Rodolfo Vázquez Casielles

Analysis of the role of complaint management in the context of relationship marketing

Abstract This research aims to contribute to the relationship-marketing strategy by studying the role of complaint management in long-term relationships. Two factors distinguish it from other studies: it takes into account two types of customers, consumers and firms, and the result variable selected is the probability of ending an ongoing relationship. Two questionnaires were designed for every population. One of them was auto-administrated to a sample of consumers in the north of Spain, and the other one was sent to a representative sample of Spanish firms. The data analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling. The findings confirm the importance that theory accords to the relationship-marketing strategy, and also provide evidence for the importance of complaint management. Thus having a good complaint-handling system and trained and motivated staff who are fully committed to the firms objectives are fundamental requisites for firms to be able to build a stable customer portfolio.

Comportamiento de abandono de la relación de un cliente con la empresa en un contexto de fallo y recuperación del servicio

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo es explorar los factores y circunstancias que llevan a los clientes a abandonar a su proveedor de servicios cambiandolo por un proveedor alternativo. Observaremos si el comportamiento de la empresa tras el fallo puede llegar a reducir la tasa de abandono, asi como el efecto de determinadas variables situacionales como la presencia de barreras al cambio y de alternativas atractivas. El modelo propuesto se contrasta utilizando una muestra de consumidores de servicios financieros que experimentaron algun tipo de fallo. Los resultados muestran que, si bien la insatisfaccion tras el fallo tiene un efecto importante en la probabilidad de abandono de los clientes, existen otros factores relevantes tales como la respuesta de la empresa a la queja, las barreras al cambio negativas, la ausencia de alternativas atractivas y la antiguedad de la relacion. Por ultimo, los resultados revelan que las barreras de cambio positivas moderan la relacion entre la satisfaccion con la respuesta a la queja y el comportamiento de abandono de los clientes.

The Role of Commitment Perceived by the Consumer in Service Industries

The current work aims to analyze the role of commitment perceived by the consumer in the maintenance of long‐term relationships. The context of analysis chosen is the tourism sector, more specifically the relationships that retail travel agencies establish with their consumers. The study tests a conceptual model via a system of structural equations using the statistics package EQS 6.1 for Windows. The results corroborate the importance of the consumer’s trust in the travel agency and the consumer’s perception of the firm’s commitment, because this commitment acts as an antecedent of trust and creates the conditions for the firm to achieve a stable portfolio of customers.

Empower Me? Yes, Please, But in My Way: Different Patterns of Experiencing Empowerment in Patients with Chronic Conditions

ABSTRACT Empowerment is a widely used word within the realm of health care. This is especially true in the case of patients living with a chronic illness, who may be active participants and learn to manage their disease, irrespective of their desires or preferences. This article focuses on the empowering experience of patients with chronic conditions. We have built on earlier research that explains the factors that mediate communication between health care professionals and patients: patient participation, patient impact, meaning, health care professionals’ information provision, health care professionals’ emotional support, health care professionals’ attentive listening, health care professionals’ trust, and patient collaboration. We propose a new model for detecting types of patients who differ in the way they live their empowering experience. Using survey data from a sample of 181 patients of hemophilia, we found two types of patients: patients with an inner locus of empowerment and patients with an outer locus of empowerment. We conclude by discussing different strategies for fostering the sense of power in each of these types of patients.ABSTRACTEmpowerment is a widely used word within the realm of health care. This is especially true in the case of patients living with a chronic illness, who may be active participants and learn to manage their disease, irrespective of their desires or preferences. This article focuses on the empowering experience of patients with chronic conditions. We have built on earlier research that explains the factors that mediate communication between health care professionals and patients: patient participation, patient impact, meaning, health care professionals’ information provision, health care professionals’ emotional support, health care professionals’ attentive listening, health care professionals’ trust, and patient collaboration. We propose a new model for detecting types of patients who differ in the way they live their empowering experience. Using survey data from a sample of 181 patients of hemophilia, we found two types of patients: patients with an inner locus of empowerment and patients with an out...

Consumers' characteristics and brand choice behaviour: Loyalty and consumption

The research described in this paper is intended to provide a deeper understanding of consumers’ purchasing processes by describing a range of models that include the traditionally analysed variables of price, reference price and losses and gains and also by proposing two alternative ways to segment the market: by loyalty and by consumption levels. The key contributions of this research can be summarised under two points. First, it employs two different household panels to validate hypotheses and provide more reliable results, and secondly, it employs a market segment variable that is infrequently applied in this kind of work: consumption levels. Our results not only highlight the importance of the variables we propose but also point to the need to segment markets in line with a range of different criteria, given that both customer loyalty and consumption levels serve to show different purchasing patterns.

