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Service encounters in service marketing research
... Moreover, the scope of the service encounter might include all aspects of interaction between the service and consumer, including the contact employee, the servicescape, and all other tangible elements (Shostack, 1985). With all the surrounding elements, the service encounter has been recognized as a key antecedent of service quality and customer satisfaction, loyalty, and service company profitability (Bitner, 1990;Bitner & Wang, 2014). Along with the introduction of new technological elements such as self-service technology and service robots, the service encounter satisfaction of customers (Bitner & Wang, 2014). ...
... With all the surrounding elements, the service encounter has been recognized as a key antecedent of service quality and customer satisfaction, loyalty, and service company profitability (Bitner, 1990;Bitner & Wang, 2014). Along with the introduction of new technological elements such as self-service technology and service robots, the service encounter satisfaction of customers (Bitner & Wang, 2014). Furthermore, service encounters are expanding from conventional human-to-human dyadic interactions to interactions among multiple parties of the service encounter with the support of telephone, digital and social networks, and artificial intelligence tools (Bitner & Wang, 2014;Ostrom et al., 2019;Robinson et al., 2020;Li et al., 2021). ...
... Along with the introduction of new technological elements such as self-service technology and service robots, the service encounter satisfaction of customers (Bitner & Wang, 2014). Furthermore, service encounters are expanding from conventional human-to-human dyadic interactions to interactions among multiple parties of the service encounter with the support of telephone, digital and social networks, and artificial intelligence tools (Bitner & Wang, 2014;Ostrom et al., 2019;Robinson et al., 2020;Li et al., 2021). ...
... The concept of service quality, as proposed by [30] revolves around the customer's overall impression of the excellence or superiority of a service encounter. Service quality encompasses two dimensions: perceived quality and objective quality. ...
... 4. Perceived Service Value and Quality Perceived Service Value Perceived service value refers to the customer's assessment of the overall benefit received in exchange for the cost of a service. It goes beyond the tangible aspects of a service and includes subjective judgments about the service's worth [30] [31]. ...
This article presents a thorough analysis of strategic decisions in the dynamic realm of electronic banking (e-banking), encompassing ATMs, Internet banking, and mobile banking. Examining varying levels of e-banking sophistication, it explores strategic choices faced by banks, considering critical factors influencing decision-making. Drawing from existing literature, the study delves into dimensions of e-banking service quality, emphasizing the absence of a universally applicable model. The research advocates further exploration for a standardized measurement framework. Additionally, it investigates the evolving role of the Internet in altering customer participation in service delivery, stressing nuanced understanding of service quality. Customer satisfaction is identified as pivotal, with the study establishing a direct link between service quality dimensions and long-term customer relationships. The article also explores perceived service value, highlighting its independent contribution to customer loyalty. Overall, it offers insights into strategic choices in e-banking, emphasizing seamless integration of electronic channels and customer-centric approaches for enhanced service quality and satisfaction in the evolving landscape.
... The concept of service quality, as proposed by [30] revolves around the customer's overall impression of the excellence or superiority of a service encounter. Service quality encompasses two dimensions: perceived quality and objective quality. ...
... 4. Perceived Service Value and Quality Perceived Service Value Perceived service value refers to the customer's assessment of the overall benefit received in exchange for the cost of a service. It goes beyond the tangible aspects of a service and includes subjective judgments about the service's worth [30] [31]. ...
This article presents a thorough analysis of strategic decisions in the dynamic realm of electronic banking (e-banking), encompassing ATMs, Internet banking, and mobile banking. Examining varying levels of e-banking sophistication, it explores strategic choices faced by banks, considering critical factors influencing decision-making. Drawing from existing literature, the study delves into dimensions of e-banking service quality, emphasizing the absence of a universally applicable model. The research advocates further exploration for a standardized measurement framework. Additionally, it investigates the evolving role of the Internet in altering customer participation in service delivery, stressing nuanced understanding of service quality. Customer satisfaction is identified as pivotal, with the study establishing a direct link between service quality dimensions and long-term customer relationships. The article also explores perceived service value, highlighting its independent contribution to customer loyalty. Overall, it offers insights into strategic choices in e-banking, emphasizing seamless integration of electronic channels and customer-centric approaches for enhanced service quality and satisfaction in the evolving landscape.
... The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the elements of great service in customer online service encounters. The study is inspired by Bitner and Wang [10], who encouraged researchers to study the prerequisites of good service in micro-level conversations in technology-mediated encounters. This study first identifies the elements of service quality in online chat discussions and then analyses how they support or undermine a great customer online service experience. ...
... Traditionally, service has taken place in direct customer encounters, usually in the faceto-face meetings between the customer and the service provider [14]. In a service encounter, a customer and a service provider interact and participate actively [12] in core service, i.e. in a moment of truth [9,10], a unique situation, in which the perceptions of customers are tested. ...
Customer service is a major factor in the success of digital marketing. This study examines the service encounters between tourists and service providers, in this case, Visit Helsinki. The goal is to understand what are the dimensions of service quality in online chat discussions between tourists and DMO personnel and what elements in these discussions support the co-creation of great customer experiences. Altogether 123 chat discussions in June 2020 were downloaded and analysed using qualitative content analysis and statistical tests. The results show that great customer experiences are the result of extensive effort from the customer service agents where they go beyond just providing a satisfactory solution for the customer. The results are managerially important for destinations and tourism businesses around the world and increase the theoretical understanding of the moment of truth concept and its different elements in online service encounters.
... The aforementioned four disciplines influenced the formation of a separate service management theory the most. The main outcomes of studies in these disciplines led to the understanding Fließ & Kleinaltenkamp, 2004Johnston, 2008Gummesson, 1998Parente et al., 2002Slack et al., 2004Heineke & Davis, 2007Bitner & Wang, 2014Eyuboglu & Sumrall, 1989Grönroos, 1984Gummesson, 1998Lemon & Verhoef, 2016Parasuraman et al., 1985Smith et al., 1999Voorhees et al., 2017Berry, 1981Bowen, 2016Chand, 2010Grönroos, 2007Lashley, 1999Albrecht, 1988Barbee & Bott, 1991Huber et al., 2001Normann & Ramirez, 1993Osborne et al., 2013Storbacka et al., 1994Vermeeren et al., 2014 of service management as the overall organisational approach that focuses on the following four components (Grönroos, 1994): ...
... Customer/service experience can be defined as a "customer's journey with a firm over time during the purchase cycle across multiple touchpoints" (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016, p. 78). It includes three periods: the core encounter itself, and the periods right before and right after the encounter (e.g., Bitner & Wang, 2014;Voorhees et al., 2017). Here, the emphasis lies on the continuous nature of service and the need to integrate processes and multiple actors into the network for collaboration for successful service delivery. ...
Service management theory, developed by two concurrent schools (Nordic and American), emphasises customer-focused management practices and relates to the fields of marketing, operations, organisational behaviour, and human resource management.
This chapter describes four main components forming service management theory: creating value for the customer, collaboration both internally and externally, focusing on quality, and developing the personnel. Research shows the correlation between service quality, value and customer satisfaction, and the quality between internal process and external service dependency. Moreover, it opens a discussion on how customer and employee behaviour affect overall organisational performance.
This chapter provides examples of how workplace management research has applied service management theory and argues that customer experience of joint service deliveries (in physical, digital and social environments) is the customer experience of the total workplace. The chapter also acknowledges the limitations of service management theory, especially the lack of studies in human-machine encounters due to the increasing role of technology in the workplace and services in general.
... Technological enhancements equip firms with the capability to discern individual guests' needs and tailor services to meet their requirements (Zo 2003), thereby creating moments of truth (Löfgren 2005;Beaujean et al. 2006;Bitner and Wang 2014). Moments of truth can offer a more personalized and memorable experience for the guests, and they play a critical role in shaping customer experience and making guests engage in interactive encounters. ...
