Examining the Relationship Among Service Recovery, Affective Commitment, Calculative Commitment, And Trust for E-Travel Retailers

There is a gap in the literature with respect to studies that examined the importance of service recovery for Generation Y customers in an online travel context. This study examines various dimensions of commitment important to the development and maintenance of enduring relationships with Generation Y. The theoretical foundations for this study are based on social exchange theory, commitment-trust theory, and organizational commitment theory. The results of the study shows that affective commitment and trust are the most important constructs for building longterm relationships following service recovery; on the other hand, calculative commitment had negative impact on trust. The implications of these findings for both research and practitioners are discussed in the final section of the study

How to Retain Consumers: A Trust-Commitment Model

Although studies on the determinants of consumers’ continuance intention in e-marketplaces have grown in recent years, the research is predominantly related to unidimensional trust and commitment. In this research, the authors focus on the distinct roles of different types of consumer trust and commitment on consumers’ continuance intention. Drawing upon organizational commitment and trust theories, we develop a continuance intention model that includes two types of trust and two types of commitments. We collected a sample of 287 online consumers to validate the theoretical model. Our data suggest that consumers’ trust and commitment positively affect their continuance intention. Our study also indicates that the psychological states underlying the commitments are different. Key findings and implications are discussed

Online customer experience in an emerging e-retail market

Although customer experience has attracted significant attention in marketing theorizing for over three decades, research has barely progressed beyond the traditional conceptualizations of the concept. Specifically, research on multichannel retailing experience is scarce and fragmented despite previous calls to investigate how customer experience can be optimized at different channels. Additionally, although eWOM is fast supplanting traditional WOM as a determinant of consumer behavior whilst Internet platforms have been declared the future fronts for successful customer relationship management, previous studies rarely examined how consumers process and integrate multiple online reviews especially dissatisfied eWOM. Extrapolating from the foregoing, the following research question is posed: “How can online retailers exploit the link between previous shopping experiences and perceived credibility of negative experience reviews (PCoNERs) to enhance consumer-firm relationship quality?”To answer the above research question, an experience-perception-attitude model was built on the foundations of two social cognitive psychology theories (i.e. the schema theory and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM)) and consequently tested through four scenario-based experiments mapped out into one pilot study and two main studies. The pilot study and study 1 utilized a 2 × 2 between-subject factorial design while study 2 employed 2 × 2 × 2 between-subject factorial design. Data was generated from undergraduate and postgraduate students recruited from two universities located in southern Nigeria. Exploratory factor analysis, partial least squares structural equation modelling procedure, independent sample t-test, Chi-square, one-way analysis of variance, and multivariate analysis of variance were the analytical techniques utilized.Five major contributions are made. First, the thesis developed and tested a unique experience-perception-attitude model from the perspective of two social cognitive psychology theories. The experience-perception-attitude model not only portrayed the multi-channel character of online customer experience but also advanced Verhoef et al.’s (2009) holistic and dynamic model of customer experience by demonstrating how consumer-firm relationship quality can be enhanced through a simultaneous consideration of shopping experiences emanating from both company website and social media site. Second, the thesis extends the context-specific nature of customer experience by demonstrating that emotional experience is the most important driver of PCoNERs in a recession-ridden emerging e-retailing market. Third, the study advances the eWOM literature and ELM by drawing on the ELM to demonstrate that PCoNERs have negative effect on consumer-firm relationship quality; while also demonstrating that the effects of the two thresholds of elaboration (i.e. review source credibility and review frequency) become infinitesimal if consumers are exposed to reviews with consistent valence. Fourth, the thesis adds to the experimental design technique utilized by channel integration researchers and previous panel data-based studies by drawing on the netnographic research approach to utilize naturalistic narratives as experimental scenarios. Finally, the findings offer an evidence-based guide on how e-retailers can practically engage in the systematic management of customer clues. The findings will also assist all categories of e-retailers determine the strategic position to pursue based on their resources and capabilities

