Brian T. Engelland

Ensuring Service Quality for Campus Career Services Centers: A Modified SERVQUAL Scale

High-quality career services centers benefit marketing students by providing a full range of career counseling and job placement information so that when they enter the workforce, they are prepared to make better job choice decisions leading to more satisfying and productive careers. However, not all students receive high-quality guidance. Faculty have an obligation to monitor the effectiveness of their campus career services unit as part of their teaching mission. Accordingly, appropriate metrics are needed to measure and track service quality in a career services setting. This article outlines the development and potential use of a modified SERVQUAL scale that can be used as part of an ongoing program of service quality improvement for career services centers on college campuses.

MARKET MAVENSHIP AS AN INFLUENCER OF SERVICE QUALITY EVALUATION

As an initial step in studying individual characteristics as influencers of service quality evaluation, this research focuses on market mavenship as one attribute of consumers. Respondents in the study included 403 undergraduate marketing students at two universities who were asked to complete evaluations of consumption experiences. Results suggest that market mavenship is positively correlated to cognitive innovativeness, assertiveness, value consciousness, and opinion leadership. These qualities support the development of increased information, greater accuracy in service expectations and performance appraisal, and less variability in service quality rating on SERVQUAL-type scales. Reduced variability was observed in both experience-based and credence-based service settings. The authors gratefully acknowledge partial funding received through the Agribusiness Institute at Mississippi State University which helped make this project possible.

Advertised Reference Price Effects on Consumer Price Estimates, Value Perception, and Search Intention

Abstract Research suggests that consumers respond to reference prices relative to some internal standards developed from experience. In dispute, however, is whether reference prices that are implausible produce the same effects on consumers as plausible reference prices. The two integrative reference price models available in the literature predict conflicting results, and empirical studies have not provided consistent support for either. Based upon a three-stage study involving prices for tennis shoes and telephones, results of this research support a differential response between plausible and implausible advertised reference price exposure conditions. Findings suggest that implausible prices have no effect on consumers internal price continuum, perception of value, or intention to search. Furthermore, the findings suggest that plausible reference prices affect a consumers price continuum differently than previous models predict. The authors discuss these findings, propose a modified reference price model, and provide practical implications for marketers.

Using Experiential Learning in a Principles of Marketing Course: An Empirical Analysis of Student Marketing Audits

Experiential learning typically is incorporated at the end of most marketing curricula. Can experiential learning be effectively incorporated earlier into the marketing curriculum, i.e., into a Pri...

Effects of Salesperson Attractiveness on Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality: A Conceptual Framework

This paper addresses service situations in which the salesperson is also the service provider. A conceptual framework is presented that is used to explore the impact of salesperson attractiveness on consumer perceptions of service quality. This paper builds upon the growing stream of service quality literature by exploring the variables which moderate the attractiveness- service quality relationship. Key managerial and research implications are discussed.

The Development and Administration of an In-House Knowledge Examination for Academic Program Assessment

Prior research documents the need for greater use of in-house knowledge assessment tools in effective academic program assessment (Nicholson, Barnett, and Dascher 2005; Miller, Chamberlain, and Seay 1991). However, the task of developing such in-house examinations is described as difficult and time consuming (Nicholson, Barnett, and Dascher 2005; Eastman and Allen 1999). Drawing on the foundations for effective assessment found in education and management literature, we discuss in detail our departments successful experience with such an examination. This discussion is offered with the hope that marketing faculty who seek to develop and implement in-house knowledge examinations will experience reduced difficulty in their own departments assessment efforts.