Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Customers behaving badly: a state of the art review, research agenda and implications for practitioners

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight important issues in the study of dysfunctional customer behavior and to provide a research agenda to inspire, guide, and enthuse. Through a critical evaluation of existing research, the aim is to highlight key issues and to present potentially worthy avenues for future study. Design/methodology/approach – In reviewing recent and past advances in the study of customers behaving badly, an overview of existing research into customers behaving badly and addressing issues of terminology and definition is provided. Thereafter, three perspectives that provide the most opportunity and insight in studying the darker side of service dynamics are outlined. This leads to a review of some of the research design and methodological problems and issues that are faced when rigorously studying these issues. Subsequently, the paper devotes a section to the provocative idea that while dysfunctional customer behavior has many negative influences on customers, employees, and service firms, there are actually some positive functions of customers behaving badly. Findings – A research agenda is provided that is believed to identify and discuss a range of projects that comprises not only insightful theoretical contributions but is also practically relevant. Originality/value – The paper identifies a range of issues about which managers should be aware and proactively manage.

The impact of service contact type and demographic characteristics on service quality perceptions

Purpose – This study aims to develop and test a service‐based demographic framework for studying service quality perceptions. Specifically, the effect of level of service contact and key demographic variables of age, gender and income on service quality perceptions is examined.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 224 customers of high‐ and low‐contact passenger transport services were surveyed using a self‐administered questionnaire.Findings – The findings indicated that service quality perceptions differed according to the level of contact inherent to the service. Consumer age was also found to affect service quality perceptions; however, no differences in service quality perceptions on the basis of gender or income were found.Research implications/limitations – The results of the study enhance the understanding of service quality perceptions and provide useful insight for the management and delivery of service quality. Overall, the results suggest that managers in the train travel industry need to t...

The value of health and wellbeing: an empirical model of value creation in social marketing

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of multiple actors in the value creation process for a preventative health service, and observe the subsequent impact on key service outcomes of satisfaction and customer behaviour intentions to use a preventative health service again in the future. Design/methodology/approach An online self-completion survey of Australian women (n=797) was conducted to test the proposed framework in the context of a free, government-provided breastscreening service. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Findings The findings indicate that functional and emotional value are created from organisational and customer resources. These findings indicate that health service providers and customers are jointly responsible for the successful creation of value, leading to desirable outcomes for all stakeholders. Practical implications The results highlight to health professionals the aspects of service that can be managed in order to create value with target audiences. The findings also indicate the importance of the resources provided by users in the creation of value, signifying the importance of customer education and management. Originality/value This study provides a significant contribution to social marketing through the provision of an empirically validated model of value creation in a preventative health service. The model demonstrates how the creation and provision of value can lead to the achievement of desirable social behaviours - a key aim of social marketing.

A social marketing approach to value creation in a Well-Women¿s health service

Abstract Understanding consumer value is imperative in health care, as the receipt of value drives the demand for health care services. While there is increasing research into health care that adopts an economic approach to value, this paper investigates a non-financial exchange context using an experiential approach to value, guided by social marketing thinking on behaviour change. An experiential approach is deemed more appropriate for government health care services that are free and preventative rather than for treatment purposes. Thus, instead of using an illness paradigm to view health-services outcomes, the researchers applied a wellness paradigm. Data from 25 depth interviews have been analysed by the authors to demonstrate how social marketing thinking has guided the identification of six themes that represent four dimensions of value (functional, emotional, social, and altruistic) evident during the health care consumption process of a free government service.

Moderating teen drinking: combining social marketing and education

Purpose – This paper outlines a pilot study that was undertaken in Australia in 2011 that combined social marketing with education. An intervention targeting 14‐16 year olds to influence attitudes and behavioural intentions towards moderate drinking was developed and tested. Game On:Know alcohol (GO:KA) is a six‐module intervention that is delivered to a year level cohort in an auditorium. GO:KA combines a series of online and offline experiential activities to engage (with) students.Design/methodology – Following social marketing benchmark criteria, formative research and competitive analysis were undertaken to create, implement and evaluate an intervention. The intervention was delivered in one all boys’ and one all girls’ school in April and June 2011, respectively. A total of 223 Year 10 students participated in GO:KA with the majority completing both pre‐ and post‐surveys. Paired samples t‐tests and descriptive analysis were used to assess attitudinal and behavioural intention change.Findings – Attit...

