, and international marketing. He has published on these issues in theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Engineering Education, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. He received his degree from Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Kaisu Puumalainen (kaisu.puumalainen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in technology research in the Department of Business Administration at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Her primary areas of research interest are innovation, international marketing, and small businesses. She has published on these issues in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, R&D Management, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, theJournal of International Entrepreneurship, theAustralasian Marketing Journal, and theInternational Journal of Production Economics. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland.     

Relationship marketing in consumer markets: Antecedents and consequences

Understanding the motivations of consumers to engage in relationships with marketers is important for both practitioners and marketing scholars. To develop an effective theory of relationship marketing, it is necessary to understand what motivates consumers to reduce their available market choices and engage in a relational market behavior by patronizing the same marketer in subsequent choice situations. This article draws on established consumer behavior literature to suggest that consumers engage in relational market behavior due to personal influences, social influences, and institutional influences. Consumers reduce their available choice and engage in relational market behavior because they want to simplify their buying and consuming tasks, simplify information processing, reduce perceived risks, and maintain cognitive consistency and a state of psychological comfort. They also engage in relational market behavior because of family and social norms, peer group pressures, government mandates, religious tenets, employer influences, and marketer policies. The willingness and ability of both consumers and marketers to engage in relational marketing will lead to greater marketing productivity, unless either consumers or marketers abuse the mutual interdependence and cooperation. He has published more than 200 books and research papers in different areas of marketing. His bookThe Theory of Buyer Behavior (1969) with John A. Howard is a classic in the field. He has recently published two scholarly books:Marketing Theory: Evolution and Evaluation (1988) andConsumption Values and Market Choices (1991). He is on the editorial boards of at least a dozen scholarly journals in marketing, international business, and quantitative methods; he is also series editor ofResearch in Marketing (JAI Press). Prior to joining Emory, he was an associate professor of marketing at XLRI Jamshedpur in India. He received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University, India. He has authored a number of articles in the area of international marketing, business alliances, and environmental marketing. He is coeditor ofResearch in Marketing (Annual Series, JAI Press) and serves on the editorial review board ofInternational Marketing Review.     

Institutionalization of ethics and its consequences: a survey of marketing professionals

Because of increasing ethical problems in business, organizations have tried to control these problems by institutionalizing ethics, such as by creating new ethics positions and formulating codes of ethics. In this study, the authors develop a scale for measuring the institutionalization of ethics in organizations and assess it for dimensionality, reliability and validity. Two separate studies are conducted, both using samples drawn from an American Marketing Association practitioner population. In Study 1, using a sample of 126 marketing practitioners, we performed exploratory factor analysis on 44 institutionalization items resulting in two separate dimensions of the institutionalization of ethics construct: implicit and explicit institutionalization. Using a national sample of 306 marketing practitioners in Study 2, we performed confirmatory factor analysis on these two dimensions and investigated the effects of these dimensions on perceived importance of ethics, job satisfaction, esprit de corps and organizational commitment. Implicit institutionalization had a significant direct affect on all four of these constructs. On the other hand, explicit institutionalization significantly influenced only the perceived importance of ethics.     

Bottom-up learning in marketing frontlines: conceptualization, processes, and consequences

This study proposes a frontline learning process by which organizations capture new knowledge generated by frontline employees in addressing productivity-quality tradeoffs during customer interactions and transform it into updated knowledge for frontline use. Updated knowledge, in turn, is posited to influence customer satisfaction and financial outcomes (i.e., revenue, efficiency). Empirical testing with multi-source data reveals that: (1) knowledge articulation mediates the transformation of knowledge generated in the frontlines into updated knowledge, (2) updated frontline knowledge positively impacts customer and financial outcomes, and (3) frontline employee workload inhibits the transformational process unless it is at an intermediate level (inverted U-effect), while employee goal convergence bolsters it linearly.     

The impact of direct marketing appeals on charitable marketing effectiveness

Building on behavioral decision research, this article provides guidelines to charitable marketing managers regarding the effect of charitable direct marketing appeals on donor decision judgments. Several charitable direct mail appeals (factors) were empirically tested simultaneously in a factorial experimental design involving 18,144 potential donors to determine how donor decision strategies influenced choice judgments about whether to give and estimation judgments about how much to give. The results indicate that suggested anchors and framing influence response rate (choice) but not size of gift. Reference information (factual/statistical and narrative/experiential) influences size of gift (estimation) but not response rate. Implications for charitable marketing managers are discussed. He received his D.B.A. from Boston University, M.B.A. from Harvard University, and B.A. from Brandeis University. His research interests include managerial pricing, marketing communication strategies, and customer value. His work has been published in theCalifornia Management Review, Sloan Management Review, Pricing Strategy and Practice, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Marketing Communication, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, andJournal of Promotion Management, among others. He earned his S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. He is coauthor ofDirect Marketing Management (Prentice Hall) andCases in Business Statistics (Allyn & Bacon). He has published a variety of articles in journals such asManagement Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Direct Marketing, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Business Forecasting, American Statistician, andJournal of Finance.     

