European Journal of Marketing

Nataša Golik Klanac

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202495pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the nature of linkages between characteristics of a service and customer consequences and elicit the types of such linkages. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on current research on linkages and customer consequences within the means‐end approach and on a qualitative case study in the context of website use in business‐to‐business relationships. Findings – The paper introduces six types of linkages between characteristics of a service and customer consequences: common and unique, conflicting and non‐conflicting, and homogenous and heterogeneous linkages. Practical implications – The paper portrays four cases of implications of the linkages for simplicity and homogeneity of the design of services and of their marketing strategies. Originality/value – The ways in which characteristics of a service are linked with customer consequences of an engagement with the service are of crucial importance in marketing. Despite the importance, research on linkages is scarce. By considering currently neglected aspects such as different units of analysis, different relationships between characteristics and customer consequences, and diversity in characteristics and consequences, the paper introduces new types of linkages. It also depicts the relevance of the knowledge of the linkages for portraying customer value fully.

Pedro S. Coelho; Jörg Henseler

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202503pmid: N/A

Purpose – Although practitioners and scholars alike embrace service customization as a possibly powerful management instrument, its impact on customer relationships as well as contingencies for its effective application are not well understood. Drawing from relationship marketing and exchange theory, this paper aims to develop a model of customer relationship outcomes of service customization and the efficacy of service customization. Design/methodology/approach – Two large‐scale, representative, cross‐sectional studies in different service industries based on the European Customer Satisfaction Index framework are conducted, and PLS path modeling is applied to test the model. Findings – Customization increases perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, customer trust, and ultimately customer loyalty toward a service provider. Customization has both direct and mediated effects on customer loyalty and interacts with the effects of customer satisfaction and customer trust on loyalty. Research limitations/implications – Service customization is a viable instrument for relationship marketing. Its efficacy depends on customer satisfaction and customer trust. While this study solely focuses on the impact of service customization, future research could assess the relative importance of service customization in the presence of other relationship marketing instruments. Practical implications – Service providers can use service customization as an effective instrument for achieving not only higher customer satisfaction, but also higher customer loyalty. Service customization is most effective for companies that have deficits in satisfying their customers, while at the same time their customer relationships are characterized by a high level of trust. These results help managers to decide upon resource allocation to enhance customer satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Originality/value – This paper investigates the simultaneous effects of service customization on customer loyalty and other relationships variables and offers new insights relatively to the nature and size of customization effects. It fills an important gap in the knowledge of customization outcomes, and clarifies under which circumstances service customization is most effective. The paper is of great value for service providers that face the decision whether to customize their offering or not.

Lynda Andrews; Judy Drennan; Rebekah Russell‐Bennett

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202512pmid: N/A

Purpose – This study seeks to examine the nature of consumers' perceptions of the value they derive from the everyday experiential consumption of mobile phones and how mobile marketing (m‐marketing) can potentially enhance these value perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – Q methodology is used with a framework of experiential consumption and perceived consumer value, to examine how consumers' subjective perceptions and opinions of the two areas of interest are shared at a collective level. A total of 40 participants undertook two Q sorts and the data were analysed using PQ‐method. Findings – The first Q sort identified three clusters of perceived value: the Mobile Pragmatists, the Mobile Connectors and the Mobile Revellers. The second Q sort identified two clusters of perceived value of m‐marketing: one emerging from the shared opinions of the Mobile Pragmatists and the Mobile Connectors, and the second from the Mobile Revellers. Research limitations/implications – The findings show how consumers can be segmented based on their contextualised perceived value of consuming mobile phones. The findings also show that m‐marketing can be tailored to enhance these value perceptions. The study demonstrates how to use Q methodology to examine subjective areas of consumer behaviour. Limitations relate to deriving statements for the Q sorts and the generalisability of the results. Practical implications – The findings highlight ways to tailor m‐marketing strategies to complement consumers' perceptions of the value offered through their mobile phones. Originality/value – The study contributes to existing theory and practice through using Q methodology to examine two subjective areas of consumer behaviour research: experiential consumption in everyday life and consumer perceived value, which is applied in the context of mobile phones and m‐marketing.

Gayle Kerr; Kathleen Mortimer; Sonia Dickinson; David S. Waller

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202521pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of consumer power, in particular the power or bloggers in the online environment and how this might be applied to the regulation of advertising. Design/methodology/approach – Utilising Denegri‐Knott's (2006) four on‐line power strategies, a content analysis of weblogs of Tourism Australia's “Where the bloody hell are you?” advertising campaign is undertaken. Blogger behaviour towards this controversial campaign is documented and consumer power strategies are examined. Findings – This study reveals that bloggers are circumventing the traditional self regulatory process by distributing information, opinion, and even banned advertising material, thereby forming power hubs of like‐minded people, with the potential to become online pressure groups, augmenting the traditional powers of consumers in the self regulatory process. Research limitations/implications – Limitations include a single case context and its exploration of a single media tool (weblogs). Also, bloggers are not representative of the general public, but do provide an alternative to the general category of complainants. Practical implications – The paper provides evidence that bloggers are defacto regulators in the online environment providing judgements on advertising campaigns, supporting those with like‐minded views and disciplining others, and even making banned advertisements publicly available. Advertisers should be mindful of this activity in developing campaigns, especially in formulating controversial campaigns aimed to be disseminated online. Originality/value – The paper is the first to relate consumer power in the online environment to self‐regulation. It is also first to study a new group of advertising complainants – the bloggers.

