Marcel van Birgelen

Value fusion: The blending of consumer and firm value in the distinct context of mobile technologies and social media

Purpose: In this article, we introduce the concept of Value Fusion to describe how value can emerge from the use of mobile, networked technology by consumers, firms, and entities such as non-consumers, a firm’s competitors, and others simultaneously.Design/methodology/approach: We discuss the combination of characteristics of mobile devices that enable Value Fusion. We discuss specific value and benefits to consumers and firms of being mobile and networked. We introduce and define Value Fusion and set it apart from related, other conceptualizations of value. We provide examples of Value Fusion and discuss the necessary conditions for Value Fusion to occur. We discuss under which conditions the use of mobile, networked technology by consumers and firms may lead to Value Confusion instead of Value Fusion. We end with several research questions, proposed to further enhance the understanding and management of Value Fusion.Findings: The combination of portable, personal, networked, textual/visual and converged characteristics of mobile devices enables firms and consumers to interact and communicate, produce and consume benefits, and create value in new ways that have not been captured by popular conceptualizations of value. These traditional conceptualizations include customer value, experiential value, customer lifetime value, and customer engagement value. Value Fusion is defined as value that can be achieved for the entire network of consumers and firms simultaneously, just by being on the mobile network. Value Fusion results from producers and consumers (i) individually or collectively, (ii) actively and passively, (iii) concurrently, (iv) interactively or in aggregation contributing to a mobile network (v) in real time and (vi) just-in-time.Implications: Mobile devices have revolutionized the way we live, and there is widespread expectation that they will have “game- changing” implications for marketing in the near future (MSI, 2012). Therefore, research is needed to help us understand how mobile technologies are likely to change conventional wisdom about how customers and firms connect, interact and do business, and finally culminate in mutual, synergetic value; a phenomenon which we label Value Fusion.Originality: This paper synthesizes insights from the extant value literature that by and large has focused on either the customer’s or the firm’s perspective, but rarely blended the two. The contribution of this paper is that the Value Fusion concept achieves such a blending in the distinct context of mobile technologies and social media. Value should be considered more holistically, and value to the consumer and firm should be jointly optimized (i.e., Value Fusion) rather than managed in isolation. In addition, both active and passive participation should be valued. This paper calls for a more holistic approach to conceptualize value and identifies unanswered questions about value in the distinct context of mobile technology and social media.

Effects of perceived employee emotional competence on customer satisfaction and loyalty: The mediating role of rapport

Purpose – During service encounters, it has been suggested that emotionally competent employees are likely to succeed in building rapport with their customers, which in turn often leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, these relationships have not been empirically examined. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of customer perceived employee emotional competence (EEC) on satisfaction and loyalty. The paper also examines how and to what extent rapport mediates these effects.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the theory of affect‐as‐information, suggesting that emotions inform human behavior, the paper develops a structural model and tests it on a sample of 247 customers in a personal service setting.Findings – Customer perceptions of EEC positively influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. Rapport partially mediates both effects.Practical implications – The extent to which customers perceive employees as emotionally competent is related to the development of ...

Value cocreation in service interactions. Dimensions and antecedents

The purpose of this article is to further develop the conceptualization of value cocreation by discussing its dimensions and antecedents. We propose that in service interactions, value cocreation should be understood as a joint collaborative activity between service employees and customers, consisting of six dimensions, which correspond to simpler joint actions (individuating, relating, empowering, ethical, developmental, and concerted joint actions). Furthermore, we derive propositions about nine antecedents of value cocreation labeled as communicating, relating, and knowing factors. This article is among the first to propose a conceptually richer understanding of value cocreation illustrated via an analytical framework, which can drive both future research and guide managers interested in implementing the service-dominant logic (S-D logic) principles within their service providing firms.

The added value of web innovation for customer satisfaction

Purpose – Recent studies have explored the effects of e‐service quality on satisfaction and loyalty of online customers by extending and supplementing traditional service quality frameworks. This research proposes a combination of traditional service quality and e‐service quality frameworks. The central question focuses on how to assess the added value of the web as a service innovation for a traditional service. The setting of the study is a traditional‐style barbeque delivery service with a recently installed advanced web‐initiated order entry facility now used by a majority of the customers.Design/methodology/approach – An empirical, survey‐based cross‐sectional study on web‐initiated customer experiences of an in‐home catering service, involving barbeque food items and cooking equipment.Findings – Findings indicate that adding an innovative e‐channel to a traditional business process does not automatically translate to a higher customer satisfaction. Only limited significant effects were found from on...

