The role of customer service in determining customer satisfaction

Most consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction research is focussed either on identifying product classes and personal/usage characteristics associated with dissatisfaction, or is focussed on modelling the psychological processes underlying the phenomenon. Most retailers, on the other hand, focus only on handling customer complaints. This paper focuses on retailer controllable sources of customer dissatisfaction. Findings from a large scale Canadian survey of 982 cases of recent automobile buyers show that while there are some differences in the determinants of consumer satisfaction among four different car models, it is the dealer-related factors that exert the greatest effects. Specific implications are highlighted for the retailer’s attention and possible retail responses are discussed.     

Voice,exit, and negative word-of-mouth behaviors: An investigation across three service categories

Drawing upon Hirschman’s (1970) framework for Exit, Voice and Loyalty, a model is proposed which predicts and explains variation in voice, exit, and negative work-of-mouth behaviors. The findings from extant consumer complaining behavior (CCB) literature are also incorporated into the hypothesized model. Using data from customer dissatisfaction with three different service categories, the proposed model is subjected to empirical investigation. Despite the parsimony of Hirschman’s framework, results show that the hypothesized model provides good model-fit indices in each of the three data sets. In addition, the explanatory power of the model is encouraging, ranging from 36 percent to 50 percent variance explained. However, the support for the hypothesized pattern of CCB rates across the service categories is mixed. Specifically, while voice responses conform to the hypothesized pattern, exit responses do not. Implications stemming from a comparative analysis of the results are discussed, and directions for future research outlined.     

Angry customers don't come back,they get back: The experience and behavioral implications of anger and dissatisfaction in services

This article investigates the specific experience of anger and dissatisfaction and their effects on customers' behavioral responses to failed service encounters across industries. Study 1 demonstrates that anger and dissatisfaction are qualitatively different emotions with respect to their idiosyncratic experiential content. Study 2 builds on these findings and shows how anger and service encounter dissatisfaction differentially affect customer behavior. It provides empirical support for the contention that anger mediates the relationship between service encounter dissatisfaction and customers' behavioral responses. The findings of Study 2 diverge from previous findings in marketing on the interrelationships between customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, related consumption emotions, and customers' behavioral responses to service failure. The implications of these findings for services marketing theory and practice are delineated. Roger Bougie (J.R.G.Bougie@uvt.nl) is an assistant professor of marketing at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research interests are emotions and their impact on consumer behavior, and consumer decision making. Rik Pieters is a professor of marketing at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research interests are emotions in consumer behavior, visual attention and memory, and social networks. His work has appeared in, among others, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Economic Literature, theJournal of Marketing Research, andMarketing Science. Marcel Zeelenberg is a professor of social psychology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research interest is in anticipated emotions and acutal emotional experiences and their impact on behavioral decision making. His work has appeared in, among others, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.     

When consumers complain: A path analysis of the key antecedents of consumer complaint response estimates

When do consumers complain? This study probes this question by developing a conceptual framework that includes multiple theoretical perspectives, empirically testing a portion of the proposed model, and using dissatisfaction/complaint data from three different service industries. The hypothesized model uses multidimensional consumer complaint response estimates including voice, private, and third-party responses as dependent variables. Results support several proposed relationships, provide a high level of explained variance, and indicate a moderating role for dissatisfaction intensity. The complaint response estimates are characterized by disparate influence pathways, and expectancy value judgments emerge as critical determinants with positive and negative crossover effects. Attitude toward complaining is more dominant under low dissatisfaction intensity than it is under the high dissatisfaction condition. Important differences emerge across service categories. Implications of this work for managers and researchers in understanding when consumers complain are enumerated.     

Assessing the predictive validity of two methods of measuring self-image congruence

The predictive validity of two measurement methods of self-image congruence—traditional versus new—were compared in six studies involving different consumer populations, products, consumption settings, and dependent variables (brand preference, preference for product form, consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, brand attitude, and program choice). The traditional method is based on tapping the subject’s perception of product-user image and the subject’s perception of his/her self-image along a predetermined set of image attributes and adding the self-congruity scores across all image dimensions. Three problems were identified and discussed in relation to the traditional method: (1) the use of discrepancy scores, (2) the possible use of irrelevant images, and (3) the use of the compensatory decision rule. The new method is based on tapping the psychological experience of self-congruity directly and globally. The findings demonstrated the predictive validity of the new method over and beyond the traditional method. His research interests are mostly in self-concept, quality of life, and systems theory. His research interests are mostly in pricing and product quality. Her research interests are primarily in family decision making. Her research interests focus on the social psychology of clothing and patronage of clothing retailers. His research interests are mainly in the social psychology of travel and leisure behavior. His research interests are mainly focused on self-concept, quality of life, environmental marketing, and sports marketing. His research interests are mainly in self-concept and value-expressive advertising. He is the Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Professor of Business and is the founder of the Academy of Marketing Science. He currently serves as the organization’s executive director. His research interests are mostly in consumer behavior and advertising.     