Measuring Emotion: Methodological Issues and Alternatives

Given the increased profile of emotions in the past decade (Ashkanasy & Daus, 2002), the aim of this chapter is to raise awareness of measurement issues. As scholars, we are interested in examining emotions as dependent and independent variables, and also in manipulation checks to verify experimental induction of emotional states. In spite of the many studies on emotion, poor measurement remains the Achilles’ heel of this line of research (Huelsman, Furr, & Nemanick, 2003). Accurate assessment of emotion is imperative for advancing knowledge in this field; therefore, our focus is on critical evaluation of commonly used emotions measures

Electronic games: Can they create value for the moderate drinking brand?

Purpose – This paper aims to understand how experiential value can generate awareness, image, perceived quality and loyalty to the moderate drinking brand. Electronic games are increasingly used by social marketers in an attempt to support target audiences uptake of social behaviours. However, little is known of the value this creates for target audiences and its impact on the uptake of a social behaviour brand. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of male adolescents (n = 137) was conducted to test proposed relationships between experiential value and consumer-based brand equity dimensions. The research tested the game “Don’t Turn a Night Out into a Nightmare” that was developed by the Australian Federal Government as part of a social marketing campaign. Data were analysed using linear regression and MANCOVA. Findings – The findings indicate that there are significant relationships between consumer-based brand equity dimensions for the social behaviour brand of moderate drinking, indicating relevance o...

A hierarchical model of social marketing

Purpose – This paper aims to set out a new hierarchical and differentiated model of social marketing principles, concepts and techniques that builds on, but supersedes, the existing lists of non-equivalent and undifferentiated benchmark criteria. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper that proposes a hierarchical model of social marketing principles, concepts and techniques. Findings – This new delineation of the social marketing principle, its four core concepts and five techniques, represents a new way to conceptualize and recognize the different elements that constitute social marketing. This new model will help add to and further the development of the theoretical basis of social marketing, building on the definitional work led by the International Social Marketing Association (iSMA), Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM) and European Social Marketing Association (ESMA). Research limitations/implications – This proposed model offers a foundation for future research to exp...

Engaging Marketing Students: Student Operated Businesses in a Simulated World

Engaged students are committed and more likely to continue their university studies. Subsequently, they are less resource intensive from a university’s perspective. This article details an experiential second-year marketing course that requires students to develop real products and services to sell on two organized market days. In the course, students participate as both consumers and marketers in a simulated world. The current article explores the effectiveness of this experiential assessment in terms of its ability to engage students. Comparing student engagement to a traditional lecture course and National Survey of Student Engagement benchmarks, the results suggest that the use of a simulated marketplace is capable of engaging students. Specifically, the assessment reported encourages more active learning and collaboration, is more academically challenging, and permits more student—faculty interaction than a traditional lecture-based course. The course structure outlined in this article permits the dynamics of a live marketing environment to be introduced into the classroom. The authors provide practical advice for educators seeking to design and implement engaging pedagogy.

Differential segmentation responses to an alcohol social marketing program

OBJECTIVE This study seeks to establish whether meaningful subgroups exist within a 14-16 year old adolescent population and if these segments respond differently to the Game On: Know Alcohol (GOKA) intervention, a school-based alcohol social marketing program. METHODOLOGY This study is part of a larger cluster randomized controlled evaluation of the GOKA program implemented in 14 schools in 2013/2014. TwoStep cluster analysis was conducted to segment 2,114 high school adolescents (14-16 years old) on the basis of 22 demographic, behavioral, and psychographic variables. Program effects on knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intentions, social norms, alcohol expectancies, and drinking refusal self-efficacy of identified segments were subsequently examined. RESULTS Three segments were identified: (1) Abstainers, (2) Bingers, and (3) Moderate Drinkers. Program effects varied significantly across segments. The strongest positive change effects post-participation were observed for Bingers, while mixed effects were evident for Moderate Drinkers and Abstainers. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide preliminary empirical evidence supporting the application of social marketing segmentation in alcohol education programs. Development of targeted programs that meet the unique needs of each of the three identified segments will extend the social marketing footprint in alcohol education.