John A. Czepiel

Service encounters and service relationships: Implications for research

Abstract The essentially social nature of service encounters, a short-run phenomenon, provides the occasions in which buyer and seller negotiate the terms of their exchange relationship, a long-run phenomenon. Defined as the mutual recognition of special status between exchange partners, exchange relationships insure efficacy for the buyer, as they mitigate market volatility for the seller. Understanding how economic exchange is played out against a background of social exchange can yield actionable insights. One implication is that research must include both customer and provider perceptions as the focal unit. Other research implications include the need to study the impact of customer role performance on satisfaction, to identify the elements of style and substance that buyers or sellers use to judge relational performance, and the need to develop measures of relational quality and strength.

Patterns of Interorganizational Communications and the Diffusion of a Major Technological Innovation in a Competitive Industrial Community

The effects of interorganizational communications and position in informal communication networks on the decision to adopt a major technological innovation are studied. Based on the sociological di...

Consumer Satisfaction: Concept and Measurement:

In marketing management, consumer satisfaction may be clustered with such key goals as profitability and social responsibility. However undisputed its importance, its conceptualization and measurement have remained largely backward, severely limiting its value in determining marketing strategy. This article has raised issues and suggested guidelines for research and management thinking.

Measuring and Modeling the Effects of Long-Term Buyer–Seller Relationships in Corporate Financial Services Markets

Abstract This paper focuses on attempting to identify and model the role that the long-term relationship plays in affecting future sales versus the roles of other such forces as product performance, sales activities, and price. A conceptual model of the long-term relationship is developed and empirically tested on data obtained from top level financial executives of 123 “important” customers of a major money center commercial bank. A structural equation model using multiple indicators is developed and estimated. Results indicate knowledge and perception of actively seeking customers business affects the longevity of the relationship. Competitive pricing and past usage improve relative perceived performance. In turn, relative perceived performance and relationship longevity are positively related to future usage.

Consumer Affairs Audits: Evaluation and Analysis

One of the major positive responses of corporations to the consumerism movement is the increasing attention to the consumer affairs functions of the organization. This article presents the concept of a consumer affairs audit as a formal, comprehensive and objective method by which to ascertain and evaluate the performance of consumer affairs. It focuses on the consumer affairs system as a relevant area to be measured and improved, and offers a specific methodology to plan, conduct, and report the audit to top management.

The Basic Marketing Course: How Should It Be Taught?

One feeling that develops in reading the book carefully is how valuable a book such as this would have been two or three years ago, before the appearance of so many other anthologies and textbooks. Thematically, the individual authors have done a good job of focusing on the most prominent aspects of socialbehavior science theory active in current marketing research. If there ar any drawbacks they may lie in the disconnectedness of the themes between chapters, but it would be asking too much for each contributor to have a fully integrated perspective and theoretical alignment with every other contributor. In summary, this book will be a useful and widely read contribution to consumer behavior literature.