Betsy Bugg Holloway

Service Failure in Online Retailing A Recovery Opportunity

Organized service recovery policies and programs are important tools to firms in their efforts to maintain satisfied, loyal customers. Although service failure and recovery issues have received considerable attention in the literature, these topics have received only limited attention in the context of online retailing. Specifically, we lack an understanding of the types of online service failures occurring, the success with which firms are recovering from these failures, and consumer reactions to the service failure/recovery encounters they are experiencing. Therefore, this research involves two studies employing both qualitative and quantitative methods with samples of online shoppers to provide an initial examination of the service recovery management of online retailers. The results provide a typology of online service failures and demonstrate a number of areas in which online retailers are failing to effectively manage their service recoveries. The discussion includes implications for online retailers as well as directions for future research.

Satisfiers and Dissatisfiers in the Online Environment A Critical Incident Assessment

This research examines the factors driving consumer dis(satisfaction) in the online service environment. Using a critical incident technique and content analysis, the authors identify the critical drivers reported by consumers to produce particularly satisfactory or dissatisfactory online service encounters. Using 616 surveys and 1,183 observations, the authors first classify and then compare reported drivers across outcomes (dissatisfaction vs. satisfaction) and three industry groups (hard goods, soft goods, and services). Classifications are also compared with several important service-quality scales and other literature on the topic in order to compare the findings and to develop an overall framework. The results address how satisfiers and dissatisfiers vary both overall and across industry classifications, providing an assessment of the differences between the factors producing online success versus those preventing failure. The authors conclude with implications for online retailers and directions for future research.

Betrayal? Relationship quality implications in service recovery

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether high quality relationships buffer or magnify the negative impact of a failed service recovery on subsequent consumer attitudes and behaviors.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 264 online shoppers were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Respondents were asked to imagine themselves in a hypothetical failed service recovery scenario involving a multi‐channel retailer with whom they shop.Findings – Results from a MANCOVA analysis and SEM modeling indicate that, following a failed service recovery incident, high quality relationships present a challenge for the service provider. In accordance with the hypotheses, consumers with a high level of relationship quality will decrease their repurchase intentions to a greater extent; more strongly and negatively adjust their overall relationship quality; and react to the service recovery effort less favorably than those with lower levels of relationship quality.Research limitations/implications – ...

Consumer relationship proneness: a reexamination and extension across service exchanges

Purpose – This paper aims to answer two key questions focused on increasing the understanding of consumer relationship proneness (CRP) and its role in customer relationship management. First, is CRP linked to trust and other relationship outcomes (e.g. customer share, adherence)? Second, does the nature of the service exchange (transactional versus relational) affect the association between CRP and commitment and trust?Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected in three contexts: 270 travel industry call center customers, 345 insurance agency clients, and 897 patients responded to our surveys about their business relationships.Findings – Structural modeling analysis and t‐statistic comparisons revealed that CRP is associated with trust and other important outcomes (i.e. share of customer and adherence) and that the nature of the service exchange moderates the association between CRP and commitment and trust. Specifically, as the nature of the service exchange moves from transactional to relational,...

The Benefits of Sales Force Automation (SFA): An Empirical Examination of SFA Usage on Relationship Quality and Performance

Sales force automation (SFA) technologies are commonly used to support customer relationship strategies in firms across industries around the world today. However, research reports mixed results among companies incorporating SFA technologies, and there remains some debate in the literature about the specific benefits provided through these systems. Therefore, this study seeks to expand researchers’ understanding of the relative benefits of SFA usage on both customer relationship quality and job performance. The findings highlight the mediating roles of market learning, customer orientation, and relationship quality on the SFA usage–performance relationship. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed and future research directions provided.

Frontline Service Employee Compliance With Customer Special Requests

As companies struggle to deliver excellent service, many find they need to understand and plan for a diverse array of customer requests. Some requests are unexpected and require employees to go beyond their usual job duties. These requests may be classified as special requests. Knowing how and when to comply with these requests is critical to the firm and the employee, given that failing to comply could negatively affect customer satisfaction, while complying may produce unwanted consequences for the firm. We use grounded theory and content analysis of critical incident special requests from frontline employees to develop a framework and classification scheme that categorizes customer special requests and employee assessments of these requests. Customer special requests were classified into four types of customer deficiencies—physical resources, knowledge, financial, and time. Employee assessments were categorized as positive compliance factors (motivations and ability) or deterrents to compliance, including policy or legal, potential risk, and lack of resources. These findings contribute to theory, as they represent the first effort to categorize customer special requests and employee responses to them. Companies need to be better informed about the types of requests employees receive so that employees can make the most appropriate decisions.

The mediating effects of customers’ intimacy perceptions on the trust-commitment relationship

Purpose This paper aims to draw from intimacy theory in examining the mediating effects of interactive communication and social bonds on the trust–commitment relationship. Design/methodology/approach The study is conducted in the professional services context. Qualitative and quantitative data are gathered from respondents engaged in attorney–client and real estate–client relationships. Unstructured, in-depth interviews are first conducted for use in model development. Study hypotheses are examined and mediation tests are conducted utilizing the serial multiple mediator model proposed by Hayes (2013). Findings Study findings indicate that intimate relationships in the professional services context are characterized by interactive communication and social bonds, and that the variables act as full mediators of the trust–commitment relationship. Though trust has a positive and significant effect on commitment in isolation, this relationship becomes nonsignificant when simultaneously accounting for the effects of the two variables. Practical/implications Study findings suggest a need for programs designed to assist professional service providers in the development of intimate customer relationships. The importance of interactive communications and social bonding should be emphasized in these programs. Originality/value The study is one of the few empirical papers to investigate the role of intimacy in service relationships and the first to illustrate its mediating effects on the trust–commitment relationship.

Measuring client-based corporate reputation in B2B professional services: scale development and validation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a client-based reputation of business-to-business professional services firms scale (PSF-Rep) which measures clients’ perceptions of the reputation of professional service provider firms. So far, no multidimensional scale exists in the literature to measure the reputation of professional service firms, although the reputation dimensions of importance are likely to be very different from other settings. Design/methodology/approach – From an initial pool of fieldwork-based items, an 18-item PSF-Rep scale is developed, which is validated using several samples – corporate financial decision-makers’ views of their accounting firms in a US national sample and organizational clients of one large legal firm with national presence. Findings – The four-dimensional PSF-Rep scale meets all established reliability and validity criteria. Further, reputation and its dimensions (using PSF-Rep) are positively associated with important marketing outcomes, inclu...

Customer-Based Corporate Reputation: Introducing a New Segmentation Criterion

Unlike Fiedler, Walsh, Beatty, and Holloway focus on just one stakeholder group: customers. Regarded from a marketing point of view, the measurement of corporate reputation can be used as a new tool to segment various customer groups. Combined with traditional segmentation techniques, important insights for a differentiated marketing planning can be gained.

How Low Can You Go? An Investigation into Matching Gifts in Fundraising

There is a rich existing economic literature that considers the impact of matching offers on the behavior of donors to nonprofit organizations, both in the laboratory and in the field. We evaluate the impact of matching gift offers included in a nonpartisan nonprofit organization’s holiday mail fundraising drive. We add to the existing literature in two ways. First, our use of a nonpartisan nonprofit is uncommon. Second, prior literature establishes that more generous matches (beyond