Simon J. Bell

Customer Relationship Dynamics: Service Quality and Customer Loyalty in the Context of Varying Levels of Customer Expertise and Switching Costs

As customer-organization relationships deepen, consumers increase their expertise in the firm’s product line and industry and develop increased switching costs. This study investigates the effects of customer investment expertise and perceived switching costs on the relationships between technical and functional service quality and customer loyalty. Technical service quality is hypothesized to be a more important determinant of customer loyalty than functional service quality as expertise increases. Both technical and functional service quality are hypothesized to have a reduced relationship with customer loyalty as perceived switching costs increase. Three-way interactions between the main effects of service quality, customer expertise, and perceived switching costs yield additional insight into the change in relative importance of technical and functional service quality in customers’ decision to be loyal. Six of eight hypotheses receive support. Implications are discussed for customer relationship management over the relationship life cycle.

The employee-organization relationship, organizational citizenship behaviors, and superior service quality

Abstract This study proposes a model of customer-contact service employee management that examines organizational citizenship behaviors as critical links between aspects of the employee-organization relationship (perceived organizational support, organizational identification) and customers’ perceptions of service quality. In addition, it investigates the role of job autonomy in providing the necessary behavioral discretion for employees to be able to perform citizenship behaviors. The hypothesized model was partially supported. Theoretical and managerial implications are explored.

Just entrepreneurial enough: the moderating effect of entrepreneurship on the relationship between market orientation and performance

Within the literature of marketing and management, researchers have explored different models that examine the relationships between market orientation, entrepreneurship, and performance. In this paper, we offer a new model that includes curvilinearity in the moderating effect of entrepreneurship on the relationship between market orientation and performance. Utilizing structural equation modeling, we test our proposed model using a sample of 231 not-for-profit hospitals. The proposed model produces the best fit. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Schools of Thought in Organizational Learning

This article attempts to bring coherence to the diversity that characterizes organizational learning research. It argues that organizational learning is embedded in four schools of thought: an economic school, a managerial school, a developmental school, and a process school. The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the schools, describes how they differ from each other, and outlines how each of them can be employed effectively. To demonstrate the benefits of theoretical plurality, the four schools are applied to the key marketing topics of market orientation and new product development. Implications for future research in marketing are provided.

When customers disappoint: A model of relational internal marketing and customer complaints

The objective of this study is to examine internal marketing relationships and their influence on salesperson attitudes and behaviors in retail store environments. The authors investigate the moderating role of customer complaining behavior on the nature of these relationships. Specifically, they examine the relationship between organization-employee and supervisor-employee relationships and their association with salesperson job motivation and commitment to customer service. Customer complaints are expected to have differential moderating effects on the relationship between organizational and supervisory support and these salesperson outcomes. Our hypotheses were tested using a sample of 392 retail employees within 115 stores of a national retail organization. The model was partially supported. Theoretical and managerial implications are explored.

Image and consumer attraction to intraurban retail areas: An environmental psychology approach

Abstract This study suggests that intraurban retail area patronage decisions are influenced by the image of the area. A model of environmental behaviour is derived from the extant literature and tested empirically. An approach to measuring consumer perceptions of retail area image is proposed. The research finds significant relationships between product and store range and quality, visual amenity, customer service and consumers’ willingness to patronise a retail area. Affect, or consumers’ liking of the area, mediates the impact of retail area image on consumer behaviour. The value of this approach is that retailers and regulatory bodies may be able to explain and predict the effects of changes to retail environments on consumer patronage decisions.

The paradox of customer education - Customer expertise and loyalty in the financial services industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the dynamics of customer education by exploring the relationship between education and customer expertise and their combined effects on customer loyalty in a high involvement investment services context. The paper also considers the service context within which customer education initiatives are delivered. More specifically, it explores the moderating effects of increasing levels of customer expertise (the outcome of customer education) on the relative importance of technical service quality (what is delivered) and functional service quality (how it is delivered) in determining the loyalty decision. In doing so, the paper aims to provide implications for the investment service firm for managing the service offering as customers develop expertise over time.Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes a conceptual model that formalises the research objectives as a series of testable hypotheses. This is followed by an outline of the research design and m...

Coping With Customer Complaints

This article investigates the relationship between customer complaints and service personnel commitment to customer service. Positive and negative affectivity are considered as potential moderators of this relationship. Using data obtained from a survey of 432 retail service personnel in a national retail chain with 124 stores, the authors find that customer complaints are significantly and negatively associated with service personnel commitment to customer service. Higher levels of service employee positive affectivity significantly reduced this negative relationship. Contrary to expectations, high levels of negative affectivity also reduced the negative relationship between complaints and commitment to customer service. Potential explanations for these findings are provided, and implications for managers and future research are considered.

Organizing for new product development speed and the implications for organizational stress

Abstract This study examines the effects of bureaucratic structure and organizational control on new product development (NPD) speed. It also examines the effects of NPD speed on organizational stress. The empirical findings from 130 US manufacturing companies can be summarized as follows. Formalized structures and centralized structures have a negative impact on invention speed. Formal controls have a positive impact on innovation speed. Informal controls have a positive impact on both invention speed and innovation speed. Invention speed has a positive impact on organizational stress and innovation speed has a negative impact on organizational stress.

Extending the Vision of Social Marketing through Social Capital Theory: Marketing in the Context of Intricate Exchange and Market Failure

Broadening the conceptual boundaries of marketing in the late 1960s led to a significant paradigm shift. Social marketing emerged under the auspices of this extended concept. It is not surprising, therefore, that social marketers have tended to apply conventional marketing tools, albeit within a vastly different context. Thisarticle argues that social marketers, operating in an environment that is characterized by amplified market failure brought about by externalities, may be ill-equipped to foster change utilizing conventional marketing tools. The article proposes that social capital is a useful and appropriate theory to supplement traditional notions ofmarketing to further enhance the field of social marketing.