CUSTOMER SERVICE RECOVERY IN HOSPTALITY: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF THE SERVICE PROVIDER UTILIZING RAWL’S JUSTICE THEORY

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the determinants and outcomes of service recovery and the utility of Rawls’ (1971) justice theory with respect to service recovery in a hospitality context. Specifically, the study examined the dimensionality of the service recovery construct proposed by Tax, Brown and Chandrashekaran (1998) and identified measures of service recovery satisfaction from a multidimensional perspective. In addition, the study incorporated the variables of “trust” and “commitment” in an attempt to better understand the impact of service recovery on the service provider – customer relationship. Finally, this study examined how respondents who identify as culinary travelers differ from non-culinary travelers in the context of service recovery. In order to test the proposed research hypotheses, a quasi-experimental design was employed by having participants respond to a simulated service recovery, following a hypothetical service error. The 2 * 4 factorial between-subject design consisted of two independent variables: service error severity and the perception of justice (distributive justice, interactional justice and procedural justice). Participants were randomly selected to one of eight scenarios involving a hypothetical service error and subsequent recovery experience, and recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowdsourcing platform. Data collection was held from March 28th through February 2nd 2018. The results revealed several key findings. First, it was found that respondents’ recovery satisfaction is highest (with the exception of a “baseline” recovery) when presented with a service recovery that prioritizes the perception of distributive justice, and to a lesser extent, the perception of procedural justice. Second, results suggest that while the severity of a service failure can influence the impact of justice on recovery satisfaction, the impact of severity was not found to be as critical as was previously suggested. Third, while recovery satisfaction was found to have a significant impact on overall satisfaction (with the firm), overall satisfaction was found to be a better predictor for post-recovery customer evaluations. Fourth, results indicated that one-time service failures had significant and negative impacts on both trust and commitment. These results provide both theoretical and practical implications for restaurant practitioners in terms of differential service recovery strategies based on practitioner objectives

Relationship quality and customer loyalty in internet grocery shopping in the UK

Despite the growing body of literature on online loyalty issues, little research has been conducted on the link between relationship quality (RQ) and customer loyalty in the context of Internet grocery shopping. The existing literature on electronic retailing does not explain the differences in loyalty across product and service categories. As shopping for groceries is generally an activity repeated at regular time intervals, consumers' behaviours is likely to be very different when purchasing goods and services which are only needed occasionally. Due to the frequency of grocery purchase, a relationship is likely to be developed between customers and the retailer. Whilst perceived service quality and customer satisfaction have been recognised as antecedents of customer loyalty in previous studies, it is not understood whether RQ adds any additional effect over the traditional measure such as perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in determining loyalty in Internet grocery shopping. Therefore, this study attempts to address this research gap by incorporating a RQ perspective, as well as customer satisfaction and perceived service quality. Building on an extensive literature review, RQ is conceptualised and examined for its theoretical applicability via an initial qualitative study, followed by a quantitative phase using structural equation modelling analysis with the data collected by an esurvey of 519 Internet grocery shoppers. The results show that RQ is positively associated with customer loyalty in Internet grocery shopping. Among the dimensions of RQ, relationship satisfaction has the strongest direct effect on the formation of customer loyalty. In addition, loyalty can be also developed through perceived relational investment and affective commitment. Moreover, it is found that perceived relational investment from the Internet grocery retailer indirectly influence customer loyalty. Contrary to expectation, trust plays a very unimportant role in developing customer loyalty in Internet grocery shopping. The finding also indicates that e-service quality has a significant effect on e-satisfaction in Internet grocery shopping. In order to see whether the multi-component RQ model can perform better than the global RQ model, a comparison is made between the aggregated and the disaggregated model of RQ. The results indicate that the disaggregated model performs much better than the aggregated one.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Relationship quality and customer loyalty in internet grocery shopping in the UK