The paper examines personalization‐supporting technologies (PST) in hotel service, differentiating between high‐touch (personal) and high‐tech (digital) technologies. It reveals that in the sampled hotel industry, high‐touch technologies are the preferred choice. Digital transformation reached all industries and keeping up with the technological advancements in the ever‐changing hotel industry is critical in enhancing guest experiences. Research on technology‐mediated personalization, focusing on customer interactions and service offerings through ICT, highlighted the difference between personalization by service representatives and ICT and proposed a potential connection between the two. By considering and building on the high‐touch, high‐tech scale, this study explores the technological readiness of hotels in providing and delivering personalized services to meet individual guest needs. The development of measurement systems to assess the level of service personalization has been a research focus, but evaluating personalization through the service provider's perspective specifically—a company's capabilities and willingness to provide services, rather than from the guest's or employee's perspective—proposes greater challenges, as service quality is inherently subjective to the receiver. Furthermore, measuring the capability to deliver personalized services across the entire customer journey, rather than focusing on isolated aspects of guest interactions, remains underexplored. Given the industry's peculiarities, it is impossible to have human‐only encounter in the age of digitalization; however, the human aspect cannot be completely taken out from the guest journey. Technology supports personalization in the service encounter points in waring degree. The research investigates the integration of technology and hotel service, focusing on personalization‐supporting technology (PST) in hotel services, aiming to bridge the gap between high‐touch human interactions and high‐tech solutions, as the entire guest journey cannot be personalized without human employee encounters. Drawing from existing literature and employing rigorous scale development procedures, a comprehensive measurement tool for PST levels in hotel services was developed and validated. Through a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including the collection of indicators from literature, 21 expert interviews, a set of 26 indicators was identified to measure the level of PST in hotel services. Using a novel data‐driven approach (bi‐clustering), the study differentiates leagues of hotels based on their technological readiness to provide personalized services. Simultaneously, the data‐driven approach differentiates groups of the PST indicators, ranging from high‐touch to high‐tech, into leagues based on how well hotels implement them. The analysis identified areas of strength and weakness within the industry, highlighting the prevalence of high‐touch technologies in enhancing guest experiences. Additionally, the study underscores the importance of strategic planning and data utilization in implementing PSTs. Overall, the studies' academic contribution is that it proposes a novel conceptual framework for measuring technology in service personalization in hotels through the service providers perspective, addressing gaps in existing research. Additionally, it incorporates advanced clustering algorithms, offering a fresh perspective on grouping methodologies. This research provides a deeper understanding of technology readiness in delivering personalized services in the hotel sector and shows where growth opportunities are. It introduces a new approach analyzing the current use of ICT in service and demonstrates that high‐touch is more prevalent than high‐tech solutions.
... In this vein, some scholars have discussed how to coordinate IACSs and humans to achieve effective outcomes when power becomes transferrable between these two forms of agents (Rai et al. 2019;Schuetz and Venkatesh 2020;Sturm et al. 2021;Xu et al. 2020). One unsolved challenge is uncovering how IACSs affect human agent behaviors and reshape the relationships among different actors in service encounters (Bitner and Wang 2014;Hogreve et al. 2022;Ostrom et al. 2015). ...
... In this vein, some scholars have discussed how to coordinate IACSs and humans to achieve effective outcomes when power becomes transferrable between these two forms of agents (Rai et al., 2019;Schuetz & Venkatesh, 2020;Sturm et al., 2021;Xu et al., 2020). One unsolved challenge is uncovering how IACSs affect human agent behaviors and reshape the relationships among different actors in service encounters (Bitner & Wang, 2014;Hogreve et al., 2022;Ostrom et al., 2015). ...
The infusion of emerging technologies (e.g., IoT-enabled algorithmic customer service systems [IACSs]) often brings disruptive changes to customer service. In particular, the agentic nature of these technologies challenges prominent service theories. Among these challenges, recent scholarly calls have pushed for more research on the infusion of emerging technologies into the service-profit chain (SPC) framework, advocating for the importance of extended knowledge to develop a techno-infused version of the SPC. Thus, from an interdisciplinary perspective, we draw upon role theory and propose a technoservice-profit chain (TSPC). Specifically, we contextualize the SPC in the technoservice context with different approaches, including decomposing context-specific constructs and theorizing IACS implementation as a contextual factor that moderates TSPC relationships. Using a sequential mixed methods design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, we tested our research model by conducting multiwave surveys and follow-up interviews in a large business-to-business service firm with data from employees, supervisors, and customers before and after IACS implementation. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the information systems, service marketing, and management literatures by enriching the compositions of core SPC constructs, theorizing interactions between human agents and technology agents, and scrutinizing the impacts of technology agents on the linkages between internal employee management and external customer service. Our results further reveal the emerging issues of competing bosses (i.e., supervisors and IACSs), competing employees (i.e., employees and IACSs), and the unintended dehumanization effects of IACSs on supervisors and employees.
... Less attention has been paid, however, to what happens before and after that key moment, despite each interaction being clearly important in shaping and understanding overall customer satisfaction. The literature (e.g., Lemon and Verhoef, 2016;Bitner and Wang, 2014) recognizes that each encounter is important, influencing overall satisfaction and willingness to maintain the relationship. In this sense, while identifying and understanding moments of truth is essential, it should be accompanied by a complete mapping of all interactions. ...
Increasingly intense competition and advances in IT are significantly impacting the way we manage both
company-customer interaction and business relationships. In today's reality, huge amounts of information
are generated, managed and analyzed via multiple channels and touchpoints. In this article, we wish to
illustrate the importance of mapping the set of critical and secondary interactions with a view to enhance
customer journey management.
This article takes the case of the multinational insurance company Aon as a reference. Our
methodological approach is based on a secondary databases, information provided by the company itself
and interviews with Aon key informants. We propose a general map of the customer journey in the B2B
insurance sector. Moreover, we take one of the most critical moments in insurance interactions—claim
management—as a reference, with a view to provide further, more specific, mapping. Our objective is
two-pronged: on one hand, to underscore the importance of visualizing and managing such moments of
truth effectively; on the other, to highlight the need to maintain a holistic vision of the companycustomer relationship and the key role all touchpoints play throughout.
When mapping the customer journey, we emphasize the importance of considering all value-creating interactions—not only critical interactions. Moreover, we suggest carrying out second-level mapping for all key, most-relevant activities. This article makes a series of key contributions aimed at enhancing touchpoint management, improving the customer experience and maximizing satisfaction. To increase the efficacy of customer portfolio management, we recommend holistic strategies and specific guiding actions tailored to each moment of the company-customer relationship.
... This component includes advertising, public relations, sales promotions and personal selling (Smith and Zook, 2016); (5) People: This is a critical component in services marketing because it refers to everyone involved in the product or service delivery, from staff to customers (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015); (6) Process: This refers to the systems and processes within the organization that influence service execution. It is concerned with the flow of activities through which services are provided (Bitner and Wang, 2014); and (7) Physical evidence: This component refers to the setting in which the service is offered and the interaction between the firm and the consumer. It also includes tangible products that aid in communication and service delivery (Rosenbaum et al., 2017). ...
Purpose
This study aims to answer two significant questions: What are the relative consumer and firm-level effects of marketing through metaverse compared to conventional marketing endeavours? What are the current trends in utilizing the metaverse as reported in the recent literature?
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a systematic literature review methodology, using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flowchart to synthesize existing research. A total of 35 articles written in English were selected and analysed from two databases, Web of Science and EBSCO Host.