Does innate consumer innovativeness relate to new product/service adoption behavior? The intervening role of social learning via vicarious innovativeness

Empirical studies provide an inconsistent picture of the relationship between an innovative personality predisposition (i.e., innate consumer innovativeness [ICI]) and innovative behavior (i.e., new product adoption behavior). Such inconsistencies suggest intervening variables that may mediate the relationship have not been considered. Using data from a panel of consumers (n = 296 in a cross-sectional phase, n = 147 in a matched, two-phase longitudinal analysis), we find that ICI does not directly influence adoption behavior but does so indirectly through two of three components of vicarious innovativeness (modeling and engagement in word of mouth but not exposure to advertising). Furthermore, despite the evidence that consumers’ decision processes differ for service versus product adoption, extant studies largely ignore the role of ICI in new service adoption. Our findings suggest that vicarious innovativeness plays a similar intervening role in service contexts. Finally, divergent operationalizations of adoption behavior (ownership, relative time of adoption) appear to perform equally well.

Comparison of consumer reactions to price-matching guarantees in internet and bricks-and-mortar retail environments

The present study investigates consumer responses to price-matching guarantees (PMGs) in the Internet environment and contrasts them with their responses in a traditional bricks-and-mortar retail environment. The effect of store reputation on consumer responses to price-matching policies is also investigated in both Internet and bricks-and-mortar retail settings. Two studies using a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects full factorial experimental design with two levels of PMG presence (PMG present, PMG absent), two levels of retail environment (Internet, bricks-and-mortar), and two levels of store reputation (no/low reputation, high reputation) were conducted. In study 1 reputation was manipulated using store names, while in study 2 the reputation was manipulated using store characteristics. The findings of two studies suggest that consumer reactions to price-matching guarantees, such as store price perceptions, postpurchase search intentions, and willingness to claim a refund if a lower competitive price is found, differ across the two purchase environments.     

Theory and external validity

Winer (1999 [this issue]) proposes that external validity concerns require more attention in theoretical research. The author argues that one cannot “enhance” external validity by choosing one method over another. External validity can only be “assessed” by better understanding how the focal variables in one’s theory interact with moderator variables that are seen as irrelevant early in a research stream. Findings from single real-world settings and specific sets of “real” people are no more likely to generalize than are findings from single laboratory settings with student subjects. Both the laboratory and real world vary in background facets of subject characteristics, setting, context, relevant “history,” and time. It is only when these facets vary and we see how they interact that understanding of external validity is enhanced. For this to happen, the observable “background” factors have to be conceptualized in terms of more general constructs and incorporated as moderators into the researcher’s theory. Enriched theory—not method—confers confidence in our understanding of whether effects will be robust or highly contingent. To map this knowledge to some specific substantive system requires an added step of understanding the mapping from observables in that system onto theoretical constructs. The author proposes “friendly amendments” to Winer’s three proposals to pursue a better understanding of external validity through theory. John G. Lynch, Jr. is the Hanes Corporation Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Duke University. His research and teaching interests are in consumer behavior, electronic commerce, and validity issues in research methodology. He a past president of the Association for Consumer Research, past associate editor for theJournal of Consumer Research, and past associate editor and coeditor of theJournal of Consumer Psychology. He has been the recipient of the MSI/Paul Root Award atJournal of Marketing, the William O’Dell Award atJournal of Marketing Research, and has twice been the recipient of theJournal of Consumer Research best article award.     

Consumer and provider expectations and experiences in evaluating professional service quality

Providers of professional services have recently awakened to consumer challenges, competition and the realities of marketing. Looking at the expectations and experiences of providers and consumers can provide special insight into the services evaluation process and perceived service quality. By evaluating both professionals’ and consumers’ perspectives, differences in perceptions can be identified and characterized. Inconsistencies in perceptions between two parties to an exchange may result in dissatisfaction, while positive consistencies in these assessments aid in building on-going relationships.     

The behavioral perspective model of purchase and consumption: From consumer theory to marketing practice

The Behavioral Perspective Model of purchase and consumption (BPM) portrays the rate at which consumer behaviors take place as a function of the relative openness of the setting in which they occur and the informational and hedonic reinforcement available in or promised by the setting. Each of eight combinations of contingencies based on these explanatory variables is uniquely related to a specific mode of observed consumer behavior. By providing an environmental perspective on consumer behavior, the model makes a critical contribution to the development of contemporary consumer research that frequently decontextualizes its subject matter. It also presents an innovative conceptualization of the nature of marketing strategies.     

