Thomas W. Gruen

Antecedents and Consequences of Customer – Company Identification: Expanding the Role of Relationship Marketing

This article presents an empirical test of organizational identification in the context of customer-company (C-C) relationships. It investigates whether customers identify with companies and what the antecedents and consequences of such identification are. The model posits that perceived company characteristics, construed external image, and the perception of the companys boundary-spanning agent lead to C-C identification. In turn, such identification is expected to impact both in-role behavior (i.e., product utilization) as well as extra-role behavior (i.e., citizenship). The model was tested in a consultative selling context of pharmaceutical sales reps calling on physicians. Results from the empirical test indicated that customers do indeed identify with organizations and that C-C identification positively impacts both product utilization behavior and extra-role behavior even when the effect of brand perception is accounted for. Second, the study found that the organizations characteristics as well as the salespersons characteristics contributed to the development of C-C identification.

Desperately seeking shelf availability: an examination of the extent, the causes, and the efforts to address retail out‐of‐stocks

With all the hype around efficient consumer response (ECR) and the brave new world of technologies, one would believe that retail out‐of‐stocks have gone down over the last ten years. That is wrong. Retailers have been struggling with considerable out‐of‐stocks for decades – with little evidence of improvement. A similar wrong belief is that shoppers are also still unwilling to accept low service levels. In fact, increasingly, consumers switch brands when they do not find the brand they wanted. But retailers must be wary, because the results of our research show that increasingly shoppers switch stores quickly and may never come back. So, who is to blame? The supply chain. And where to tackle it? On the shop floor. Over the past two years, we have conducted a major, worldwide study of the extent, causes, and consumer responses to out‐of‐stocks in the fast‐moving consumer goods industry. In this article, we report these findings and provide insight to solving this chronic industry problem.

How e-communities extend the concept of exchange in marketing: An application of the motivation, opportunity, ability (MOA) theory

Customer-to-customer (C2C) know-how exchanges occur in a variety of contexts, including virtual environments of Internet mediated communities. Exchange of know-how that takes place among the customers of an organizations offering has the potential to create customer value and result in positive outcomes for organizations. This study proposes a model that examines key factors that drive C2C exchanges as well as the outcomes of these exchanges. The model shows how C2C exchanges create value for the marketing organization – that is, value over and above the value that the customer receives directly through exchanges with the organization. C2C exchanges are also proposed to enhance loyalty intentions. Viewing C2C know-how exchange as an information source to the customer, the model adapts and applies the motivation, opportunity, and ability (MOA) theory to explain levels of C2C know-how exchange.

The use of category management practices to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage in the fast‐moving‐consumer‐goods industry

Despite massive efforts of suppliers and retailers in the fast‐moving‐consumer‐goods (FMCG) channel to adopt the efficient consumer response (ECR) practices, many of the expected benefits have not been realized. This study examines the history and implementation practices of ECR in the USA and in Germany and presents conceptual models that compare the likely outcomes when ECR‐based category management practices are initiated either by the supplier or by the retailer channel partner. Combining the knowledge gained from a series of interviews with industry experts with their own ECR experiences, it is shown how a strategic competitive advantage can be realized through the combination of both supplier and retailer views and expertise in category management practices. The article concludes with an examination of barriers to implementation of category management plans and suggests ways to overcome these barriers.

Socializing to Co-Produce Pathways to Consumers’ Financial Well-Being

Success rates of behavior change counseling programs (e.g., weight loss, smoking cessation, and debt management), where consumers seek to overcome their destructive habits and enhance well-being, are very low. Characterized by extended and complex service encounters, the providers of these programs face the challenge of gaining consumers’ compliance to adhere to the programs’ requirements and turning these consumers into effective co-producers of the service outcomes. This study investigates the process of customer organizational socialization in these programs, how it may promote co-production behaviors, and thus enhance consumers’ well-being as well as satisfaction with the organization. The context of debt management programs is used to test the model. Data were obtained from 364 clients of a major credit counseling organization in the United States. The results reveal the differential effects of three aspects of socialization (role clarity, task mastery, and goal congruence) on three different types of consumer co-production behaviors (compliance, individual initiative, and civic virtue). Overall, compliance has the greatest contribution to well-being, while both compliance and individual initiative enhance satisfaction with the organization. Furthermore, consumers with a higher or lower ongoing dependence on the organization have different routes to well-being, with the high-dependence group relying on individual initiative, and the low-dependence group favoring compliance. This study contributes to the literature of co-production, organizational socialization, and consumers’ well-being by showing how these three streams are connected. Managerial and policy implications focus on the need for these organizations to include efforts to ensure that consumers are effectively socialized into the program.

The Role of Perceived Control in Customer Value Cocreation and Service Recovery Evaluation

Treating customers as passive recipients of service recovery does not account for their naturally elevated desire for control following a service failure. Focusing on value cocreation by customers in service recovery, this study conceptualizes three types of customer perceived control in service recovery: process control, decision control, and information control. Using both a field study and a controlled experiment to test the conceptual model, this study reveals various ways service firms can engage customers in service recovery to enhance their service experience. The results show that customers are motivated to exert influence on and regain control over service recovery because they care not only about the economic gains rendered by control but also about their social self-esteem in their relationship with a service firm. An investigation of the interaction effects among the three types of control reveals either complementary or substitution effects between different pairings of the three types of control on customers’ justice evaluations of service recovery and repurchase intentions. The findings provide managers with new guidance on developing and implementing successful service recovery programs.