Findings
The findings indicate that consumer-level effects of the metaverse include consumer loyalty and brand attachment. The firm-level benefits are decentralization and cost reductions. The paper proposes a framework indicating variables that could attenuate or enhance the association between immersive components of the metaverse and their resultant effects.
Originality/value
This study contributes to understanding the role of metaverse in marketing practices related to the marketing mix components. The study conceptualizes a novel framework for the metaverse and its resultant effects.
... Service encounter Service encounter is defined as any discrete interaction between a customer and a service provider pertaining to a core service offering, including the interaction involving the provision of the core service offering itself (Bitner & Wang, 2014). ...
Purpose: Aesthetic clinics have expanded dramatically in recent years due to social media trends. This study aims to examine the antecedents of patient experience: product quality, service encounter, servicescape, outcome quality, electronic word of mouth (EWOM) on cognitive experience (CE) and affective experience (AE), and its influence on revisit intention (RI) moderated by social media engagement (SME). Methodology: This study used a quantitative survey with a cross-sectional approach. Data is collected by purposive sampling using a self-report questionnaire from 280 patients who attended Youthology Aesthetic Clinic ® , South Jakarta minimum of twice between July to August 2022 and followed the clinic’s social media account. Partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was deployed for data analysis. Results: Electronic word of mouth is the most prominent antecedent influencing AE and CE, with more effect in CE than AE. Servicescape was found not significant to influence CE. Finally, AE has a slightly more substantial influence on RI than CE, but the moderating impact of SME was found insignificant. Practical implications: The findings of this study suggested that management should pay attention to all the mentioned antecedents, especially EWOM. The administration should develop a strategy to give the best experience to the patients visiting the clinic. This experience should prioritise the patient’s emotional response by patient-centric approach. Originality/value: This study used cognitive and affective mediation from the patient’s perspective, where these two variables mediate their antecedents to RI. Therefore, this study offers a more comprehensive functional service model such as service encounter and technical approach.
... The second ones, call them contexts of type B, are characterized by the co-presence of two kinds of actors: consumers and frontline personnel to the dependencies of an organization of services. Essentially, type B contexts find correspondence in the concept of service encounter employed in service marketing research (Bitner and Wang 2014;Robinson et al. 2020). In these contexts, the role of the user of the goods may be played by frontline personnel alone, even if the consumer enters into contact with, for example, the razor and other goods used by the barber. ...
Starting from the observation of a conceptual gap regarding the association between consumption and the contexts in which it occurs, the paper has two objectives. The first is to fill this gap by developing a framework that includes: the identification of consumption contexts based on their building blocks (actors, goods, relationships), the basic classification of their variety, and a knowledge-based reading of consumption contexts capable of explaining their functioning. The second aim is to show that the framework allows the understanding of the digital transformation of consumption contexts. We show that services are produced in two contexts: in the first type, consumers interact directly with goods; in the second, the intermediation of frontline personnel comes into play. Actors and goods present in the consumption contexts are knowledge-holders, and the relationships between them are learning relationships. The shift from traditional consumption contexts to contexts based on artificial intelligence and the internet of things introduces a major change in that learning relationships are no longer the domain of only (human) actors who learn by interacting with each other and using goods. Both types of contexts are in fact powered by smart goods capable of interacting with each other and with humans within a given context and endowed with structural cognitive connections outside that context.
... People identify themselves in relation to places to differentiate themselves from other people. Servicescape includes the physical environment and the interactions that take place between and among employees and customers (3). Despite of bitner's work on servicescape there is a need to understand the customer's perspective of servicescape as this aspect has received lesser understanding in assessing servicescape. ...
The presence of customers and the interactions within customers has a very integral role in determining the service experience. Within a service setting the social behaviour of customers affects the overall experience. The impact of customer’s presence and interactions among customers belonging to different backgrounds has a very little understanding impacting service experiences which further effect future interactions and visits. The physical environment has been researched by many researchers and individually there has been a lot of research on its major elements which are ambient conditions, spatial layout and functionality as well as sign, symbol and artifacts. There has been a very little understanding of the impact of social aspect of the servicescape created by customers on the service environment also known as servicescape. The article focuses on finding out the perspective of customers and what they perceive in a service environment in the context of beauty salons.
... In an economy characterized by its dynamism, innovativeness, entrepreneurial culture, use of disruptive technologies and new business models [1], it has become crucial for owners and managers of physical retail stores to continue to distinguish themselves in order to remain competitive. Providing a high-quality service to customers is seen as a valuable asset in this regard because it is assumed to improve customer satisfaction, add to customer loyalty, and contribute to the financial performance of the retail organization [2,3,4,5]. Central to good service is the so-called service encounter, that is, the direct interaction between customer and organization at the time of service [6]. Service encounters in retail stores have been subject to rapid technological developments in recent years [7]. ...
Service robots provide retailers with new opportunities to innovate their in-store service offerings. Despite advances made in the fields of human-robot interaction, information systems, and marketing, there is relatively little known about how to apply a service robot in retailing. In this paper we aim to shed light on this issue by exploring the added value, roles, and prototyping of a service robot in fashion retailing. Using two Dutch fashion stores as real-life settings, we apply different interaction techniques (observation, interview, survey, structured role play, prototyping) to generate first insights and obtain lessons learned. The results of our study suggest that fashion retailers would benefit most from using service robots for communication of promotions and provision of product information. When applying service robots to these use cases, customers seem to prefer briefly and clearly expressed information that is communicated in a style that matches (in-) store communications. Still, the lack of personal attention and social support associated with a service robot makes retailers and store personnel rather reluctant to use them for their service excellence-oriented stores.
... Customer and personnel interactions involve social and psychological flows where non-economic utility is created. The service literature labels these dyadic interactions as encounters (Surprenant and Solomon, 1987;Shostack, 1985) where judgments made during these encounters determine satisfaction and willingness to continue the relationship (Bitner et al., 1990;Bitner and Wang, 2014;Bolton and Drew, 1992;Woodside et al., 1989). The relationship between service quality and satisfaction is not direct and is mediated by perception of encounters (Durvasula et al., 2005). ...
Purpose
Research studies have attributed customer shift from offline to online retail to primarily functional reasons. Indian retailing differs from western counterparts in terms of structure and socio-cultural-historical-economic context. The purpose of this paper is to find whether this shift is instigated by positive or negative drive.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through group discussions and reflective experiential accounts in the form of text. The textual material was thematically analyzed to develop thematic networks. By this method, the text’s patent structures were explored, and underlying hidden patterns were identified.
Findings
Two global themes of “volition” and “violation” were discovered. At the patent level, customers are attracted to online in volition as it allows them to move to higher or desired value space. However, at the deeper level, customer shifted to online as a means to escape from violations involved in human-to-human dealings with offline retailers.
Practical implications
The way forward for offline retailers is to build their advantage based on human interactions. The salvation of offline retailing does not lie in trying to beat online retailers on their position of strength but in leveraging interactions to build social capital.
Originality/value
This study sought to explore and apprehend the meaning of customer shift from offline to online retail at deeper psycho-socio-cultural level.
... While there is a consensus among service researchers that not every type of service will be or should be carried through technology in the future, technology is already fundamentally transforming service encounters (Keating et al., 2018). Thus, it has become increasingly important for service firms to effectively manage the interactions between technology, customers, and FLEs to pave the way for mutually satisfying service encounters (Solnet et al., 2020;Bitner and Wang, 2014). ...
Digitization in the service sector is rapidly changing business models and the way companies interact with customers. Rather traditional service sectors with a high degree of personal customer contact, including the restaurant industry, have remained reluctant towards technology for a long time. Meanwhile, industry reports show that restaurants of every size increasingly invest in digital solutions.
These solutions range from handheld ordering systems over online reservation platforms to rather advanced table top technologies and order cubes on restaurant tables.
