May I help you? How stereotypes and innuendoes influence service encounters

You only get one chance to make a good first impression. The dissertation focuses on marketing agents; among the most visible is the service provider. Previous research establishes the important role of cognitive social schemata in determining the way consumers react to different types of marketing agents, including service providers. In the literature review, a classification schema is developed for service provider stereotypes derived from theory using social stereotypes. The development of the Service Provider Perception Framework (SPPF) creates a classification for the individual service provider along two main dimensions: competence and affect. In services design (particularly situations involving a first impression or service encounter that has yet to develop into a committed relationship) consumers commonly possess and maintain stereotypes for service providers based on accumulated knowledge about people in a provider category. Prior to entering a service encounter, consumers use available information to form judgments based on descriptions of the selected service provider. Due to unfamiliarity with the specific provider, consumers are apt to focus on tangible cues (stereotypical attributes) of the service provider to evaluate the level of perceived quality and satisfaction associated with the service. This research furthers our understanding of how consumers evaluate service providers and, subsequently, the service experience. Following the development of the SPPF, this research uses two empirical studies to examine stereotypes, the use of innuendos, and various service outcomes on service encounters. The innuendo study confirms placement of four service provider types in the SPPF and examines how consumers\u27 perceptions of service providers change when subjects are provided incomplete information regarding only one dimension of the SPPF. The main study examines how consumers perceive service providers and the subsequent service encounter when the service provider is not what the consumer had expected to come into contact with. This research integrates cognitive social psychology with services marketing to advance the marketing discipline. Key findings increase knowledge of service provider perceptions as viewed by consumers and recommends methods to create prosperous relationships and improve existing relationships between the provider and the consumer utilizing characteristics associated to the type of service provider

Dialogical humour in evening service encounters in the hospitality industry in Seville, Spain

Given that humour greatly impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty, this paper explores thedialogical forms of humour occurring in evening service encounters. It reports on a studyfocusing on interactions between baristas and customers. The latter belong to two group:university students in their late teens and twenties, and regulars over forty years old. Theestablishments selected for the study are small cafes and small tapas bars in Seville. Thestudy is based on unobtrusive observation and field notes, as the humour authenticitydepends on naturalness and spontaneity. Although the interlocutors engaged in theencounters made use of dialogical forms of humour in order to achieve similar interactionalgoals, the results of the study reveal variation in terms of the quantity and categories ofcomical tokens. A series of individual and external factors explain this variation

Examining the relationship between language divergence and word-of-mouth intentions

More than half the countries in the world are multilingual, and more than half the world’s consumers speak more than one language. Thus, bilingual consumers often receive services provided in a second or nonnative language. This article examines these consumers’ word-of-mouth intentions after a service provision in a second language. Two studies show that consumers served in a second language are less likely to spread positive word of mouth. The results also reveal that consumers served in a second language perceive the service provider as less responsive in general. Furthermore, the service provider’s perceived responsiveness appears far more important for determining positive word-of-mouth intentions than other factors, such as service reliability. This study therefore contributes to the fields of service and sociolinguistics, with important implications for managers as well.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Examining the relationship between language divergence and word-of-mouth intentions journaltitle: Journal of Business Research articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.09.008 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.status: publishe

Customer Service in the Classroom

This study examines how customer service skills are being used within the classroom. I described customer service skills commonly found in the restaurant industry and then compared these skills with classroom management skills. I approached the collections of my data using the qualitative methodology of educational criticism and connoisseurship. The data that I collected were gathered from twelve observations conducted throughout one school district and self-reflection on a previous career in the restaurant industry. The results of these observations found common themes between the two industries that include proactiveness, impressions, relationships, modeling and being professional. This study presents how educating teachers with customer service skills may build better experiences and success for student and teacher within the classroom. The outcomes of this study may benefit future educational professional development topics

Exploring the conceptualization of the sensory dimension of tourist experiences

This paper aims to contribute to the conceptualization of the sensory dimension of tourist experiences by discussing its theoretical underpinnings. A multidisciplinary approach to the human senses shows their importance to the individual’s experience and perception of the surrounding world, recommending the appropriateness of a holistic analysis of sensescapes in tourism. A review of empirical studies conducted under the experiential paradigm of tourism on the five human senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch) evinces the use of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, which depends on research purposes, but also the practical implications of findings and data analysis to destination marketing and management. The paper discusses the role of the senses in designing tourist experiences, and identifies important topics regarding the study of the sensory dimension of tourist experiences, considering future research opportunities

Creating Strong Listening Environments: A Key Hospitality Management Task

The listening environment is viewed as an aspect of organizational culture that both influences and is influenced by individual behaviour. Discusses the concept of the listening environment within hospitality organizations from a symbolic/culture perspective. Examines the ways in which this environment influences both the accomplishment of organizational tasks and the development of interpersonal relationships on the job. Suggests that managers can deliberately control many aspects of the listening environment, and that effective hospitality leaders foster strong listening environments as one approach to increasing employee participation, excellent guest service and organizational commitment