Despite the growing body of literature on online loyalty issues, little research has been conducted on the link between relationship quality (RQ) and customer loyalty in the context of Internet grocery shopping. The existing literature on electronic retailing does not explain the differences in loyalty across product and service categories. As shopping for groceries is generally an activity repeated at regular time intervals, consumers' behaviours is likely to be very different when purchasing goods and services which are only needed occasionally. Due to the frequency of grocery purchase, a relationship is likely to be developed between customers and the retailer. Whilst perceived service quality and customer satisfaction have been recognised as antecedents of customer loyalty in previous studies, it is not understood whether RQ adds any additional effect over the traditional measure such as perceived service quality and customer satisfaction in determining loyalty in Internet grocery shopping. Therefore, this study attempts to address this research gap by incorporating a RQ perspective, as well as customer satisfaction and perceived service quality. Building on an extensive literature review, RQ is conceptualised and examined for its theoretical applicability via an initial qualitative study, followed by a quantitative phase using structural equation modelling analysis with the data collected by an esurvey of 519 Internet grocery shoppers. The results show that RQ is positively associated with customer loyalty in Internet grocery shopping. Among the dimensions of RQ, relationship satisfaction has the strongest direct effect on the formation of customer loyalty. In addition, loyalty can be also developed through perceived relational investment and affective commitment. Moreover, it is found that perceived relational investment from the Internet grocery retailer indirectly influence customer loyalty. Contrary to expectation, trust plays a very unimportant role in developing customer loyalty in Internet grocery shopping. The finding also indicates that e-service quality has a significant effect on e-satisfaction in Internet grocery shopping. In order to see whether the multi-component RQ model can perform better than the global RQ model, a comparison is made between the aggregated and the disaggregated model of RQ. The results indicate that the disaggregated model performs much better than the aggregated one.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Communication, trust, commitment, satisfaction and cooperation on buyer-supplier relationship

Relationship marketing is essential for success in businesses. It provides sustainable competitive advantage along the marketing channel supply chain. Communication, trust, commitment, satisfaction and cooperation have received the highest level of scholarly attention in this field. These constructs are recognized as the buyer-seller relationship qualities success factors. However, previous studies have focused on these five constructs specifically communication, trust, satisfaction, commitment and cooperation separately or partially rather than studying them collectively. Thus, the present study fills literature gap by introducing a more comprehensive and holistic model on the inter-relationship of success factors and their mediation effect. Additionally, most of the previous studies in relationship marketing focuses on manufacturing industry and service sector on western marketing channel setting from the sellers’ perspectives. Consequently, the present study provides a better understanding of social exchange antecedent and consequences of Malaysian business-to-business retailing context from the buyers’ (retailer) perspectives. The current study also examines the decomposition of trust construct from the typology in psychology inclusive of earned trust, verifiable trust, calculative trust, reciprocal trust and blind trust. The study assists managerial decision in determining the priority construct for relationship performance improvement. Through a multi-stage sampling, the study was conducted on Malaysian merchandise retailers by evaluating relationship qualities with their key suppliers. 284 structured questionnaires were analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Square with eleven of the fifteen hypotheses were supported. A key finding of the current study is that these five constructs are inter-related. Formal communication, which is regarded as the antecedent has a significant effect on crucial construct for relationship maintenance namely satisfaction and trust. Informal communication is a significant predictor for relationship continuity construct comprising of commitment and cooperation. Moreover, trust is an independent variable that significantly affects satisfaction, commitment and cooperation; while satisfaction has significantly influenced commitment and cooperation. Cooperation is significantly the outcomes of trust, satisfaction, and commitment. Also, out of five types of trust, only earned trust, reciprocal trust and blind trust are the precursors of overall trust with blind trust has the highest significant value. The results of the study also specify that satisfaction and commitment partially mediate the relationship between industrial buyer and seller. The key target construct for relationship performance improvement for commitment and cooperation is trust. Interestingly, blind trust is the essential constructs for trust, indicating the major potential for improvement. Hence, it becomes evident that another valuable finding of the current study is that trust is the utmost important consideration in the survival of strategic alliance. The results also suggest that although decision within a retailer-supplier relationship is made with profit in mind, the elements of culture pervade most dealings within Malaysian context; enabling the decision to be made on an interpersonal basis. Therefore, managers dealing with Malaysian retailers need to focus on the main objective of creating long-term cooperation through relational exchange apart from merely economic exchange. Future research should focus on other context such as different geographic location, industry and sectors, perspectives of business to consumer setting or the ideal circumstances of obtaining information from both sides of the inter-firm dyad

