Wayne D. Hoyer

The Customer Relationship Management Process: Its Measurement and Impact on Performance

An understanding of how to manage relationships with customers effectively has become an important topic for both academicians and practitioners in recent years. However, the existing academic literature and the practical applications of customer relationship management (CRM) strategies do not provide a clear indication of what specifically constitutes CRM processes. In this study, the authors (1) conceptualize a construct of the CRM process and its dimensions, (2) operationalize and validate the construct, and (3) empirically investigate the organizational performance consequences of implementing CRM processes. Their research questions are addressed in two cross-sectional studies across four different industries and three countries. The first key outcome is a theoretically sound CRM process measure that outlines three key stages: initiation, maintenance, and termination. The second key result is that the implementation of CRM processes has a moderately positive association with both perceptual and objective company performance.

Do Satisfied Customers Really Pay More? A Study of the Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction and Willingness to Pay

Two experimental studies (a lab experiment and a study involving a real usage experience over time) reveal the existence of a strong, positive impact of customer satisfaction on willingness to pay, and they provide support for a nonlinear, functional structure based on disappointment theory (i.e., an inverse S-shaped form). In addition, the second study examines dynamic aspects of the relationship and provides evidence for the stronger impact of cumulative satisfaction rather than of transaction-specific satisfaction on willingness to pay.

Consumer Cocreation in New Product Development

The area of consumer cocreation is in its infancy and many aspects are not well understood. In this article, we outline and discuss a conceptual framework that focuses on the degree of consumer cocreation in new product development (NPD). The authors examine (a) the major stimulators and impediments to this process, (b) the impact of cocreation at each stage of the NPD process, and (c) the various firm-related and consumer-related outcomes. A number of areas for future research are suggested.

An Examination of Consumer Decision Making for a Common Repeat Purchase Product

Despite the large amount of theory and research on consumer choice, current understanding is still at a less than desirable level—especially in the cases where involvement with or importance of the choice is low and the product is purchased frequently. The present paper provides a view of decision making based on the notion that consumers are not motivated to engage in a great deal of in-store decision making at the time of purchase when the product is purchased repeatedly and is relatively unimportant. As a result, consumers tend to apply very simple choice rules or tactics that provide a satisfactory choice while allowing a quick and effortless decision. An empirical test of this proposition is provided and implications are discussed.

The Unhealthy = Tasty Intuition and Its Effects on Taste Inferences, Enjoyment, and Choice of Food Products

Across four experiments, the authors find that when information pertaining to the assessment of the healthiness of food items is provided, the less healthy the item is portrayed to be, (1) the better is its inferred taste, (2) the more it is enjoyed during actual consumption, and (3) the greater is the preference for it in choice tasks when a hedonic goal is more (versus less) salient. The authors obtain these effects both among consumers who report that they believe that healthiness and tastiness are negatively correlated and, to a lesser degree, among those who do not report such a belief. The authors also provide evidence that the association between the concepts of “unhealthy” and “tasty” operates at an implicit level. The authors discuss possibilities for controlling the effect of the unhealthy = tasty intuition (and its potential for causing negative health consequences), including controlling the volume of unhealthy but tasty food eaten, changing unhealthy foods to make them less unhealthy but still tasty, and providing consumers with better information about what constitutes “healthy.”

The Intensity of Ethnic Affiliation: A Study of the Sociology of Hispanic Consumption

Although there has been little recent work dealing with the sociology of consumption, what exists has assumed that there is a general homogeneity within subcultures—i.e., that consumers within a particular subculture exhibit similar consumption patterns. This article examines one subculture (Hispanic consumers) and uses recent developments in sociology and anthropology to show that most work on the Hispanic market has overlooked certain major ethnic identification differences between groups of Hispanics. Implications of these differences for future research and theory on consumer subcultures are developed based on an empirical study comparing Hispanic and Anglo Americans.

Emotional Brand Attachment and Brand Personality: The Relative Importance of the Actual and the Ideal Self

Creating emotional brand attachment is a key branding issue in todays marketing world. One way to accomplish this is to match the brands personality with the consumers self. A key question, however, is whether the brands personality should match the consumers actual self or the consumers ideal self. On the basis of two empirical studies of 167 brands (evaluated by 1329 and 980 consumers), the authors show that the implications of self-congruence for consumers’ emotional brand attachment are complex and differ by consumers’ product involvement, consumers’ individual difference variables, and the type of self-congruence (fit of the brands personality with the consumers actual self versus with the consumers ideal self). On a general level, actual self-congruence has the greatest impact on emotional brand attachment. Product involvement, self-esteem, and public self-consciousness increase the positive impact of actual self-congruence but decrease the impact of ideal self-congruence on emotional brand attachment. The authors discuss important managerial and academic implications of these findings.

Consumers' perceptions of the assortment offered in a grocery category : the impact of item reduction

Grocery retailers have been informed that, to remain competitive, they must reduce the number of stockkeeping units (SKUs) offered, in line with consumer demand, or, in other words, adopt “Efficien...

Promotion Signal: Proxy for a Price Cut?

Evidence suggests that some consumers react to promotion signals without considering relative price information. We adopt Petty and Cacioppos Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to explain this behavior in terms of the ELMs peripheral route to pursuasion in which the promotion signal is taken as a cue for a price cut. Experimental results show that low need for cognition individuals react to the simple presence of a promotion signal whether or not the price of the promoted brand is reduced, but that high need for cognition individuals react to a promotion signal only when it is accompanied by a substantive price reduction. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

Service Orientation of a Retailer’s Business Strategy: Dimensions, Antecedents, and Performance Outcomes

Augmenting products with services is a major way retailers have of gaining differentiation in todays competitive market. Despite its importance, this topic has received relatively little research attention. Unlike previous research, this study adopts a more comprehensive perspective on retail services by examining three important research gaps related to a service-oriented business strategy: First, the authors elaborate on the dimensions of a service-oriented business strategy and introduce a new measure of this strategy. Second, the authors examine the antecedents of a service-oriented business strategy. In practice, there appears to be considerable variability in terms of the extent to which retailers demonstrate a service orientation, but there is a major gap in the understanding of what factors influence this orientation. Third, the authors investigate the neglected link between a service-oriented business strategy and performance outcomes. To examine these three important areas, the authors conducted an empirical study of clothing and furniture retailers in both the United States and Germany. This study provides evidence for the proposed conceptualization of a service-oriented business strategy. The authors also find that the investigated antecedents account for some variance of a service-oriented business strategy, which in turn positively affects company performance in the market and thereby profitability. Furthermore, the authors discuss several important research issues as well as managerial implications and future research avenues.