Sensory marketing and tourist experiences

Marketing has been increasing its focus on the role of the five human senses in consumer behaviour, since research under the experiential paradigm has pointed to multisensory stimuli as intensifiers of consumers’ experiences, such as tourist experiences. Whereas previous studies in tourism touted vision, current research claims a holistic approach to sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch in order to develop effective communication and branding strategies, as well to boost the performance of destinations and tourist organizations by designing and creating conditions to enhance tourist experiences. This study aims to present the main contributions of the literature on a sensory marketing approach to the tourist experience, and to discuss some preliminary results of an empirical study on the role of human senses in tourist experiences in rural areas. Data analysis from a questionnaire presented to tourists supports the multisensory nature of tourist experiences and the importance of the five senses to the intensity of the experience

Understanding Tourist-Host Interactions and their Influence on Quality Tourism Experiences

In response to the rise in visitor harassment in tourist destinations, there is a need to further our understanding of its impacts on the tourist experience. The purpose of this study was to understand tourist-host interactions in the context of harassment and its influence on overall quality of the tourism experience. Tourist attitudes towards hosts is an under researched topic in the academic literature. Thus, this thesis makes use of the social exchange theory, tourism development cycles, and the concept of segmentation (traditionally used to explain residents’ attitudes towards tourism/tourists), to help understand tourists’ attitudes towards hosts. Similarly, there are few studies that investigate tourist harassment by local people. Tourists’ attitudes towards the local people of Jamaica and the island itself were examined generally, and then with reference to the host behavior towards tourists and its potential for causing dissatisfaction with the overall quality of the tourism experience. This thesis utilized mixed methods in the form of surveys (quantitative data) and event-logs (qualitative data) to explore harassments impact on tourists’ perceptions, attitudes, and experiences. Data was collected on the island of Jamiaca, in Montego Bay and Negril. A total of 209 surveys were collected and 15 events were logged via BlackBerries over a weekend period. Both methodological approaches were employed during participants’ tourism experience, with the intent to capture their “in the moment” attitudinal responses towards the island, the local people, and the behavior of harassment. Results suggest that nearly 59% of participants experienced harassment, most often in the form of pestering vendors, and taking place on the street. Generally, participants’ attitudes towards the island of Jamaica and local people were positive. Although, when harassed and non-harassed participants were compared, those who were harassed expressed slightly more negative views. These negative views however, did not deter the majority of harassed participants from recommending or returning to Jamaica in the future. The findings of the present study raised important implications for tourism managers, operators, and planners, as harassment, although deemed an annoying local behavior, did not appear to negatively impact participants\u27 tourism experience of Jamaica. Furthermore, this tehsis advocates the need for continued research on the topics of visitor harassment and host-guest interactions, specifically hosts ability to influence the quality of tourists’ experiences

The antecedents and consequences of value co-creation behaviors in a hotel setting: a two-country study

This study examines the antecedents and consequences of value co-creation behavior in a hospitality context. An online questionnaire with samples of hotel patrons in the United States and Australia was used to obtain data and partial least square modeling was used in the analysis. The results suggest patron fairness perception enhances trust and identification with a hotel, which encourage engagement in the value co-creation behavior. Furthermore, this behavior enhances patron well-being and respect for the hotel. The study contributes to the literature by suggesting a value co-creation behavior model in the hospitality context and empirically examining the antecedents and consequences of this behavior. The results have important implications for managers designing service encounters that can encourage hotel patrons to engage in the value co-creation behavior

Frontline Employees’ Informal Learning and Customer Relationship Skills in Macao Casinos: An Empirical Study

This study uses qualitative methods to better understand how the informal learning of frontline employees influenced their customer relationship skills in dealing with patrons at gaming tables, in the hope of achieving positive customer experiences in a competitive environment in Macao. As casino operators need to get their employees to work after limited formal training, they might find that their emphasis on formal training might be insufficient to provide patrons with customized service in Macao. In this context, the concept of informal learning, which is determined and directed by learners themselves to further improve what they have learned from their formal training, is likely to be of special significance in Macao. Based upon a constructivistic framework, this study used semi-structured interviews to gather data from 49 frontline employees. The study relied upon the Miles and Huberman (1994) framework to analyze qualitative data. Data analysis suggested that informal learning among frontline employees would lead to four strategies: (i) to be polite and respect patrons; (ii) to uncover patrons’ emotional status from their body language; (iii) to manage patrons’ emotions in their gaming pursuit; and (iv) to self-regulate emotions to the demands of a service encounter