Lesley Ledden

A re-examination of the relationship between value, satisfaction and intention in business services

Purpose – The objectives of this paper are twofold: to add to the debate regarding conceptualisation and operationalisation of value within a professional service domain, and to contribute to the relatively sparse literature dealing with the functional relationship between determinants and outcomes of value with specific emphasis on the value to satisfaction and intention to re‐purchase relationship in professional services.Design/methodology/approach – A theoretically grounded model has been developed that comprises three antecedents of value (conceptualised as a higher order construct of six dimensions) and satisfaction both of which impact on intention. The model has been tested, using partial least squares, on 78 responses obtained through an email survey carried out amongst executives of the top 300 UK‐based companies listed in the Times 1,000.Findings – The results indicate that although perceived value is a multi‐dimensional construct treating value as a unified construct may lead to confounding ef...

The idiosyncratic behaviour of service quality, value, satisfaction, and intention to recommend in higher education: An empirical examination

Abstract Despite some dissenting voices, the marketisation of higher education in recent years has led to the need to consider how marketing concepts and business models that are central in traditional consumer markets can be applied in the educational context. One such concept that is held to be at the core of marketing is consumer value, which considers how consumers perceive the outcomes of their consumption experiences. Consequently, the functional relationships between service quality, value (disaggregated into the constituent dimensions of its give and get components), satisfaction and recommendation within the educational domain form the focus of this study. Service quality is treated as an antecedent of value, which in turn is a driver of satisfaction, the ultimate outcome of which is word of mouth recommendation. The idiosyncratic behaviour of the proposed functional relationships is tested in two cohorts of postgraduate students (MBA and specialist Masters). The data are analysed using Partial Least Squares. The impact of service quality on the formation of perceptions of value is confirmed for both cohorts. However, in relative terms the relationships are stronger for the specialist Masters cohort. At the same time, notable differences between the two cohorts are observed in the functional relationships between the dimensions of value and satisfaction. Although, collectively, the results are in line with extant value literature, they also indicate that contextual differences, even within a single domain, play an important role in the behaviour of the functional relationships.

The impact of time on perceptions of educational value

Purpose – Despite current advances in the domain, little is known about the dynamic nature of the value construct, specifically the manner in which value perceptions change over time during the higher education consumption experience. This paper aims to examine the impact that emotions (affective states) and knowledge (cognitive influences) have on changes to the give and get dimensions of value, the respective impact of these on satisfaction, and the latters influence on intention to recommend.Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted in the UK education domain. Data were collected through a matched sample of 66 students at two points in time (at the start of the course and half way through) during a one‐year postgraduate course. The PLS approach to structural equation modelling was employed to examine the relationships between the focal constructs.Findings – The results indicate differential impact of knowledge and emotions on the value dimensions at the two time points. Emotions are more d...

Consumer perceptions of cobrands: the role of brand positioning strategies

Cobrands (or brand alliances) are increasingly popular as a viable strategic option for commercial success. Yet the impact of perceptions towards the parent brands’ positioning strategies on consumer evaluation of the cobrands has not been investigated so far. Our study examines the role of positioning strategies in consumer evaluation of cobrands. Employing an experimental design, we create three cobranding scenarios in different product categories (tablets, cosmetics and smart phones). The data are collected via structured questionnaires resulting in 160 valid responses. In line with the conceptual model and research objectives, consumer evaluation of cobrands is tested in relationship to the prior positioning of the parent brands, product fit and brand fit. The results confirm brand positioning as a robust indicator of consumer evaluation of cobrands. Our finding suggests that post-positioning strategies of parent brands are influenced by positioning of the cobrand, which in turn is influenced by the positioning of the parent brands in the alliance. Parent brands were found to ‘adopt’ the positioning perception of its partner. The findings have managerial implications for designing appropriate positioning strategies for cobrands. The study identifies a number of further research areas. Keywords: brand positioning, brand alliances, quasi-experimental design, brand fit, product fit