Exploring the intention to continue using web-based self-service

The popularization of Internet and the development of cloud computing have not only changed our lifestyles, but have impacted the ways in which enterprises relate with their customers. For example, customers and enterprises can now directly interact through web-based self-services (e.g., Internet banking, online ticketing, online bookstores, and online reservations) that do not require face-to-face interactions. Web-based self-services (WBSS) allow enterprises to proactively initiate contacts with customers and respond to their needs. Customers can also quickly access the services they want online, at any time and place, thus enhancing overall service efficiency. However, a review of the previous literature shows that most related studies have used the Technology Acceptance Model, which examines perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude toward use, in order to investigate user behaviors when operating a WBSS. In contrast, there are few studies that examine the impact of perceived usefulness and perceived quality features on the continued intention to use a WBSS. Therefore, this study applied the questionnaire method and investigated the relationships among users’ perceived usage characteristics, quality characteristics, satisfaction and continued usage intention with regard to WBSS. Based on the results, specific recommendations are provided for enterprises to enhance the intention to continue using WBSS.     

The Effect of Word-of-Mouth Communication on Stock Holdings and Trades: Empirical Evidence From an Emerging Market

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between investors’ satisfaction and intention and word-of-mouth communication. This study contributes to the ongoing debate on the relationship between investor behavior and word-of-mouth communication. Many studies are related to investors’ participation and individual investors’ asset allocation decisions that are instigated by their social community via word-of-mouth communication whereas this study directly investigates the relationship between investment satisfaction and intention and word-of-mouth communication. We emphasize how many factors are considered when making satisfactory investment decisions. Our results confirm the strong relationship between the satisfaction and intention of investors and word-of-mouth communication. This finding may be useful to regulators, investors and managers who seek to establish effective rules for stock holdings and trade.     

开放式创新社区中用户交互反馈对个体创新贡献度的影响

开放社区中的用户交互反馈是用户创新活动的重要组成部分,基于需求满足理论,研究其他用户反馈对个体创新贡献度的影响。结合典型开放式产品设计社区——Local Motors平台,采用数据挖掘方法,从数量、质量和情感3个方面研究开放式创新社区中FOU对个体创新贡献度的影响。结果表明,反馈数量和质量均对个体创新贡献度有显著影响,其中反馈次数对个体创新贡献度有显著正向影响,反馈率和反馈人员多样性对个体创新贡献度有显著负向影响,反馈长度和反馈支持文件对个体创新贡献度没有影响,正向情感倾向在用户反馈和个体创新贡献度之间无任何调节作用。     

Customer Satisfaction with Consumption Systems

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research examines how satisfaction toward a product and its associated services offered together by a single provider jointly affects behavioral intentions toward the provider.

Design/methodology/approach: In this study, empirical tests were conducted using longitudinal data spanning 5 years from a multinational company that offers both products and associated services as part of a consumption system to their customers.

Findings: Results show a joint congruent effect of product and services satisfaction on behavioral intentions is linear and positive. It appears that offering great service cannot compensate for less-than-adequate satisfaction toward the product. The results further highlight decreasing customer sensitivity to improvements in both sources of satisfaction and imply that focusing on too high levels of one type of satisfaction for their customers can actually be counterproductive for firms.

Research Limitations: Our model was tested using the data obtained from a single firm. Future research could test this model with data from multiple firms in various different industries and establish broader generalizability to the findings.

Practical Implications: Findings provide managers with insights on how to allocate resources across product and service spaces and to manage product and services revenues over time. Results also indicate that customer behavioral intention ratings are more weighted on product quality over the service received by them. However, mere improvements in the product cannot provide the highest desired results and therefore quality improvements in the product need to be complemented by improvements in service quality.

Originality/Value: There is a rapid emergence of the phenomenon of manufacturers providing both products and services as an integrated consumption system to their customers. While the provision of both product and service subsystems by the same firm leads to certain synergies, there are obvious costs to the development of new service capabilities and coordination with existing product capabilities. Our research intends to address this issue.     

Creating consumer durable retailer customer loyalty through order fulfillment service operations

Manufacturers now find themselves in the position of finding new ways to remain competitive in the era of retail power. The onus rests on the manufacturer's ability to implement operational strategies that help the retailer achieve its objectives. Specifically, manufacturers that establish successful order fulfillment service can affect retailer loyalty. The overarching goal of this research, therefore, is to examine the importance to operations managers of understanding the order fulfillment needs and expectations of their retail customers and to establish the value-added role that operations management plays in developing retailer loyalty. Empirical evidence is provided on the relationships between relational order fulfillment service, operational order fulfillment service, satisfaction, affective commitment, purchase behavior, and loyalty. Such evidence not only focuses on the strategic importance of the OM discipline in manufacturer–retailer relationships, but also extends previous OM theory by taking a more complex view of the loyalty phenomenon.     

