Relationship marketing of services—growing interest,emerging perspectives

Relationship marketing is an old idea but a new focus now at the forefront of services marketing practice and academic research. The impetus for its development has come from the maturing of services marketing with the emphasis on quality, increased recognition of potential benefits for the firm and the customer, and technological advances. Accelerating interest and active research are extending the concept to incorporate newer, more sophisticated viewpoints. Emerging perspectives explored here include targeting profitable customers, using the strongest possible strategies for customer bonding, marketing to employees and other stakeholders, and building trust as a marketing tool. Although relationship marketing is developing, more research is needed before it reaches maturity. A baker’s dozen of researchable questions suggests some future directions. holds the J. C. Penney Chair of Retailing Studies, is a professor of Marketing, and is director of the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University. He is a former national president of the American Marketing Association. His research interests are services marketing, service quality, and retailing strategy. He has published numerous journal articles and books, includingDelivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations (Free Press, 1990),Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality (Free Press, 1991), andOn Great Service: A Framework for Action (Free Press, 1995).     

The influence of store environment on quality inferences and store image

The study reported here examines how combinations of specific elements in the retail store environment influence consumers’ inferences about merchandise and service quality and discusses the extent to which these inferences mediate the influence of the store environment on store image. Results show that ambient and social elements in the store environment provide cues that consumers use for their quality inferences. In addition, store environment, merchandise quality, and service quality were posited to be antecedents of store image—with the latter two serving as mediators—rather than components of store image (as they are typically treated in the store image literature). Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed, and future research directions are proposed. She received her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Her areas of interest include store environment, consumer behavior, and product/service quality. She has published articles in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing and theJournal of Retailing. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His areas of interest include pricing, consumer behavior, product/service quality, and customer satisfaction. He has published articles in a number of journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, andJournal of Retailing. He received his D.B.A. from Indiana University in 1975. His research interests focus on the measurement and improvement of service quality and on services marketing strategy. He is the recipient of several teaching and research awards. In 1988, he was selected as one of the ten most influential figures in quality by the editorial board ofThe Quality Review. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Services Marketing, andBusiness Horizons, among other publications. He is the author ofMarketing Research, a college textbook, as well as coauthor ofMarketing Services: Competing through Quality andDelivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations. He is also an active consultant to a number of major corporations.     

Cultivating service brand equity

In packaged goods, the product is the primary brand. However, with services, the company is the primary brand. This article, based on primary research with 14 mature, high-performance service companies, makes a case for service branding as a cornerstone of services marketing for today and tomorrow. The article presents a service-branding model that underscores the salient role of customers' service experiences in brand formation. Four primary strategies that excellent service firms use to cultivate brand equity are discussed and illustrated. Branding is not just for tangible goods; it is a principal success driver for service organizations as well. Leonard L. Berry holds the JCPenney Chair of Retailing Studies and is a Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University. A former national president of the American Marketing Association, he is the author ofDiscovering the Soul of Service andOn Great Service and coauthor ofMarketing Services and Delivering Quality Service, all published by Free Press (New York). He received the 1996 Career Contributions to Services Marketing Award from the American Marketing Association. He also has been recognized twice with the highest honors Texas A&M bestows on a faculty member: the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching (in 1990) and the Distinguished Achievement Award in Research (in 1996). He is a board member of CompUSA, Genesco Inc., Hastings Entertainment, and Lowe's Companies, Inc.     

Modeling the determinants of customer satisfaction for business-to-business professional services

This research empirically examines for the first time the determinants of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction (CS/D) in the context of business professional services. The simultaneous effect of key CS/D constructs (expectations, performance, and disconfirmation) and several variables—fairness (equity), purchase situation (novelty, importance, and complexity)—and individual-level variables (decision uncertainty and stakeholding) are examined in a causal path framework. Data were obtained from a two-stage longitudinal survey of client organizations. The results indicated substantial support for the hypothesized model. The effect of purchase situation and individual-level variables (via their indirect affects) rivals that of disconfirmation and expectations in explaining CS/D. Performance was found to affect CS/D directly but not as powerfully as disconfirmation. His current research interests include modeling customer satisfaction and service quality, services marketing (especially in a business-to-business environment), and relationship marketing. His research has appeared in theInternational Journal for Research in Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Advances in Services Marketing and Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Asia-Pacific Journal of Management, R & D Management, Journal of International Marketing, and others. he has been on the faculty of a number of U.S. and Australian universities. His research interests focus on services marketing, marketing research methods, and modeling satisfaction processes. He has published in theJournal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business, Journal of Services Marketing, and others. He is currently the editor of theAustralasian Journal of Market Research. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. His research interests include consumer satisfaction, service quality, and consumer information processing. His work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and others.     