Análisis de la confianza y el compromiso percibido por el consumidor como variables clave en las relaciones entre los clientes y las agencias de viaje minoristas

En Espana el sector turistico ha desempenado un rol importante, desde la crisis financiera e inmobiliaria de 2008 es uno de los sectores que ha mostrado mejor comportamiento, es por ello que se ha de incidir en mejorar la competitividad turistica de las provincias espanolas y aprovechar asi la contribucion del turismo. Hemos seleccionado para este analisis las provincias del Mediterraneo por ser las que mayor cuota turistica acumulan respecto al conjunto nacional, y por sus caracteristicas comunes en el ambito turistico. La manera de analizar y posteriormente sugerir propuestas para mejorar la competitividad de los destinos turisticos del Mediterraneo, analizar a continuacion las valores de los indicadores que representan la competitividad de los destinos, para luego valorar mediante un panel de expertos la importancia de los factores en cada destino, y finalmente, sugerir actuaciones para aumentar la competitividad. ABSTRACT In Spain tourism sector has had a relevant role since financial and real state crisis in 2008, tourism is one of the few sectors that has helped to economic recovery and it is improving it performance year a year, so tourism competitiveness in the Spanish provinces must be enhanced taking advantage of the tourism good behavior. We have selected the Mediterranean area provinces because of their mayor acummulated tourism share above national, and because of their similar characteristics. The way of improving competitiveness, then to analyze the provinces which have worst performance on the indicators that form the factors, next to asses the factor importance through and expert panel, and finally to recommend actions for improving competitivenessNumerosos estudios han demostrado que las redes sociales influyen en las intenciones de los viajeros de visitar un destino. Sin embargo, la literatura ha prestado poca atencion a la relacion entre el comportamiento de busqueda de informacion y el desarrollo de la fidelidad a los destinos. En este sentido, este estudio analiza este fenomeno, considerando como los turistas no solo comparten su tiempo entre varias fuentes de informacion, sino que estas estan tambien influyendo en el tiempo que los turistas estan compartiendo entre varios destinos, no solo repitiendo la visita a un unico destino, sino tambien haciendose mas fieles a multiples destinos al mismo tiempo (fidelidad horizontal). Sin embargo, este tema no se ha destacado adecuadamente en el contexto turistico. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este estudio es doble: 1) comprender mejor el comportamiento del turista con respecto al uso de las redes sociales, considerando las diferencias por nacionalidades, genero y edad; y 2) explorar la relacion entre el uso de las diferentes fuentes de informacion de los turistas (tradicionales y digitales) y su influencia en la posterior fidelidad (tanto a un solo destino como en la fidelidad horizontal), y considerando tanto la fidelidad conductual como la actitudinal. Estos resultados son utiles para tomar decisiones sobre estrategias de comunicacion digital y la gestion de los programas de fidelizacion por parte de los destinos turisticos. Palabras clave : Fidelidad Horizontal, Marketing Relacional, Fuentes de Informacion, Redes Sociales, Imagen ABSTRACT The visit to a tourist destination is influenced by the tourists use of social media. However, the literature has not focused its efforts on trying to understand the relationship between the use of social media and destinations loyalty. This study analyzes this phenomenon, considering how tourists not only share their time between several sources of information, but these are also influencing the time that the tourists are sharing between several destinations, not only repeating the visit to a single destination, but also becoming more loyal to multiple destinations at the same time (horizontal loyalty). However, this topic has not been adequately highlighted in the tourism context. This study tries to analyze the differences in the use of social media by nationalities, gender, age and income; and to shed light on their relationship with loyalty. These results are useful for making decisions about digital communication strategies and the management of loyalty programs by tourist destinations. Keywords : Horizontal Loyalty, Relationship Marketing, Information Sources, Social Media, ImageActualmente, los destinos de sol y playa afrontan la necesidad de renovacion y, en el Partido de Necochea, Argentina, se elaboro el Plan Estrategico de Turismo Sustentable de Necochea para responder a esta necesidad. La implementacion requiere analizar y evaluar de modo pragmatico y programatico las intervenciones territoriales para alcanzar las estrategias definidas de reposicionamiento. El articulo propone identificar las unidades de gestion del espacio, los modelos de intervencion para un escenario estrategico que contribuya a la gestion sustentable y reorientacion turistica y proporcionar bases para la reestructuracion territorial como eje transversal de politica publica ambiental y turistica. Para ello, respecto de la unidades se delimita el espacio turistico en funcion de las particularidades fisico-espaciales, los recursos turisticos y oportunidades recreativas y las disfuncionalidades o problematicas detectadas. Luego, se definen los contenidos concretos de los tipos de intervencion propuestos que reorienten la renovacion. Y por ultimo, se enuncian las bases para las actuaciones de reestructuracion territorial en funcion de un escenario estrategico. La renovacion ambiental de Necochea debe basarse en estrategias conducentes a la cualificacion del espacio turistico, la diferenciacion basada en la naturaleza, la potenciacion del entorno urbano y la inclusion de lo ambiental en la gestion turistica.