Kalyani Menon

Multiple roles of consumption emotions in post‐purchase satisfaction with extended service transactions

The focus of this paper is on the emotional experience of consumption and its impact on satisfaction in the context of extended service transactions. Drawing on a multi‐component perspective of emotions, we present a series of research propositions to specify how both retrospective global judgments of consumption emotions as well as their in‐process experience (i.e. their experience during the sequence of episodes composing the transaction) determine post‐purchase satisfaction in multiple ways. At the retrospective level, we propose that while the expected direct relationship between satisfaction and positive emotions will emerge, the equally expected inverse relationship between negative emotions and satisfaction will be found only for negative emotions attributed to the service provider. Negative emotions attributed to causes other than the provider (i.e. to the situation or to oneself) may be positively associated with satisfaction. At the in‐process level, we propose that the experience of distinct emotions at a certain stage of the service may influence the consumer’s expectations for and perceptions of the provider performance, and/or the expressions and behaviors of the consumer himself and those of the provider in the subsequent episode. Such in‐process effects of emotions will then determine their relationship with post‐purchase satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Ensuring greater satisfaction by engineering salesperson response to customer emotions

Abstract In this research, we develop and empirically investigate a framework to help retail managers engineer effective salesperson response to customer emotions and ensure greater satisfaction. Building on an interpersonal view of emotions, we argue that managers must be familiar with (1) diagnostic cues for assessing emotion-eliciting contexts and how customers generally display these emotions; (2) the normative salesperson responses that customers expect to their different emotions; (3) and the naturally occurring responses from the salesperson as observed by the customers. We report upon an empirical study that tested these arguments for two negatives (anxiety, anger) and two positive (joy, delight) emotions in the context of one of two retail stores (clothing or electronic goods). We find that observed salesperson response that positively disconfirms customers’ normative expectations will lead to greater customer satisfaction, across positive and negative emotions. Based on the results, we believe that detailed planning of these more interpersonal aspects of a retail strategy may be as critical to customer satisfaction and repeat purchase as the planning of store layout and merchandise.

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. ...

For Better or for Worse? Adverse Effects of Relationship Age and Continuance Commitment on Positive and Negative Word of Mouth

The authors aim to study the direct and moderating effects of relationship age, continuance commitment and satisfaction on the generation of positive and negative word of mouth (P/NWOM). Hypotheses based on the notion of liability of adolescence and the motivation to generate P/NWOM were tested with data collected through a survey of a random sample of customers of fixed-line telephone users. Relationship age adversely impacts PWOM and the effect of satisfaction on both P/NWOM. Continuance commitment increases NWOM and causes dissatisfied customers to generate greater NWOM while not affecting the PWOM of satisfied customers. Satisfaction shows a significant non-linear effect on WOM. Results offer strong evidence of a dark side to long-term customer relationships. Recommendations focus on managing long-term relationships and perceptions of continuance commitment to minimise adverse effects. As far as the authors know, this research is the first to offer a theoretically grounded explanation of the direct and moderating effects of relationship age on P/NWOM behaviour. Results challenge the premise of long-term customers being a panacea for numerous problems faced by firms. Findings also help explain the contradictory results in prior research on the effects of continuous commitment on WOM.

Online Product Ratings: Dynamic Trends and Diagnosticity Assessment Explanation

We investigate the dynamic trends of online product ratings and explanations by examining a sample of 2,595 online product ratings of 14 randomly drawn apparel products from landsend.com. Contrary to the predominant declining sequential and/or temporal trends reported in previous studies, we find a predominant increasing sequential trend. We extend the diagnosticity assessment explanation offered by Godes and Silva (2012) by considering how changes of reviewer similarity and review information may affect the diagnostic value of prior reviews in customer decision making, thus explain both the increasing trend in our sample and the declining trend in previous studies. We find support to the idea that diagnostic value of prior reviews is high, leading customers to make good purchase decisions and give higher reviews over time, when reviewer dissimilarity and information noise do not increase; When reviewer dissimilarity and information noise increase overtime, prior reviews may mislead and confuse customers, leading bad purchase decisions and thus a declining review trend.