However, to the authors’ knowledge no research has been conducted yet on how these new forms of digital technologies affect attitudes and behaviours of frontline-service employees (FLEs) and, equally important, merchant-customer relationships. Against this backdrop, this research uses a qualitative approach to discover the beliefs and opinions of technology providers, restaurant operators, FLEs and customers on digitization in the restaurant industry. In total, thirty-six in-depth interviews were conducted to achieve a 360-degree view on technology readiness and attitudinal patterns.
Eleven FLEs in restaurants were interviewed about technology-related job demands, job resources, drivers of motivation and their customer-facing behaviours based on Bakker and Demerouti’s job demands–resources (JD-R) model. Interviews with seven restaurant operators and three technology suppliers revealed an additional perspective on specific demands and resources. Additionally, the customers’ perspective was integrated by linking the use of technology interfaces to customer delight, recommend intentions and tipping behaviour by fifteen structured interviews. Oliver and DeSarbo’s expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm is applied to investigate customers’ perceptions of the service performance and to unravel optimal customer-to-employee/customer-to-technology ratios.
Following Straussian coding principles, qualitative data analysis software MAXQDA was utilised to analyse the transcribed interviews. Throughout the analysis, key categories and concepts were identified by open coding, followed by a process of axial and selective coding for all interviewee groups.
Results indicate that a vast majority of FLEs agrees with operators’ and suppliers’ certainty that technology makes them more productive in their work. Managerial commitment towards technology and employee engagement are key job resources that pave the way to increased employee motivation when digital solutions are deployed. Solely system downtime caused by internet breakdown or empty batteries was indicated to cause strain among employees.
From a customer’s perspective, the most prevalent finding is that satisfaction and delight with a service supported by technology are likely to turn into the opposite if customer expectations regarding the effectiveness are not fulfilled. Anger about slow service performance leads to a higher risk of negative word-of-mouth and lower loyalty intentions compared to slow service when less technology interfaces are in place.
In sum, this study contributes to organizational frontline research by providing a 360-degree view on outcomes of digitization in the service sector.
... For instance, it would be interesting to test the conceptual model in healthcare services, which is characterized by a power imbalance in doctor-patient relationships and high levels of work-related burnout among doctors (Berry, 2019). In addition to replicating this model in different service contexts, cross-cultural studies can also provide fruitful insights and valuable managerial implications, given the impacts of cultural differences on service encounters (Bitner and Wang, 2014), job satisfaction (O'Reilly and Roberts, 1973) and customer perceptions of and responses to employee behaviors (Kong and Jogaratnam, 2007). Second, in addition to adaptability, other individual qualities of FLE, such as emotional competence, work passion, work motivation and mindfulness, should be investigated to provide a fuller understanding of the antecedents of FLEs' co-creation behaviors and wellbeing. ...
Purpose – This study aims to address two relatively unexplored issues in banking service literature. The first relates to the impact of co-creation behaviors of frontline employees (FLEs) on their well-being. The second is the impact of FLEs’ adaptability on their performance of co-creation behaviors and their well-being in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach – A structural model was built and tested using survey data collected from 366 FLEs offering financial consulting services to customers at banks.
Findings – FLE co-creation behaviors have positive impacts on FLEs’ well-being, including well-being in the workplace (job satisfaction) and general well-being (quality of life). Moreover, FLEs with a high level of interpersonal and service-offering adaptability perform co-creation behaviors better than those with lower adaptability and have higher job satisfaction. Between service-offering adaptability and interpersonal adaptability, the former has stronger effects than the latter.
Practical implications – The findings suggest that banks develop and enhance FLEs’ adaptability and cocreation behaviors to enhance their well-being and customer value.
Originality/value – Prior research on FLEs’ co-creation mainly focuses on customer-related transformative outcomes, leaving their own well-being less examined. This study fills this gap by providing evidence to suggest that although active co-creation behaviors require FLEs to have more skills and put in more effort, they do bring about transformative impacts in terms of better job satisfaction and quality of life. Additionally, a high level of adaptability helps FLEs to comfortably perform their co-creation behavior, thereby reducing stress and
improving well-being.
... Fourth, given the pervasiveness of the multichannel environment, Bitner and Wang (2014) called for studies of qualities of SEs across multiple touchpoints. The current study considers a common situation in which a firm first established stores as touchpoints-serving as the customer's primary reference point-and subsequently added online channels. ...
This study investigated how touchpoints moderate the antecedents of customer satisfaction with service encounters by comparing online and in-store encounters. Construal level theory was used within the Touchpoint, Context, Qualities (TCQ) Framework (De Keyser et al., 2020) to integrate a comprehensive model of how touchpoints-websites or stores-influence the magnitude of customer responses to qualities of service encounters. A hierarchical linear model (HLM) was estimated using survey data describing the service encounters of 2.4 million customers with a global retailer. Online customers weighed cognitive and behavioral qualities more heavily than in-store customers, whereas they weighed emotional and sensorial qualities less heavily. Moreover, random effects in the HLM model indicated that each country and store would have unique clientele effects for specific qualities. Since each firm has limited resources, this research offers guidance on key qualities in designing satisfying service encounters for each touchpoint and how qualities should be standardized and customized in global omnichannel environments.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11747-021-00808-9.
... Service encounter failures have also been identified as one of the factors that induce customer's mobile phone switching behavior [50]. Service encounter has been defined as any interaction between customers and employees of the service provider in relevance to core service offering [52,53]. It was found that 34% of the customers switch mobile phone services owing to service encounter failure [50]. ...
Owing to the novelty and dynamism of mobile phone shopping behavior of adults within the context of contemporary social, technological, and market norms necessitated the need to study this phenomenon frequently. In the same league, there is a pressing need to empirically examine the mobile shopping behavior of young adults in Pakistan. This paper examines the factors influencing mobile phone shopping behavior within the context of young adults in Pakistan. First, a questionnaire-based survey consisting of a five-point Likert scale was conducted. A total of 416 respondents provided their complete responses. Then, we employed the structural equation modeling (SEM) model using AMOS 24 to empirically test the hypothesized model. The empirical results revealed that price and attractiveness positively influence mobile phone buying behavior among young adults in Pakistan. On the other hand, Service Encounter, Convenience, Avoidance of Core Service Failure, and Response have negative but statistically insignificant influences on mobile phone buying behavior in Pakistan. This finding revealed that the mobile shopping behavior of young Pakistani adults is predominantly influenced by the price of mobile phones and their attractiveness. Therefore, it is highly recommended that companies need to offer affordable mobile phone prices. Additionally, the attractiveness of the mobile phone needs to be maintained at competitive prices.
... Service Encounter failures have also been identified as one of the factors that induce customer's mobile phone switching behavior [34]. Service encounter has been defined as any interaction between customers and employees of the service provider in relevance to core service offering [36,37]. It was found that 34% of the customers switch mobile phone services owing to service encounter failure [34]. ...