The moderating role of the price frame on the effects of price range and the number of Competitors on consumers’ search intentions

The Internet and Internet shopping agents (ISAs) are likely to have a substantial impact on the way consumers shop and conduct price searches. This article examines how the price frame (the relative position of a retailer’s price presented by ISAs) moderates the effects of the price range and the number of competitors carrying a product on consumers’ search intentions. Building on prospect theory and range theory, the authors predicted that the effects of price range and the number of competitors on consumers’ search intentions would be more pronounced in a negative price frame than in a positive price frame. The results of two experiments provide support for these predictions. Dhruv Grewal (dgrewal@babson.edu), Ph.D., is the Toyota Chair in Commerce and Electronic Business and a Professor of Marketing at Babson College. He is currently co-editor ofJournal of Retailing (2001-present). His research and teaching interests focus on e-business, retailing, global marketing, pricing, and value-based marketing strategies. He has published over 65 articles in journals such asJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He cochaired the 1993 AMS Conference, the 1998 Winter AMA Conference, and the 2001 AMA Doctoral consortium. He will be cochairing the AMA 2006 Summer Educator’s Conference. Joan Lindsey-Mullikin (jmullikin@babson.edu), Ph.D., is an assistant professor of marketing at Babson College. Her research and teaching interests focus on pricing, retailing, and consumer behavior. She has published in journals such asJournal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Social Psychology, andJournal of Product and Brand Management. She serves on the review board ofJournal of Product and Brand Management.     

Reflections on gaining competitive advantage through customer value

Summary Woodruff’s detailed discussion of the meaning and measurement of customer value and how companies can use customer value information in designing their strategies makes a major contribution to marketing theory and practice. It provides an insightful synthesis of the literature on customer value and points out why and how current theory on the subject should be strengthened. It also offers suggestions for companies to foster customer value learning and incorporate it as a cornerstone of their competitive strategies. The primary objectives of my commentary have been (1) to critically examine Woodruff’s contributions and highlight unresolved issues requiring further investigation and (2) extend Woodruff’s contributions by proposing and discussing a detailed framework for monitoring and leveraging customer value. In addressing these objectives, I have attempted to raise questions and offer suggestions—some of which are necessarily tentative—in the hope that they will stimulate additional interest, debate, and research on the topic. He obtained his Ph.D. in business administration from Indiana University, Bloomington. His articles have appeared in such journals as theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing, andSloan Management Review. He serves on five editorial review boards of journals and has been named as editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science for a 3-year term beginning June 1, 1997. He is the author ofMarketing Research, a college textbook, and is a coauthor of two other books written for practitioners in a variety of sectors:Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations andMarketing Services: Competing Through Quality.     

Coping with organizational role stress: Intrinsic motivational orientation,perceived role benefits,and psychological withdrawal

Researchers have long recognized that individuals in stressful marketing roles find ways to cope with organizational role stress. This study examines the effects of three psychological coping strategies—intrinsic motivational orientation, perceived role benefits, and psychological withdrawal—in a model of organizational role stress. Results indicate that intrinsic motivational orientations reduce perceptions of role conflict and role ambiguity, and increase job satisfaction; that perceived role benefits positively influence job satisfaction; and that job dissatisfaction is the primary cause of psychological withdrawal. The study supports the importance of coping efforts in models of organizational role stress among marketing personnel. Dr. Keaveney’s research interests focus on retailing issues including retail buyer behavior, retail store image, and retail price promotions. Dr. Keaveney has also published in the areas of marketing organizational behavior, services marketing, and international marketing. She is co-author with Philip R. Cateora ofMarketing: An International Perspective, which has been published both in English and in Japanese. Dr. Keaveney has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Marketing Channels, andJournal of Volunteer Administration. Dr. Nelson’s research interests include topics in marketing research, consumer behavior, and advertising. He has published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Research, and serves as occasional reviewer to these publications as well as to theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He teaches courses in marketing management, marketing research, and multivariate statistics.     