Employee Emotional Competence: Construct Conceptualization and Validation of a Customer-Based Measure

Customers often experience intense emotions during service encounters. Their perceptions of how well contact employees demonstrate emotional competence in emotionally charged service encounters can affect their service evaluations and loyalty intentions. Previous studies examining employees’ potential to behave in emotionally competent ways (i.e., employee emotional intelligence [EEI]) have used self- or supervisor-reported scales to predict customer outcomes, presenting EEI as stable and independent of the context. However, service firms should be more concerned with the actual display of emotionally competent behaviors by employees (employee emotional competence [EEC]), because employee behaviors vary across encounters. Moreover, a customer perspective of EEC is useful, as customer perceptions of employee performance are crucial predictors of satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, this study proposes a conceptualization and operationalization of EEC in a service encounter context. On the basis of a comprehensive literature review and in-depth interviews, the authors develop a scale to capture customer-perceived EEC, defined as an employee’s competence in perceiving, understanding, and regulating customer emotions during a discrete service encounter. The scale achieves good reliability and validity. Researchers can use it to explore the role of EEC in service contexts, and managers can employ the scale to diagnose EEC and improve the customers’ service encounter experiences.

The Impact of Incomplete Information on the Use of Marketing Research Intelligence in International Service Settings An Experimental Study

Unfamiliarity with foreign business environments and cultures will result in higher levels of uncertainty, especially for international service organizations. To effectively deal with international uncertainty, it seems crucial to have access to information that is as complete as possible. In practice, however, information is hardly ever complete. To date, little is known about the impact of incomplete information on the decision-making processes in international service firms. This article examines the effects of incomplete information on the evaluation and use of marketing research intelligence. The results of an experimental study suggest that decision makers in international service firms are unlikely to ignore missing information. Instead, they tend to adopt a strategy of inferential, assumption-based reasoning. Furthermore, the absence of information relevant to decision making in international services marketing has distinct evaluative consequences in terms of satisfaction, trust, and intention to use information.

The role of brands in the behavior and purchase decisions of compulsive versus noncompulsive buyers

Purpose – This article investigates the role that brands play in influencing the behavior and purchase decisions of compulsive buyers and whether this role differs for noncompulsive buyers, resulting in four research propositions. Design/methodology/approach – In-depth interviews, conducted with ten compulsive and ten noncompulsive buyers, reveal several interesting differences between the groups. Findings – The findings reveal several interesting differences between compulsive buyers and noncompulsive buyers. Noncompulsive buyers seem to appreciate and focus mainly on functional benefits of branded products and avoid buying unbranded products, whereas compulsive buyers value emotional and social benefits but often decide to buy “more and cheaper” items to achieve variety in their purchases. Noncompulsive buyers develop brand trust in, attachment to and higher willingness to pay for their favorite brand than for other brands, whereas compulsive buyers even struggle to name a favorite brand. Furthermore, c...

The impact of attitude strength on customer-oriented priority setting by decision-makers: An empirical investigation

A key question in marketing decision-making pertains to what makes decision-makers focus on various types of information in different ways. Particularly in relation to a key marketing and management variable such as customer satisfaction this is an important issue. Costly derived customer satisfaction measures need to provide customer-oriented guidance regarding where to prioritise. Traditional research on intelligence use has mainly focused on objective research attributes, such as research quality. In this article, however, we will adopt the idea that decision-makers weigh information differently based on their perception of its relevance. With respect to crucial customer satisfaction information this represents an exciting, but nevertheless unexplored field of research. The results of latent variable modelling show that the strength of decision-makers’ attitudes toward customer satisfaction leads to a differentiated usage of satisfaction intelligence. By taking this into consideration, management and intelligence providers will be able to more effectively disseminate customer satisfaction information and facilitate a more customer-oriented perspective within firms.

What Makes Service Research Centers Effective

Academic service research centers have been positioned as a research partner for service companies. In this article, the authors present a framework for assessing their effectiveness. The results of an empirical study conducted during 2 years suggest that user satisfaction is central to establishing decision maker trust, as well as promoting the use of the information. In both years, quality of content and researcher characteristics were identified as key drivers of satisfaction. In the initial stage of the relationship between the service research center and the client firm, information use is also driven by the political acceptability of the information. It was found that trust had no effect on information use. However, the results of the second year suggest that particularly trust in the researcher becomes a crucial factor as the relationship develops, because it directly affects the use of information by academic service research centers.

Communication channel consideration for in‐home services

Purpose – This paper aims to examine communication channels for in‐home service provision. In particular, it aims to focus on the joint effect of two converging trends: the increase of in‐home services involving high degrees of customer participation;and the extension of the number of channels that service firms use to communicate with customers. It seeks to assess which benefits customers desire of communication channels across in‐home service production formats and how these benefit desires determine their communication channel consideration for in‐home services.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a literature review a conceptual framework was constructed. Using the association pattern technique (APT), a survey of 383 customers of a Dutch energy company was carried out. The APT enabled the authors to quantify the relationship between participative in‐home service provision situations, desired communication channel benefits, and communication channel consideration.Findings – Results show that customer...