Background: The mobile phone shopping behavior of adults has been extensively studied in the past. However, given the novelty and dynamism of this domain and the multitude of new contributing factors coming into play, such studies soon become obsolete. Consequently, this phenomenon needs to be studied frequently within the context of contemporary social, technological, and market norms. In the same league, there is a pressing need to empirically examine the mobile shopping behavior of young adults in Pakistan. In this context, the last known such study was published in 2008. This paper provides a study of factors influencing mobile phone shopping behavior within the context of young adults in Pakistan. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey consisting of a five-point Likert scale was conducted. The survey was disseminated via social media, and participation was voluntary. Over a period of two weeks, 416 respondents completed the survey to report mobile shopping behavior. We employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) within the Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) model using AMOS 24. We chose CFA over Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) because the application of OLS is limited by compliance to simplifying assumptions. In contrast, SEM-CFA is a more robust method that also addresses the issue of multicollinearity, a common problem in survey data. Findings: The empirical results suggest that the Service Encounter and Convenience have coefficients of 0.049 [P=0.265] and 0.02 [P=0.682] only, suggesting a statistically insignificant influence of the two factors on the mobile phone buying behavior. Similarly, Avoidance of Core Service Failure and Response only has a coefficient-0.05 [P=0.401], suggesting a feeble and statistically insignificant negative effect on the mobile phone buying behavior in Pakistan. However, Price and Attractiveness have been found to have coefficients of 0.436 [P=0.00] and 0.155 [P=0.00], indicating that these two key factors are having a positive and significant influence on the mobile phone buying behavior in young adults in Pakistan. Contribution: The finding reveals mobile shopping behavior of young Pakistani adults might not be influenced by either Service Encounter or Convenience. Instead, the Price and Attractiveness of the mobile phone seem to affect the adults towards buying the mobile phone. 2 Recommendations: The price of the mobile phones needs to follow the target market, and the product category should also be identified according to the characteristics of the target market. In addition, the attractiveness of the mobile phone needs to be maintained even if the prices are lower, as this should positively influence the buyers. Further research is suggested to include cultural and social factors in this context.
... Journal of Retailing xxx (xxx, and how the retailer delivers on the brand promise from the customer's viewpoint (Berry 2000). Customers' beliefs are based on their brand experiences and service encounters (Bitner and Wang 2014). A service encounter is the dyadic interaction between a customer and the retailer. ...
This study investigates how retailers can leverage their brand to shape customers' satisfaction with service encounters. It develops and tests hypotheses about how brand, store, and consumer factors moderate customer responses to experience clues during retail service encounters. Six meta-regression analyses synthesize and compare results from 842 satisfaction equations describing customers' encounters with a global retailer operating 400 stores in 32 countries. The results show how customers weigh their perceptions of service encounters differently depending on brand, store, and consumer factors. In markets where customers believe the retailer has high holistic brand quality, they place less weight on experience clues within the store. In markets where customers believe the retailer's service brand promise, they place more weight on in-store experience clues. In markets where the retailer promises utilitarian value, customers weigh functional experience clues more heavily. In markets with an online purchasing channel, the effect of experience clues common to offline and online store environments is magnified, and unique clues are diminished. In addition, customers heavily weigh experience clues that fit their goals. In general, retail success factors include high brand quality (which makes customers more forgiving), a service brand promise that is mirrored in the store image (which makes customers attend to the experience clues aligned with them), and the careful monitoring and managing of retail touchpoints (to customize experience clues to each market). In this way, retailers can use customer-based strategies to effectively design and manage their global retail brand in different markets.
... We focus on service encounters because they are a central construct within service management that has been shown to drive critical service outcomes such as customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, and loyalty (Bitner and Wang 2014;Gupta and Zeithaml 2006). The service encounter was defined early on as "the dyadic interaction between a customer and a service provider" (Surprenant and Solomon 1987, p. 87), which is the moment in time when a customer interacts directly with a service provider. ...
In this chapter, we take a customer-centric view of narrow artificial intelligence (AI), or task-specific AI applications. Because of the breadth and extent of AI applications, we limit our focus to service encounters-which are times when customers interact directly on the frontline with a service company or organization. The purpose is to illuminate the roles of AI in the context of frontline service encounters and to identify the potential benefits and negative consequences for customers of AI-supported, AI-augmented, and AI-performed services. We develop a conceptual framework of the antecedents and consequences of AI acceptance by customers grounded in previous research, theory, and practice. Previous research has examined the adoption of self-service technologies (SSTs) and established that innovation characteristics and individual differences predict role clarity, motivation and ability (RMA), which in turn predict adoption of SSTs (see Meuter et al. 2005; Blut et al. 2016). However, we believe that additional antecedents will come into play in predicting the acceptance of service encounter technologies tied to AI. Therefore, we expand the relevant set of antecedents beyond the established constructs and theories to include variables that are particularly relevant for AI applications such as privacy concerns, trust, and perceptions of "creepiness." We also examine a broader set of potential consequences of customer acceptance of AI including what customers may experience (e.g., more personalized service encounters) and how AI may affect customers (e.g., lead to increased well-being due to more access to services). The chapter concludes with research questions and directions for the future tied directly to the conceptual framework.
... Moreover, customers tend to have high expectations that their conversations will produce significant value, and if these expectations are not met, customers are unlikely to return to the same provider. A third reason is the conceptual variance in conversation styles across service contexts (Bitner and Wang, 2014;McColl-Kennedy et al., 2012). Not all service conversations are the same. ...
Purpose — The marketing literature on service conversation in dyadic services has elaborated two approaches. An advisory approach involves providers giving customers expert advice on how to advance difficult projects. By contrast, a relational approach involves providers exchanging social support with customers to develop commercial friendships. Inspired by the transformative turn in service research, this study aims to develop a third approach, one that helps customers to cultivate their own agency, potential and well-being.
Design/methodology/approach — The emergent model of service conversation is based on in-depth interviews with providers and clients of mental health services, including psychological counseling, psychotherapy and personal coaching.
Findings — A transformative approach to service conversation involves the iterative application of a complementary pair of conversational practices: seeding microtransformations by asking questions to inspire new ways of thinking, feeling and acting; and nurturing microtransformations via non-evaluative listening to affirm customers’ explorations of new possibilities. This pair of practices immediately elevates customers’ sense of psychological freedom, which, in turn, enables their process of self-transformation, one microtransformation at a time.
Practical implications — This study offers dyadic service providers a conceptual framework of advisory, relational and transformative approaches to service conversation for instrumental, communal and developmental service encounters, respectively. This framework can help dyadic service providers to conduct more collaborative, flexible and productive conversations with their customers.
Originality/value — Three approaches to service conversation – advisory, relational and transformative – are conceptually distinguished in terms of their overall aims, provider practices, customer experiences, customer outcomes, allocations of airtime, designations of expertise, application contexts, prototypical examples and blind spots.
... Digital service touchpoints and channels not only influence customer perceptions of a company's value propositions but, in the case of digital services, is the main channel to influence the meanings that consumers depict throughout their journey (Bitner & Wang, 2014;Vorhees et al., 2017;Penin, 2017). Design can strongly influence individual and group behavior in ways that restrict or support customer and employee service experience, which is a direct opportunity to promote more sustainable patterns of consumption and production. ...
Transparency is one of the principles to promote sustainable provision of services, being the ability of a service to communicate social, environmental and economic practices and performance. Digital technologies are continuously expanding the possibilities to increase the level of transparency across all stakeholders associated with service profession. However, while transparency has been pointed to as a key priority in innovation agendas in various sectors, there is still lack of knowledge on its practical implications for service design. The food sector is one of the most critical in terms of addressing transparency, due to the global need for transformations in food production and consumption systems, in order to become more inclusive, sustainable and healthy. This research conducted ex-post-facto case studies, followed by an Action Design Research carried out within a small company of organic food delivery. The paper presents the outline of a framework to diagnose the state of transparency on a service that can also be used on the creative phase of the Service Design process.
Purpose
This research employs meta-analytic procedures to investigate the effects of service providers’ physical attractiveness (PA) in service encounters. Given the inconsistencies among existing studies and the increasing push to adopt technologies like artificial intelligence to reduce the human bias towards attractive employees, this study seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the “beauty premium” in service encounters. The goal is to determine the strength and generalizability of this effect across different service contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
We use meta-analytic synthesis to determine (1) how indicators of PA influence customers’ perceptions of a service provider’s PA and (2) how PA influences several service outcomes. We use meta-regression to determine how the effect of PA differs in different contexts. Finally, we use meta-analytic structural equation modeling to determine the mechanism(s) underlying PA effects in service encounters.
