Francis Buttle

SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda

Since its launch in 1985, SERVQUAL has become a widely adopted technology for measuring and managing service quality. Recently, a number of theoretical and operational concerns have been raised concerning SERVQUAL. Reviews these concerns and proposes a research agenda.

ISO 9000: marketing motivations and benefits

Reports a survey of the largest‐ever national survey of the international quality management system, ISO 9000 (BS EN ISO 9000), which has been installed in 95,000 companies internationally. Specifically, reports the marketing considerations which motivate companies to seek certification and the marketing benefits which accrue from certification. Mail surveys were carried out on 4,250 certificated organizations; 1,220 (28.7 per cent) responded. Marketing considerations were secondary in seeking registration, and outcomes related to profitability and process improvement were more highly valued than marketing benefits.

Consumer involvement in financial services: an empirical test of two measures

This study reports an empirical test of two involvement scales: Zaichkowsky’s personal involve‐ment inventory (PII) and Kapferer and Laurent’s consumer involve‐ment profile (CIP). The purpose of this study is to identify whether these two scales are applicable to financial services. Eight financial services are investigated: the use of a cheque book, overdraft facility, the use of Switch services, the use of a cash machine, savings account, investment services, mortgage services, and personal loan. The empirical findings show that the two scales indicate different levels of involvement in the eight financial services. The PII measure indicates that mortgage, investment and cash machine use are high involvement services. The use of savings account, personal loan, a chequebook, overdraft facility, and Switch services are found to be medium involvement services. The CIP shows that investment, mortgage, and savings accounts are rated as high involve‐ment services. Personal loans, overdraft facilities, Switch card, cash machine, and chequebook usage are in the middle range of involvement. Being a multidimen‐sional scale, the CIP provides more data about involvement. More investigation is needed in order to understand the links between consumer involvement in financial services and customer behaviour. The authors conclude with recom‐mendations for further research into consumer involvement in financial services and its effect on bank customer behaviour.

Hotel marketing strategy and the theory of reasoned action

A customer survey conducted from the perspective of the theory of reasoned action (TORA) supplies data which guide hotel marketing strategy. TORA is used to describe behavioural intentions of international business travellers. The two predictor constructs contained in the theory, attitude‐towards‐the‐act and subjective norm, jointly explain about 65 per cent of the variance in the criterion variable, intention to stay in the hotel on the next business trip. Of the two predictors, attitude‐towards‐the‐act makes by far the weightier and more significant contribution. Finds that attitudes rotate around service quality expectations. Discusses implications for marketing strategy.

Marketing Communication Theory: What do the Texts Teach Our Students?

This review of 101 marketing communications texts identifies the five ancestral communication theorists whose work is cited most often: Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver, Schramm, Berlo and Klapper. Their theoretical contributions are summarized and four common themes identified: their focus on the effects of marketing communication on individual audience members; their focus on the effects of single messages or campaigns; the significance they attach to intentionality; and their emphasis on a co-orientational conceptualization of communication. These four themes are then critiqued by drawing on some recent research findings and theoretical advances.

The Theory and Practice of Customer Bonding

ABSTRACT In many markets, customer satisfaction with product and service is no longer enough to guarantee customer retention. Companies are finding that they must make efforts to bond customers to them for the long term through means other than the simple fulfillment of needs and wants. We supply detailed analyses of the customer bonding activities, both intuitive and strategically planned, of four companies. These strategies are considered in the light of the literature on customer attachment, bonding and commitment.

An investigation of the willingness of UK certificated firms to recommend ISO 9000

Presents survey results which are derived from the most comprehensive investigation ever undertaken of UK companies certificated to ISO 9000. Reports an analysis of the willingness of certificated companies to recommend the standard to other, similar companies. States that the 4,250 certificated organizations mail surveyed, 1,220 (28.7 per cent) responded. Indicates that the companies most willing to recommend ISO 9000 were those most satisfied with the organizational impacts of the standard and these were of three major kinds: profitability impacts, process improvements and marketing benefits. Reports that companies also willing to recommend were those whose expectations had been met, and those who believed the standard to be cost‐effective. Proposes that these results should help deflect criticism about the perceived value of the standard, and motivate companies to pursue certification.

The Co‐ordinated Management of Meaning: A Case Exemplar of a New Consumer Research Technology

The Co‐ordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) is a social constructionist theory of human action which provides insight into the structure and process of multi‐person decision making. In the CMM analysis presented here, the Hughes family′s vacation decision making supplies an episode within which the family′s socially constructed resources are expressed and recreated. CMM is a technology offering considerable promise to new paradigm consumer researchers.

ISO 9000: is the real estate sector any different?

This paper utilises the findings from the largest‐ever national, omni‐sectoral survey into the impacts of ISO 9000 on UK business and specifically examines the real estate sector, contrasting the findings with those found for the larger universe. Analysis across all sectors shows that while companies’ expectations of ISO 9000 are not met in full, they are generally satisfied with the contribution made to their organisation. While the real estate sector differs in points of detail from the larger universe, statistical analysis indicates that there are no significant differences.