Vera Blazevic

Learning During the New Financial Service Innovation Process: Antecedents and Performance Effects

Abstract This article theoretically and empirically examines the antecedents and consequences of project learning during the new financial service innovation process. We analyze the impact of project learning on project performance and performance of the financial institution. Next, we investigate the antecedent role of the nature of communication and organizational design on project learning. Following the development of a propositional framework, a survey research has been developed within the Belgian banking industry. Our research findings indicate that the level of project learning contributes to the corporate reputation of the financial institution. Moreover, learning during project innovation enhances the cost and the competitive position of the innovating bank. Our study empirically supports the crucial influence of management support, harmonious cross-functional interfaces, organizational diversity and participative decision-making on the level of project learning. Both innovative and coordinative communications are needed to balance the information needs throughout the innovation process. However, our findings underline the fact that the impact of innovative communication on the level of project learning is contingent upon the quality of the planning stage. The up-front activities of the innovation process seem to have an important leveraging effect on learning and, hence, on project and bank performance.

Communal Service Delivery: How Customers Benefit From Participation in Firm-Hosted Virtual P3 Communities

Firm-hosted virtual peer-to-peer problem solving (P3) communities offer a low-cost, credible, and effective means of delivering education and ongoing assistance services to customers of complex, frequently evolving products. Building upon the social constructivist view on learning and drawing from literature on the firm-customer relationship in services marketing, we distinguish between functional and social benefits received by P3 community participants and study the central role of learning in influencing these benefit perceptions. The proposed model is tested on data gathered from 2,299 active members of a P3 community hosted by a global online auction firm, and the framework’s generalizability is demonstrated using a sample of 204 members of a global business-to-business (B2B) software firm’s P3 community. Based on the results, specific recommendations are provided to marketers interested in implementing service support programs via customer communities, and future research opportunities are explored.

Beyond traditional word-of-mouth: An expanded model of customer-driven influence

Purpose – Business and academia alike have become aware of the crucial role of customer‐to‐customer interactions. Facilitated by the increasing customer connectedness through online media possibilities, companies need to understand how customers influence each other and how to manage these customer interactions. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize an expanded model of customer‐driven influence (CDI) that presents an overview of the influence process and its determinants. The model covers important issues, such as deliberate versus unintentional sender actions, verbal and non‐verbal communication, and reflective and impulsive receiver reactions.Design/methodology/approach – This article is the result of the first Thought Leadership Conference on Service Marketing, held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, June 2012.Findings – The model shows the importance of considering goal theory in studying customer‐driven influence. Both sender and receiver can act and react in deliberate and unintentional ways. Th...

Cross-Cultural Differences in the Effect of Received Word-of-Mouth Referral in Relational Service Exchange

Because of suggested beneficial effects of word-of-mouth (WOM) referral, service companies have invested large amounts of money in customer referral programs as well as programs aimed at fostering positive communication among their existing customers. The question of cross-cultural differences in the effectiveness of WOM has recently gained increased prominence. The authors contribute to research on this topic by proposing a positive effect of received WOM on service quality perceptions among existing customers. Moreover, they predict that cultural values moderate this effect. They test the model on 1910 bank customers in 11 countries. The results show that received WOM has a positive effect on customer service quality perceptions. Furthermore, received WOM has a stronger effect on the evaluation of customers in high-uncertainty-avoidance than in low-uncertainty-avoidance cultures. No other cultural value is a significant moderator. The results imply that received WOM is also important to existing customers and that managers should adjust their strategy of referral marketing to match their target groups uncertainty-avoidance level.

Antecedents of project learning and time‐to‐market during new mobile service development

Mobile service innovations are crucial for the long‐term success of companies operating in turbulent and uncertain environments. These innovations need to be introduced at a rapid pace while at the same time companies have to absorb market information during the new mobile service development. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to construct a conceptual framework on the critical antecedents of project learning and time‐to‐market during new mobile service development. An extensive case study research involving four innovation projects was performed in a leading Dutch telecommunications company. With respect to project learning, our research findings indicate the crucial influence of a flexible decision architecture, project team memory, a high information awareness and a good fit between information requirements and capabilities. Both innovative and coordinative communication are required throughout the service innovation process. With regard to time‐to‐market, our research results point to the essential impact of project complexity, top management support, information power of suppliers and technological synergy. Finally, a medium level of project learning is the ideal condition for a fast time‐to‐market during mobile service innovation.

Drivers of Trust in Relational Service Exchange: Understanding the Importance of Cross-Cultural Differences

Customer trust is of vital importance for relationship marketing in services. Service providers increasingly market their services globally, yet few researchers have addressed differences in customer trust across cultures. Our research fills this void by proposing a model, based on existing trust literature, that suggests the overall feeling of trust in the service provider depends on customers’ beliefs about service providers’ ability, benevolence, predictability, and integrity. The model, tested in a banking context with data from 2,284 customers in 11 countries, explains trust well across culturally diverse countries. The results of a hierarchical linear model, however, show that customers differ in the way they build trust in their service provider across cultures. Moderating effects of the cultural values of the target group largely explain this variation. Only the effect of ability on trust is robust across countries. Global service firms should consider all four trust drivers when striving to build trust. The emphasis they put on each of these trust drivers, however, should differ across countries. When applying these principles to the design of marketing activities or market segmentation, marketing managers should collect data on the cultural values of their specific target groups in particular countries or cultural milieus.

Logistics innovation development: a micro-level perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the microfoundations of customer knowledge acquisition during logistics innovation development. Specifically, the authors explore the activities and behaviors of employees with customer contact (i.e. boundary-spanning employees (BSEs)) to deepen and broaden their knowledge about customers for the development of innovations. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research based on multiple semi-structured interviews with BSEs of six logistics service providers was conducted to explore the deepening and broadening of customer knowledge during innovation development. Data were analyzed for similarities and differences in BSEs’ knowledge acquisition and their interactions with customers across six innovations. Findings – Results show that BSEs engage sequentially in deepening and broadening customer knowledge throughout the logistics innovation development process. Yet, the specific sequence depends on the type of innovation developed (customized vs sta...

Integrating CSR in Innovation Value Networks

Innovating in today’s complex, globalized, interconnected markets requires collaborating in stakeholder value networks. It is increasingly unlikely that a single organization possesses all the required resources, power and competences to effectively conduct the full innovation process on its own (Sarkis et al. 2010). Organizations have to find new forms of collaboration to create more sustainable outcomes of the innovation process and to establish long-term relations with their partners and other stakeholders. This development is enhanced by pressure from all kinds of stakeholders to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into organizations’ innovation efforts. The growing interest in CSR among business firms is evident from the high number of organizations that now participate in evaluative firm rankings that benchmark their CSR performance (Chabowski et al. 2011). A BCG study among executives of globally operating firms found that 70% of the participating firms have placed CSR permanently on their management agenda (BCG 2012). For example, environmentally legitimate firms have been found to incur less unsystematic stock market risks (Bansal and Clelland 2004), investors have also realized the added value of organizational CSR efforts. Likewise, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of their own choices (Peloza et al. 2013) and stricter legislation on environmental impact and labor rights are other external triggers for increasing CSR efforts.