Findings
PA has a moderate overall effect on service outcomes. However, the effects range from slightly negative to moderately positive depending on the specific outcome, context and indicators used to measure PA. Several study-level variables explain the heterogeneity in effect sizes. Social perceptions mediate the effect of PA on key service outcomes.
Originality/value
This is the first study that synthesizes the literature on PA in service research. The quantitative approach allows for a generalizable estimation of the boundaries, processes and overall effects of service provider PA in service encounters.
Purpose
This research aims to explore and theorize the role of embodied practices – orchestrated by service providers – in the social production of servicescapes. It is claimed that the social character of the servicescape is shaped not only by narratives and materialities but also through the body. Bodily physical behaviors like physical movements in space, gestures, facial expressions, postures and tactile engagements with the surrounding materiality constitute a body language that conveys information and expresses meanings. In this kinetic capacity, the body becomes a building agent in the social constitution of the servicescape. As the author empirically demonstrates in the context of city tourism with diverse experiential opportunities, it is due to the body’s discriminatory orientation, walking, looking, pointing and acting in selective ways that the city emerges as a servicescape of particular kind.
Design/methodology/approach
Market-oriented ethnography was conducted in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where the author observed the guiding practices of tour guides leading international tourists during two-day city excursions.
Findings
This research identifies and unpacks three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers as they guide customers at the servicescape: spatializing, emplacing and regulating. The role of the body and its association with narratives and materialities is identified in each cluster.
Practical implications
A number of embodied practices are provided for use by contact employees as they guide customers in the servicescape. Specific guidelines are also offered to service providers for the strategic employment of body language, their training is navigational skills and the coordination of body, narratives and materialities.
Originality/value
This study extends current materialistic and communicative approaches on the construction of servicescapes by claiming that the servicescape in not only a physical and narrative construction but something that is also configured through the body; provides three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers; theorizes the intertwined nature of narratives, materiality and the body; defines servicescapes as dynamic socio-spatial entities emerging from the constant {narrative-material-body} arrangements orchestrated by service providers; and sheds light on the mediating role of the body in the social production of servicescapes.
Purpose
This study aims to broaden understanding of customer helping behaviour in the banking environment and provide strategic direction for much-needed further research regarding its role and management within the customer service journey.
Design/methodology/approach
Gift-giving literature was further explored to identify plausible characteristics of customer helping behaviour in the banking environment.
Findings
Customers’ acts of helping could be complex in nature and may involve multiple actors, including customer helpers, gatekeepers, and other members of customer helpers’ networks. Moreover, customer helpers and their helping networks may operate in both offline and online environments, in various stages of the service experiences, and ultimately in the customer journeys. Furthermore, the help customers provide to other customers could be framed by socially constructed arrangements that seem to be (1) dynamic in nature, (2) comprising of joint efforts by multiple actors, and (3) within diverse and interlinked helping environments. Accordingly, several research implications for the banking environment are identified.
Originality/value
Key to services in the banking environment may be the complex and synthesised helping systems among customers that evidently could affect product adoption, use, and customer loyalty of customers receiving help throughout the service experiences and customer journeys. Accordingly, guided by gift-giving literature, the current paper sets the research agenda.
Digital transformation, as a key enabler of smart tourism, is increasingly being used to address pandemic-related challenges. Growing with the rapidly aging population, senior tourists are more likely to be digitally excluded. This study utilized media content analysis to examine the digital barriers senior tourists encounter in the post-pandemic era. Online news reports between January 2020 and December 2022 were collected from WiseSearch, a Chinese news database. Reports containing detailed scenario information about digital barriers for senior tourists were selected. High-frequency word analysis and thematic keyword analysis were used to analyze the digital barriers for senior tourists in four scenarios: before-travel, during-travel, pandemic control, and smart tourism application. Then, mitigating measures were proposed based on fourteen demonstration cases of senior-friendly smart tourism. The findings underscore the concerns raised in the media about this topic and reveal the details of digital barriers in each scenario. This study highlights the issues of senior tourists in smart tourism and guides developing solutions from both technological and service approaches.
Quality controlling, as an important phase of quality management for services, has the purpose of checking the degree to which quality management objectives have been achieved. Accordingly, this is where the economic efficiency of a service company is to be taken into account by means of quality control. In this context, important functions of quality control are explained in this chapter and the individual components of a comprehensive control are presented. A distinction is made between strategic, operational and integrated quality control. On this basis, companies can develop and implement their own concept for quality control. As part of a systematic quality management for services, activities of analysis, planning and implementation in relation to service quality are carried out, as described in the previous parts of this book. In order to take into account the principle of effectiveness and the economic efficiency of a service company, these activities are continuously subjected to quality control.
In addition to the service perceived by the customer, customer expectations form a second decisive determinant of perceived service quality. Therefore, it is not only the task of a comprehensive service quality management system to control the quality of the services provided. Rather, the customer-side expectations also form a decisive control variable for the management of service quality. Accordingly, this chapter provides a consideration of the tasks of a so-called expectation management. In addition, the most important influencing factors on customer expectations are analyzed. Based on this, a measurement and control of customer expectations is possible. The approaches discussed in this context are distinguished by direct (e.g. guarantees) and indirect (e.g. service promises) measures of “expectation management” and presented in detail.
The rapid diffusion of new technological innovations resulted in lack of knowledge about how luxury and technology may be successfully combined. This chapter aims to provide clarity over the phenomenon of new technological integration in luxury through a comprehensive and systematic literature review. The study considers a corpus of 1196 original contributions through the combination of two established machine learning algorithms (LDA and hierarchical clustering). The analyses sheds light on a structured classification of the various streams of current research and a list of promising emerging trends in the field of fashion, tourism, real estate, and food, together with a focus on minor topics such as luxury wellness, healthcare, automotive, and the most prominent consumers-related variables to be investigated.KeywordsLuxury marketingNew technologiesTechnology managementArtificial IntelligenceInternet of ThingsMachine learningBlockchainData analysis
This study defines and expound the relationship between opportunity-enhancing HR practices (O-HRM) and customer satisfaction (CS) through the mediating role of emotional intelligence (EI). This study illustrates the relationship between opportunity-enhancing HR practices (O-HRM) and customer satisfaction (CS). Opportunity-enhancing HR practices embrace job involvement (JI) and job design (JD). The mediating role of emotional intelligence (EI) is tested within the relationship of opportunity-enhancing HR practices (O-HRM) and customer satisfaction (CS). The study was conducted on a group of 467 employees and same number of customers from 126 banks branches operating in Punjab, Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in the process of statistical analysis. The research confirmed a significant statistical relationship between all studied variables i.e., O-HRM, EI and CS. It was concluded, based on the analysis, using SEM, that opportunity-enhancing HR practices (O-HRM) have direct impact on customer satisfaction (CS), and indirect influence through emotional intelligence (EI). Cross-sectional design and use of self-reported questionnaire data are limitations of this study. The results of this research extend the knowledge in the area of customer service outcomes, with aspects of HR practices and emotional intelligence at workplace settings in the organizations in banking sector. In the light of results discussed above, there is sufficient evidence that the cluster of HRM practices working in bundles within the banking sector can play a decisive role for enhancing the EI of banking employees. This study further signifies the importance and usefulness of EI by empirical evidence of its link with outcome of CS in banking sector. The results of this research extend the knowledge in the area of customer service outcomes, with aspects of HR practices and emotional intelligence at workplace settings in the organizations in banking sector.