Dmitri G. Markovitch; Joel H. Steckel

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202530pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the correspondence between the stock market's immediate reactions to new product introduction announcements and those products' subsequent commercial performance. Design/methodology/approach – The main study uses standard event study methodology. Findings – The paper finds that the stock market reacts “incorrectly” to announcements of new product introductions more often than one would expect from a market that is assumed to be highly efficient. Research limitations/implications – The paper's findings raise questions about the appropriateness of using daily stock returns to assess the profitability of marketing actions with highly uncertain outcomes. Originality/value – Event studies of stock prices have been a popular method to assess the profit impact of marketing actions in a timely manner; yet, there has been surprisingly little research addressing the stock market's ability to react immediately to firm actions in a manner consistent with how effective the actions actually turn out to be. The authors' intended contribution is to guide marketing researchers investigating determinants of firm profitability.

Jon Martin Denstadli; Rune Lines; Juan de Dios Ortúzar

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202549pmid: N/A

Purpose – This paper investigates how respondents to conjoint experiments process information and choose among product profiles, and how this varies with their knowledge about the product. Models for estimating conjoint attribute weights are almost exclusively based on principles of compensatory decision making. The paper aims to explore to what extent and in what way these basic principles of conjoint modelling are violated. Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained from a verbal protocol study where 18 undergraduate students each performed a total of 28 stated choice tasks while “thinking aloud”. Findings – Results show that cognitive operations consistent with compensatory decision rules constitute a majority of the total number of operations performed across tasks and respondents. However, few respondents exhibited a consistent use of compensatory‐type processes throughout their choice sets. Results suggest that individual preferences interact with characteristics of the choice sets to instigate changes in information processing. It also appears that complete strategies are seldom used. Finally, respondents' knowledge about the product influences the cognitive operations that respondents use in solving conjoint tasks. Research limitations/implications – Results are based on responses from 18 undergraduate students, which makes generalizations hard. Practical implications – One implication of this work is that one should apply a more flexible model framework to allow detecting the existence of non‐compensatory strategies. Originality/value – This paper is one of few which aim to implement findings in behavvioral decision research within the context of conjoint analysis.

Tracey S. Dagger; Meredith E. David

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202558pmid: N/A

Purpose – This paper seeks to demonstrate that assuming an increase in satisfaction will always lead to greater loyalty oversimplifies the complex association between these constructs. A more accurate view of the satisfaction‐loyalty relationship is gained by examining the moderating effect of involvement, switching costs, and relationship benefits. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports the results of a hierarchal‐moderated regression analysis on data gathered from a national mail survey of 509 customers across nine service types. Findings – The findings of this study suggest that the satisfaction‐loyalty relationship is not as simple as it seems. Specifically, the negative effect that switching costs have on the association between satisfaction and loyalty declines as customer involvement with the service relationship grows, but increases as the customer perceives greater relationship benefit. These findings suggest that simply enhancing satisfaction will not always generate greater customer loyalty. Research limitations/implications – Future research should consider the effects of other moderating variables, such as relationship investment and quality, on the satisfaction‐loyalty link. Practical implications – This paper provides managers with insight as to how to best increase customer loyalty. Originality/value – This paper is the first to simultaneously examine the moderating effect of customer involvement, switching costs, and social benefits on the satisfaction‐loyalty association.

