Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

Over the last few years, the concept of online loyalty has been examined extensively in the literature, and it remains a topic of constant inquiry for both academics and marketing managers. The tremendous development of the Internet for both marketing and e-commerce settings, in conjunction with the growing desire of consumers to purchase online, has promoted two main outcomes: (a) increasing numbers of Business-to-Customer companies running businesses online and (b) the development of a variety of different e-loyalty research models. However, current research lacks a systematic review of the literature that provides a general conceptual framework on e-loyalty, which would help managers to understand their customers better, to take advantage of industry-related factors, and to improve their service quality. The present study is an attempt to critically synthesize results from multiple empirical studies on e-loyalty. Our findings illustrate that 62 instruments for measuring e-loyalty are currently in use, influenced predominantly by Zeithaml et al. (J Marketing. 1996;60(2):31-46) and Oliver (1997; Satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. New York: McGraw Hill). Additionally, we propose a new general conceptual framework, which leads to antecedents dividing e-loyalty on the basis of the action of purchase into pre-purchase, during-purchase and after-purchase factors. To conclude, a number of managerial implementations are suggested in order to help marketing managers increase their customers’ e-loyalty by making crucial changes in each purchase stage

Investigating the Influence of Product Reviews on Perceived Uncertainty in Online Transactions

Customers’ concerns about the potential risks in online transactions hinder the development of e-commerce. Researchershave devoted a lot of effort to looking for a way to alleviate the uncertainty pertaining to these risks. Online customer reviewsdesigned to deliver information in addition to a manufacturer’s product description, have attracted researchers’ attention. Inthis study, we assume that the risks in an online transaction originate specifically from sellers’ hidden information and hiddenactions. With the aid of customer reviews of products, we want to measure how this uncertainty and these risks can bealleviated. In addition, we measure the effects of customer reviews with different argument qualities and different starratings

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

Companies\u27 Responses to Negative Online Reviews

Past research has revealed that very little research had examined services recovery strategies in the online context. The study investigated different types of companies’ responses to negative online reviews as a service recovery strategy after a service failure. The current research centers on the relationship between one service recovery strategy and three online customer behavioral reactions: post-purchase cognitive dissonance, post-recovery satisfaction and re-purchase intentions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions and were asked to complete a questionnaire that measured cognitive dissonance, post-recovery satisfaction and re-purchase intention scores, as well as demographic items. Results showed that the apology condition had a significant impact on customer’s post-purchase dissonance, post-recovery satisfaction and re-purchase intention

One Night Or Many? Effects Of Amenity Charge Transparency On Consumer Reaction

This research examines how different levels of amenity charge transparency in hotel services affect consumers’ prepurchase and postpurchase evaluations in low- and high-priced hotels. Results show that consumer responses to different levels of transparency of amenity pricing information on hotel websites vary from prepurchase to postpurchase across high- and low-priced hotels. Results support using a high amenity charge transparency strategy, especially for low-priced hotels. Managers should think beyond consumers’ immediate purchase decisions and consider consumer postpurchase reviews and future repeat purchases

A study of negative customer online reviews and managerial responses on social media— case study of the Marriott Hotel Group in Beijing

Putting customers at the center of business is the priority for the global hospitality and tourism companies. The importance of customer satisfaction and perceived higher quality of service dictate the branding images for global hotels within this era of social media. Managers need to understand the nature of online customers' reviews, which can help hotels to reflect on their operations and improve their service quality. The purpose of this paper is to explore the major reasons for hotel customers’ complaints on social media, and discuss how hotel managers respond to these. Researches have showed that negative online reviews have much greater impacts on customers decision making compared with positive reviews in hospitality industry. Limited negative reviews can influence hotels business performance in a long period of time, while many hospitality organisations ignore this challenging issue or not pay enough attention. This study chooses the Marriott Hotel Group in Beijing as a case study. A quantitative content study of customers' online reviews and hotel managers’ responses to these on TripAdvisor was conducted through a netnographic analysis process. The authors aim to analyze in greater detail the effects of hotel attributes on hotel business performance considering customers’ voice as expressed through their negative reviews. It was found that employees' lack of empathy is the main factor underlying customer complaints, followed by reliability, tangible factors, amenities and availability. The managerial responses were analyzed to identify the patterns and key words. The outcome provides a guidance tool for hotel management regarding which service elements to improve and how to respond appropriately to negative reviews

Path Analysis of Perceived Value Influence on Shopping Satisfaction of Online Customers in the View of Mental Accounting

As a kind of psychological activity in the individuals, families or organizations, mental accounting focuses on economic activity, coding and evaluation. It is of practical significance to explore customer behavior patterns and psychological changes, and improve customer satisfaction through reasonable marketing. Online enterprises need to pay attention to the perceived value of consumers and enhance overall consumer satisfaction so as to achieve long-term and stable development under the background of economic globalization. Enterprises and organizations obtain complete and accurate personalized demand information of consumers in order to achieve a win-win situation for both consumers and enterprises. This study focuses on the influencing factors of online shopping satisfaction of consumers in the new environment of online and offline integration, and explores the path dependence and influence of online consumer perceived value and the website features of consumer satisfaction. Based on the theory of mental accounting and consumer behavior, this study combines the Howard-Sheth model with the consumer perception value theory to construct a theoretical framework. This study extends prior work by using structural equation model to test the effect of perceived value on website features, trust and customer satisfaction from the perspective of mental accounting. It is hoped that this study can provide data reference and theoretical guidance for online enterprises in marketing and knowledge management, in a bid to develop accurate marketing strategies, customer segmentation and differentiated services, improve the operation mechanism of network market and promote online services

Methodologies for Assessment of Building's Energy Efficiency and Conservation: A Policy-Maker View

Recent global peer-review reports have concluded on importance of buildings in tacking the energy security and climate change challenges. To integrate the buildings energy efficiency into the policy agenda, significant research efforts have been recently done. More specifically, the public domain provides a bulk of literature on the application of buildings-related efficiency technologies and behavioural patterns, barriers to penetration of these practices, policies to overcome these barriers. From the policy-making perspective it is useful to understand how far our understanding of building energy efficiency goes and the approaches and methodologies are behind such assessment.Buildings, energy efficiency potential, greenhouse gas mitigation, policy assessment, energy policy impact evaluation, sectoral efficiency targets