Stacey G. Robinson

Touch Versus Tech: When Technology Functions as a Barrier or a Benefit to Service Encounters

Interpersonal exchanges between customers and frontline service employees increasingly involve the use of technology, such as point-of-sale terminals, tablets, and kiosks. The present research draws on role and script theories to demonstrate that customer reactions to technology-infused service exchanges depend on the presence of employee rapport. When rapport is present during the exchange, the use of technology functions as an interpersonal barrier preventing the customer from responding in kind to employee rapport-building efforts, thereby decreasing service encounter evaluations. However, during service encounters in which employees are not engaging in rapport building, technology functions as an interpersonal barrier, enabling customers to retreat from the relatively unpleasant service interaction, thereby increasing service encounter evaluations. Two analyses using J.D. Power Guest Satisfaction Index data support the barrier and beneficial effects of technology use during service encounters with and without rapport, respectively. A follow-up experiment replicates this data pattern and identifies psychological discomfort as a key process that governs the effect. For managers, the results demonstrate the inherent incompatibility of initiatives designed to encourage employee–customer rapport with those that introduce technology into frontline service exchanges.

Customer delight and work engagement

Purpose – The purpose of the current research is to evaluate how customer contact level and customer service-based role conflict influence the relationship between customer emotions and work engagement, while simultaneously evaluating psychological capital as an outcome of work engagement. Customer service research highlights the impact of employee attitudes and behaviors on customer satisfaction. More recently, this relationship has been examined in reverse, evaluating how customer emotions influence the employee. Unfortunately, previous research has not evaluated variables that inhibit the impact of customer emotions on the employee. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from frontline employees across high and low customer contact service contexts. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings – This research provides empirical evidence that employee-perceived customer delight impacts employee work engagement. However, through a process of feedback,...

Using an Old Dog for New Tricks A Regulatory Focus Perspective on Consumer Acceptance of RFID Applications

Research on radio frequency identification (RFID) applications has grown significantly as the technology can potentially improve organizational performance and enable new business models. However, actual implementation has been slow to transition from back office operations to front office applications, as many customers have demonstrated concern about the invasion of personal privacy and/or the improper utilization of information. This research aims to explore the customer acceptance issue by examining the factors that potentially enable and inhibit the utilization of RFID-enabled systems. To accomplish this goal, we conducted three studies using information from over 800 consumers, while employing three different methodologies. Results indicate potential usage of RFID systems can be positively impacted by the perceived usefulness (PU) of the technology, while privacy concerns have a negative impact. In particular, the positive impact of PU appears to weigh more heavily on consumers than the negative impact of privacy concerns. Additionally, there are differences in privacy concerns, technology attitudes, and purchase intentions based on how the system is labeled, along with the nature of the privacy statement. Accordingly, firms need to be specific in their privacy statements as this practice yields higher customer purchase intentions. From a managerial perspective, it is imperative that companies present a clear message to customers as to how RFID can benefit them while also being clear and concise about how any information associated with the technology will be used in an ethical manner.

Characterizing the orthodontic patient's purchase decision: A novel approach using netnography

Introduction: A deeper and more thorough characterization of why patients do or do not seek orthodontic treatment is needed for effective shared decision making about receiving treatment. Previous orthodontic qualitative research has identified important dimensions that influence treatment decisions, but our understanding of patients’ decisions and how they interpret benefits and barriers of treatment are lacking. The objectives of this study were to expand our current list of decision‐making dimensions and to create a conceptual framework to describe the decision‐making process. Methods: Discussion boards, rich in orthodontic decision‐making data, were identified and analyzed with qualitative methods. An iterative process of data collection, dimension identification, and dimension refinement were performed to saturation. A conceptual framework was created to describe the decision‐making process. Results: Fifty‐four dimensions captured the ideas discussed in regard to a patients decision to receive orthodontic treatment. Ten domains were identified: function, esthetics, psychosocial benefits, diagnosis, finances, inconveniences, risks of treatment, individual aspects, societal attitudes, and child‐specific influences, each containing specific descriptive and conceptual dimensions. A persons desires, self‐perceptions, and viewpoints, the publics views on esthetics and orthodontics, and parenting philosophies impacted perceptions of benefits and barriers associated with orthodontic treatment. Conclusions: We identified an expanded list of dimensions, created a conceptual framework describing the orthodontic patients decision‐making process, and identified dimensions associated with yes and no decisions, giving doctors a better understanding of patient attitudes and expectations. HighlightsNetnography provides unobtrusive and rich data for qualitative analysis.New factors were identified to more thoroughly characterize patient decision making.A conceptual framework was created to describe the decision‐making process.Internal and societal influences impact perceptions of benefits and barriers.

Do Complaining Customers Signal Manufacturing Success

This paper synthesizes Better Business Bureau and COMPUSTAT data to examine how customer complaining and organizational responsiveness impact performance. The results provided by a sample of 344 US manufacturing firms suggests that complaints about service are positively related to performance, as is general responsiveness to complaints of any form.

Don’t Copy off Your Neighbor: Examining the Role of Fit and Green Marketing Strategies

The evolution of the marketing perspective made it essential for firms wanting to differentiate themselves in the marketplace to offer a unique product. Whereas simply producing a quality made product sufficed in the past, consumers’ are increasingly clamoring for products with social or environmental appeal (Handelman and Arnold 1999). As such, firms are engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies at an increasing rate. In particular, sustainability efforts are increasing in order to meet regulatory and consumer standards. Firms are not only producing green products, they are also enacting sustainability-oriented strategies to help “green the firm.” In fact, a recent study by MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group finds that 70 percent of managers surveyed expect to increase their investments in sustainability efforts in 2011. Although organizations are enacting green1 marketing strategies at a soaring rate, an examination of consumer perceptions of the fit between the strategies enacted, and consumer beliefs regarding those actions, is lacking in the literature.