Ceridwyn King; Debra Grace

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202567pmid: N/A

Purpose – This study aims to examine the antecedents of employee brand commitment (BC) and brand citizenship behaviours (BCB). In doing so, it also aims to propose a model which includes organisational socialisation, relationship orientation and employee receptiveness to explain the relationships between these three antecedents and BC and BCB. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research methodology was adopted which resulted in the development of a self‐administered online survey instrument. As the population of interest was employees working in a service industry, a purposive sampling technique was adopted. Using a national database of service employees, a random sample of 2,000 e‐mail addresses was generated and respondents were invited to participate in the online survey. This resulted in the completion of 371 online surveys, representing a response rate of 19 per cent. Findings – The findings revealed a significant positive effect between organisational socialisation and BCB, but not with BC. On the other hand, relationship orientation was found to have a significant positive effect on BC, but not BCB. Employee receptiveness was the only antecedent to have a strong positive effect on both BC and BCB. Research limitations/implications – Given the findings, it appears that individual employee factors are extremely important in understanding how employees feel about and behave in relation to their employer's brand. Just as the external market literature reports numerous links between individual factors (i.e. personality, values, motivation, etc.) of consumers and consumption‐related behaviour, the internal market literature will significantly benefit by adopting a similar line of enquiry in relation to employees. The acquisition of such knowledge will not only assist organisations in selecting “brand‐oriented” employees, but will also help them identify, develop and nurture future brand champions. Practical implications – This study provides insight to managers that covet organisational success through the adoption of internal brand management practices. In particular, it empirically validates the significance of the receptivity of employees in enhancing not only their commitment to the brand but the exhibition of “pro” brand behaviours as well. Without employees that are first receptive to organisational dialogue, the intentions of internal brand management initiatives are unlikely to be realised. Originality/value – This study provides empirical evidence of the antecedents of employee brand commitment and subsequent brand behaviour. In doing so, it highlights the need to understand the pre‐existing individual factors that employees bring to the employment exchange table, given that they significantly influence the way in which employees feel about and behave in relation to their employer's brand.

Heiner Evanschitzky; Arun Sharma; Catja Prykop

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202576pmid: N/A

Purpose – Previous research has emphasized the pivotal role that salespeople play in customer satisfaction. In this regard, the relationship between salespeople's attitudes, skills, and characteristics, and customer satisfaction remains an area of interest. The paper aims to make three contributions: first, it seeks to examine the impact of salespeople's satisfaction, adaptive selling, and dominance on customer satisfaction. Second, this research aims to use dyadic data, which is a better test of the relationships between constructs since it avoids common method variance. Finally, in contrast to previous research, it aims to test all of the customers of salespeople rather than customers selected by salespeople. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs multilevel analysis to examine the relationship between salespeople's satisfaction with the firm on customer satisfaction, using a dyadic, matched business‐to‐business sample of a large European financial service provider that comprises 188 customers and 18 employees. Findings – The paper finds that customers' evaluation of service quality, product quality, and value influence customer satisfaction. The analysis at the selling firm's employee level shows that adaptive selling and employee satisfaction positively impact customer satisfaction, while dominance is negatively related to customer satisfaction. Practical implications – Research shows that customer‐focus is a key driver in the success of service companies. Customer satisfaction is regarded as a prerequisite for establishing long‐term, profitable relations between company and customer, and customer contact employees are key to nurturing this relationship. The role of salespeople's attitudes, skills, and characteristics in the customer satisfaction process are highlighted in this paper. Originality/value – The use of dyadic, multilevel studies to assess the nature of the relationship between employees and customers is, to date, surprisingly limited. The paper examines the link between employee attitudes, skills, and characteristics, and customer satisfaction in a business‐to‐business setting in the financial service sector, differentiating between customer‐ and employee‐level drivers of business customer satisfaction.

David M. Woisetschläger; Manuel Michaelis

doi: 10.1108/03090561211202585pmid: N/A

Purpose – Existing research on sponsorship effects shows that the congruence (i.e. fit) between sponsor and sponsored cause is critical for a change in brand image. Congruence between sponsor and sponsored cause is seen as static in nature. From a dynamic perspective it is unclear why congruence should be seen as constant, and why it is critical for sponsorship effects. This paper aims to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyzes effects of sponsorship evaluative congruence on brand image over time using individual difference measures. Individual level data were obtained from two surveys before and after the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, including 268 respondents who participated in both surveys. Findings – Findings show significant positive effects of learning and remembering of a sponsorship stimulus on brand image over time. In contrast to existing literature, positive incongruence of brand image (i.e. sponsor) and event image (i.e. sponsored cause) in the pre‐analysis results in a significant increase of brand image over time. Moreover, a change in event image over time has a positive effect on the change in brand image. Research limitations/implications – Further research should replicate this study in different contexts, including event‐ and brand‐related contexts. Future studies should use a more detailed scale to measure brand (event) image, which would allow a more rigorous assessment of image transfer on an attribute level. A replication of the relationship between event image and brand image over time would be especially interesting in a setting, in which event image is negative or a negative Δ event image could be expected. Practical implications – Linking explanatory variables such as (Δ) event image and Δ brand image over time is important for a reliable assessment of the positive (negative) consequences of sponsorship activities. A sponsorship that might have been positively incongruent in the beginning can turn out to be congruent over time. Hence, the current view that incongruent sponsorships are less promising might be misleading. Originality/value – In experimental studies, congruence between sponsor and sponsored event is seen as static in nature. From a dynamic perspective, this viewpoint can be challenged. Both sponsor and event image are subject to change over time. Hence, this study determines the impact of event image change over time on brand image.