Harvir S. Bansal

Word-of-Mouth Processes within a Services Purchase Decision Context

This article investigates the processes of word of mouth (WOM) within a services purchase decision context. The authors argue that to understand these processes, researchers must examine the role of interpersonal influences in the traditional WOM models based within the noninterpersonal paradigm. As a result of the current investigation, three distinct relations emerge: first, the effect of the noninterpersonal forces (receiver’s expertise, receiver’s perceived risk, and sender’s expertise) on the influence of WOM on service purchase decisions; second, the effect of the interpersonal forces (ties strength and how actively WOM is sought) on the influence of WOM on service purchase decisions; and third, the effects of noninterpersonal forces on interpersonal forces. Managerial implications and avenues for future research are addressed.

A Three-Component Model of Customer to Service Providers:

Although research into the determinants of service provider switching has grown in recent years, the focus has been predominantly on transactional, not relational, variables. In this research, the authors address the role of consumer commitment on consumers’ intentions to switch. Drawing from the organizational behavior literature, they build on previous service switching research by developing a switching model that includes a three-component conceptualization of customer commitment. Structural equation modeling is used to test the model based on data from a survey of 356 auto repair service customers. The authors’ results support the notion that customer commitment affects intentions to switch service providers and that the psychological states underlying that commitment may differ. As such, future marketing research should consider these different forms of commitment in understanding customer retention. The implications of this model for theory and practice are discussed.

“Migrating” to new service providers: Toward a unifying framework of consumers’ switching behaviors

This article explores the applicability of a model of migration from the human geography literature as a unifying, theoretical framework for understanding consumers’ service provider switching behaviors. Survey data from approximately 700 consumers are used to examine the usefulness of the push, pull, and moorings (PPM) migration model. The PPM migration model performs better than an alternative model; all three categories of antecedents to switching (migration)—push, pull, and mooring variables—have significant direct, and some moderating, effects on switching intentions.

The Service Provider Switching Model (SPSM) A Model of Consumer Switching Behavior in the Services Industry

Building on Keaveney’s work and using related studies from the disciplines of marketing and psychology, a model of service provider switching was developed. It was empirically examined using structural equation modeling with data from customers of mortgage services of various Canadian financial institutions. Factors deemed responsible for switching behavior, along with switching intentions, were measured from mortgage customers. Self-reports of their actual behavior were also collected via telephone.

The impact of internal marketing activities on external marketing outcomes

Abstract An increasingly service-oriented economy requires organizations to attract and retain customers to ensure a sustainable competitive advantage. To achieve this objective, organizations must focus their efforts on developing and sustaining an organizational culture that emphasizes internal customer well-being as a means to attract and retain external customer patronage. This rationale is based on the notion that to the external customer, the internal customer represents the firm. In fact, a growing body of empirical evidence suggests that there is a direct relationship between a firms financial success and its commitment to internal marketing practices that treat employees as assets. However, there is a paucity of theoretical frameworks that explore these relationships in a systemic fashion. Based on the literature in marketing and human resource (HR) management, we propose a model that relates six key internal marketing practices to external customer satisfaction and loyalty, mediated by internal customer attitudes (i.e., loyalty to the firm, job satisfaction, trust in management) leading to extra role behaviors directed at external customers.

A model of online customer behavior during the initial transaction: Moderating effects of customer characteristics

Recent research shows that observations based on overall online consumer behavior can lead to erroneous conclusions since behavior can be substantially different among groups of individuals. This article proposes a theoretical model, which captures the main characteristics of the website and explains how the user reaction to the website, determined by a set of user characteristics, could moderate consumer perceptions of websites as well as subsequent behaviors especially in a B2C context. A comprehensive understanding of these user characteristics will enable researchers to further the understanding of online consumer behavior during the crucial initial transaction, which often raises the biggest challenge for service providers. An understanding of user characteristics will assist service providers in designing customized websites for competitive advantage.

Web site satisfaction and purchase intentions: Impact of personality characteristics during initial web site visit

Purpose – A main focus in recent online consumer research has been on context specific trust, risk, and online buying experience. Despite the importance, their individual level “equivalents” – trust disposition, risk aversion, and technology readiness – have received limited attention. This research attempts to fill that gap by focussing on these crucial personality traits.Design/methodology/approach – This research employs a survey‐based method to test a theoretically grounded set of hypotheses. The measurement model is tested using SEM and the hypotheses are tested using regression techniques.Findings – The personality characteristics are found to have significant moderating effects on online purchase intentions. Interestingly, provided the consumers are satisfied, risk aversion is found to increase the likelihood of purchase. Moreover, while technology readiness increases the likelihood of online purchase, dispositional trust is found not to have a similar effect.Research limitations/implications – Sig...

Exploring consumer experience of social power during service consumption

Purpose – This research seeks to investigate consumer experiences of social power during service consumption. Specifically, this research examines the causes and consequences (cognition, expectations, emotions, and emotion expression) of consumer experiences of high and low power; and, given the key role of emotions in the experience and outcome of services, examines how emotions and emotion expression impacted satisfaction for high and low power consumers.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 195 adult consumers of a range of services responded to a self‐administered survey with a mix of qualitative and quantitative measures.Findings – The data show that most experiences of power occurred in high contact services, underlining the social nature of consumer power. While high power experiences occurred due to consumer knowledge, service failure accounted for low power experiences. High power consumers have greater self‐oriented action thoughts while low power consumers have greater ruminative thoughts. ...

Investigating the measures of relative importance in marketing research.

Determining the relative importance of various predictors in a marketing research model is important for both theoretical and practical reasons. To date, the most commonly used methods to assess relative importance have involved examining either the regression coefficients or zero-order correlations of each predictor. Unfortunately, these indices are problematic when the predictors are correlated, as is the case with many of the drivers of service-provider switching, loyalty studies, satisfaction models and other marketing research. In this paper, we introduce Dominance Analysis to an audience of researchers in marketing research and empirically demonstrate its usefulness for assessing predictor relative importance. Using a Monte Carlo simulation, we first compare the accuracy of five traditional methods used in marketing research assessing relative importance and comparing them to Dominance Analysis. There are theoretical, as well as empirical, advantages to using Dominance Analysis over other methods, and these are discussed in the context of an empirical example using data drawn from a larger study of auto-repair service customers (n = 355).

A prototyping analysis of relationship marketing constructs: what constructs to use when

ABSTRACT As relationship marketing research evolved, a number of key constructs emerged. Some scholars have argued that these constructs are not conceptually or empirically distinct. We investigate this phenomenon based on the premise that sustained research effort towards studying conceptually overlapping/redundant constructs, while treating them as independent, can hamper the development of the field. We use prototyping, a method adopted from psychology, to examine consumers’ views of these constructs, and then identify relationship contexts where constructs are distinct or redundant.