Biplab Datta

A study of the effect of perceived lecture quality on post‐lecture intentions

Suggests that, as a service industry, education must pay attention to the quality of its “products” and its relationships with its “customers”. Investigates students’ perceptions of the quality of lectures offered in an institute imparting professional courses. Identifies the importance of various quality attributes and the level of student satisfaction as they relate to post‐lecture intentions.

Impact of retailer personality on consumer‐based retailer equity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of retailer personality on consumer‐based retailer equity.Design/methodology/approach – The authors developed a retailer personality scale and find its impact on consumer‐based retailer equity by adopting the scale developed by Pappu and Quester. A mall‐intercept survey was undertaken using a systematic sampling of department store shoppers of age 18 years and above in a metropolitan city, Kolkata, India. The questionnaire was used to collect data from seven department retail brands. The impact of each retailer personality dimension on each consumer‐based retailer equity dimension was explored, using structural equation modeling.Findings – The study proposed a five‐dimensional scale to measure department store personality. Results indicated that the three dimensions of store personality, namely sophistication, dependability and empathy, have significant positive impact on each consumer‐based retailer equity dimension except one (empathy→retailer...

Effect of service quality on post-visit intentions over time: The case of a library

The quality of services offered in an academic library has been investigated over a period of time. Attribute level service quality, importance, satisfaction and post-visit intentions have been measured twice during a period of six months. The study indicates that the service quality has fallen during the six-month period in the case of most attributes while the attribute importance levels have not changed significantly during the same period. The temporal effect of service quality on post-visit intentions has been examined in a causal path framework. The results indicate that service quality and resulting satisfaction levels during the intervening period modify the effect of service performance and satisfaction on future post-visit intentions.

Impact of Store Personality Antecedents on Store Personality Dimensions: An Empirical Study of Department Retail Brands

The objective of this study was to explore the impact of store personality antecedents on store personality dimensions. A mall-intercept survey was undertaken using a systematic sampling of department store shoppers of age 18 years and above in Kolkata, a metropolitan city of India. Questionnaire was used to collect data from busy shopping malls or centres located in different places of Kolkata with systematic sampling. The impact of store personality antecedents on store personality dimensions was explored using stepwise regression analysis. Results revealed that different sets of store personality antecedent affect various department store personality dimensions differently. The impacts of all sets are positive and significant. Arguably, this article was the first to explore the link between store personality antecedents and store personality dimensions in Indian and department store personality contexts.

Effect of Service Quality on Post-Visit Intentions: The Case of a Computer Centre

This paper investigates the quality of services offered to students in an institutional computer centre and measures tangible and intangible aspects of service quality, consumer satisfac tion, and Post–Visit intentions. The effect of service quality on post-visit intentions has been examined in a causal–path framework. The study indicates that service performance gen erally lags behind users expectations. Im provement in the quality of services increases the level of satisfaction of the user. Tangible aspects of service performance have a stronger direct effect on post–visit intentions than in tangible aspects. Satisfied users intend to revisit the computer centre and advise others to visit it.

A study on the antecedents and consequences of customer delight

This study explores the synergistic impact of surprise, joy, interest and captivation in creating customer delight during six different attractive moments-of-truths (MTs) in full service restaurants in Kolkata. Six attractive service MTs were identified using Kano et al.s model [(1984). Attractive quality and must quality. Journal of Japanese Society for Quality Control, 14(2), 39–48.]. The antecedents of customer delight and its consequence, that is, customer loyalty, were measured using a 31-item Likert-type questionnaire. Structural equations modelling was done to examine whether surprise, interest, joy and captivation led to customer delight thereby resulting in customer loyalty. It was found that joy and captivation led to customer delight. Customer delight in-turn led to customer loyalty.

Effect of eWOM Valence on Online Retail Sales

Online retail sector in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth in recent times. Online shopping has also become a popular trend among the younger generation in India. Increasing number of shoppers visit online retailer websites and read online reviews before making their purchase decision. The online reviews or electronic word of mouth (eWOM) becomes an important guiding tool for the online shoppers with its intrinsic product information and evaluation characteristics. The present study aims to analyze the effects of various eWOM antecedents on online sales by considering the effects of positive and mixed-neutral eWOM (MNWOM) valence (stimuli) on sales. It also explores the role of market-level eWOM factors, such as price, on online sales of security products like antivirus software. The confirmatory bias of these factors was noted, while the elaboration likelihood model (ELL) has been used to understand the relative importance of these factors in influencing customers’ purchase decision and sales. Further, a content analysis method supplemented by a multiple regression method was used to analyze 205 real-time online sales (reviews from verified purchasers) data pertaining to popular and top-selling antivirus products taken from two leading e-commerce websites. The study contributes as a pioneering effort in the domain with the use of innovative methodology of capturing real-time online data with a subsequent kappa statistics validation. The results showed a new insightful perspective of eWOM valence and price on sales, and provided further research directions.

Trends and Future Directions in Online Marketing Research

ABSTRACT Over the last decade, the increased adoption of the Internet in public life as well as in developing businesses has led to a phenomenal rise in academic research on online marketing. This article is set to extensively review scholarly articles appearing from 2000 to 2014 on the topic from 10 top-tier academic journals to understand the research trends in the domain. A literature review has reported eight major subjective categories with an analysis of online marketing effectiveness framework. This review found three most significant subject categories: (1) online marketing issues; (2) Internet usage, perception, and attitude; and (3) online shopping and e-commerce. Additionally, some new online marketing research topics such as word-of-mouth, user-generated content, and social network are also highlighted. Finally, a selection of research topics that got the maximum attention of researchers is presented along with discussion of the future research directions in the online marketing space.

Customer Relationship Management Theory and Research in the New Millennium: Directions for Future Research

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the research conducted in customer relationship management (CRM) from 2000 to 2014 in six top-tier academic publishing journals: Journal of Relationship Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Advertising Research, and Journal of Consumer Research. A total of 371 research papers related to CRM have been published in these six journals from 2000 to 2014. Five subject headings/keywords (i.e., customer relationship management; marketing; sales, service and support; information systems (IS); information technology (IT)) have been taken into consideration, from which 196 research papers have been reviewed. The theories used in these papers are discussed, as well as possible directions for future research in CRM.

Impact of the antecedents of eWOM on CBBE

The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the antecedents of electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Thereafter, it examines the impact of eWOM and its antecedents on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE).,A total of 93 research articles on eWOM and CBBE were critically reviewed using the systematic literature review method.,This study has consolidated the antecedents of eWOM from the extant literature. It has identified eight antecedents of eWOM including information or argument quality, loyalty, social relationship, source quality, satisfaction, subjective norms, and information quantity. This study has come out with a conceptual framework, followed by 16 hypotheses addressing the possible relationships between eWOM, its antecedents, and CBBE.,This study pioneers to examine the impact of the antecedents of eWOM on CBBE through an exhaustive review of contemporary literature. It has also explored the possibility of eWOM acting as a mediator between the antecedents of eWOM and CBBE. Therefore, this study unravels a wide array of directions for researchers to examine the relationships between the constructs mentioned above and CBBE.