Shaun McQuitty

Service providers and customers: social exchange theory and service loyalty

Purpose – This paper extends Lawlers argument (in “An affect theory of social exchange”) that social exchanges can create a sense of shared responsibility to service settings, and predict that inseparability produces customer perceptions of shared responsibility for service outcomes, resulting in greater emotions. When emotions are positive, there should be increased loyalty to the service provider.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was used to obtain cross‐sectional data pertaining to our models constructs: inseparability, shared responsibility, emotional response, and service loyalty. A structural equation model evaluated the strength of relationships between these constructs.Findings – Support was found for the predicted relationships between inseparability and shared responsibility, shared responsibility and emotions, and emotions and service loyalty.Research limitations/implications – Inseparability and shared responsibility have not been measured before, and more research is needed to v...

Exchange-Specific Self-Disclosure, Social Self-Disclosure, and Personal Selling

The self-disclosures of customers and salespeople can be either exchange-specific (i.e., essential to a pending exchange) or social (i.e., incidental to a pending exchange). A model that relates both types of self-disclosure to consumers’ trust in a salesperson, consumers’ satisfaction with a salesperson, consumers’ attraction to a salesperson, and consumers’ commitment to future business, is posited and tested with data collected during a controlled meeting between married couples and insurance agents (ndyads =116). Because both types of self-disclosure are significant predictors of customers’ commitment to future business, salespeople should monitor the form and quantity of their self-disclosures and the disclosures they elicit from customers. Specifically, to maximize customers’ commitment to future business, salespeople should try to maximize customers’ social disclosures and minimize customers’ exchange-specific disclosures; obversely, salespeople should minimize their social disclosures and maximize their exchange-specific disclosures.

Components of Candidate Images: Statistical Analysis of the Issue-Persona Dichotomy in the Presidential Campaign of 1996.

For several decades candidate image studies have typically conceptualized and operationalized candidate images as source credibility traits or persona impressions. Candidate issue positions have been minimized in such research and excluded from the candidate image construct. Thus, candidate images have been treated as clusters of persona impressions only, implying that issue perceptions are unimportant in the formation of candidate images. Accordingly, a dichotomy emerged which split candidate image as candidate persona impressions from candidate issue positions, treating the latter as separate and independent determinants of vote. Later research indicated that candidate image content was largely unknown by voters, and some researchers argued that candidate images most likely include both issue and persona impressions. The dichotomy persisted, however, because of the assumption that voters process candidate persona impressions more than candidate issue positions perceptions and that these two types of perceptions are orthogonal. Employing panel data from a random sample of community members and applying correlational and structural equation modeling procedures, the researchers found that the data do not support the issue‐persona dichotomy assumptions. Instead, they lend credence to a more cognitive view of candidate images. Such a view conceptualizes candidate images as integrated structures of issue perceptions, persona perceptions, and whatever other kinds of perceptions are important to particular voters in particular elections.

Emotional Information Management and Responses to Emotional Appeals

This research examines the role of emotional information management (comprised of emotion recognition, regulation, and empathy) in responses to public service appeals (PSAs) with emotional overtones. Whereas most theories of responses to emotional advertising, particularly fear appeals, focus on cognitive processing or coping strategies, we develop a model of emotional competencies and show how emotional information management (EIM) affects consumer responses to emotional appeals. Informed by affect as information theory, the EIM model suggests that managing negative emotions effectively should reduce empathetic responses to emotional ads while utilizing positive emotions should increase empathy. Empirical survey results demonstrate the efficacy of EIM for explaining how emotional appeals affect attitudes toward the ad (A ad) and behavioral intentions (Bi ) to comply with both positively and negatively valenced anti-drunk driving commercials.

Residents' acceptance and use of a mega-multi-mall: West Edmonton Mall evidence

Abstract West Edmonton Mall (WEM), which is the worlds first mega-multi-mall, packages together conventional retail stores, a hotel, recreation and entertainment facilities, restaurants, and theme parks into one integrated consumer service environment. Survey research is used to investigate Edmonton area residents response to WEM, to compare their visits to WEM with visits to a conventional mall and, taking an interactionist approach, to investigate differences between visits to WEM made by residents with shopping, leisure or combined purposes.

Feeling Good! Doing Good! An Exploratory Look at the Impulsive Purchase of the Social Good

Existing theory predicts that personal norms mediate the relationship between social norms and prosocial behavior. We extend this theory to consider impulsive prosocial behaviors such as spontaneously giving to individuals or charitable organizations. We also consider two consequences of impulsive prosocial behavior: the warm glow of giving and guilt from impulsive acts. A structural equation model supports existing theory and all but one of our hypotheses. The results suggest that social and personal norms are important antecedents of impulsive prosocial behaviors, which produce both a warm glow of giving and guilt.

Empirical Research in Macromarketing

This article examines the research articles published in the first 11 volumes of the Journal of Macromarketing. The objectives are to determine whether the journal has become more empirical over time and how the analytical and statistical methods being used in macromarketing compare with those used elsewhere in the marketing literature.

Market orientation and professionalism: the case of nurse-midwives.

Abstract Much has been written regarding the market orientation and professionalism constructs, but there is little work relating the two. Understanding the relationship between a market orientation and professionalism is of great relevance to the development and implementation of marketing programs in professional service organizations. Past research suggests that either a positive or a negative connection between these constructs could exist. However, a survey of certified nurse-midwives finds a fairly strong positive relationship between market orientation and professionalism.

Augmenting the household affluence construct

Marketers often use net worth or income as indicators of household affluence. Unfortunately, net worth is problematic conceptually and quantitatively, and income alone is insufficient because it overlooks household heads’ tendency to behave and think affluently. A comprehensive affluence construct should include lifestyle and psychographic components as well as an income and/or net worth component. To explore the domain of this richer construct, survey data from a sample of households disproportionately stratified by income were collected and analyzed. The results suggest that a formative index combining sets of objective and attitudinal indicators better captures the affluence construct than either set of indicators alone.

Exploring Cultural Differences in Service Quality in Higher Education: The Case of U.S. and Thai Students

As service quality continues to grow in importance within higher education, universities are recognizing the need to assess student expectations and perceptions of educational services. This study examines the difference between U.S and Thai students regarding their assessment of service quality by utilizing the SERVQUAL instrument (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1988). The results indicate that both samples have expectation-perception gaps with their university service experiences. Overall, U.S. students have higher expectations and perceptions, but the gaps are greater for Thai students.