Heterogeneity in the quality–satisfaction–loyalty framework

Few studies have attempted to compare the results of quality–satisfaction–loyalty (QSL) models across different groups to account for heterogeneity across Business-to-Business dyads. This study confirms the mediation effects of trust, commitment and information sharing in the QSL causal chain, and compares the confirmed model across selected sources of heterogeneity originating from the variance in actor demographics and market characteristics. Our study employed a focal firm approach to consider a network of buyers in the South African Computer Aided Design (CAD) industry. Data was collected from 497 respondents and the empirical model was tested using variance based Structural Equation Modelling and Finite Mixture modelling. Beyond offering further support for the quality–satisfaction–loyalty causal chain, the study provides evidence of heterogeneity often associated of high context emerging markets.     

Modelling perceived quality,visitor satisfaction and behavioural intentions at the destination level

Visitor perceptions of the quality of a tourist destination, satisfaction with their experience and the resulting behavioural intentions are vital for successful destination management and marketing. The purpose of our research is to explore the complex relationships between these constructs using structural equation modelling, whereby both formative and reflective constructs are included. The structural model was tested on a sample of 1056 visitors at four tourist destinations in Slovenia. The empirical validation of the conceptual model supports the research hypotheses. Destination attributes affect the perceived quality of tourist offerings, which positively relates to satisfaction as well as visitors' behavioural intentions. The link between satisfaction and behavioural intentions was also confirmed. These research findings contribute to a better understanding of which behavioural mechanisms and factors represent a viable basis for increasing customer retention at the level of individual providers as well as a destination as a whole.     

Student satisfaction and commitment towards a blended learning finance course: A new evidence from using the investment model

The present study uses an amended version of a well-known investment model to investigate the levels of satisfaction and commitment of finance students enrolled on a blended e-learning programme. First, it presents new empirical evidence for the validity of each construct and validates the proposed investment model. Second, it examines whether students’ grade point average (GPA) scores influence their levels of satisfaction and commitment the course. A random sample of 100 undergraduate students enrolled at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia was surveyed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The proposed investment model was suitable for predicting the levels of student satisfaction and commitment in a blended learning environment, especially finance courses. However, the levels of satisfaction and commitment among students did not reach the proposed cut-off point for high commitment/satisfaction, which implied that levels of student satisfaction and commitment were only in the middle of the range. Specifically, the results showed a significant negative correlation between the level of satisfaction and GPA score, but a significant positive correlation between student commitment and GPA score. The study also highlights areas in which further research and analysis is recommended.     

Balancing the sequential logic of quality constructs in manufacturing-supplier relationships — Causes and outcomes

Manufacturers in business markets are experiencing a strong trend towards close versus distant relationships with suppliers. Three key relationship constructs in academic research are trust, commitment, and satisfaction. Although the relevant literature holds some evidence that trust and commitment are antecedent to satisfaction, the possibility that satisfaction plays a key mediation role between trust/commitment and other important outcomes (i.e., coordination, cooperation, and continuity) receives scant examination. This study tests this conceptual model by examining the relationships between manufacturers and suppliers. A random sample of small-to-medium-sized Norwegian manufacturers was contacted by phone in order to identify potential key informants. Shortly thereafter, a total of 581 surveys were mailed to the key informants. Two hundred and twelve surveys were returned, representing a response rate of 36.5%. Results support the conceptual model presented; trust and commitment relate positively to satisfaction; and satisfaction, in turn, relates positively to all three outcomes of coordination, cooperation, and continuity.     

Modelling of customer retention in multi-format retailing

The objective of this study is to offer a model of the formation process of loyalty towards the services provided by retail food companies. Specifically, the case of a Spanish company, which is a leader in the retail food market is taken. The company operates using different retail formats, and it has customers with various levels of loyalty and behavioural patterns. The research tries to determine implications for managing the loyalty towards the company. Different customer groups are analysed. Four working hypotheses are proposed and contrasted through the formulation and estimation of two theoretical models or conceptual maps. After the empirical analysis, the proposed models show a good fit, and the formulated hypotheses are confirmed. By using this kind of modelling, the companies that operate under the considered framework may reach significant conclusions prior to making decisions in the area of customer retention.