Assessing hierarchical differences in job-related attitudes and turnover among retail managers

A model of organizational turnover is expended from previously reported models to include an extraorganizational antecedent and comparison across two different hierarchical levels of management. Role ambiguity, role conflict, and work-family conflict were used as antecedents of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intent to leave, and actual turnover. The basic model of turnover was supported in both levels of management. In addition, several additional relationships that have been found in previous studies were tested. Implications of these results for retail managers are discussed. She received her Ph.D. from Oklahoma Stae University. Her research interests include retail turnover, socialization of entry-level management trainees, the role of social support in reducing employee stress, consumer distribution systems in Russian and Poland, and motivation of Russian and Polish employees. Her articles have appeared inJournal of Retailing, International Marketing Review, andMarketing Education Review. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. His research interests include attitude-behavior relationships, information processing, and the use of structural equations in marketing. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Advertising, andJournal of Business Research. He received his Ph.D. from University of Utah. He has extensive experinece in computer applications in marketing and business and has conducted research and seminars for a variety of companies. His major interests are in quantitative methods and sales manamgement. His articles have appeared inJournal of Retailing, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Business Horizons, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, andJournal of Business Logistics and Business.     

Buyer-seller relationships in the procurement of logistical services

This study presents a two-phase model of interfirm exchange in the logistical supply industry. The first phase uses transaction cost analysis to identify conditions leading to market-based transactions, unilateral agreements, and bilateral alliances. The second phase illustrates how formal controls and relational norms yield performance in market, unilateral, and bilateral governance systems. A test of the model with data from 189 logistical supply relationships suggests that bilateral alliances emerge through the interaction of user investments in the logistics supplier, supplier logistical services, and marketplace uncertainty. Bilateral alliances attain desired outcomes through participative management and flexibility. By contrast, market-based transactions yield desired outcomes through formalization and solidarity. Unilateral agreements gain performance through formalization, participation, information sharing, and solidarity. Implications for logistics management and theory are discussed. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include relationship marketing and marketing channels. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Retailing, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Marketing Letters, Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, and elsewhere. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her research has concentrated on business-to-business marketing relationships, with a focus on means to improve coordination, and on sales management, with an emphasis on ways to enhance diversity, improve performance, and reduce turnover. Her articles have appeared in theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Business Research, Marketing Letters, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, and elsewhere. He is also the director of the Warehousing Research Center (WRC). He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Industrial marketing strategy, marketing and logistics interfaces, logistics and warehousing management are his primary areas of expertise and interest. He has published articles in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Logistics, Industrial Marketing Management, and elsewhere. He has also written a leading industrial marketing text and a variety of warehousing and logistics monographs.     

Service failure and recovery: The impact of relationship factors on customer satisfaction

This research investigated how customers' relationships with a service organization affect their reactions to service failure and recovery. Our conceptual model proposed that customer-organizational relationships help to shape customers' attributions and expectations when service failures occur. The empirical results showed that customers with higher expectations of relationship continuity had lower service recovery expectations after a service failure and also attributed that failure to a less stable cause. Both the lower recovery expectations and the lower stability attributions were associated with greater satisfaction with the service performance after the recovery. These effects appeared to be key processes by which relationships buffer service organizations when service failures occur. Ronald L. Hess Jr. (ron. hess@business.wm.edu) (Ph.D., Virginia Tech) is currently an assistant professor of marketing at the College of William & Mary. His research interests include customer responses to service and product failures; organizational complaint handling; and customer assessments of satisfaction, loyalty, and service quality. He has published his research inMarketing Letters and several conference proceedings. Shankar Ganesan (sganesan @bpa.arizona.edu) (Ph.D., University of Florida) is an associate professor of marketing and Lisle and Rosslyn Payne Fellow in Marketing at the Eller College of Business and Public Administration, University of Arizona. His research interests focus on the areas of interorganizational relationships, buyer-seller negotiations, service failure and recovery, new product innovation, and E-marketing. He is the author of several articles that have appeared in leading academic journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Applied Psychology. He currently serves on the editorial review board of theJournal of Marketing Research and theJournal of Marketing. Noreen M. Klein (nklein@vt.edu) (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University) is currently an associate professor of marketing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her research interests include consumer decision making and the behavioral aspects of pricing, and her research has been published in the theJournal of Consumer Research, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Making, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science.     