ÖZET
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Afyonkarahisar ilinde bulunan restoran işletmelerindeki müşterilerin fiziksel kanıt algılarının müşteri memnuniyetine etkisinin önem performans analizi ile belirlenmesidir. Çalışmada ilk olarak çalışmanın değişkenlerini oluşturan kavramlara dair yerli ve yabancı literatür taraması yapılıp kuramsal altyapıya yer verilmiştir. Araştırmanın amacının gerçekleştirilmesi için anket tekniği ile veriler toplanmıştır. Araştırma verileri, kolayda örnekleme yöntemi kullanılarak 01 Şubat-11 Nisan 2021 tarihleri arasında Afyonkarahisar ili restoran işletmelerini ziyaret eden 635 müşteriden toplanmıştır. Afyonkarahisar ili merkezinde bulunan restoran işletmeleri ile Afyonkarahisar ili merkezindeki termal otel işletmeleri bünyesindeki restoran işletmelerini ziyaret eden müşterilere anket uygulanmıştır. Toplam 450 adet müşteri anketi değerlendirmeye alınmıştır. Verilerin analizinde yüzde, frekans, aritmetik ortalama, standart sapma, faktör analizi, güvenirlik analizi, önem-performans analizi (ÖPA), korelasyon analizi ve regresyon analizi yöntemleri kullanılmış, elde edilen veriler araştırmanın amacı doğrultusunda yorumlanmıştır. Elde edilen bulgulara göre müşteriler fiziksel kanıt iç ve dış değişkenlerini değerlendirerek üzerinde önemle durması gerektiğini göstermektedir. Ayrıca anket uygulanan restoran işletmeleri müşterilerinin fiziksel kanıtlara ilişkin algıları ile müşteri memnuniyeti arasında yüksek seviyede bir ilişki olduğu sonucuna varılmış olup gerçekleştirilen regresyon analizi ile müşterilerin fiziksel kanıt algılarının müşteri memnuniyetini etkilediği belirlenmiştir.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to determine the effect of physical evidence perceptions of customers in restaurant businesses in Afyonkarahisar province on customer satisfaction by importance performance analysis. In the study, first of all, domestic and foreign literature review about the concepts that constitute the variables of the study was made and the theoretical infrastructure was included. In order to realize the aim of the research, data were collected by questionnaire technique. The research data were collected from 635 customers who visited the restaurant establishments of Afyonkarahisar province between 01 February and 11 April 2021 using the convenience sampling method. A questionnaire was applied to the customers who visited the restaurant businesses located in the city center of Afyonkarahisar and the restaurant businesses within the thermal hotel businesses in the city center of Afyonkarahisar. A total of 450 customer surveys were evaluated. Percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, factor analysis, reliability analysis, importance-performance analysis (IPA), correlation analysis and regression analysis methods were used in the analysis of the data, and the obtained data were interpreted in line with the purpose of the research. According to the findings, customers show that they should pay attention to the internal and external variables of physical evidence by evaluating them. In addition, it was concluded that there is a high level of relationship between the perceptions of the customers of the restaurant businesses regarding the physical evidence and customer satisfaction, and it was determined that the physical evidence perceptions of the customers affected the customer satisfaction with the regression analysis performed.
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Afyonkarahisar ilinde bulunan restoran işletmelerindeki
müşterilerin fiziksel kanıt algılarının müşteri memnuniyetine etkisinin önem performans
analizi ile belirlenmesidir. Çalışmada ilk olarak çalışmanın değişkenlerini oluşturan
kavramlara dair yerli ve yabancı literatür taraması yapılıp kuramsal altyapıya yer
verilmiştir. Araştırmanın amacının gerçekleştirilmesi için anket tekniği ile veriler
toplanmıştır. Araştırma verileri, kolayda örnekleme yöntemi kullanılarak 01 Şubat-11
Nisan 2021 tarihleri arasında Afyonkarahisar ili restoran işletmelerini ziyaret eden 635
müşteriden toplanmıştır. Afyonkarahisar ili merkezinde bulunan restoran işletmeleri ile
Afyonkarahisar ili merkezindeki termal otel işletmeleri bünyesindeki restoran
işletmelerini ziyaret eden müşterilere anket uygulanmıştır. Toplam 450 adet müşteri
anketi değerlendirmeye alınmıştır. Verilerin analizinde yüzde, frekans, aritmetik
ortalama, standart sapma, faktör analizi, güvenirlik analizi, önem-performans analizi
(ÖPA), korelasyon analizi ve regresyon analizi yöntemleri kullanılmış, elde edilen
veriler araştırmanın amacı doğrultusunda yorumlanmıştır. Elde edilen bulgulara göre
müşteriler fiziksel kanıt iç ve dış değişkenlerini değerlendirerek üzerinde önemle
durması gerektiğini göstermektedir. Ayrıca anket uygulanan restoran işletmeleri
müşterilerinin fiziksel kanıtlara ilişkin algıları ile müşteri memnuniyeti arasında yüksek
seviyede bir ilişki olduğu sonucuna varılmış olup gerçekleştirilen regresyon analizi ile
müşterilerin fiziksel kanıt algılarının müşteri memnuniyetini etkilediği belirlenmiştir.
The aim of this study is to determine the effect of physical evidence perceptions of
customers in restaurant businesses in Afyonkarahisar province on customer satisfaction
by importance performance analysis. In the study, first of all, domestic and foreign
literature review about the concepts that constitute the variables of the study was made
and the theoretical infrastructure was included. In order to realize the aim of the
research, data were collected by questionnaire technique. The research data were
collected from 635 customers who visited the restaurant establishments of
Afyonkarahisar province between 01 February and 11 April 2021 using the convenience
sampling method. A questionnaire was applied to the customers who visited the
restaurant businesses located in the city center of Afyonkarahisar and the restaurant
businesses within the thermal hotel businesses in the city center of Afyonkarahisar. A
total of 450 customer surveys were evaluated. Percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean,
standard deviation, factor analysis, reliability analysis, importance-performance analysis
(IPA), correlation analysis and regression analysis methods were used in the analysis of
the data, and the obtained data were interpreted in line with the purpose of the research.
According to the findings, customers show that they should pay attention to the internal
and external variables of physical evidence by evaluating them. In addition, it was
concluded that there is a high level of relationship between the perceptions of the
customers of the restaurant businesses regarding the physical evidence and customer
satisfaction, and it was determined that the physical evidence perceptions of the
customers affected the customer satisfaction with the regression analysis performed.
Digital technology that complements the personal interactions between customers and frontline employees (FLEs) has the potential to enhance service delivery in full-service restaurants. However, the usage of digital technology and the interrelated change of role requirements pose additional demands on FLEs. This qualitative study is based on twenty-six semi-structured interviews with FLEs, restaurant managers, and technology providers to achieve a holistic view of the impact digital technology has on FLEs, their well-being and job performance. Data analysis software MAXQDA was utilized to analyze the transcribed interviews through open, axial, and selective coding techniques. The findings indicate that FLEs predominantly agree with restaurant managers’ and providers’ certainty that technology makes them more productive. However, unreliable or unintuitive systems as well as technology-induced role overload can evoke technostress and thus impair FLEs’ well-being and job performance. Accordingly, restaurant managers need to effectively manage technology-induced job demands to fully leverage the enhancing potential of digital technology.
This study aims to explore the composition of virtual guided tour experience on Airbnb and to develop a formation process of virtual guided tour experience. A case study based on the qualitative analysis was conducted with a dataset of online reviews towards an Online Experience in Beijing, China. A three-stage process of virtual guided tour experience was concluded, including experience encounter, experience evaluation, and behavioral intention. Experience encounter describes the experience composition from four dimensions: interpretation quality, host credibility, tourist-host social contact, and peer interaction; Experience evaluation is involved with benefits mainly gained from the enhanced understanding of local culture and the satisfaction attributed by the sense of telepresence; Further, behavioral intention covers both online and offline willingness to recommend or repurchase the virtual tour, or visit the destination in person after the pandemic. Theoretical and practical implications in navigating tourism recovery were discussed.
