Banwari Mittal

Measuring customer‐based brand equity

Brand equity is very important to marketers of consumer goods and services. Brand equity facilitates in the effectiveness of brand extensions and brand introductions. This is because consumers who trust and display loyalty toward a brand are willing to try to adopt brand extensions. While there have been methods to measure the financial value of brand equity, measurement of customer‐based brand equity has been lacking. Presents a scale to measure customer‐based brand equity. The customer‐based brand equity scale is developed based on the five underlying dimensions of brand equity: performance, value, social image, trustworthiness and commitment. In empirical tests, brands that scored higher on the customer‐based brand equity scale generally had higher prices. Discusses the implications for managers.

Why do customers switch? The dynamics of satisfaction versus loyalty

One of the most unexamined assumptions marketing firms have made in recent years is that satisfaction alone will guarantee customer loyalty. Our research questions this assumption. We explored the correspondence between customer satisfaction and loyalty, and found as many as half of the “satisfied” customers to be predisposed to switching service suppliers. This satisfaction‐loyalty gap reflects the fact that different components of service quality drive satisfaction versus loyalty. Satisfaction is driven more by “technical quality” (the quality of the work performed) than by “functional quality” (how the service work was delivered); however, once satisfaction is achieved, loyalty is driven more by functional than by technical quality. This is the pattern of influence for a “low contact” (where customers’ direct contact with service providers is absent or marginal) service. For a “high contact” service, the pattern of influence is exactly the reverse. Of significant importance to service managers, the paper explains the dynamics of loyalty versus satisfaction and derives their managerial implications.

A causal model of consumer involvement

Abstract Several concepts related to involvement are integrated in a causal network of forms, sources, and effects. Specifically, the network distinguishes between product involvement and brand-decision involvement. For these two ‘forms’ of involvement, three parallel sets of consumer goals are construed as ‘sources’, namely, utilitarian, sign, and hedonic values. Then, six important consumer behaviors are modeled as ‘effects’ and are shown to be explained by various forms and sources of involvement: extensiveness of decision making, interest in advertising, social observations, shopping enjoyment, brand commitment, and product usage. Measures of all involvement-related constructs entailed in our network are developed, and empirical tests of the proposed causal model are presented. The unifying role of the proposed framework in future research is outlined.

The role of personalization in service encounters

Abstract Personalization — the social content of interaction between service or retail employees and their customers—is advanced as an important mediator of customer satisfaction and patronage behavior. The influence of this service-enhancing factor is investigated within the nexus of SERVQUAL, a comprehensive measure of service quality. Survey data from 233 adult consumers show that “personalization” significantly influences customer experience and evaluation of service. As hypothesized, for a business that performs service on a physical possession, this influence is subsumed in other components of SERVQUAL. In contrast, for a business delivering service in interactive encounters with customers, “personalization” emerges as the most important determinant of perceived service quality, and of customer satisfaction and other patronage indicators .

The role of affective choice mode in the consumer purchase of expressive products

Abstract Based on Zajoncs (1980) thesis, a concept of Affective Choice Mode is developed. It is argued that when products are expressive (i.e., they are sought for psycho-social goals rather than for utilitarian goals), then the predominant mode of consumer brand selection is the affective choice mode. This mode is contrasted with the traditionally assumed information processing mode. Using survey data from 192 consumers and employing LISREL analyses it is shown that (a) although involvement leads to information processing, (b) expressiveness makes affective choice mode more likely, which in turn (c) suppresses information processing. Research and managerial implications of the present work are discussed.

Sexual Liberalism as a Determinant of Consumer Response to Sex in Advertising

The use of sex in advertising continues unabated, public outcry against it notwithstanding. Although some sex in ads might sell, as advertisers obviously believe to be the case, the question is, when is the use of sex appropriate, and for which target audiences? The present research examines this question, with consumer data from a study where consumers were shown an ad with either low or high sexual content. Results show that while the ad with high sexual content was uniformly judged to be ethically more unjust (compared to ads with low sexual content), the adverse effect on attitude toward the ad is not obtained for all consumers. Our results show that it depends on the sexual liberalism of the audience and on whether or not the use of sex is considered manipulative. Our research suggests that advertising professionals should assess sexual liberalism of their target audience and use sex only within the requisites of the communication task.

Services communications: from mindless tangibilization to meaningful messages

Service businesses face a unique challenge: how to effectively communicate the necessarily intangible benefits of their service offering. Their attempts to tangibilize the service are often ill‐designed, making service benefits more rather than less obscure. This article presents a scheme that identifies the communication task at various stages of consumer decision making and then matches appropriate communication strategies. Rather than embracing misguided tangibilization, the recommended strategies handle the intangibility challenge without necessarily using any tangible props.

A framework for managing customer expectations

Marketing scholars have argued that firms should meet or exceed customer expectations in order to achieve customer satisfaction. Often, however, customer expectations maybe unjustified, infeasible, or unproductive to meet. These need to be shaped rather than fulfilled. The authors identify three broad approaches to the shaping of customer expectations: human resource management, framing, and compliance. These are described along with the type of expectation shaping tasks for which each is appropriate and illustrations of marketing mix tools which implement them.

Advertising strategies for hospitality services

Abstract Because services are intangible, hospitality advertising must overcome the quadruple challenges of abstraction, generality, mental impalpability, and non-searchability.

Determinants of Vendor Patronage in Business Service Markets: An Integrative Model

ABSTRACT This paper advances a conceptual model of vendor selection and patronage by customers of industrial and business services. The model draws on three literatures: industrial buyer behavior, service quality, and relationship marketing. The model distinguishes between pre-purchase and post-use assessments, and considers the determinants for each stage separately. At each stage, patronage is posited to be driven by: perceived service quality, trust, and perceived value. In addition to the technical and functional quality discussed in the current services literature, business service customers assess vendors for their long-term business commitments for initial patronage decision, and for evidence of trust building behaviors in the ongoing relationship for re-patronage decisions. Propositions based on the model are advanced, and important future research directions and managerial implications of the model are suggested.