Joy and Disappointment in the Hotel Experience: Managing Relationship Segments

Purpose – The objective of this research is to provide insight into the management of service quality and emotions across customer relationships in the business‐to‐consumer market and to identify which segmentation method, i.e. conceptual versus data‐driven, is more effective for this purpose. Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐sectional customer satisfaction survey conducted in the hotel industry was used to test the predictions. The respondents were Norwegian customers (n=689) of an international hotel chain, interviewed by telephone through a professional marketing research bureau. Several statistical analyses were applied to analyze the data, i.e. Cluster, MANOVA and regression. The conceptual model was estimated using PLS. Findings – It would appear that the weaker the relationship segment, the more quality‐based and disappointing is the customer experience. The stronger or closer the relationship segment, the more balanced (with respect to price and quality) and joyful is the experience. One segmentation method seems to be more efficient than the other in this context. Research limitations/implications – The sample consists of Norwegian customers from the hotel industry represented by the business customer segment. There are more men than women in the samples. Practical implications – The findings will allow service providers to develop more effective product‐service‐price offerings and manage the emotional responses of customers with whom they have very different relationships. Originality/value – This is the first scientific study to examine just how the role of emotions varies across relationship segments while comparing the findings from two different segmentation techniques

Epilogue - Service Innovation Actor Engagement: An Integrative Model

Purpose: While (customer) engagement has been proposed as a volitional concept, our structuration theory/S-D logic-informed analyses of actors’ (e.g. employees’) engagement in service innovation reveal engagement as a boundedly volitional theoretical entity. Engagement’s boundedly volitional nature arises from actors’ structural and agency-based characteristics and constraints that are addressed and further developed in a conceptual model of actor (i.e. customer, firm, employee) engagement with service innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the observed gap, we propose an integrative S-D logic/structuration theoretical model that outlines three particular service innovation actors’ (i.e. customers’, the firm’s, and employees’) engagement, which comprises institution-driven (i.e. fixed) and agency-driven (i.e. variable) engagement facets. In addition, we integrate the key expected characteristics of positively (vs. negatively) valenced service innovation engagement for each of these actor groups in our analyses. Findings: We develop a 12-cell matrix (conceptual model) that outlines particular service innovation actors’ institution-driven and agency-driven engagement facets, and outline their expected impact on actors’ ensuing positively and negatively valenced engagement. Research limitations/implications: We discuss key theoretical implications arising from our analyses. Originality/value: Outlining service innovation actors’ structure- and agency-driven engagement facets, our model can be used to explain or predict customers’, the firm’s, or employees’ service innovation engagement-based activities.acceptedVersio

Bridging the data divide between practitioners and academics: Approaches to collaborating better to leverage each other's resources

Purpose – Organizations (data gatherers in the context) drown in data while at the same time seeking managerially relevant insights. Academics (data hunters) have to deal with decreasing respondent participation and escalating costs of data collection while at the same time seeking to increase the managerial relevance of their research. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework on how, managers and academics can collaborate better to leverage each other’s resources. Design/methodology/approach – This research synthesizes the academic and the managerial literature on the realities and priorities of practitioners and academics with regard to data. Based on the literature, reflections from the world’s leading service research centers, and the authors’ own experiences, the authors develop recommendations on how to collaborate in research. Findings – Four dimensions of different data realities and priorities were identified: research problem, research resources, research process and research outcome. In total, 26 recommendations are presented that aim to equip academics to leverage the potential of corporate data for research purposes and to help managers to leverage research results for their business. Research limitations/implications – This paper argues that both practitioners and academics have a lot to gain from collaborating by exchanging corporate data for scientific approaches and insights. However, the gap between different realities and priorities needs to be bridged when doing so. The paper first identifies data realities and priorities and then develops recommendations on how to best collaborate given these differences. Practical implications – This research has the potential to contribute to managerial practice by informing academics on how to better collaborate with the managerial world and thereby facilitate collaboration and the dissemination of academic research for the benefit of both parties. Originality/value – Whereas the previous literature has primarily examined practitioner–academic collaboration in general, this study is the first to focus specifically on the aspects related to sharing corporate data and to elaborate on academic and corporate objectives with regard to data and insights.This study was partially funded by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Singapore. Project: Service Productivity and Innovation Research, No. MOE2016-SSRTG-059

—Net Promoter, Recommendations, and Business Performance: A Clarification on Morgan and Rego

One of the most controversial findings in Morgan and Rego (2006) was that two widely advocated loyalty metrics, “Net Promoter” and “Number of Recommendations,” have little or no value in predicting the financial outcomes of firms. We argue that neither measure was actually examined and that conclusions about the predictive value of these measures cannot be drawn from their analysis. A primary problem is that the measures used in Morgan and Rego (2006) do not adequately adjust for the presence of neutral word-of-mouth activity. Nevertheless, Morgan and Rego (2006) provide important information regarding other common customer metrics and firm financial outcomes. We are unaware of another longitudinal study that examines the predictive value of satisfaction and loyalty metrics in such a comprehensive way.Net Promoter, word-of-mouth, recommendations, financial performance, intentions, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty

Bridging the data divide between practitioners and academics Approaches to collaborating better to leverage each other’s resources

Purpose Organizations (data gatherers in the context) drown in data while at the same time seeking managerially relevant insights. Academics (data hunters) have to deal with decreasing respondent participation and escalating costs of data collection while at the same time seeking to increase the managerial relevance of their research. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework on how, managers and academics can collaborate better to leverage each other’s resources. Design/methodology/approach This research synthesizes the academic and the managerial literature on the realities and priorities of practitioners and academics with regard to data. Based on the literature, reflections from the world’s leading service research centers, and the authors’ own experiences, the authors develop recommendations on how to collaborate in research. Findings Four dimensions of different data realities and priorities were identified: research problem, research resources, research process and research outcome. In total, 26 recommendations are presented that aim to equip academics to leverage the potential of corporate data for research purposes and to help managers to leverage research results for their business. Research limitations/implications This paper argues that both practitioners and academics have a lot to gain from collaborating by exchanging corporate data for scientific approaches and insights. However, the gap between different realities and priorities needs to be bridged when doing so. The paper first identifies data realities and priorities and then develops recommendations on how to best collaborate given these differences. Practical implications This research has the potential to contribute to managerial practice by informing academics on how to better collaborate with the managerial world and thereby facilitate collaboration and the dissemination of academic research for the benefit of both parties. Originality/value Whereas the previous literature has primarily examined practitioner–academic collaboration in general, this study is the first to focus specifically on the aspects related to sharing corporate data and to elaborate on academic and corporate objectives with regard to data and insights