Michael R. Bowers

Customer Trust in the Salesperson: An Integrative Review and Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature

Abstract The development of trust between salespeople and their customers has traditionally been considered a critical element in developing and maintaining a successful sales relationship. This article presents the first comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of the antecedents of trust and consequences of trust in a sales context. A summary conclusion is that trust has a moderate but beneficial influence on the development of positive customer attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Another conclusion is that salespeople have modest influence over the development of trust between themselves and their customers. A comprehensive model of the role of trust in sales is presented. Directions for future research are identified.

Trading Places: Employees as Customers, Customers as Employees

Offers a fresh outlook for managing the delicate interaction between the customer and the contact employee in the service environment. Emphasizes that the quality of the customer‐employee interfacehas a great effect on customers′ perceptions of the quality and value of the service, as well as on their satisfaction. Suggests a model of how companies can improve this interface by treating employees ascustomers and customers as employees, thus developing lower cost and higher quality services and also higher levels of satisfaction on the part of both customers and employees. Recommends various steps for management to take.

Developing New Services: Improving the Process Makes it Better

Examines the development of new services in service organizations, which has often been incomplete and has resulted in the needs of the marketplace remaining unsatisfied. Considers the findings of a study comparing the process of new service development in different service industries. Reports on how development may be improved and offers a model allowing greater input from the service recipients.

Measuring health care quality: comparing and contrasting the medical and the marketing approaches

Health care quality, a key concept for medical practice and research, is also a widely used construct in health care administration and marketing research. We explored discipline-specific differences in the definition of quality, with the intent of finding a more unified approach. We summarized definitions and basic conceptual approaches to quality in both disciplines and then compared them on several attributes: basic goals, sources of measurement, role of patient perceptions, role of health care personnel, and need for risk adjustment. We developed a conceptual model combining the 2 approaches. Both disciplines could benefit from broadening their outcome measures. Patient satisfaction deserves more attention from medical researchers, whereas marketing approaches should go beyond using patient satisfaction as the only outcome of interest. It is conceptually feasible to integrate medical and marketing approaches to quality, with important insights resulting from this integration.

Services quality and satisfaction

Contemporary research on service quality and satisfaction has limitations. First, current satisfaction models treat the consumer as an isolated individual, not considering the social context of the service provision. Second, while satisfaction and quality are thought to be process outcomes, the dominant survey research approaches are not well suited to learning about processes. Finally, popular paradigms assume consumers’ determination of service quality and satisfaction is based solely on a set of attributes. Symbolic interaction and ethnographic methods expand the theoretical basis of service quality/satisfaction research beyond an individually centered psychological view to consider social influences and processes, thereby providing a deeper understanding of how consumers experience quality and satisfaction. The knowledge gained from this approach is easily accessible to service managers and may serve to improve employee recruiting, training and evaluation. Examples of employing symbolic interaction and ethnographic methods are provided. Actions to improve the management of service providers are listed

Customer involvement in the selection of service specifications

Many types of services involve a sequence in which customers choose a service provider followed by selection of service specifications, that is selecting when and how the service will be performed. Specifications selection can be dominated by the provider, the customer or the customer and provider can jointly select specifications. Customer satisfaction results if specifications selection meets customer expectations of the provider‐customer role. Specifications selection unfolds as a process where information is exchanged between the customer and provider and the provider can be more or less customer oriented. Effective information exchange and a strong customer orientation by the provider contribute to customer satisfaction. Customers make attributions of provider or customer responsibility for specifications selection depending on the type of specifications selection that occurs and provider provision of specifications information. Customers who attribute specification selection to their decisions assume responsibility for the specifications selected.

An integrative overview of the quality dimension: marketing implications for the consumer-oriented health care organization.

Stephen J. O’Connor, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Health Services Education and Research, St. Louis University. Michael R. Bowers, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing, University of Alabama at Birmingham. A major problem with the quality concept is that it is so broad and multifaceted that the issue becomes obfuscated and confused. Quite often when quality is mentioned in a health care context, it is assumed that the ensuing discussion will focus on the appropriateness and effectiveness of certain technical procedures applied by medical professionals that result in a certain outcome level of health status for a patient. The problem is further compounded since, for a number of reasons, consumers of health services have not played a strong role in determining what constitutes quality. These reasons have served to ad-

Characteristics of the Salesforce in the US Health‐care Service Industry

Describes the job of selling health‐care services and compares it to traditional types of sales positions. Providing such a comparison may stimulate marketing managers in other service industries to conduct their own survey of salesforce characteristics and to analyze critically the findings. The research design serves as a model for the research process, analysis and interpretation to be utilized in other service marketing arenas. Promotion of health care has evolved from an emphasis on advertising to a current interest in personal selling. Along with public relations and planning research, sales is becoming a significant part of the marketing function of health‐care organizations. Specifically, the study was designed to define the basic characteristics that profile the present salesforce in health care in the USA. Addresses attributes of the organizations, as well as organizational variables. Managing a successful salesforce in the approaching health‐care reform era will be essential to an organization′...

The Effect of Product and Market Factors on the Communication Styles of Salespeople

The effect the selling situation has on the use of communication styles by salespeople is examined. The selling situation is defined in terms of product (goods / services) and markets (consumers/business to-business). Communication styles are characterized by type of influence techniques and message formats employed. The selling situation was found to have significant influence on the use of communication style, accounting for approximately forty seven percent of the variance in the dependent variables.

Factors Inlfuencing Marketing Innovation in the Health Care Industry

Organizational innovation, or the adaptability of an organization to change over time, can occur in many different contexts. From a marketing perspective an organization must adjust to its environment through internal organizational changes as well as taking market oriented actions. This paper reports the results of research that identifies several factors that are indicative of health care organizations propensity to adopt a formalized selling orientation and organizational structure.