Re-examining salesperson goal orientations: Personality influencers, customer orientation, and work satisfaction

Several scholars have noted the importance of relationship marketing and the critical role that salesperson knowledge plays in the formation of buyer-seller relationships. However, research on salesperson learning motivations has been relatively scarce compared with research on firm-level learning orientations. One promising stream of research in this area is salesperson goal orientation. Drawing from previous work in control theory, the authors extend previous research in this area by proposing relationships between personality influencers, goal orientations, customer/selling orientation, and overall work satisfaction. Their hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a sample of 190 real estate agents. The results provide support for their hypothesized model. Specifically, learning orientation is shown to positively influence customer orientation, while performance orientation is shown to positively influence selling orientation. Eric G. Harris (eharris@lklnd.usf.edu Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Florida. His current research interests include goal orientation, customer orientation, and personality models applied to consumer and employee behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Psychology & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Marketing, theJournal of Business & Psychology, Services Marketing Quarterly, theJournal of Services Marketing, and theJournal of Marketing Management. John C. Mowen (jcmmkt@okstate.edu) Ph.D., Arizona State University) is Regents Professor and holds the Noble Chair of Marketing Strategy at Oklahoma State University. He has published articles in numerous leading journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Decisions Sciences, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology. He is a past president of the Society for Consumer Psychology. His teaching and consulting interests focus on consumer behavior and motivating the workforce. His research focuses on the factors that motivate and influence the decisions of consumers and employees. Tom J. Brown (tom.brown@okstate.edu; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is Ardmore Professor of Business Administration and an associate professor of marketing at Oklahoma State University. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His current research interests include causes and effects of corporate reputation and the customer orientation of service workers. He is cofounder of the Corporate Identity/Associations Research Group. Teaching interests include marketing research, services marketing, and corporate communications. He is coauthor (with Gilbert A. Churchill Jr.) ofBasic Marketing Research (5th ed.). Consulting interests include marketing research, corporate reputation, and the customer orientation of service workers.     

Can price dispersion in online markets be explained by differences in e-tailer service quality?

It has been hypothesized that the online medium and the Internet lower search costs and that electronic markets are more competitive than conventional markets. This suggests that price dispersion of an item with the same measured characteristics across sellers at a given point in time for identical products sold by e-tailers online should be smaller than it is offline, but some recent empirical evidence reveals the opposite. Based on an empirical analysis of 105 e-tailers comprising 6.739 price observations for 581 items in eight product categories, the authors show that online price dispersion is persistent, even after controlling for e-tailer heterogeneity. The general conclusion is that the proportion of the price dispersion explained by e-tailer characteristics is small. Also, after controlling for differences in e-tailer service quality, prices at pure-play e-tailers are equal to or lower than those at bricks-and-clicks e-tailers for all categories except books and computer software. Xing Pan is a doctoral candidate in marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. His research interests include pricing, electronic commerce, industrial organization, and consumer economics. His dissertation, which investigates price dispersion and price competition in online retail markets, won the 12th Annual Doctoral Research Fellowship awarded by the Economic Club of Washington. He has published in theAdvances in Applied Microeconomics and has presented several papers at Marketing Science conferences and MSI conferences. Brian T. Ratchford holds the Pepsico Chair in Consumer Research at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He holds M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Rochester. His research interests are in economics applied to the study of consumer behavior, information economics, and marketing productivity. He has published more than 30 articles in the leading journals in marketing and related fields, includingJournal of Consumer Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, andJournal of Marketing Research. He is past editor ofMarketing Science and currently on the editorial review boards ofJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, andJournal of Retailing. Venkatesh (Venky) Shankar is the Ralph J. Tyser Fellow and a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. His research interests include e-business, competitive strategy, international marketing, pricing, innovation, and supply chain management. His research has been published in journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, and theJournal of Retailing. He is an associate editor ofManagement Science and is also on the editorial boards ofMarketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He was a visiting faculty member at the Sloan School of Management, MIT, last year and has also taught at the Chinese European International Business School, Shanghai.     

