Omar Merlo

Acta Non Verba? The Role of Customer Participation and Word of Mouth in the Relationship Between Service Firms’ Customer Satisfaction and Sales Performance:

Evidence has shown that satisfied customers do not necessarily buy more of a company’s products and services, thus spurring researchers to look for a missing link between customer satisfaction and purchase behavior. Word of mouth (WOM) has been advocated as the elusive missing link and as a key indicator of customer-firm relationship strength. Yet, WOM is only one type of customer voluntary performance (CVP). In this study, a second type of CVP, namely customer participation (i.e., customers’ willingness to provide the firm with constructive feedback and suggestions), is argued to be crucial to ensure that a satisfied customer repurchases. The authors develop and test a model that predicts that satisfied customers repurchase when they become productive resources through two spontaneous and cooperative customer behaviors: WOM and participation. The empirical findings support the predictions, thus complementing and extending previous research. This research suggests that while WOM has been heralded as an important factor in firm growth, another factor that is at least equally if not more important to future sales is customer participation.

The influence of marketing from a power perspective

Purpose – Based on the widely held view that influence is exercised power, and in light of the suitability of power theory to studies of marketings relative influence within the firm, this paper seeks to explore marketings level of influence from a power perspective. The paper proposes and empirically tests a model in which the marketing functions four key types of power (bureaucratic power, critical contingencies power, network power, and psychological power) act as antecedents to marketings influence within the firm. The model also aims to consider the contingency effect of market turbulence.Design/methodology/approach – The study employs data drawn from a sample of senior managers in medium and large manufacturing firms. The model is tested using hierarchical ordinary least squares regression analysis.Findings – The findings provide support for a link between all types of power and marketings influence, with the exception of psychological power. Market turbulence is also found to strengthen the po...

Service Firm Performance Transparency: How, When, and Why Does It Pay Off?

Calls for increased transparency and reduced information asymmetry between service firms and their customers are getting louder in the marketplace. Yet, it remains unclear what exactly constitutes transparency in the eyes of customers and how, if at all, service firms benefit from it. This research contributes to extant knowledge by articulating the key properties of service firms’ performance transparency and by developing and validating a parsimonious scale to measure it. We show that through a reduction in customer uncertainty, the provision of accessible and objective information about a firm’s service offering is positively associated with customers’ intention to purchase and willingness to pay a price premium for its service. Furthermore, we find that the positive effect of performance transparency is influenced by customers’ perceptions of a firm’s ability to deliver on its service promise. An important managerial implication of the current research is that performance transparency benefits customers by lowering uncertainty, and hence service firms should proactively consider it as a critical measure that helps differentiate their services from competitive offerings, even when customer perceptions of a service firm’s ability are low.

Heuristics revisited: implications for marketing research and practice

The marketing literature has devoted limited attention to the nature and scope of heuristics in marketing theory development and in marketing-related decision-making processes. This is of concern because the use of heuristics can profoundly influence managerial choices and, in turn, the ability of firms to compete. The authors analyze heuristics, first in general terms by providing a review of the concept and its mechanics, and then more specifically by exploring the use of heuristics in the discipline of marketing. The market orientation and marketing concept constructs are discussed as examples of marketing tenets that, over time, have been enriched through the incorporation of heuristics. The following findings are derived from the analysis: heuristics signal the maturing of a theoretical concept; heuristics act as a measure of a disciplines impact; heuristics do not exist in isolation; effective heuristics are balanced and established; and effective heuristics evolve and adapt. Overall, the purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the value of heuristics to marketing theory and practice and to renew research interest into heuristics in a marketing context.

Customer Satisfaction and Purchase Behavior: The Role of Customer Input

Prior work emphasizes the role of satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth in affecting customer behavior. This research introduces customer input as an additional important mediating variable and driver of actual customer behavior. Specifically, we combine survey-based data with behavioral data to show that the impact of satisfaction on customer behavior is fully mediated by customer input, while word of mouth acts as a partial mediator in the satisfaction-customer behavior relationship. We thus reveal that the effect of customer satisfaction on actual behavior is contingent on levels of customer input. Furthermore, we demonstrate that satisfaction affects customer input, which ultimately leads to greater future customer purchase from a firm. The results of the study empirically demonstrate that customer participation plays an important role in understanding how satisfaction influences actual customer purchasing behavior.

Experiencing the Place and Drinking Its Wine: How Does Attitude Toward Place Transfer to Its Products?

A considerable number of studies have focused on how to build and sustain strong and meaningful relationships with tourists, especially when the latter have an ever increasing number of choices and exhibit variety-seeking behavior. However, these studies have not focused on how attitudes toward a region or place can transfer to products. The aim of this study is shed the light on the transfer of attitudes and its impact on tourist’s wiliness to support regional products.

Network Strength in Service Employee Teams: Implications for Information Processing and Customer Orientation

Using the extant literature on social networks and organizational learning, and drawing from the available work on social networks in marketing, we propose a model of vertical and horizontal network relationships among boundary spanning service employees, the climate of communication openness, information processing, customer orientation and the customer orientation of retail stores. The model is tested using a sample of 413 service employees within a national retail organization comprising 112 stores. The model is largely supported by the data. Implications for management and further research are discussed.