Kirk L. Wakefield

The effect of the servicescape on customers’ behavioral intentions in leisure service settings

SERVQUAL, an instrument developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, is currently the most popular measure of service quality. Compares these original studies with subsequent research employing the SERVQUAL instrument. Analyzes its psychometric properties to gain some basic insights into the overall utility of this measure, and offers directions for its use in future research. Discusses managerial implications and recommendations resulting from these analyses.

The Importance of Servicescapes in Leisure Service Settings

Services marketing research has largely focussed on measuring service quality and satisfaction associated with the primary service itself, with little attention given to the effect of the physical surroundings of the service setting. Leisure services in particular, may be concerned with how consumers perceive the quality of the “servicescape” and what effect the servicescape has on customer satisfaction and repatronage. Investigates these effects, as well as the interactions of perceived crowding, excitement and enduring involvement associated with the leisure service. Results indicate that servicescape quality does play an important role in determining customer affective and behavioural response to the service.

Factors Leading to Group Identification: A Field Study of Winners and Losers

Why do fans of losing sports teams, alumni of poorly ranked educational programs, and patrons of charities that are rocked by scandal maintain or even increase their support? The present research investigates this issue by examining how differences in group success affect the factors that lead to identification and ultimately the incidence of group-supportive behaviors. The results of a two-group field study of professional sports fans suggest that members of unsuccessful groups identify on the basis of their involvement with the domain in which the group operates and the attractiveness of group members. Also, whereas perceived group performance is the most important factor leading to identification for members of successful groups, this factor is irrelevant to members of unsuccessful groups. In addition, the study finds a strong association between the strength of identification and the incidence of group-supportive consumption behaviors for members of both types of groups. The research has important implications for organizations that depend upon member support, such as sports teams, educational institutions, musical groups, and charities.

The effects of customer service on consumer complaining behavior

Presents a dynamic model of the consumer complaining behavior process. Is unique in that it distinguishes between negative word‐of‐mouth that occurs prior to seeking redress (or in lieu of seeking redress) and negative word‐of‐mouth that occurs after seeking redress. Another unique aspect of this study is that it specifically recognizes positive word‐of‐mouth as a possible post‐complaint response. The results indicate that the major factor that determines why some dissatisfied consumers seek redress and give the seller a chance to remedy the problem, while others exit and engage in negative word‐of‐mouth behavior, is the perceived likelihood of success. Results also show that, once a dissatisfied customer seeks redress, that person expects to receive a fair settlement but, more importantly, to be treated with courtesy and respect. Based on these results, discusses the pervasive effects of customer service on consumer complaining behavior, and offers managerial recommendations.

Who are the price vigilantes? An investigation of differentiating characteristics influencing price information processing☆

Abstract Research suggests that many consumers exhibit poor price recall, even at the point-of-purchase and that some consumers are more price vigilant than others. We incorporate Stiglers economics of information concept into a multinomial logit model to explore differentiating factors that influence the price recall information at the point-of-purchase. Intercepting subjects at the point-of-purchase in an actual retail setting, data were collected from 289 subjects across four product categories and three stores. We find that price recall is influenced by correctly perceived promotion status of the brand, use of the price in making the purchase decision, and income. Two other demographic variables, gender and age, had no impact on price recall. We discuss implications for researchers, retail managers, and consumer advocacy groups.

Planning to Make Unplanned Purchases? The Role of In-Store Slack in Budget Deviation

We propose that consumers have mental budgets for grocery trips that are typically composed of both an itemized portion and in-store slack. We conceptualize the itemized portion as the amount that the consumer has allocated to spend on items planned to the brand or product level and the in-store slack as the portion of the mental budget that is not assigned to be spent on any particular product but remains available for in-store decisions. Using a secondary data set and a field study, we find incidence of in-store slack. Moreover, we find support for our framework predicting that the relationship between in-store slack and budget deviation (the amount by which actual spending deviates from the mental trip budget) depends on factors related to desire and willpower. (c) 2010 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

I Spy a Sponsor: The Effects of Sponsorship Level, Prominence, Relatedness, and Cueing on Recall Accuracy

This study examines differential effects of sponsorship levels (anchor, mid-tier, low-tier) and individual exposure levels on sponsorship recall accuracy in a field study, providing validity for lab studies indicating that individuals rely on prominence and relatedness heuristics when identifying sponsors of an event. In addition, we examine differences in sponsorship recall accuracy when the response is elicited through free recall versus cued recall. The results indicate that free (or direct) recall is generally more accurate than cued recall that relies on reconstructive processes, but that this effect differs based on the type of sponsor in terms of its prominence and relatedness.

The Effect of Perceived Ethical Climate on the Search for Sales Force Excellence

This study investigates the relationship of perceived ethical climate to individual commitment to quality, organizational commitment, and performance among business-to-business salespeople from two companies. The results indicate a firm’s ethical climate has an effect on its sales force. Salesperson’s perceptions of a positive organization ethical climate are positively related with their individual commitment to quality and organizational commitment. Although ethical climate does not have a direct effect on performance, it does have an indirect effect on performance when using individual commitment to quality and organizational commitment as intervening variables. Furthermore, the findings suggest an association exists between individual commitment to quality and performance. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

How Event Sponsors Are Really Identified: A (Baseball) Field Analysis

ABSTRACT Event sponsors often do not receive proper credit for their efforts. This issue was examined in a field study involving over 300 baseball fans attending minor league games during the summer season. Signal detection analyses reveal that, even among such sports fans, the ability to correctly discriminate actual official sponsors of the home team from matched foils, although above chance, was rather poor. Consistent with recent laboratory findings, sponsor identification responses were further found to be heavily influenced by the mere plausibility of the brand as a potential sponsor. This plausibility effect was equally pronounced for actual sponsors and for foils. The phenomenon seems to be driven by a reliance on plausibility-based inferences that was widespread across respondents (as opposed to limited to a few). These plausibility-based inferences, whether correct or incorrect, can have as much influence on attributions of sponsorship as actual exposure to genuine sponsorship information. Implications for potential sponsors and properties are discussed.

Eco-Orientation: An Extension of Market Orientation in an Environmental Context

Jaworski and Kohli’s (1993) framework and research outlining antecedents and consequences of an organization’s market orientation found that market oriented firms are more profitable. In this research we investigate similar antecedents to a firm’s orientation toward environmental issues and threats (i.e., its eco-orientation) and the firm’s subsequent business performance. Importantly, the findings suggest that firms responsive to eco-oriented issues perform better in the market place. Results provide important implications for corporate culture, public policy, and organizational theory.