Christine Mathies

A Hierarchical Model of Virtual Experience and Its Influences on the Perceived Value and Loyalty of Customers

ABSTRACT Many businesses use virtual experience (VE) to enhance the overall customer experience, though extant research offers little guidance for how to improve consumers’ VE. This study, anchored in activity theory, examines key drivers of VE and its influences on value perceptions and customer loyalty. A hierarchical model indicates that VE comprises second-order variables (i.e., social presence, social capital, flow experience, and situational involvement) and third-order variables (i.e., communal and individual experience). The results obtained from a substantive model further reveal that VE positively influences perceptions of both economic and social value and thus influences loyalty in both the real world and virtual environments.

The Effects of Customer-Centric Marketing and Revenue Management on Travelers’ Choices:

This article examines how the simultaneous use of customer-centric marketing (CCM) and revenue management (RM) affects travelers’ perceptions of fairness and ultimately their purchasing choices. To address this issue, we propose and empirically test a choice model that incorporates reference-dependent fairness adjustments for both price and nonprice attributes within a random utility framework. The findings from two empirical studies using stated-preference choice experiments show that travelers engage in fairness-related reference point comparisons for price and other product attributes induced by RM and CCM. They offer additional evidence concerning the need to account comprehensively for attributes associated with both RM and CCM when predicting customer demand in travel and tourism firms. Accordingly, firms need to account not only for the effects of RM and CCM attributes but also for the corresponding reference-dependent fairness adjustments relating to those attributes.

The antecedents and consequences of humour for service

Purpose – While researchers in other disciplines seek to determine the impact that humour has in personal interactions, studies of humour in service delivery are lacking. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether it is beneficial to deliberately use humour in service encounters. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a comprehensive review of humour research in multiple disciplines to assess the applicability of their key findings to the service domain. By establishing the antecedents, types, and consequences of humour, the authors build a framework and propositions to help service researchers uncover the potential of injecting humour into service interactions. Findings – The authors find that using humour in service encounters is an ingenious affiliative behaviour which strengthens rapport between service employees and their customers. Humour also permits frontline service employees to better cope with the emotional challenges of their work, thus promising to reduce emotional labour and ...

Continued Value Creation in Crowdsourcing from Creative Process Engagement

Purpose Crowdsourcing delivers creative ideas for the issuing firm, but participants’ engagement in the creative process also creates additional benefits to firms and participating customers. To investigate if these spill-over values endure over time, this study uses data from two time points, i.e. at submission and after announcement of the contest winners, to investigate the relationship between the degree of a participant’s creative process engagement (CPE) and value creation from a crowdsourcing contest, and how these perceptions of value change over time. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 154 participants in a crowdsourcing contest at two time points with an online survey: at submission, and after receiving feedback (in term of rankings, rewards, and comments) from the community. Partial Least Square (PLS) path modelling was used to estimate both main and moderating effects. Findings CPE increases the perceived value of customers (social and epistemic value) and firms alike (knowledge-sharing intention and customer loyalty), though all but epistemic value decrease over time. Disconfirmation of expectations and need for recognition moderate these effects. Originality/value This paper is the first longitudinal study that helps understanding the effect of CPE on value creation from crowdsourcing across time. It also uses the theoretical lens of the honeymoon hangover effect to explain how perceived value changes. The resulting insights into the role of customer engagement in crowdsourcing contests and subsequent value creation will be beneficial to the growing research stream on consumer value co-creation and user innovation.

New insights into the climate–attitudes–outcome framework: Empirical evidence from the Australian service sector

Drawing on the climate–attitudes–outcome framework, this article examines the mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between psychological climate perceptions (i.e., service climate, team support, and job security) and the job performance of frontline service employees. The authors further consider whether the link between psychological climate perceptions and job satisfaction may be moderated by three core self-evaluation traits of frontline service staff (emotional labor, self-efficacy, and personal achievement orientation). A survey of 874 frontline service employees reveals that service climate, team support, and job security indirectly contribute to job performance through job satisfaction. When more emotional labor deep acting is performed, the effects of the service climate on job satisfaction grow stronger. However, the effects of team support and job security on job satisfaction are not contingent on self-efficacy or personal achievement orientation, respectively.

Customer interfaces in the accommodation industry – enhancing and constraining factors of IT adoption

The results of a partial least square (PLS) analysis show three key factors affecting IT adoption. These are the individual characteristics of the owner-manager, in particular his/her innovativeness and IT knowledge; environmental factors such as competitive pressures; and firm characteristics, especially size and limited financial resources.

The effect of humour usage on customer’s service experiences

Cross-disciplinary research recognises humour as an effective communication tool for fostering engagement and positive interpersonal relationships, although inappropriate use can create negative outcomes. Drawing on positive psychology, this study aims to empirically examine the extent to which frontline employee’s (FLE’s) humour usage can influence customers’ service encounter evaluations. Findings from 252 retail service customers indicate that their sense of humour drives humour perceptions and facilitates positive encounter evaluations. In particular, FLEs’ other-directed humour, rather than self-directed humour, leads to more enjoyable interactions for customers. This effect is moderated by pre-encounter mood, in that customers react more positively to other-directed humour when they are in a bad mood. This study contributes empirical support for the importance of appropriate humour usage to the service encounter literature. From a managerial perspective, the outcomes highlight that service encounters benefit from other-directed humour. JEL Classification: M31

Humor in Dienstleistungsinteraktionen – Was wir (nicht) wissen

„Undoubtedly humor and laughing are essential parts of what it is to be human.“ (Lynch, 2002, S.423).

Reference Points Beyond Price — Fairness Effects in Customer Choices

Reference price effects are well established in the extensive body of reference price research and are an important element in modeling customers’ choices (cf. Briesch, Krishnamurthi, Mazumdar, and Raj, 1997; Kalyanaram and Winer, 1995; Putler, 1992; Rajendran and Tellis, 1994; Winer, 1989). The related area of perceived price fairness incorporates concepts from the fairness and justice literature (cf. Baumol, 1982; Konow, 2003) to examine the determinants of reference prices and how they impact on customers’ fairness judgments. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of reference-dependent effects related to price, reference-dependency has not been extended to other product and service attributes. As reference-dependent preference theories (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979; Sugden, 2003; Tversky and Kahneman, 1991), adaptation level theory (Helson, 1948), and the literature on asymmetric customer satisfaction judgment (Mittal, William, and Baldasare, 1998) propose that human perception in general occurs relative to a reference point of neutral response, we extend the concept of reference price research and price fairness to a range of product attributes other than price.