The development of service quality dimensions for internet service providers: Retaining customers of different usage patterns

This study examines the relationships among relevant service quality dimensions of Internet service providers (ISP) and their customers’ perceived value, trust and commitment. Data was collected from residential Internet users in Thailand. The final usable sample size was 1507. The analyses include segmenting ISPs’ customers on the basis of their usage pattern and evaluating their perceptions of Internet service quality dimensions. In addition, several alternatives models were compared using structural equation modelling to confirm the mediation effects. An ISP’s service quality is influenced by the following four dimensions (a) network quality, (b) customer service and technical support, (c) information quality and (d) security and privacy. The findings reveal that while all dimensions have positive effects on trust, only network quality, information support and privacy influence customer value significantly and information support is the only dimension which is directly related to commitment. Additionally, the effects of customer service and information support on value vary across customers of different Internet usage patterns. The contribution of the present paper stems from the simultaneous modelling of a range of mediation effects which can better help explain the impact of service quality dimensions on customers’ cognitive and affective evaluations in high-tech service settings.     

Utilizing the access value of customers

Customers are critical resources for the success of any business, not only because they bring in sales and profits directly, but also because of their access value in a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected. However, the mechanisms by which the customer access value may be exploited and the implication for management has not been well understood. Access value can be defined as the worth of utilizing patrons for further marketing and sales of value-added or third party products. The access value, which mainly results from the aggregation of the customer base and customer data, is essentially a corporation's internalized asset. This article shows that the size of the customer base and the extent of engagement have a significant impact on the customer access value. To develop and gain the benefits of customer access value, traditional business models often need to be transformed: firms and platforms should provide free or subsidized products to attract people and then embed value-added products to make money. The success of the new business model depends on not only the right pricing and product strategies, but also an embedding strategy.     

Managing a Global Retail Brand in Different Markets: Meta-Analyses of Customer Responses to Service Encounters

This study investigates how retailers can leverage their brand to shape customers’ satisfaction with service encounters. It develops and tests hypotheses about how brand, store, and consumer factors moderate customer responses to experience clues during retail service encounters. Six meta-regression analyses synthesize and compare results from 842 satisfaction equations describing customers’ encounters with a global retailer operating 400 stores in 32 countries. The results show how customers weigh their perceptions of service encounters differently depending on brand, store, and consumer factors. In markets where customers believe the retailer has high holistic brand quality, they place less weight on experience clues within the store. In markets where customers believe the retailer’s service brand promise, they place more weight on in-store experience clues. In markets where the retailer promises utilitarian value, customers weigh functional experience clues more heavily. In markets with an online purchasing channel, the effect of experience clues common to offline and online store environments is magnified, and unique clues are diminished. In addition, customers heavily weigh experience clues that fit their goals. In general, retail success factors include high brand quality (which makes customers more forgiving), a service brand promise that is mirrored in the store image (which makes customers attend to the experience clues aligned with them), and the careful monitoring and managing of retail touchpoints (to customize experience clues to each market). In this way, retailers can use customer-based strategies to effectively design and manage their global retail brand in different markets.     

Razor-and-Blades pricing revisited

From razors and blades to printers and ink cartridges to smartphones and monthly usage charges to media devices and content, razor-and-blades pricing is commonplace. The argument for such a business model is compelling: entice consumers to adopt with a low initial price for the ‘razor,’ build up an installed base, and more than make up for the initial subsidy by charging a high price for replacement ‘blades.’ The problem is, many consumer enticement, customer lock-in, and competitive lock-out mechanisms look less and less tenable given modern-day developments such as the Internet, Google searches, social media, the hacker revolution, the ‘maker movement,’ rapidly improving technology, leaky supply chains, and global markets. This article characterizes the what, why, and how of razor-and-blades pricing; then examines the present-day tenability of such a pricing practice; and concludes with an impetus and a call for innovation—innovation in, perhaps, the pricing of and the purchasing arrangement for the initial razor; the value proposition from the razor and the razor-and-blades system; the architecture of the razor-and-blades system; and the delivery, especially in terms of customer experience, of value from the razor-and-blades system.     

Does emotional labor moderate customer participation and buying?

