Stephanie Qing Liu

“I Want to Help” versus “I Am Just Mad” How Affective Commitment Influences Customer Feedback Decisions

This study investigates the joint effects of affective commitment, feedback valence, and feedback use on customers’ willingness to give feedback following a service failure. Our findings reveal that customers who have high levels of affective commitment to a service firm exhibit both a strong motivation to help a firm improve its business and a great need to maintain positive relationships with the firm’s frontline employees. Therefore, affectively committed customers are more willing to help the firm by lodging complaints when such feedback is not used for employee evaluation purposes. In addition, driven by their strong motivation to help the firm, affectively committed customers are more willing to offer constructive suggestions than their counterparts with low levels of emotional attachment.

The influence of a “green” loyalty program on service encounter satisfaction

Purpose Presently, loyalty programs often offer preferential treatment to the firm’s best customers, and recently, service firms started to incorporate corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives into the loyalty reward programs (e.g. Starwood’s “Make A Green Choice”). However, academic research advancing the understanding of the effectiveness of CSR-focused loyalty programs is lacking. To bridge that gap, this paper aims to examine the influence of a “green” loyalty program on members’ and bystanders’ service encounter satisfaction in light of preferential treatment. Furthermore, this paper investigates the psychological mechanisms (prosociality perceptions and status perceptions) that underlie these effects. Design/methodology/approach This study used a 2 (loyalty program: green vs standard) × 2 (customer type: member vs bystander) × 2 (observability of preferential treatment: low vs high) between-subjects experimental design. Respondents were asked to read a hotel check-in scenario and then completed scales that measured their perceptions and evaluations of the service encounter. Findings Results from this study suggest that a green loyalty program can buffer the negative effect of preferential treatment on bystanders’ service encounter satisfaction. An examination of the underlying mechanism reveals that prosociality perceptions of the firm mediate the impact of loyalty programs on bystanders’ satisfaction. As expected, the results show that a green loyalty program is as effective as a standard program in elevating members’ satisfaction. Furthermore, findings from a moderated mediation analysis indicate that status perceptions mediate the impact of customer type on satisfaction. However, status perceptions have a greater leveraging power in satisfaction when observability of preferential treatment is high. Originality/value The results of this study have significant implications for service firms with loyalty programs and customer prioritization practices. By incorporating CSR into their loyalty programs, firms may be able to mitigate the negative bystander effect while maintaining the positive effects of preferential treatment on members’ service encounter satisfaction.

Using Comparative Advertising to Promote Technology-Based Hospitality Services

This research draws on regulatory focus theory to explore how to effectively advertise technology-based hospitality services. In an experiment, we compare four types of service ads: narrative-comparative, narrative-noncomparative, list-comparative, and list-noncomparative. Results reveal that narrative-comparative ads, portraying a superior service experience with the advertised brand against its competitors, can elicit gain perceptions, and therefore, they are more effective among promotion-focused individuals than their more prevention-focused counterparts. Conversely, list-comparative ads, presenting attributes of the advertised brand and its competitors side-by-side, can induce either gain or loss perceptions, thus being effective among both promotion-focused and prevention-focused individuals. With no mention of a reference brand, noncomparative ads fail to generate regulatory fit thereby being less persuasive. Managerial implications for hospitality marketers are discussed.

Consumer Response to Authentic-Language Versus English-Language Menu Labeling in Ethnic Dining

Many ethnic restaurants use authentic-language labels (e.g., “Khao Pad Sapparod”), as opposed to English-language labels (e.g., “Pineapple Fried Rice”), in the menu to make their dishes appeal more authentic. Yet, the effectiveness of authentic-language labels is not well understood. To address this gap, the present research examines consumers’ attitudes toward a menu as a function of (a) authentic-language versus English-language menu labeling and (b) the consumer’s Need for Cognitive Closure (NFCC)—a fundamental desire to achieve resolution on a decision. The results show that while consumers with low NFCC prefer a menu using authentic-language (vs. English-language) labeling, their high NFCC counterparts respond more favorably to a menu using English-language (vs. authentic-language) labeling. Moreover, a moderated mediation analysis reveals that an intensified bothersome feeling in achieving resolution is the psychological mechanism explaining why authentic-language labels backfire among consumers with high NFCC. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Selling Painful Yet Pleasurable Service Offerings: An Examination of Hedonic Appeals

People consume service experiences that combine pleasure and pain (e.g., roller-coaster rides and massage therapy)—but the question of how to market such experiences is not well understood. To address this gap, the present research investigates consumer response to such service offerings as a function of (i) hedonic framing that emphasizes pain versus pleasure, (ii) promotion versus prevention concerns either chronically or situationally salient to consumers, and (iii) the presence versus absence of a service guarantee. Consumers with a prevention (vs. promotion) focus react more favorably to hedonic framing that emphasizes pleasure, whereas consumers with a promotion (vs. prevention) focus react more positively to hedonic framing that emphasizes pain due to differences in processing discomfort. In addition, a service guarantee is shown to bolster the reactions of prevention-focused consumers but undermine the reactions of promotion-focused consumers to a pain-framed (but not pleasure-framed) service offering. Together, these findings provide guidelines to service providers regarding how to fine-tune marketing strategies when promoting painful yet pleasurable experiences. For example, advertising should align hedonic framing with the consumer’s situationally salient regulatory concerns.

Does expressing subjectivity in online reviews enhance persuasion

People express subjectivity and objectivity in everyday communication, yet little is known about how such linguistic content affects persuasion in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Drawing on the congruity theory and the selectivity model, the present study proposes that the effectiveness of subjectivity/objectivity expressions in an online review is contingent on whether the consumption experience is primarily hedonic or utilitarian, and whether the decision maker is a male or female. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the psychological mechanism that underlies the proposed effects.,This research used an experimental design to test the hypotheses. Four versions of online review stimuli were created. Participants were asked to read the online reviews and to complete a survey.,The findings indicate that expressing subjectivity (vs objectivity) in online reviews effectively boosts men’s purchase intention in the hedonic context and women’s purchase intention in the utilitarian context. Furthermore, the mediation analysis reveals that perceived relevance of the review is the psychological mechanism explaining the joint effects of linguistic style, consumption type and gender on purchase intention.,This research is the first to examine expressing subjectivity (vs objectivity) as a persuasion strategy in online reviews. Findings of this research add to the growing literature on linguistic effects in eWOM. Furthermore, this research deepens the understanding of conversational norms for hedonic vs utilitarian consumption in consumer-generated content and gender differences in processing online reviews.

Effective Communication Strategies for Store Remodeling

Hospitality operators spend millions of dollars on store remodeling; however, existing research offers little guidance on how to effectively communicate such investments to consumers. This study examines the joint effects of explanation type (customer-focused vs. brand-focused vs. control) and relationship type (communal vs. exchange) on consumers’ opinions of remodeling, feelings of trust, and brand attitudes. Overall, the results indicate that a customer-focused explanation is more effective in gaining customer support for store remodeling. The positive impact of a brand-focused explanation is limited to brand attitudes among exchange-type customers, while a customer-focused explanation is effective in both communal and exchange relationships. Furthermore, the results show that feelings of trust are the underlying mechanism explaining the relationship between explanation type and brand attitudes. Findings of this study suggest that hospitality managers should consider store remodeling as a great advertising opportunity to leverage consumers’ brand evaluations.