Impact of country-of-origin cues on consumer judgments in multi-cue situations: a covariance analysis

The effect of country-of-origin labelling on consumers’ assessments of product quality, risk to purchase, perceived value and likelihood of purchasing was tested experimentally in a multi-product, multi-cue setting. Country-of-origin information was found to be more important in affecting product quality assessments than were price and brand information. Price was important in value assessment while brand was significant in a few product specific cases. Age, education, sex, and perceptions of ability to judge products were variously related to consumers’ ratings of quality, risk, value and likelihood of purchase especially when the product was more complex and difficult to judge. However, much of the variation in consumer judgments was not accounted for by the variables employed in this study, suggesting that future research should include more detailed studies of information processing whereby intrinsic and extrinsic product cues and a wide range of consumer characteristics are taken into consideration.     

A note on the predictive validity of the CETSCALE

Consumers’ perceptions of the morality of buying foreign products, or consumer ethnocentric tendencies, are becoming an increasingly important issue for marketers in the global environment. The predictive validity of Shimp and Sharma’s (1987) CETSCALE was tested in a nationwide mail survey. The scale is shown to be a much stronger predictor of import buying behavior than are demographic variables. The ability of the scale to predict purchase behavior does not, however, appear to be consistent across the two products tested.     

Materialism, status signaling, and product satisfaction

The consumer satisfaction literature has not, for the mos part, integrated individual values into the product evaluation process. Yet a comprehensive understanding of consumer satisfaction can best be attained by including both consumer and product factors. To demonstrate the usefulness of including individual values, this research focuses on one consumer value, namely, materialism. The authors empirically explore how this individual value is linked to consumers’ evaluations of products they have purchased. Using surveys, the authors collected data from a sample of college students (n=211) and a sample of adults (n=270). Across these two studies, using divergent samples and products, they find consistent evidence that materialism is negatively related to product satisfaction in product categories with high potential for status signaling, but unrelated to product satisfaction in product categories with lower potential for status signaling. The consumption goals that produce these product evaluations are empirically addressed Jeff Wang (jianfeng76@yahoo.com; PhD, City University of Hong Kong) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Faculty of Business at the City University of Hong Kong. This work was conducted when he was a doctoral student of marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. His research interests include social networks and consumer behavior, consumer satisfaction and well-being, materialism and consumption meanings, and consumer interests and public policy issues. His dissertation studies credit card debt as a socially embedded phenomenon and investigates how consumers leverage their interpersonal ties as they accumulate and repay their debt. Melanie Wallendorf (mwallendorf@eller.arizona.edu) is Soldwedel Professor of Marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. She holds an MS in sociology and a PhD in marketing from the University of Pittsburgh. Her articles on the sociocultural aspects of consumption have been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Advertising and Society Review, Addiction, Journal of Macromarketing, andAmerican Behavioral Scientist, among others. Her coauthored article on “The Sacred and Profane in Consumer Behavior” won theJournal of Consumer Research Best Article Award in 1992. Her research has been featured in theWall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, American Demographics, andFortune, and has been funded by the Marketing Science Institute, the Arizona Disease Control Research Commission, and the Office of Earth Science at NASA.     

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.     

Modeling marketplace behavior

Marketplace behavior refers to aspects of the purchase behavior of individuals and firms that leads to marketplace demand. It is characterized by the presence of many variables, most of which have nothing to do with a specific venture or specific consumer. This paper discusses three challenges of analysis commonly found in quantitative models of marketplace data: heterogeneous consumers, goal-directed behaviors, and the selective attention to some but not all variables in extended models of behavior. Bayesian solutions to these challenges are discussed.     

Transparent pricing: theory,tests, and implications for marketing practice

In today’s retail markets, products display opaque pricing, i.e., a single number that provides no information about the allocation of the retail proceeds among agents who bring the product to market. We study transparent pricing, which is an alternative strategy in which allocation information is revealed. We differentiate transparent pricing from related marketing practices such as social marketing, cause-related marketing, and pay-what-you-want. Using controlled experiments in multiple product categories with diverse sampling frames, we find that transparent prices systematically alter consumer utility functions and stated choice behavior. Our results support explanations drawn from both neoclassical and behavioral economic theory, including inequity aversion, procedural justice, and altruism. Classical theory predicts that price transparency should have little effect on consumer behavior. However, results from behavioral economics suggest that consumers may relax “self-interest” in the face of transparent prices, leading to counter-intuitive preferences. For example, in one set of studies we observe a significant proportion of consumers selecting the more expensive of two replicates of the same product. In another study, a subset of motorists willingly pays higher gasoline taxes for the same gallon of gas, increasing the overall price per gallon. We explain this behavior via parameterized utility functions that contain both self-interested and other-interested components moderated by characteristics of the decision-maker and characteristics of the choice context.     