The physician and the marketing concept

Most physicians use some marketing techniques (albeit, unintentional or unplanned) in the operation of their private medical practices. They use marketing to attract patients, but seem unaware of the necessity and potential value of satisfying customer needs beyond the provision of adequate medical care. Medical service is often characterized by impersonality, with patients treated as machines rather than humans. This situation is partially a reflection of a seller's market, with a shortage or absence of private medical services in many areas of the country. In addition, the apparent lack of consumer orientation is reinforced by policies of the American Medical Association that forbid most forms of self-promotion and by the minimum fee schedules suggested by local medical associations that effectively preclude price competition. Physicians do not seem to recognize the congruity between their own interests or objectives and the total satisfaction of consumers in the marketplace for medical care.     

顾客满意策略与顾客满意营销

在情感消费时代，企业不再以质量达标、自己满意为经营理念，而是以顾客满意、赢得顾客高度忠诚为经营理念。企业营销策略不再以争取或保持市场占有率为主，而是以保持顾客份额和顾客忠诚为主。而顾客满意策略正是企业获取顾客“货币选票”的制胜法宝。以顾客至上为理念，让顾客参与产品设计、提供全程高附加值的服务、个性服务、培育顾客忠诚，是CS时代顾客满意营销的主要策略。     

虚拟组织与网络营销

从信息流动角度看,市场营销是一个信息发送、信息传播、信息接受、信息交流、信息反馈的过程.市场营销的具体实现方式和消费者的消费观念、需求特点、信息传播和交流模式,以及销售者的观念等要素有着密切联系.首先分析了互联网商务所面对的营销特点,其中包括互联网媒体的特点和消费者的特点,然后在理论上分析了企业在互联网环境下的竞争和合作的特点,得出结论互联网的虚拟组织将成为企业参与互联网商务活动的具有竞争力的形式.     

The marketing of political candidates

While the controversy concerning the validity and purpose of broadening the concept of marketing is still an ongoing one, the present article focuses on the field of political marketing and compares its historical development with that of American business. In doing so, it is shown that political marketing, viz., the process by which political candidates and ideas are targeted at the voters in order to satisfy their political needs and thus gain their support, has gone through the stages of (1) candidate orientation. (2) sales-management orientation, and is presently experiencing a transition to a (3) marketing concept orientation. These orientations parallel the development in the orientation of American business from product to sales to marketing focus. In addition, the article also suggests that marketing and political marketing share many basic concepts and tools. Consequently, it is concluded that political marketing should be included within the boundaries of the existing marketing theory. The author would like to thank Professor Philip Kotler for his insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper, and for his encouragement.     

The marketing of hamburger buns

It is apparent that the return percentages have been drastically reduced by using only the primary variable of temperature. The actual return percentage would have been even higher except that some route men ran out of hamburger buns and therefore had no returns. This did not show up in the aggregate figures because these were more than balanced by a surplus returned by the majority of route men.     

The marketing concept in perspective

A re-evaluation of the marketing concept appears to be in the making. The focus of research designed to facilitate this re-evaluation is likely to be of considerable importance to the future development of marketing theory. Research designed to better define the role and scope of the marketing concept seems to offer the most promise. Such research would be an aid to determining where the marketing concept should fit into a comprehensive theory of marketing. Limitations of the marketing concept are well documented in the literature suggesting a need for a broader framework of marketing theory. It seems imperative that academicians accept the responsibility for developing a more comprehensive general theory of marketing, one relevant to both the micro and macro aspects of a functioning system. Such flexibility seems to be a minimal requirement.     

The service-dominant logic and the future of marketing

According to Vargo and Lusch (Journal of Marketing, 68:1–17, 2004a, Journal of Service Research, 6:324–335, b), service is the appropriate logic for marketing. For them, service is an interactive process of “doing something for someone” that is valued. More radically, goods also render service and have value-in-use. In this context service becomes the unifying purpose of any business relationship. This marketing world-view involves broadening and reframing what by convention counts as service and stands in opposition to 200 years of mainstream economic logic in explaining productive capacity. In our view they have succeeded in applying their scholarly thinking to old themes with synergistic results. Their thesis challenges marketing orthodoxy, and will in our view support much future innovation in both theoretical and practical terms.     

The structure of marketing channel relationships

Distribution channel research has been advanced in recent years by contributions based on the political economy paradigm, transaction cost analysis, and relationship marketing. Drawing on these bodies of thought, we propose a new conceptualization of the structure of marketing channel relationships. Relationship structure is defined in terms of decision-making structure and operational integration. The proposed model of channel structure antecedents and consequences is consistent with the major research paradigms but extends beyond simple categorical assemblages of constructs to provide an ordered set of relationships based on theory and empirical research. This conceptualization reconciles some apparent contradictions in the literature and provides a clear focus for structure, process, and performance research in channels. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Louisiana State University. He has published in the areas of marketing channels, retailing, and logistics. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Channels, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Materials Management, Journal of Marketing Education, and others. He served as the managing director of public relations with the Federal Express Corporation before entering the Ph.D. program at Alabama. He holds a B.B.A. in accountancy from the University of Mississippi and an M.A. in marketing from the University of Alabama.     

The concept of a marketing crisis

Numerous marketing crises have gained media attention in recent years. The author examines the development of the concept of the crisis by political scientists, sociologists, and organizational theorists. Upon this base, a tentative definition for the marketing crisis is developed and a number of implications are drawn. Furthermore, the author suggests some directions for future research into the area of marketing crises.