Yingzi Xu

Relational impact of service providers' interaction behavior in healthcare

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine how patients’ loyalty, and confidence in their doctors, are influenced by doctors’ interaction behavior, namely, listening and explaining behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were collected through a survey of patients in an advanced developing economy – India. Patients visiting the same specialist doctor more than three times a year, in selected clinics in the city of Mumbai, were asked to complete the study instrument. All the constructs were measured using multiple items and well-established scales were revalidated to suit the context of the research. A total of 320 responses were analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings – Results confirm that the doctor-patient relationship is positively influenced by the interaction behavior of service providers, i.e. doctors. The study demonstrates that doctors’ interaction behavior is instrumental in developing an effective relationship with their patients and boosts patients’ confidence in their doctors. Furthermore, effective interaction enhances patients’ loyalty to their service providers. Originality/value – This would appear to be the first study of its kind conducted in the context of an advanced developing economy. The study suggests that development of effective communication skills in doctors warrants due attention in medical education. Furthermore, this study validates relevant measurement scales in India’s context.

Show you care: initiating co-creation in service recovery

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying mechanism of customer co-creation in service recovery (co-recovery), and investigates the impact of initiation on customer post-recovery evaluations and behavioural intentions. Design/methodology/approach – Researchers used a 3 (no co-recovery vs employee-initiated co-recovery vs customer-initiated co-recovery)×2 (male vs female)×2 (western vs eastern customers) between-subject experiential study in a hotel setting. Findings – When a service employee initiates a co-recovery, customers perceive higher justice, greater satisfaction and a higher tendency to repurchase in the future. But if the customer initiates such a co-recovery, little improvement on these outcomes is found compared to a recovery entirely managed by the company. The effect was moderated by culture: western customers were more sensitive to initiation in the co-recovery process than eastern customers. Research limitations/implications – Written scenarios using a hotel setting ...

Who is talking, who is listening? Service recovery through online customer-to-customer interactions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is investigate customer interactions in an online environment following a service failure, and explores the role of customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions in service recovery. Design/methodology/approach – The purpose of this paper is to examine C2C interactions between airline travellers by analysing their detailed conversations posted on an independent complaint forum. The authors adopt thematic analysis to scrutinise online dialogue that narrates stories about service failures and how they are resolved with the help of other customers. Findings – The analysis reveals that other customers act as helpers, educators, listeners, and ironists in an online environment following a service failure. The authors identify information sharing, emotional release, social support, knowledge exchange and learning, and leadership in the online community as forms of C2C service recovery. Research limitations/implications – This study focuses on C2C service recovery in an online envir...

The impact of backstage cues on service evaluation

Purpose This research aims to investigate how backstage visibility affects intangibility and perceived risk at the pre-purchase stage and how service credence moderates the effect of backstage visibility on intangibility and perceived risk. It also focuses on the effect of backstage visibility on perceived service quality and value at the post-purchase stage and the moderating role of the service contact level. Design/methodology/approach This research tests the causal relationships between backstage visibility and customers’ service evaluations through two experimental studies. Findings Study 1 shows that customers who are exposed to backstage cues perceive less pre-purchase risk in the service than those who are not exposed. Pictures plus text information are more effective than text illustrations alone for risk reduction. This risk reduction effect is stronger for high-credence than for low-credence services and is partially mediated by the perceived intangibility of the service. Study 2 reveals that customers with access to backstage cues perceive higher service quality and higher overall value from service experiences. The value increase is more significant for high-contact than for low-contact services. Research limitations/implications Future research could apply different methods to different data sources to provide further insight about backstage visibility. Originality/value The findings of this research suggest that allowing customers to view some backstage activities before purchase helps tangibilize the service, achieve more effective communication with customers and create more positive service experiences.

Jaypatient-Induced Service Sabotage Behavior: The Issue of Self-Esteem of Hospital Nurses

Worrying incidents exist where disgruntled nurses destroy good service quality through sabotage behavior. Previous studies report the organizational and environmental factors that might lead to service sabotage behaviors; here individual differences in proclivity to service sabotage within any given environment of managerial context are reported. The study first uses interviews to establish typologies of difficult patients. Regression analysis and ANOVA applied to survey data shows that low self-esteem in nurses leads to service sabotage behavior, and that these nurses are less mature both chronologically and emotionally, less experienced, and less educated than their more typical counterparts.