D. Todd Donavan

The Customer Orientation of Service Workers: Personality Trait Effects on Self- and Supervisor Performance Ratings

Prior research indicates that market orientation is associated with positive outcomes for firms. For service organizations, a market orientation is implemented largely through individual service workers. The authors investigate the mediational role of customer orientation in a hierarchical model of the influence of personality traits on self-rated and supervisor-rated performance. The results support a partially mediated hierarchical model. Three basic personality traits (emotional stability, agreeability, and the need for activity) account for 39% of the variance in the customer orientation of employees. In turn, the customer orientation measure and conscientiousness account for 26% of the variance in self-rated performance. The customer orientation measure, along with the direct effects of conscientiousness and agreeability, account for 12% of the variance in manager ratings. The authors discuss the results and their implications for marketing researchers and managers.

Internal Benefits of Service-Worker Customer Orientation: Job Satisfaction, Commitment, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Implementation of the marketing concept in service firms is accomplished through individual service employees and their interactions with customers. Although prior research has established a link between service-worker customer orientation and performance outcomes, little research has addressed other potentially important outcomes of customer orientation. Drawing from the literature on person–situation interaction and fit theory, the authors develop and test a model that explains how service-worker customer orientation affects several important job responses, including perceived job fit, job satisfaction, commitment to the firm, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Across three field studies in two distinct services industries, the results indicate that the positive influence of customer orientation on certain job responses is stronger for service workers who spend more time in direct contact with customers than for workers who spend less time with customers. The authors discuss the implications of the results for services marketing managers and researchers.

The art of service recovery: fact or fiction?

Purpose – To determine the impact of service recovery on consumer evaluations of service delivery.Design/methodology/approach – An experiment investigated consumer responses to three dimensions of perceived fairness of recovery efforts: redress, responsiveness, and empathy/courtesy.Findings – Results revealed that higher levels of redress independently increase positive consumer responses. It was further found that the interaction of employee responsiveness and courtesy can also have a dramatic impact on consumer evaluations. Satisfaction was highest and negative word‐of‐mouth (WOM) intentions were lowest only under conditions of high responsiveness and courtesy. Additionally, an interaction between courtesy and tangible rewards significantly decreased the level of negative WOM.Practical implications – The research offers empirical support for the “service recovery paradox” suggesting effective post‐recovery efforts may not only counteract bad service experiences, but may increase satisfaction beyond leve...

Consumer‐brand relationships in sport: brand personality and identification

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between the brand personality of a sports team and the related consumer outcomes of identification and retail spending.Design/methodology/approach – A field study was conducted with games watched and retail spending as outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationships among constructs.Findings – The two brand personality dimensions of wholesomeness and successfulness are mediated through prestige to predict the consumers identification with the team. The two brand personality dimensions of imaginativeness and toughness positively influence identification with the team while successfulness has a negative influence on identification with the team. Once a consumer identifies with the team quasi‐brand, retail spending and viewership increase.Practical implications – Sports teams can utilise information gleaned from this study to better promote an attractive image, thereby increasing the number of games watched ...

Salient Effects of Publicity in Advertised Brand Recall and Recognition: The List-Strength Paradigm

Previous research has demonstrated that preexposure of publicity about advertising campaigns facilitates recall of subsequently advertised brands. In this paper, we investigate the potential inhibitive effect; that is, preexposure of publicity can suppress retrieval of other nonpublicized brands that would otherwise have been retrieved. The inhibitive effect was examined in the list-strength paradigm, which posits that strengthened items in a list inhibit memory for nonstrengthened items. We found the inhibitive effect of publicity in free recall. The inhibition was not found in recognition memory, however. This study also examines the effect of publicity on the criterion placement in recognition tests. Integrated marketing communication (IMC) and its implications are discussed.

Athlete Identification and Brand Personality States

By integrating social identity theory with brand personality, the authors test a model of how perceptions of athlete human brands affect consumer’s level of cognitive identification. The authors contend that contrary to the trait schema of human personality, brand personality is a state rather than a trait. States are temporary, brief and caused by external circumstances, while traits are stable, long-lasting and internally caused. The findings suggest that consumers view athletes as human brands with unique personality states that influence consumer perceptions. Additional findings demonstrate that athlete prestige and distinctiveness leads to the evaluation of athlete identification.