Magnus Söderlund

Customer satisfaction and its consequences on customer behaviour revisited

Explores the extent to which the form of the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer behaviour is different under conditions of “low” satisfaction and “high” satisfaction. Three behavioural variables (word‐of‐mouth, feedback to the supplier, and loyalty) were examined. The results point to the fact that differences in the form do exist. Moreover, the results show that differences exist between the differences, in the sense that different patterns emerge for each behavioural variable.

Measuring customer loyalty with multi‐item scales

Purpose – The contemporary interest in customer loyalty has resulted in a proliferation of multi‐item scales containing an aggregated mix of items that appears to reflect different aspects of loyalty. The most common application of this aggregation approach is to include two specific loyalty facets, repatronage intentions and word‐of‐mouth intentions, in the same loyalty measure and to proceed as if they reflect the same underlying construct. The purpose of this paper is to examine – and question – this practice in conceptual, methodological, and empirical terms.Design/methodology/approach – Two empirical studies in service settings were conducted and multi‐item measures were used to collect data on repatronage intentions, word‐of‐mouth intentions, and satisfaction. A structural equation model approach was used to compare an aggregated measurement approach with an approach which models the two loyalty constructs as two separate factors.Findings – The results indicate that repatronage intentions and word‐o...

Revisiting the smiling service worker and customer satisfaction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine if the service workers display of smiles in the service encounter has an effect on customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – An experimental design was used in which participants (N=220) were randomly allocated to one of four service encounters. Two variables were manipulated; the service worker with whom the participant interacted had either a neutral facial expression or a smiling facial expression, and the service worker was either male or female.Findings – The smiling service worker produced a higher level of customer satisfaction than the neutral service worker, regardless of the sex of the service worker (and the sex of the participant). In addition, the results indicate that this outcome involved both emotional contagion and affect infusion.Originality/value – This paper extends the service literatures discourse on the impact of the service workers smile behavior on customer satisfaction by including intermediate variables such as appra...

Assessing behavior before it becomes behavior - An examination of the role of intentions as a link between satisfaction and repatronizing behavior

Purpose – Intentions are often included in service research, but researchers have paid little attention to a discussion in psychology in which different intention constructs are distinguished. This study is based on the belief that different intention constructs capture different aspects of the customers assessments of his or her future repatronizing behavior – and that intentions measures based on different intention constructs are not equally correlated with firstly, the customers global evaluation of the supplier, such as satisfaction, and secondly, his or her overt repatronizing behavior. The specific purpose is to examine if such variation is at hand in with regards to two specific intention constructs: intentions‐as‐expectations and intentions‐as‐wants.Design/methodology/approach – A first questionnaire was used to collect data on satisfaction and intentions in a restaurant setting, and a second questionnaire – distributed to the respondents one month after the first questionnaire – captured behav...

Predicting purchasing behavior on business‐to‐business markets

Measures of customers’ repurchase intentions have become common in marketing research, particularly since long‐term relations with customers are stressed as an important goal. This study, however, illustrates that repurchase intentions may be a poor predictor of future behavior on industrial markets, and that past behavior may be a far better predictor. The results imply that caution is warranted when intention measures are used in predictions of purchasing behavior in situations in which decision‐making is constrained by organizational and inter‐organizational factors.

The retrospective and the prospective mind and the temporal framing of customer satisfaction

This study explores the potential for differences and similarities between two ways of conceptualizing customer satisfaction: current customer satisfaction (CCS) and anticipated customer satisfaction (ACS). The analysis shows that these two constructs share a substantial amount of variance, and that there is no significant difference in the level of the two types of satisfaction. With regard to the two constructs’ ability to explain future intentions, CCS outperforms ACS for behavioral expectations. However, for conscious plans, no significant difference exists between CCS and ACS. The similarities between the two constructs suggest that ACS may be used in studies of potential customers and thus that the satisfaction construct may be expanded to customers who, by definition, have no prior experience and therefore no current level of satisfaction.

Young consumers’ responses to suspected covert and overt blog marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the responses of young consumers to suspected covert and overt product-brand recommendations in a blog. Design/methodology/approach – Experimental design was applied to investigate the effect of covert and overt marketing on young consumers’ perceptions of blogger credibility and their behavioural intentions. Findings – Overt marketing had a negative effect on behavioural intentions, such as future interest in the blogger, intention to engage in word-of-mouth, and purchase intention. Covert marketing did not affect the intended behaviour. Neither covert nor overt marketing influenced the blogger’s credibility. Research limitations/implications – The study was delimited to a small sample; one blog, one type of product recommendation, and a well-known brand. Young, well-educated consumers with experience in reading blogs may be able to filter the brand recommendations and focus on the content of the blog. Practical implications – This study has implications fo...

The “killer” ad: an assessment of advertising violence

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine whether violence embedded in stories in ads can contribute to advertising effectiveness along the same lines as well‐researched ad elements such as the celebrity endorser and the physically attractive ad model. More specifically, the paper aims to assess whether violent content in an ad story adds to excitement perceptions and to overall evaluations such as the attitude toward the ad and the attitude toward the advertised product.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses an experimental approach comprising two studies in which participants were randomly allocated to ads with different levels of violence in an ad story.Findings – The main finding is that representations of real violence (as opposed to staged violence) produced higher levels of excitement, attitude toward the story, attitude toward the ad, and attitude toward the advertised product compared with no violence. Such effects, however, were moderated by the level of congruence between the ad story and the...

Spreading joy: examining the effects of smiling models on consumer joy and attitudes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer response to pictures of smiling models in marketing, focusing on the roles of emotional contagion from the smiling models and the perceived typicality of marketing with smiling models. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports the findings from three experimental studies, comparing consumer response to two versions of an advertisement (Study 1) and a packaging design (Study 2 and 3), including either a picture of a smiling or a non-smiling model. To measure consumer response, a combination of self-report questionnaires and eye-tracking methodology was used. Findings – The pictures of smiling models produced more consumer joy and more positive attitudes for the marketing. The positive effects on attitudes were mediated by consumer joy, and the effects on consumer joy were mediated by the perceived typicality of the marketing with smiling models. Originality/value – Despite the ubiquity of photos of smiling faces in marketing, very few studie...

Positive social behaviors and suggestive selling in the same service encounter

Purpose – This study aims to examine customers’ reactions in service encounters in which the customer contact person (CCP) initially engages in positive social behaviors and then turns to suggestive selling.Design/methodology/approach – An experimental between‐subjects design was employed. The participants interacted in a service encounter with a CCP who engaged in positive social behaviors. At the end of the service encounter, participants were exposed to: no suggestive selling; congruent suggestive selling; or incongruent suggestive selling.Findings – Customers’ intentions to buy additional products were lower in the two suggestive selling conditions than in the condition without suggestive selling. This outcome should be viewed in light of the contrast effect that occurs when the CCPs role comprises both rapport‐building activities and sales activities: suggestive selling near the end of a service encounter may “break the spell” of initial positive social behaviors. However, in terms of the customers...