Two studies examined whether employees’ emotional labor as perceived by customers, moderates the relationship between customers’ participation and money spent. In Study I, 30 in-depth interviews were conducted with customers to examine participation during shopping as well as customers’ awareness of their service employees’ behaviors. The interviews revealed two types of customer participation: emotional engagement and physical effort. Based on Study I, Study II investigated 114 customers, and the moderating role of perceived employees’ emotional labor on the relationships between customer participation and spending money. Even when customers were highly involved in the purchasing process, they spent less money when they observed employee inauthenticity as manifested in Surface Acting. However, Deep Acting positively moderated the relationship between customer participation and spending money. These findings help shed light on the circumstances in which customer participation is strengthened (leading to greater spending) or weakened.     

Do customer participation and cognitive ability influence satisfaction?

Under some circumstances, increased customer participation can enhance customer satisfaction. However, the precise mechanism by which participation might increase satisfaction has not been explored in the literature. This paper considers whether a customer’s cognitive ability might affect the relationship between participation and satisfaction. A causal model has been developed to examine the potential interactive effects of participation and cognitive ability on satisfaction, and a simple quantitative model has been proposed to simulate these effects. The results of both a numerical simulation analysis and a quantitative analysis of case study data indicate a significant main effect of cognitive ability on satisfaction. Additionally, an interactive effect has been observed, whereby higher cognitive ability results in higher satisfaction, given a minimum degree of customer participation in the service. Among this study’s implications is that customers with different cognitive abilities should have different degrees of participation that act to maximize their satisfaction.     

Quality,Value? – Insights into Medical Tourists’ Attitudes and Behaviors

The research investigates the factors influencing medical tourists’ attitudes and behaviors. The factors examined include hospital service and customer perceived value. The study was undertaken in a major hospital located in a South-East Asian country. The sample includes foreign patients who have received various medical treatments in the hospital. The findings indicate that medical tourists are value oriented customers as their value perception has the strongest direct effect on their behaviors, followed by their attitudes towards the hospital. Hospital service appears to have a substantial direct effect on perceived value and medical tourist satisfaction, and also exerts an indirect effect on medical tourist behaviors. The research highlights the prominent role of perceived value, and pinpoints the most effective avenues for healthcare providers in allocating resources to improve hospital performance from the perspective of medical tourists.     

What drives customer loyalty in grocery retail? Exploring shoppers' perceptions through associative networks

Mental associations play a key role in shaping customer-brand relationships and are critical to the development of favourable attitudes and emotional attachment towards a brand. By exploring shoppers’ knowledge structures, this study identifies what drivers of customer loyalty are more relevant to customers in the context of grocery retail. A mix-method study on shoppers’ perceptions and values associated to their most patronised grocery store is presented. Through focus group discussions, concept maps and associative network analysis, three types of associations are identified: functional, relational and premium store associations. Salience and relationships among these dimensions are also discussed.     

The effects of perceived service quality on repurchase intentions and subjective well-being of Chinese tourists: The mediating role of relationship quality

The current study provides and tests an integrated model that examines two relationship quality constructs (overall customer satisfaction, customer-company identification) as mediating variables between Chinese tourists' lodging service quality perceptions and two outcomes (repurchase intentions, subjective well-being). The results of a study with domestic Chinese hotel guests (n = 451) provide support for the proposed model. Specifically, the results indicate that overall customer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between perceived service quality and repurchase intentions and subjective well-being, respectively. Customer-company identification partially mediates the relationship between perceived service quality and repurchase intentions and subjective wellbeing, respectively. We provide empirical validation that customers do, indeed, identify with hospitality providers, and this, in-turn, provides positive consequences for both the service provider (i.e., repurchase intentions) and the customer (i.e., subjective well-being). Managerial implications are provided, limitations noted, and future research directions suggested.     

A model that connects information technology and hotel performance

Despite vast investments in IT, there is scant research and empirical data that connects, in depth, IT with firm performance in the hospitality industry. However, the literature does show partial evidence and examples of particular technologies. After an extensive literature review, we posit four global paths through which IT can impact hotel performance and, for each one, the precise mechanisms that cause these influences. These four proposals are further developed and refined using in-depth interviews with a group of 30 managers of different areas from several hotels. A final comprehensive model that shows the specific routes that IT can follow in order to improve hotel organizational performance is presented. This model can be taken as a frame of reference by academics and can also be used by both practitioners and IT producers to assess particular IT options.