The multiple effects of service innovation and quality on transitional and electronic word-of-mouth in predicting customer behaviour

In the service industry, word of mouth (WOM) has become an important indicator for influencing customer behaviour and developing marketing strategies. The current study develops a new theoretical model to analyse the moderating mechanism of electronic WOM, and further considers a multiple mediation analysis of how service innovation may influence in-person word of mouth (WOM) through service quality and brand loyalty. The results show that managers need to focus on WOM to improve customer service quality perception and encourage revisits. A study of 939 customers of a famous hotpot restaurant provides supporting evidence for this moderated mediation analysis. This study also discusses how this intriguing design of moderated mediation could be clarified using regulatory focus theory and further literature.     

A model and measure for quality service user involvement in health research

In the UK, researchers across the health professions are increasingly being encouraged by policymakers and research commissioners to ‘involve’ service users in research. A recent review shows there is some evidence that involving patients, carers, relatives, social or community groups directly and actively as part of the research process can improve the conduct of research studies and the impact of the findings. Yet, little is known about how involvement is played out within research studies and there is a need for more critical and consistent assessment of what constitutes quality involvement. The overall purpose of this paper is to support learning about quality service user involvement in health care research. The aim is to provide service users and researchers with a structured and consistent way to reflect and report on their experiences. A range of philosophical and social theories of power and empowerment were reviewed and synthesized to create a model of quality involvement. The analysis encompassed both service user factors (what a person feels able to do, whether they feel their potential is being fulfilled and their sense of being valued) alongside research factors (research relationships, ways of doing research, research structures). A model is presented (Quality Involvement Framework), which contributes theoretically informed perspectives about the meaning and assessment of quality service user involvement in research. The model is developed as a practical measure (a Quality Involvement Questionnaire) for researchers and service users to be more reflective about the constraints and possibilities of involvement. The tools presented here could help research teams to examine personal factors and the research contexts that influence the nature and quality of service user involvement in research. They may also help to identify reoccurring issues about quality which could inform future policy, practice and research.     

Employee training and service quality in the hospitality industry

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship between employee training and service quality in the hospitality industry. The study tested the impacts of perceived access to training, perceived benefits of training and perceived support for training on service quality in the hospitality sector. Survey technique was used for the data collection. The research participants were frontline employees and their customers. The frontline employees responded to the training dimensions, while the customers’ completed the questions on service quality. One hundred and twenty useable surveys were included in this study. This study reveals a significant relationship between the employees’ perception of the benefits of training, support for training and service quality. This study offers some important management and theoretical implications.     

Examining human resource practice outcomes and service innovation

This study sought to examine the relationship between human resource practice outcomes and service innovation. It also examines the moderating role of knowledge sharing in the relationship between workplace friendship and service innovation, as well as the mediating role of knowledge sharing in the relationship between job satisfaction and service innovation. The study employed survey research design. The respondents were selected from across the service industry in Ghana using convenience sampling technique. Items measuring the constructs were adapted from extant literature. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to ascertain the validity of the measurement model. Hierarchical regression was used to analyse the data. The results show that knowledge sharing, job satisfaction, workplace friendship, and employee commitment predict service innovation. However, the interaction of workplace friendship and knowledge sharing has no effect on service innovation. Similarly, the moderation of employee commitment and job satisfaction did not make any contribution to service innovation. The findings imply that service firms must create a friendly working environment, ensuring that employees are satisfied in order to promote service innovation. It also implies that service firms must promote social activities that encourage knowledge sharing, but these social activities must relate to employees’ job.     

Operationalisation of service innovation: a systems thinking approach

This paper initialises an effort to explore the impact of an innovative systems thinking approach for service operations design on creating innovation. A qualitative exploratory case study approach in two of the UK’s service sector departments was conducted, using face-to-face semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and extractions from both observations and documents. The results identify that operationalising service innovation is positively linked with applying the Vanguard Method for service operations design. Twelve micro-determinants for service innovation operationalisation have been identified that reside at three different levels in the service organisation, namely employees level (i.e. Micro), the functional level (i.e. Meso), and corporate level (i.e. Macro). The value of this paper is the introduction of a step-by-step guidance on how to build service operations design to operationalise service innovation, the paper also theorises service innovation with systems thinking methodology that emphasises holistic, multi-disciplinary, and integrative characteristics of the service system.     

Inter-firm relational resources in cloud service adoption and their effect on service innovation

This study examines (1) inter-firm relational resources for cloud service adoption and (2) their effects on service innovation. A research model and the related hypotheses are developed based on resource-advantage (R-A) theory that combines inter-firm relational resources identified in theoretical and empirical research as important antecedents of cloud service adoption and its effect on service innovation. This study collects data from 165 managers from service firms in Taiwan. The results show that resources, including reliability, cost, and compatibility significantly affect a firm’s cloud service adoption. Furthermore, the adoption of cloud service significantly contributes to service innovation. The findings add to the current understanding of service innovation in two important ways. First, drawing on R-A theory, this study is among the first attempts to identify inter-firm relational resources (reliability, cost, compatibility, and customer orientation) for cloud service adoption and their effect on innovation performance. Second, this study introduces cloud services as effective technological platforms for a firm and its business partners to share, integrate, and reciprocate information, knowledge, and experience for service innovation.     

