de Jc Ko Ruyter

On the relationship between perceived service quality, service loyalty and switching costs

In the services marketing literature it has been argued that the concept of service loyalty needs further conceptual and empirical investigation. In this paper a theoretical framework for service loyalty consisting of three dimensions: preference loyalty; price indifference loyalty; and dissatisfaction response is developed. We subsequently focus on the role of service quality and switching costs as antecedents to these types of service loyalty. The results of an empirical study of a large sample of customers from five different service industries provide support for service loyalty as a three‐dimensional construct. Moreover, we find that the influence of service quality on service loyalty varies significantly per industry and that, hence, findings from one industry cannot be generalised to other industries. Furthermore, we establish that in industries characterised by relatively low switching costs, customers will be less loyal as compared to service industries with relatively high switching costs.

Marketing service relationships: the role of commitment

As with all relationships, it is commonly agreed on that partners in business must have a high degree of commitment towards their relationship. If commitment is lacking, the relationship will soon come to an end. Affective commitment, that is commitment based on attraction between partners, is to be preferred over calculative commitment. The latter form of commitment is based on constant weighing of the benefits of a relationship with a partner against the costs of that relationship. Relationships based solely on calculative commitment are also most likely not to last for an extended time. This paper identifies theoretical antecedents and consequences of commitment in relationships in a services context. The results of an empirical study reveal that affective commitment is related to trust in the partner’s honesty and benevolence, quality of the outcome of the service process, and customer satisfaction with the service being delivered. The quality of the service process has an indirect effect on affective commitment, as it is related to satisfaction. Furthermore, it is shown that affectively committed customers have a much stronger intention to stay in a relationship with a service provider than calculatively committed customers.

Customer evaluations of after-sales service contact modes: An empirical analysis of national culture's consequences

Technological advances extend the after-sales services portfolio from traditional service encounters to voice- and bit-based services. Technology enables service organizations to transcend geographical as well as cultural boundaries. It might even result in geographical convergence, often treated synonymously with cultural convergence. In this paper, we address this issue. This paper examines the interaction between perceived service performance and national cultural characteristics in the formation of customer satisfaction for three types of after-sales service contact modes. The results suggest that, in contrast to the traditional face-to-face service encounter, the perceived quality–satisfaction relationship is particularly moderated by national culture in the case of an after-sales service contact mode mediated by technology.

Moments of sorrow and joy : an empirical assessment of the complementary value of critical incidents in understanding customer service evaluations

It is commonly acknowledged that service quality can be measured by using attribute‐based and incident‐based measurements. Both methods are distinct in nature, but can be used complementarily. However, in the literature a simultaneous empirical investigation of the power of critical incidents in relation to attribute scores is lacking. In this paper we merge both methods for assessing service quality in a professional services context. Subsequently, both measurements have been used to investigate the effect of service quality on short‐term customer satisfaction and long‐term trust in the service provider. Results indicate that the combined approach adds value to single‐method measurement for explaining customer satisfaction. Furthermore, negative incidents are more influential on satisfaction than positive experiences. However, the negative effect of a negative incident on satisfaction can be compensated for by paying attention to particular dimensions of service quality. Critical incidents do not seem to have an impact on the apparently stable construct of trust.

The Adoption of Information Technology by Self-Managing Service Teams:

This article examines antecedents and consequences of the adoption level of standardized information technology (IT) versus customized IT in self-managing teams (SMTs) in a financial services institution. Linkages between specified antecedents and the adoption levels of standardized and customized IT were investigated using data collected from bank employees and in-company databases. The authors find positive individual-level effects of tolerance of self-management, ease of use, and innovativeness on the adoption level of standardized IT and positive individual-level effects of tolerance of self-management and perceived usefulness on the adoption level of customized IT. These findings suggest that discriminating between different types of IT creates a better understanding of IT adoption in SMTs. A similar investigation of the IT adoption-service performance relationships shows that the adoption level of customized IT rather than of standardized IT has a crucial impact on service performance both in terms of customer satisfaction and productivity.

How do customers react to critical service encounters? : a cross-sectional perspective

In recent research on service quality it has been argued that the construct of behavioural intentions and its relationship with other constructs are issues which require conceptual and empirical elaboration. In this paper, we focus on the development and refinement of a scale for measuring behavioural intentions and the influence of critical service incidents on these behavioural intentions of service customers. Moreover, we seek to provide evidence for differences across service industries with regard to dimensions of service quality that customers evaluate during a critical incident. The results of an empirical study of a large sample of customers from six different service industries suggest that there exist significant cross-sectional differences in critical dimensions of service quality, thereby supporting the notion that there are service industry-specific determinants of quality. Furthermore, we identified three dimensions of behavioural intentions: customer loyalty; price tolerance; and dissatisfa...

What factors determine use of quality-related marketing research information? an empirical investigation

For effective total quality management (TQM), internal, process-related, as well as external, market-oriented, information is crucial. In particular, external marketing information seems to be very valuable since customers are the ultimate evaluators of the quality of an organization. In this paper, by adopting a services and relationship marketing perspective, we empirically study factors that influence the utilization of quality-related marketing research information by decisionmakers in organizations that strive to monitor and improve their quality levels. Our results show clearly that the use of quality-related information is most strongly influenced by the quality of informational contents. In addition, satisfaction with a specific quality-related research project functions as an important mediator between service quality of the project on the one hand and decision-maker trust in the provider and information use on the other hand. The results can be especially useful to marketing research agencies that strive to improve the quality of the service they deliver to organizations actively involved in the area of TQM.