A proposed model of external consumer information search

An enduring interest in consumer behavior is the investigation of external prepurchase information search. Past research has identified a large number of factors that have been found to influence the extent of information search. The purposes of this article are to summarize the external information search literature and then develop a more parsimonious model of information search. Specifically, we propose that the effects of these antecedents of information search are mediated by four variables: ability, motivation, costs, and benefits. This model integrates the psychological search literature by incorporating ability and motivation to search for information and the economic paradigm that centers on the perceived costs and benefits of information search. Propositions are developed based on this comprehensive model for future testing. Jeffrey B. Schmidt recently became an assistant professor of marketing at Kansas State University after completing his Ph.D. at Michigan State University. His research interests include new product development and international product strategy. His work has appeared in theJournal of Product Innovation Management andJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing as well as in various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. His research interests include consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction and issues involving consumer knowledge. His work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, andJournal of Product Innovation as well as in various conference proceedings.     

The role of rationalization in consumer decision processes: A revisionist approach to consumer behavior

Consumer behavior theory, as it has largely evolved from economics with its rigid adherence to marginal utility theory, suggests that consumers are highly rational and that they basically strive to maximize utility or satisfaction by the careful rationing of resources. In this paper, the typical assumptions in consumer decision process models are reviewed and analyzed, the empirical evidence supporting the models of the rational consumer is challenged, the concept of rationalization is developed and the existential support for the concept is examined, the role and significance of alternative ego state on consumer decision processes are explained and finally, the rudiments of a revisionist approach to consumer behavior are advanced. An earlier draft of this paper entitled “Consumer Decision Processes: The Role and Influence of Rationalization” was presented at the annual meeting of The American Psychological Association Division 23 in 1977. The author was assisted in the preparation and development of this earlier draft by Dr. Chem Narayana. This assistance is herewith acknowledged.     

Consumer ethnocentrism offline and online: The mediating role of marketing efforts and personality traits in the United States, South Korea, and India

Consumer ethnocentrism is an important concept that is used to understand international marketing phenomena. In this article, the authors conduct two empirical studies. Using consumer data from the United States, South Korea, and India (three diverse cultural and economic environments), they explore six hypotheses. In Stage 1, the results suggest that across all three countries, consumer ethnocentrism provokes negative attitudes toward both foreign advertisements and foreign products. The authors identify a set of consumer variables (i.e., consumers’ global mind-set) that may mediate consumers’ unfavorable attitudes toward foreign advertisements and products derived by consumer ethnocentrism. In Stage 2, the authors find that consumer ethnocentrism dampens consumers’ online consumption activities on a foreign Web site. Finally, the authors find that marketers’ e-mail communications to foreign consumers mediate consumer ethnocentrism in online environments. Hyokjin Kwak (hkwak@drexel.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at Drexel University. His research interests include advertising effects, consumer communications, and strategic marketing. He has publications in theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, theJournal of Consumer Marketing, and other marketing journals. Anupam Jaju (ajaju@gmu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Management at George Mason University. His main research interests are in marketing strategy, marketing-technology interface, and international marketing. His work has been published in theJournal of International Management, Marketing Theory, andMarketing Education Review. Trina Larsen Andras (published as Trina Larsen, larsent@ drexel.edu) is a professor and the head of the Marketing Department at Drexel University. Her research has been published in many of the major professional journals in her field, includingHarvard Business Review, theColumbia Journal of World Business, International Marketing Review, Industrial Marketing Management, Management International Review, theJournal of Global Marketing, and theJournal of International Marketing, among others. Her research is focused on international marketing, specifically, cross-cultural behavioral and relationship issues in international marketing management.     

Concurrent validity of a measure of innovative cognitive style

Identifying innovative consumer segments remains an important goal for marketers of new products. This article examines the merits of a recently developed marketing oriented scale, called “open processing”, which is purported to measure an individual's openness or cautiousness tendencies with regard to new products, new sensations, new experiences, and information about them. In a test of the scale's concurrent validity, using self reports of new product trail/purchase behavior among female shoppers, the study found open processors to be more innovative than cautious processors, as was predicted. The study also explores the relationships between open processing, innovative behavior, and various demographic variables. Results indicated that (1) open processing is almost as strong a predictor of innovativeness as four commonly used demographic variables combined; and (2) that open processing is an influential moderator of the relationship between demographics and innovative behavior. Internorth, Inc.