Advanced information technology: transforming service innovation and design

This research explores the role of advanced information technologies at the ‘fuzzy’ front-end of service innovation and design. Service researchers have been exploring the application of technology to services for a while, however there has been little attention paid to the use of technology at the front-end of service innovation and design. Research suggests that advanced information technologies should be useful in research and development for services; but how this may occur has not been explored. Bringing together design thinking and the technology–organization–environment framework for technology adoption this research develops propositions for research to expose how technology can advance and transform service innovation and design. Theoretical and practical research questions are offered to guide inquiry in this emerging research space.     

Service climate and employee service performance: exploring the moderating role of job stress and organizational identification

Drawing on a sample of 368 frontline employees and 45 managers from five Chinese banks, this study examined the relationship between service climate and frontline employee service performance, including in-role and extra-role performance, and the difference of this relationship considering the moderating role of employee's emotional experience (job stress and organizational identification). Empirical results indicated the positive effect of service climate on service performance as hypothesized. Moreover, job stress negatively moderated the relationship between service climate and extra-role performance, while organizational identification positively moderated the climate–performance relationship.     

The impact of service innovation on firm performance

This study empirically examines the impact of service innovation on performance in developing countries such as China. We construct a more integrative model linking service innovation, service quality and performance and collect 277 samples in the Chinese tourism sector. The findings are: First, service innovation affects firm performance through direct and indirect paths where service quality plays a positive mediating role, and the direct impact is larger than the indirect one; Secondly, the innovation mode is cost-reductive, which focuses on eliminating internal cost rather than improving service quality; Third, the assessment of service quality emphasizes the dimensions of assurance and reliability.     

Service innovation in the hotel industry: culture,behavior, performance

The aim of this study is to focus on the service innovation culture (SIC) in the formation of frontline employees’ (FLE) innovation performance based on two fit theories. More specifically, the research evaluates and examines the mediating role of challenge-oriented citizenship behavior (COCB) and charged behavior in the aforementioned relationship. To test the hypotheses, two-step structural equation modeling with bootstrapping estimation was conducted in AMOS, using data from 215 full-time frontline hotel employees over a one-month time period. This study establishes that the development of a SIC is positively related to the innovation performance of FLE. Likewise, the results indicate that there is a partially mediating role for the COCB and expanded charged behavior (encompassing vitality and creative self-efficacy) of FLE in the relationship between SIC and innovation performance. The findings of this study highlight the need for managers to incorporate a secure and trusting work environment so FLE will eagerly participate in the service innovation process by voicing their novel ideas. Managers can also consider the significance of the employee selection procedures and take advantage of employing university graduate for frontline service jobs.     

Investigating the Effect of Employee Empathy on Service Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Trust in and Satisfaction with a Service Employee

Abstract

This study examines the indirect effect of employee empathy on service loyalty through the intervening effect of trust in and satisfaction with service employees during service interactions. Data were obtained through a self-administered questionnaire from university students. A total of 410 useable responses were used to perform data analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping for indirect effects were conducted to test the hypotheses. The results show a significant effect of employee empathy on trust in service employee and satisfaction with service employee during customer–employee interactions. Also, satisfaction with a service employee showed a significant effect on service loyalty during service interactions. The study enhances the understanding of empathy within banking services during interactions between service employees and customers. It also provides insights for service managers and frontline service employees on how empathy develops customer’s trust and satisfaction with service employee.     

The evolution of service innovation research: a critical review and synthesis

The number of service innovation articles has increased dramatically in the past 25 years. By reviewing 128 articles published between 1986 and 2010, primarily in leading marketing and innovation journals, this study analyzes the progression of service innovation research according to topicality and perspective. The authors summarize prior research by clustering it into three evolutional phases and drawing parallels with the evolution of the wider services marketing field. Overall, the view of service innovation has evolved, from a complement of traditional product innovation to a multidimensional, all-encompassing notion that entails several functions, both within and outside the firm.     

Objective quality and business performance in service environments: moderating effects of entrepreneurs' knowledge and involvement

This study considers two main research issues: the relationship between objective quality and business performance and the moderating role of an entrepreneur's knowledge (education and experience) and involvement (exclusiveness in professional dedication) in that relationship. A sample of 103 rural tourism entrepreneurs in Spain serves as the study setting. Results indicate the positive influence of an establishment's quality on performance. Moreover, both knowledge and involvement have direct effects on performance, but involvement influences performance to a greater extent and even reaches profits. Positive moderating effects of experience and exclusiveness also emerge, as does an unexpected negative moderating effect of education.     

Integration of planning and execution in service innovation

The purpose of this article is to elaborate two activities included in innovation: planning and execution. We use four dimensions – decision making, organization, process, and external interaction – as the analytical framework. Building on five empirical case studies in the Finnish residential sector, the article identifies various approaches to integrating planning and execution during the development process. Furthermore, the article identifies four integrative mechanisms that relate to each of the four analytical dimensions. The key proposition is that the integration between planning and execution is the driving force for innovation, and that the locus of this integration is the practical engagement of actors with specific aims, problems, and means at hand related to the emerging solution. Finally, the article identifies the availability of, or access to, service-provision resources and the customer interface as a key enabler of this integration.     