Standardization versus customization in international marketing: An investigation using bridging conjoint analysis

We present and illustrate a methodology by which researchers can assess the relative importance and test the significance of various marketing-related factors as they influence the degree of standardization/customization of international marketing strategy. The standardization decision is viewed as a continuum with complete standardization and complete customization as the two extremes. Specific hypotheses related to the impact of marketing mix variables on the degree of standardization are formulated. These hypotheses are empirically investigated through a survey of international marketing managers. This investigation is carried out using conjoint analysis. Bridging methodology is introduced in order to accommodate the large number of variables in the study. The analysis is conducted at the individual level, at the group level, and at the aggregate level. Finally, we discuss the methodological and managerial implications of the findings and potential areas of future research. His previous research has appeared in theInternational Marketing Review and theJournal of Euromarketing. He is also the president of the Academy of Marketing Science, a distinguished fellow of the academy and fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute. He has published 60 articles in major refereed journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Health Care Marketing, as well as leading journals in statistics, management science, and psychology. In addition, he has also published numerous refereed articles in the proceedings of major national and international conferences. He is the winner of numerous awards and honors for research, teaching, and service to the profession.     

Imperfect information: The persistence of price dispersion on the web

In this article, the authors empirically test the notion that as the mean price of durables increases, the degree of dispersion also increases. This effect holds even when they specifically consider variables such as the number of competitors and store quality. The authors suggest that an individual-level perceptual mechanism, the psychophysics of price, at the aggregate level helps explain continued price dispersion on the Web. These results are contrary to predictions from standard economic theory, which suggest that readily available price information will result in increased price competition and lower price dispersion. Two studies consistently demonstrate that as the mean price of an item increases, price dispersion also increases. These results provide evidence that, contrary to general economic expectations, the Internet has not commoditized products. Retailers and managers need to pay attention to Internet information but not be fearful of its impact on their pricing strategies. Joan Lindsey-Mullikin (jmullikin@babson.edu; Ph.D., Arizona) is an assistant professor of marketing at Babson College. Her research and teaching interests focus on pricing, retailing, and consumer behavior. She has published in journals such as theJournal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Social Psychology, andJournal of Product and Brand Management. She serves on the review board of theJournal of Product and Brand Management. Dhruv Grewal (dgrewal@babson.edu; Ph.D., Virginia Tech) is the Toyota Chair in Commerce and Electronic Business and a professor of marketing at Babson College. He is currently coeditor of theJournal of Retailing (2001-present). His research and teaching interests focus on e-business, retailing, global marketing, pricing and value-based marketing strategies. He will be awarded the 2005 Lifetime Achievement in Behavioral Pricing Award (Fordham University, November 2005). He is a “Distinguished Fellow” of the Academy of Marketing Science. He has published more than 65 articles in journals such as theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing, andJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He was won awards for his teaching and research. He cochaired the 1993 Academy of Marketing Science Conference, the 1998 Winter American Marketing Association Conference “Reflections & Future Directions for Marketing,” and the 2001 AMA doctoral consortium. He will be cochairing the American Marketing Association 2006 Summer Educator’s Conference.     

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.     

Multisource effects on the satisfaction formation process

Customer satisfaction research is integrated with research on higher education in developing a model of alumni satisfaction with college education. The model proposes that alumni satisfaction with higher education is a function of two performance and disconfirmation attributes: intellectual environment and employment preparation. The model was tested among 475 alumni of a major Eastern undergraduate business school and demonstrates the advantage of modeling the disconfirmation paradigm with multiple sources of satisfaction. She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University. Her work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, and proceedings of the American Marketing Association and the Association for Consumer Research. She was formerly an account executive at Needham Harper Worldwide and Director of Marketing at Maxwell Advertising. Her research interests include consumer satisfaction, complaining behavior, and advertising management. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University. His work has appeared in theJournal of Advertising, Journal of Retail Banking, Journal of Services Marketing, and theHaring Symposium Proceedings. He has held several positions in the banking industry, most recently as Group Vice President at Michigan National Bank in Grand Rapids. His research interests include services marketing, consumer satisfaction, and direct marketing. She received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Retailing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Education, and other marketing-related publications. Her research interests include not-for-profit organizations, consumer satisfaction, and services marketing.     

