International Journal of Service Industry Management

Magnus Söderlund; Sara Rosengren

2008 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564230810903460

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine if the service worker's display of smiles in the service encounter has an effect on customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – An experimental design was used in which participants ( N =220) were randomly allocated to one of four service encounters. Two variables were manipulated; the service worker with whom the participant interacted had either a neutral facial expression or a smiling facial expression, and the service worker was either male or female. Findings – The smiling service worker produced a higher level of customer satisfaction than the neutral service worker, regardless of the sex of the service worker (and the sex of the participant). In addition, the results indicate that this outcome involved both emotional contagion and affect infusion. Originality/value – This paper extends the service literature's discourse on the impact of the service worker's smile behavior on customer satisfaction by including intermediate variables such as appraisals, emotions, and the attitude toward the service worker.

Dana Yagil; Gil Luria; Iddo Gal

2008 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564230810903479

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the role of core self‐evaluations (CSE) as a coping resource in customer service roles. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires were administered to 265 service providers, measuring CSE, burnout, social stressors involved in interaction with customers (perceived customer negative behaviors and emotional regulation performed by service providers) and coping resources (service orientation and social support). Findings – The results show that CSE is negatively related to service provider burnout as reflected in depersonalization and emotional exhaustion, and positively related to a sense of accomplishment. CSE was also negatively related to perceived customer negative behaviors and to emotional regulation. The results show a partial mediation effect of emotional regulation on the relationship between CSE and burnout. Service orientation and social support were found to interact with CSE and enhance its effect on social stressors. Research limitations/implications – The use of a non‐randomized sample might bias the results. Practical implications – The results can inform managerial practices designed to enhance service providers' resources of coping with role stressors. Originality/value – The study introduces a fundamental personality trait, CSE, to the area of service and shows its effect on burnout through its relationship with situational stressors and interaction with coping resources.

Karolina Wägar

2008 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564230810903488

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore how frontline contact persons appropriate and use learning tools from the socio‐cultural context for learning about customers in their everyday work. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises an ethnographic‐research approach involving participant observations, informal conversations, and interviews among car salespersons and service advisors at a car‐retailing company. Findings – The study comes to two main conclusions. First, learning tools are appropriated and utilised for learning about customers in a two‐layered process: interactions between frontline contact persons and the socio‐cultural context; and interactions between frontline contact persons and customers. Secondly, learning about customers can be of two types: subject‐ or object‐driven learning. Practical implications – Tools that enhance the process of learning about customers can be developed within the socio‐cultural environment of an organisation whereas tools that inhibit the learning process can be minimised. Originality/value – This paper provides a novel socio‐cultural conceptualisation of how learning about customers takes place. This approach has not been previously emphasised in service‐management research.

Yoonjung An; Sungjoo Lee; Yongtae Park

2008 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564230810903497

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a concrete integrated roadmap structure and a supporting tool for efficient roadmapping, to enhance interdisciplinary research on product‐service. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first clarifies definitions based on literature review. Next, the integrated roadmap structure is designed by overcoming limitations of the existing product‐service roadmaps. Lastly, a modified quality function deployment technique is developed to be used as a means for the integration process and applied to the mobile communications industry for the case study. Findings – The suggested roadmap and roadmapping process have potential advantages that can help strategic planning and management of product‐service. Research limitations/implications – There are issues related to complexity of the suggested technique and completeness of the case study. Practical implications – The suggested approach stimulates communication and knowledge sharing between manufacturers and service providers, providing a useful guidance to picture the long‐term future from the same perspective. Originality/value – The paper provides a holistic approach on the development of the product‐service sets, which is characterized by many challenges and uncertainties.

Chun‐Hsien Liu; Chu‐Ching Wang; Yueh‐Hua Lee

2008 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564230810903505

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to construct a customer‐oriented integrative service model based on the generic service process. Business strategies can then be formulated by using the model. Design/methodology/approach – The key classifying dimensions and their respective attributes are identified through literature reviews. Operational dimensions are formed by combining their attributes weighted by manager‐determined importance weights (IW). A generalized mathematical model is built to integrate the core services of a firm with customer‐based performance weight (PW). The integrative service model is constructed by combining the operational dimensions. Findings – The selected classification model covers knowledge, information and virtual space dimensions that most of the previous service‐process based model lack. The developed model is simpler to understand and to use for managers comparing to the other complicated mathematical models. Research limitations/implications – Empirical studies need to be done to test the effectiveness of the model. Experienced managers are needed to decide the IW. Practical implications – Managers can use the developed model to formulate integrated business strategies as well as forecasting competitor's strategies. The developed model is a customer‐oriented approach for service strategy formulation. Originality/value – A generalized mathematical model is derived for a firm offering “n” kinds of core services. Computer software can be written based on it to handle the complex cases.

Paul G. Patterson; Anna S. Mattila

2008 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564230810903514

Purpose – Customers' judgment of service quality is by and large based on their evaluation of personal experiences during the service encounter. The purpose of this study is to investigate from a customer perspective, the impact of familiarity (of the individual service provider) and cultural orientation on evaluations of both successful and failed service encounters. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ an experimental design with data collected from student samples in the USA (Western, individualist culture) and Thailand (Eastern, collectivist culture). Findings – Results show an individual customer's cultural orientation, as well as familiarity (with a focal service provider), have an impact on perceptions and post‐purchase evaluations of both successful and unsuccessful service encounters. Originality/value – This research contributes to the services marketing and consumer behavior literature by shedding light onto the role of familiarity and cultural value orientation in influencing consumer responses to service encounters. It is one of only a handful of cross‐cultural studies in this research domain.