Managing service employees: literature review,expert opinions,and research directions

This article reviews the service management and marketing literature on managing people with a particular emphasis on managerial relevance. This review explores the market and financial results of managing people effectively, emphasizing that it is probably harder to duplicate high-performing human assets than any other corporate resource. The challenges inherent in boundary-spanning frontline jobs are discussed, including role conflict and emotional labor. Next, recommended human resources (HR) strategies and practices related to recruitment, training, empowerment, service delivery teams, and employee motivation are reviewed. The literature review concludes with a section on service culture, climate, and leadership. Each section is complemented with further research suggestions that emerged from interviews with eight academic and practitioner experts. The last section outlines six themes for new research opportunities with high potential managerial relevance; they relate to (1) the financial impact of HR practices and strategies, (2) motivating service employees, (3) training, (4) emotional labor, (5) dealing with rude customers, and (6) the impact of technology on managing service employees.     

Airline customer satisfaction and loyalty: impact of in-flight service quality

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the in-flight service quality on airline customer satisfaction and loyalty. This study analyzed the data from passengers of two classes: prestige (business) and economy. The results suggest that there are different factors of in-flight service quality that are important according to the customer seat class. In the case of the prestige class, there were six service quality factors of importance: alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage, responsiveness and empathy, reliability, assurance, presentation style of food, and food quality; while the economy class showed five important service quality factors: responsiveness and empathy, food quality, alcoholic beverage, non-alcoholic beverage, and reliability. These findings imply that airline companies’ in-flight service should have different delivery strategies based on the customer seat class.     

Measurement of organizational investments in social capital: The service employee perspective

This paper describes the development and validation of a measure of organizational investments in social capital (OISC). The scale development process is carried out over three stages (item generation, scale purification, scale validation), with two separate data collection phases involving a total of 735 working adults from multiple and diverse service-related workplace settings. As such, the data provide evidence for the face, content, discriminant, convergent and nomological validity, dimensionality and reliability of the OISC measure. The OISC measure is a concise, unidimensional scale that has the potential for significant usage in the development and testing of theory, as well as practical application in retail and other service provision contexts.     

Employee Flow as an Integrated and Qualitative System: Impact on Business-to-Business Service Quality

Purpose: This article develops and tests the effect of a complete model of employee flow on business-to-business (B2B) customer service outcomes.

Methodology: Employee flow in organizations refers to all inflows, outflows, and internal movements of staff, and is a crucial human resources area. However, research rarely deals with employee flow as a whole. Instead, studies generally limit themselves to individual employee flow aspects, such as employee turnover, and limit outcomes to internal organizational issues. This study employs hierarchical regression and structural equation to model the effect of an integrated and qualitative measure on B2B service quality through the INDSERV scale.

Findings: Employee flow, especially net outflows, affects service quality perceptions through various mediated relationships. Employee flow affects outcome quality through potential and soft process quality and impacts hard process quality through potential quality. Relationship frequency, supply chain integration of the customer, and environmental characteristics are significant moderators.

Research implications: The introduction of complete employee flow as a predictor variable is a research advance and can be extended to many research settings. Confirmation that INDSERV scales have an internal progression is new and informs future model building.

Practical implications: Managers, especially in bigger and service-oriented companies, might employ integrated employee flow indices as a practical management metric. The tendency of B2B processes to separate client and customer staff (e.g., through technological bridges and call centers) is discouraged by the finding that employee flow affects outcomes partly through soft process, relational quality. Managers should attend to frequency and customer integration.

Contribution: The use of integrated and qualitative employee flow models in modeling service outcomes, especially in B2B settings, is an original contribution, as is the hitherto untested progression within the subconstructs of the INDSERV B2B service quality scale.     

北京内外资服务企业员工培训策略研究

高素质的服务人员是北京服务行业实现优质服务的一个关键因素,而高素质的服务人员又离不开企业适当的员工培训。针对我国服务企业的人员培训问题,通过对比北京内资服务企业和外资服务企业的培训体系和实践具体流程,本文对两者的相对优缺点进行总结,并试图从中获得一些管理启示。     

Governance mechanisms for mobile service innovation in value networks

Service innovation often requires multiple organizations to work together in complex, dynamic networks. Existing literature shows that mechanisms like trust, power and contracts govern activities in organizational networks. Scholars rarely study how such a mix of mechanisms evolves over time, especially not in relation to different stages of service innovation. This paper connects a phasing model on service innovation to concepts of inter-organizational governance in value networks, by examining what governance mechanisms are in use during service development, implementation and commercialization. This study analyzes an international survey among operators, content providers and application developers in the Mobile Internet services domain, which is noted for its complex inter-organizational networks. The findings suggest that power-based governance is in use in the early stages of developing service concepts and technologies, while trust-based governance is in use during implementation, roll-out and commercialization. Contract-based governance is most common during implementation and roll-out.