Ethical sensitivity to stakeholder interests: A cross-cultural comparison

This study applied Hofstede’s typology to examine the effect of culture on ethical sensitivity toward various stakeholders. It was found that uncertainty avoidance had a positive effect and that power distance and individualism/masculinity had negative effects on ethical sensitivity. The results also indicated that ethical sensitivity to stakeholder interests is dependent on which stakeholder is affected. Although Americans and Taiwanese sales agents were equally sensitive to customer interests, the Taiwanese were more sensitive to the interests of their company and a competitor but were less sensitive to the interests of a colleague. This study should prove valuable to international marketers because the cultural typology allows managers to identify differences in work-related values of employees across different nationalities and thus provides a theoretical base for designing more effective sales management practices. Jeffrey G. Blodgett (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer complaint behavior and cross-cultural issues. His work has been published in theJournal of Retailing, Journal of Services Research, Journal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, and in other marketing journals. Long-Chuan Lu is an assistant professor of marketing at the National Chung-Cheng University of Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi. His work has previously appeared in theJournal of Business Ethics, in addition to other journals and conference proceedings. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Marketing, and other journals and proceedings. Scott J. Vitell is the Phil B. Hardin Professor of Marketing at the University of Mississippi, receiving his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. His previous work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, andResearch in Marketing and the Journal of Business Ethics, in addition to numerous other journals and conference proceedings.     

Television commercials in violent programming: An experimental evaluation of their effects on children

Using an experimental method, this study found that when a commercial was viewed immediately following a high-violence dramatic programming segment, children’s ad copy recognition scores were significantly lower and attitudes toward the ad and the advertised brand were significantly less favorable than when the commercial was viewed following a low-violence (but otherwise near-identical) program segment. The influence of program violence level on some advertising response measures was more pronounced when the commercial was positioned immediately following the dramatic programming segment than when immediately preceding it. The study cautions advertisers to examine carefully whether, in reaching for high audience ratings and cost efficiency through violent television programs, they may be sacrificing communication effectiveness of their brand advertising. He has published numerous articles on advertising effectiveness, children and advertising, buyer behavior, and marketing strategy in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Communication, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of International Marketing, and others. Her primary research interests are in children and advertising issues, buyer behavior, and marketing ethics. Her research has appeared in theJournal of Services Marketing, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, and proceedings of numerous national and regional marketing conferences.     

Decision-making time in organizational buying behavior: An investigation of its antecedents

This study reports an empirical investigation focusing on the length of time firms take in making major purchase decisions (DMT) and examines antecedents such as buyclass, firm size, decision-making unit (DMU) size, information sources, and size of the consideration set. Data were provided by a national sample of organizations involved in the purchase of telecommunications systems. Findings suggest that firm size, buyclass, DMU size, information sources, and size of consideration set all significantly affect DMT. Antecedent relationships among the independent variables were also largely as expected. This study provides a starting point for a fertile area of research with important implications for organizational buyers and sellers as well as researchers. She holds a B.S. in Marketing and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Marketing from Northwestern University. Her research interests are in the areas of technology diffusion and management as well as consumer behavior, advertising, and macromarketing. She has published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Macromarketing, European Journal of Marketing, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Telematics and Informatics, andJournal of Economic Psychology. She is a member of the Editorial Policy Board of the Journal of Macromarketing and President of the International Society for Marketing and Development. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska. Dr. Johnson’s research interests focus on interorganizational relationships in marketing contexts, such as distribution channels or business-to-business marketing with emphasis on cross-culture interorganizational marketing relationships. Dr. Johnson’s research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Research, andCurrent Issues and Research in Advertising, among other journals and conference proceedings. She has also presented her work at a variety of domestic and international conferences. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His research interests are in the areas of pricing, consumer behavior, and marketing research. He is coauthor ofConsumer Behavior: Concepts and Applications, currently in its fourth edition, and his research has been published inDecision Sciences, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Retailing, Journalism Quarterly, and other leading journals and publications of professional societies. He holds degrees in engineering and management from India and a Ph.D. in marketing from Northwestern University. Dr. Dholakia’s research deals with technology, innovation, market processes, globalization, and consumer culture. Dr. Dholakia has published over 70 papers in professional journals and proceedings in management, marketing, and technology. Among his books areEssentials of New Product Management (coauthored, Prentice-Hall, 1987).