CUSTOMER SERVICE RECOVERY IN HOSPTALITY: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF THE SERVICE PROVIDER UTILIZING RAWL’S JUSTICE THEORY

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the determinants and outcomes of service recovery and the utility of Rawls’ (1971) justice theory with respect to service recovery in a hospitality context. Specifically, the study examined the dimensionality of the service recovery construct proposed by Tax, Brown and Chandrashekaran (1998) and identified measures of service recovery satisfaction from a multidimensional perspective. In addition, the study incorporated the variables of “trust” and “commitment” in an attempt to better understand the impact of service recovery on the service provider – customer relationship. Finally, this study examined how respondents who identify as culinary travelers differ from non-culinary travelers in the context of service recovery. In order to test the proposed research hypotheses, a quasi-experimental design was employed by having participants respond to a simulated service recovery, following a hypothetical service error. The 2 * 4 factorial between-subject design consisted of two independent variables: service error severity and the perception of justice (distributive justice, interactional justice and procedural justice). Participants were randomly selected to one of eight scenarios involving a hypothetical service error and subsequent recovery experience, and recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowdsourcing platform. Data collection was held from March 28th through February 2nd 2018. The results revealed several key findings. First, it was found that respondents’ recovery satisfaction is highest (with the exception of a “baseline” recovery) when presented with a service recovery that prioritizes the perception of distributive justice, and to a lesser extent, the perception of procedural justice. Second, results suggest that while the severity of a service failure can influence the impact of justice on recovery satisfaction, the impact of severity was not found to be as critical as was previously suggested. Third, while recovery satisfaction was found to have a significant impact on overall satisfaction (with the firm), overall satisfaction was found to be a better predictor for post-recovery customer evaluations. Fourth, results indicated that one-time service failures had significant and negative impacts on both trust and commitment. These results provide both theoretical and practical implications for restaurant practitioners in terms of differential service recovery strategies based on practitioner objectives

A mediated model of relationship quality factors affecting behavioural intention at a luxury motor vehicle dealership

PURPOSE : The aim of this study is to determine whether customer satisfaction, trust and commitment as relationship quality factors can be valuable to a luxury motor vehicle dealership in generating favourable behavioural intentions concerning post-purchase service and repair offerings. DESIGN / METHODOLOGY / APPROACH : A descriptive research design was followed, and self-administered questionnaires were fielded among customers of the luxury motor vehicle dealership. A total of 301 questionnaires were returned and the interrelationships between the constructs were examined using structural equation modelling. FINDINGS : It was discovered that customers who trust the dealership may be more committed, and commitment may strengthen the relationship between customer satisfaction and a favourable behavioural intention towards the dealership. REASEARCH LIMITATIONS / IMPLICATIONS : The findings of the study add to the developing body of empirical literature on relationship quality and behavioural intention. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS : The study indicates how relationship quality factors can influence behavioural intentions of customers, assist in building long-term relationships with customers and retain current customers where post-purchase service and repairs of luxury goods are concerned. ORIGINALITY / VALUE : The study provides an emerging market perspective of the interrelationships between relationship quality factors affecting behavioural intention regarding service and repairs of luxury goods.http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/ebrhb2017Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS