{"title":"Does status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs foster relationship fading?","authors":"Shanta Banik, Fazlul K. Rabbanee","doi":"10.1108/jsm-06-2022-0199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-06-2022-0199","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs (HLPs) has received considerable academic attention. However, existing research is relatively silent on whether HLP status demotion fosters service relationship fading by influencing demoted customers’ psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction. Drawing on the relationship fading literature and the stimulus–organism–response framework, this study aims to examine these effects. It further investigates the moderating role of psychological ownership on the links of status demotion with psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Two studies (Studies 1 and 2) were conducted in the context of airline HLPs. Study 1 was a structured survey conducted among 213 demoted airline HLP customers in Australia, and Study 2 was an experiment conducted among 178 executive MBA students in Bangladesh. The PROCESS macro was used to test the moderated mediation model.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The results of both studies show that HLP status demotion significantly influences customers’ psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction. The findings also reveal that psychological disengagement mediates the relationship between status demotion and the likelihood of patronage reduction. Further, customers with high (low) psychological ownership feel high (less) psychological disengagement and show high (less) likelihood of patronage reduction due to their HLP status demotion.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study extends the existing literature on relationship marketing and HLPs by offering a better understanding of how and under what conditions status demotion elicits customers’ psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44945856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Responsibilization during uncontrollable events: understanding how consumers assign and accept responsibility for service employee welfare","authors":"N. Moran, Steven Shepherd, Janice Alvarado","doi":"10.1108/jsm-05-2022-0159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-05-2022-0159","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to study how individuals assess responsibility during an uncontrollable event requiring collective action, using crises affecting service workers as contexts. Specifically, the authors examine what parties consumers hold responsible for ensuring service worker welfare following an uncontrollable event and determine what factors make customers more open to accepting responsibility for ensuring worker welfare themselves.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The authors surveyed a nationally representative sample of US consumers regarding their attitudes toward protecting service workers during COVID-19 and used regression analysis to identify factors that predict attributions of responsibility to customers. The authors also conducted an experiment (using a new crisis context) to determine whether certain key factors impact customer perceptions of their own responsibility for helping employees during an uncontrollable event.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The survey results show US consumers hold firms most responsible for worker welfare, followed by customers and, finally, government. When examining factors that drive attributions of responsibility for customers, perceptions of how sincere firms are in their efforts to help employees predict higher responsibility attributions, and experimental results confirm that higher perceived firm sincerity increases consumers’ own sense of responsibility toward workers.\u0000\u0000\u0000Social implications\u0000This research identifies factors that affect consumer support for efforts to help service employees and collective action problems more generally.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This research highlights an under-studied crisis context – uncontrollable events that require collective action – and shows how consumers make assessments about their own responsibility (in addition to the responsibility of the service firm) in these contexts.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49573526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Helping the organization but harming customers: a social identity perspective of unethical pro-organizational behavior","authors":"Hongmin Yan, David Solnet, T. Okimoto","doi":"10.1108/jsm-01-2023-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-01-2023-0004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to investigate a special type of unethical behaviors among frontline service employees – unethical pro-organizational behaviors (UPB). Building on social identity theory, the paper examines how social identifications with the organization and customers interactively affect employees' engagement in UPB. The paper also explores the underlying psychological mechanisms that explain this effect.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study uses a multistage, sequential research design to test the hypothesized model. Studies 1A and 1B use scenario-based experiments with a randomized between-subjects design. Study 2 uses a survey design to replicate and expand the findings from Study 1 by collecting survey data from frontline service employees in various service sectors.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The results across two studies reveal that high organizational identification will motivate employees to engage in UPB when the opportunity arises, while employees who also identify with customers will more likely abstain from committing UPB. Findings from the survey study also show that this interactive effect on UPB is achieved by devaluing customers as tools or placing fault upon them.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This research provides a deeper exploration of the UPB at the organizational frontline. From a social identity theoretical perspective, this research examines how identification with customers and with the organization jointly shape frontline employees' engagement in UPB. In doing so, this research provides insight into the contextual limitations of existing UPB research while also offering practically relevant implications for managing UPB in frontline service contexts.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46979222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Well-being co-creation in service ecosystems: a systematic literature review","authors":"Mikèle Landry, Olivier Furrer","doi":"10.1108/jsm-12-2022-0388","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-12-2022-0388","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose Following the continued development of transformative service research and the prevalence of the service-dominant logic in services marketing literature, increased scholarly interest centers on the co-creation of service actors’ well-being. In light of this significant evolution in service research, this study aims to provide a systematic review and synthesis of the growing, fragmented body of literature on well-being co-creation in services. Design/methodology/approach The hybrid systematic review approach combines bibliometric and framework-based literature reviews to analyze a sample of 160 article obtained from the Web of Science database. To examine the conceptual structure of the research domain, VOSviewer is used for conducting a bibliometric coupling analysis and a keyword co-occurrence analysis. Next, a content analysis is used to explore how the extant literature addresses the key concepts of service actors’ participation in co-creation, their resource integration and well-being outcomes across the micro-, meso- and macro levels of service ecosystems. Findings Service actors’ participation and resource integration are key theoretical concepts for understanding well-being co-creation. Yet, a comprehensive overview of well-being co-creation across the different levels of service ecosystems is lacking due to the presence of various application contexts, levels of aggregation, theoretical backgrounds and methodological perspectives. A conceptual framework of well-being co-creation in service ecosystems is developed, highlighting the participation of multilevel service actors and suggesting priorities for further research. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper represents a first effort to systematically review and organize growing literature on well-being co-creation in service ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42345628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Language-related stereotype threat, customers’ well-being and its outcome","authors":"Aaminah Zaman Malik, A. Paswan","doi":"10.1108/jsm-07-2022-0245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-07-2022-0245","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000While language is vital for a successful service exchange, it can also become a source of vulnerability if one party is a non-native speaker in an inter-culture service encounter (ICSE). Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between language-related stigma that non-native customers perceive in an ICSE and the associated psychological and behavioral responses.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000A survey-based research method and an experimental study was used to collect data from non-native speakers in the USA with English as their second language. Structural equation modeling procedure was used to test the hypothesized relationships.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The findings suggest that the customers who perceive language-related stigmatization in an ICSE context experience intergroup anxiety and lack of social belonging. In turn, intergroup anxiety influences their interaction comfort with the service provider. In the end, these experiences shape their future buying behavior, i.e. they tend to avoid direct interactions with the servers and prefer smart services.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000Future research is needed to explore the focal phenomenon in other service contexts and cultures to enrich knowledge on language vulnerabilities.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000The study highlights the importance of technology, not just from a convenience perspective, but also as an accommodation mechanism for linguistically vulnerable customers.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to empirically examine the language-related stigmatization and associated psychological and behavioral responses from the non-native customers’ perspective in a services exchange setting.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44502648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Guest Editorial: Investigating the effect of the physical context on customer experience","authors":"H. Bruce, E. Krolikowska, T. Rooney","doi":"10.1108/jsm-05-2023-0163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-05-2023-0163","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing, dedicated to papers discussing the effect of the physical context on customer experience. This study aims to identify diverse areas of extant knowledge, upon which researchers might draw when investigating the effect of the physical context on customer experience, to inform future research agendas.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Drawing on available literature, the authors argue that, as prior studies in diverse scholarly fields have explored the physical context, these bodies of knowledge may offer theories and constructs that meaningfully inform explorations of the effect of the physical context on customer experience.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The authors identify five marketing subdisciplines and six nonmarketing disciplines, each offering theories, constructs and perspectives which researchers might draw upon in future studies of the effects of the physical context on customer experience.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The authors develop a novel map which depicts the field of study of the effects of the physical context on customer experience, which scholars might use to inform future research design. In addition, the authors suggest several directions for future research.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47630314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marlini Bakri, Janet Davey, Jayne Krisjanous, Robyn M. Maude
{"title":"Liminal digital birthspaces: social media and consumer proactivity for well-being","authors":"Marlini Bakri, Janet Davey, Jayne Krisjanous, Robyn M. Maude","doi":"10.1108/jsm-03-2023-0119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-03-2023-0119","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Despite the prevalence of technology in health care, marketing research on social media in the birthspace is limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore how birthing women leverage social media for transformative well-being in the liminal context of birth.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000A qualitative study of women who had recently experienced birth was undertaken. Thematic analysis of data from in-depth interviews reveals birthing women’s digital practices and social media capabilities for well-being in a liminal space.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Within the birthspace, women use social media and digital platforms in an effortful and goal-directed way for role transitions and transformation, curating self and other history, goal striving and normalizing experience. These digital practice styles facilitate consumer integration of the liminal digital birthspace and in situ service encounter enabling diverse value outcomes. Drawing on liminality and social presence theories, the authors interpret these practices as demonstrating three interactive liminal stages of suspending, comprehending and transforming. Multi-modality and rapid connection afforded by digital devices and social media platforms provide social presence (according to perceived immediacy and intimacy) enabling transformative well-being outcomes.