We applied four machine learning models, linear regression, the k-nearest neighbors (KNN), random forest, and support vector machine, to predict consumer demand for bike sharing in Seoul. We aimed to advance previous research on bike sharing demand by incorporating features other than weather - such as air pollution, traffic information, Covid-19 cases, and social economic factors- to increase prediction accuracy. The data were retrieved from Seoul Public Data Park website, which records the counts of public bike rentals in Seoul of Korea from January 1 to December 31, 2020. We found that the two best models are the random forest and the support vector machine models. Among the 29 features in six categories the features in the weather, pollution, and Covid-19 outbreak categories are the most important in model prediction. While almost all social economic features are the least important, we found that they help enhance the performance of the models.
This open access book presents the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 29th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER2022 conference, which will be held on January 11–14, 2022.
The book provides an extensive overview of how information and communication technologies can be used to develop tourism and hospitality. It covers the latest research on various topics within the field, including augmented and virtual reality, website development, social media use, e-learning, big data, analytics, and recommendation systems. The readers will gain insights and ideas on how information and communication technologies can be used in tourism and hospitality. Academics working in the eTourism field, as well as students and practitioners, will find up-to-date information on the status of research.
Nowadays, hotels are adopting high technologies to improve the quality of their facilities and services to build competitive advantages. Although smart hotels are an emerging trend, no known studies have investigated hotel employees’ and guests’ perceptions of this kind of hotel. This research will investigate how hotel employees and guests perceive the benefits and drawbacks of smart hotels using Q methodology.
As global travel emerges from the pandemic, pent up interest in travel will lead to consumers making their choice between global destinations. Instagram is a key source of destination inspiration. DMO marketing success on this channel relies on projecting a destination image that resonates with this target group. However, usual text-based marketing intelligence on this channel does not work as content is consumed first and foremost as a visual projection. The author has built a deep learning based visual classifier for destination image measurement from photos. In this paper, we compare projected and perceived destination images in Instagram photography for four of the most Instagrammed destinations worldwide. We find that whereas the projected destination image aligns well to the perceived image, there are specific aspects of the destinations that are of more interest to Instagrammers than reflected in the current destination marketing.
This paper shows a first analysis of the experiences and challenges of studying tourism during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. 14 tourism students from two higher education institutions in Europe participated in three focus group discussions. One generation of these students started their education in presence and had to shift online with the start of the pandemic, while the other generation started their education knowing that lessons would be mainly online. Authors used qualitative content analysis to analyze the participants’ statements. As a result of the analysis, several themes emerged, and students contextualized eLearning as an education method for a future without COVID-19.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is proving to be one of the most promising business strategies. However, in the field of destination marketing literature, a problem exists as to how data-supported CRM can be established. While customer data management has already been well exploited in other industries, DMOs lack customer proximity and data sovereignty. The aim of this paper is to fill this research gap and show how a data-based CRM can be deployed by DMOs based on the principles of social exchange theory. In 13 expert interviews, these aspects were examined from the DMO’s point of view. The results show that the exchange relationship must be established taking into account the DMO’s extraordinary conditions and critical success factors. In order to stimulate guests’ desire for dialogue or the willingness to disclose personal data, DMOs should offer high-quality customer benefits. A combination of hedonic and utilitarian benefits are found to be the most effective stimuli. In return, only the most necessary customer information should be requested and subsequently built passively. Only if the cost and benefit ratio of the exchange relationship is positive for both parties, a database for the CRM can be built in order to foster long-lasting relationships with potential and returning guests.
The retail industry is undergoing tremendous changes that are driven by technology, changing consumer tastes, economic pressures, competition, stakeholder relationships, environmental concerns, and governmental regulations. Our article explores analytics as a capability that helps retailers excel in this dynamic environment. We identify the reasons behind the trends in the retail industry and provide guidance for retail managers on how to improve customer relationship management using appropriate metrics and effective analytics. Our guidance to retail managers emphasizes the importance of brand recognition, explores tactics for enhancing customer experience, recommends establishing superior customer engagement, forging social connections among consumers, and rendering service and support to customers, and highlights a data-oriented approach to retailing. We conclude with suggestions for future research in this domain.
The purpose of this case study is to develop a new service encounter manual for A-Dutyfree Shop. The process is based on the following steps: review the existing service encounter manual which was developed in 2013, evaluate the moment-of-truth monitoring system, survey customer satisfaction trends, and analyze the voice of customers. The project lasted for about four months (March 26-July 27, 2020) by a task force with 17 members (3 external consultants, 2 A-dutyfree shop trainers, and 12 A-dutyfree shop managers or sales managers).
The project deployed five activity steps: (1) analysis of the current situation, (2) new concepts development, (3) prototyping, (4) testing and operations, and (5) documentation and follow-through management. During the project process, two work-shops were held with a subject matter expert to refine the draft manual, while reflecting the opinions of service employees as much as possible. The standard behaviors and guidelines for each step of the service encounter process were refined, best practices of service encounters for each sales area with its unique characteristics were shared, the manual was documented, and possible solutions were provided for continuous improvement of follow-on management. The results of this study provide valuable information for successful service encounters that can be effectively adopted by managers and employees in many similar service organizations.
Organizations spend extensive resources on artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in customer service in order to remain customer-focused and competitive. A rising language-based application of AI emerges in the context of conversational agents (CAs), such as chatbots, which represent increasingly intelligent, autonomous, scalable, and cost-effective service platforms. However, AI-based CAs bring new organizational challenges. They are underrepresented in current research, leading to many unanswered questions and research potential regarding the management of their introduction, operation, and improvement. To address this issue, we provide design knowledge that considers the organizational perspective of CAs. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) and qualitative interview study to reveal and analyze individual issues and challenges, develop meta-requirements, and finally, use them to create design principles. We contribute to the emerging field of CAs that has previously focused mainly on the individual, behavioral, interactional, or technical design.
Tourism and hospitality service experiences are both delivered with and experienced amongst other individuals as part of the service setting. Understanding consumer perceptions of these shared experiences is essential for providers. Consumer recollection of these experiences, however, are sometimes limited. This paper explores the opportunity to use paired interviews as a qualitative method for moderating self-reported data “on the spot”. Paired interviews that explore shared experiences can be clarified, or corrected contemporaneously, with reduced bias or modification of what was experienced, particularly when that behaviour may not be socially acceptable. This article presents data collected after a shared tourism experience of an overnight visit to a luxury lodge at a zoo and proposes a framework to classify interactions between participants in a paired interview situation. The method of shared or paired self-reporting interviews results in enriched qualitative data based on the exchanges of pairs participating in the interview process. This method is useful in practice by mitigating limitations identified in self-reporting situations, particularly after a shared service experience.
This study describes and expounds link between motivation-enhancing HR practices (M-HRM) and customer satisfaction (CS). Motivation-enhancing HR practices include compensation & incentive (CI) and performance management (PM).The mediation of emotional intelligence (EI) is verified between the M-HRM and CS. The research was directed on 126 bank branches operational in Punjab (Pakistan) with 467 banking employees and 934 customers. The process of statistical analysis was performed by Structural equation modeling (SEM). A substantial relationship amongst all the variables of study (i.e. M-HRM, EI and CS) was established. It was clinched resultantly, that M-HRM exert impact on CS, through EI in direct as well as indirect ways.
The authors respond to concerns raised by Cronin and Taylor (1992) and Teas (1993) about the SERVQUAL instrument and the perceptions-minus-expectations specification invoked by it to operationalize service quality. After demonstrating that the validity and alleged severity of many of those concerns are questionable, they offer a set of research directions for addressing unresolved issues and adding to the understanding of service quality assessment.