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study is unique, as it provides insights into the traditionally private health service experience of birth. Further, the authors extend the understanding of liminal spaces and use of digital technology, specifically for transformative outcomes, by proposing a framework of consumers’ digital practice styles for well-being in liminal spaces.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41646049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Business types matter: new insights into the effects of anthropomorphic cues in AI chatbots","authors":"Kibum Youn, Moonhee Cho","doi":"10.1108/jsm-04-2022-0126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-04-2022-0126","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper aims to examine the relationships between anthropomorphic cues (i.e. degrees of the humanized profile picture and naming) in artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and business types (utilitarian-centered business vs hedonic-centered business) on consumers’ attitudes toward the AI chatbot and intentions to use the AI chatbot app and to accept the AI chatbot’s recommendation.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000An online experiment with a 2 (humanized profile pictures: low [semihumanoid] vs high [full-humanoid]) × 2 (naming: Mary vs virtual assistant) × 2 (business types: utilitarian-centered business [bank] vs hedonic-centered business [café]) between-subjects design (N = 520 Mturk samples) was used.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The results of this study show significant main effects of anthropomorphic cues (i.e. degrees of profile picture and naming) in AI chatbots and three-way interactions among humanized profile pictures, naming and business types (utilitarian-centered business vs hedonic-centered business) on consumers’ attitudes toward the AI chatbot, intentions to use the AI chatbot app and intentions to accept the AI chatbot’s recommendation. This indicates that the high level of anthropomorphism generates more positive attitudes toward the AI chatbot and intentions to use the AI chatbot app and to accept the AI chatbot’s recommendation in the hedonic-centered business condition. Moreover, the mediated role of parasocial interaction occurs in this relationship.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study is the original endeavor to examine the moderating role of business types influencing the effect of anthropomorphism on consumers’ responses, while existing literature overweighted the value of anthropomorphism in AI chatbots without considering the variation of businesses.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41819166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of social media use on customer experiences within physical service environments","authors":"Raechel Johns, M. Walsh, Naomi F. Dale","doi":"10.1108/jsm-05-2022-0151","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-05-2022-0151","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000To understand the impact of mobile social media use on absorption within the customer experience, and overall engagement with the physical service context, a qualitative research study was undertaken. In particular, this study aims to understand the impact of mobile technology use on service engagement by tourists.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000In this study, two groups of tourists were sent to a zoo wildlife lodge for one night. Half the group were permitted to use social media during their stay while the other half were instructed to refrain from actively using their social media accounts for the duration of their visit. The following day, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with each couple to explore how the use of social media or refraining from social media use impacted on their absorption within the service customer experience.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The findings suggest that engagement with their physical surroundings and the overall customer experience was increased when refraining from social media; however, respondents marketed the tourism provider enthusiastically when using mobile social media during their stay, compared with the group that was not using social media during the stay.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000Despite a relatively small sample, a series of recommendations for service researchers and service providers have been generated through this research. For example, the methodology used can provide new ideas for researchers seeking to explore service customer experiences and engagement with the physical context. Service providers can also use recommendations around device free days to provide more immersive service customer experiences.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000Research within marketing typically does not use quasi-experimental design or paired interviews, as used in this study. Furthermore, the understanding of the impact of mobile social media use on engagement with a physical service environment has received very little attention in the academic literature.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47015327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Too real? The conflicting roles of adaptation and authenticity in intercultural service encounters","authors":"A. Tariq, M. Lorenz, W. Thompson","doi":"10.1108/jsm-07-2022-0254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-07-2022-0254","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Intercultural service encounters (ICSEs) often require adaptation to the customer’s culture, thereby risking a reduction in the cultural authenticity of the experience. This study aims to research the optimum level of adaptation of an ICSE needed to achieve desired authenticity perceptions for positive consumer outcomes. The study also identifies the influence of generational cohorts and cultural competencies on developing such positive consumer outcomes.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The study uses two scenario-based experiments depicting low, moderate and high levels of adaptation to an ICSE.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Consumers prefer a cultural experience with a moderate level of adaptation to achieve the highest level of satisfaction and loyalty intentions. Perceived authenticity mediates the effect of adaptation on outcomes, with the generational stage (Study 1) and cultural competencies (Study 2) further influencing the relationship.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000ICSEs and consumers’ desire for such cultural experiences are increasingly becoming a part of everyday consumption. Guided by social judgment theory, this study explores how two value-adding, yet conflicting tenants of successful ICSEs, cultural authenticity and adaptation, influence positive consumer outcomes.\u0000","PeriodicalId":48294,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Services Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43767068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}