The Nature and Methodological Implications of the Cognitive Representation of Products

A general relationship is proposed wherein more abstract attributes are likely to resemble continuous dimensions while more concrete attributes are likely to resemble dichotomous features. While some methodologies assume dimensional representations, others assume feature-based representations. This suggests that dimensional methods may better capture abstract product representations while feature-based methods may better capture concrete representations. The results of two studies that support both the general relationship and its methodological implications are reported

Companies that do better by their customers also do better in the stock market

Many firms don't understand the value of satisfied customers or don't collect their data correctly, write Claes Fornell, Forrest Morgeson and Tomas Hul

Effect of Website Characteristics on Consumer Behavior: A Multilevel Analysis

This paper uses a hierarchical linear modeling approach to examine factors that affect Website effectiveness from a customer viewpoint. Use of hierarchical linear modeling allows analysis of multilevel and cross-level interactions that have not been explicitly considered in previous research. Our preliminary analysis of online Web survey data suggests that the relative importance of different Website features may vary depending on the domain in which Websites are nested

A framework for comparing customer satisfaction across individuals and product categories

A framework is presented which integrates economic and psychological perspectives in order to compare customer satisfaction across individuals and product categories. The framework lays the foundation for the development of a national index for customer satisfaction that is now in place in Sweden. An important property of any such index is that it allows for comparisons across customers, firms, and industries. A number of propositions are forwarded regarding potentially systematic differences in satisfaction across people and products.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29302/1/0000365.pd

Differentiation as a basis for explaining customer satisfaction across industries

The paper uses the differentiation of offerings as a basis for explaining differences in aggregate, industry level customer satisfaction in the annual Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer. The results reveal that differentiated industries have higher aggregate levels of perceived performance and subsequent customer satisfaction, and that a large portion of variance in customer satisfaction across industries can be explained by the impact of differentiation (via perceived performance). These findings suggest that it is indeed possible to make meaningful comparisons of customer satisfaction across different industries.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/30423/1/0000044.pd

How Does Customer Service Offshoring Impact Customer Satisfaction?

Information technology (IT) plays a vital role in customer relationship management (CRM), because CRM processes include the collection and analysis of customer information, firms use technology tools to interact with customers, and IT created the conditions under which firms can offshore CRM processes. Customers have negative perceptions toward offshoring, which suggests that firms might be reluctant to offshore IT-enabled CRM processes. However, firms have significantly increased offshoring for CRM processes, presenting a conundrum. Why would firms increase offshoring for CRM processes if there could be a risk to customer satisfaction? This paper helps to resolve the conundrum by studying the impact of CRM sourcing on customer satisfaction with the firm’s products and services, as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction IndexTM. We analyze data for 150 North American firms and business units over a nine-year period. Front office offshore outsourcing and front office onshore outsourcing are both negatively associated with customer satisfaction, which suggests that negative customer perceptions may be due to the firm boundary dimension rather than the geographic location dimension. Front office offshore outsourcing is not statistically significant for services firms, which suggests that customers are more accepting of offshore providers in a service setting. Over time, the coefficient for back office offshore outsourcing has become more positive, which suggests that firms may expect to see a similar improvement for front office offshore outsourcing in the future. Our empirical results provide a basis to understand why firms have increased IT-enabled CRM offshoring despite short-term risks to customer satisfaction

The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, Purpose, and Findings

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a new type of market-based performance measure for firms, industries, economic sectors, and national economies. The authors discuss the nature and purpose of ACSI and explain the theory underlying the ACSI model, the nation-wide survey methodology used to collect the data, and the econometric approach employed to estimate the indices. They also illustrate the use of ACSI in conducting benchmarking studies, both cross-sectionally and over time. The authors find customer satisfaction to be greater for goods than for services and, in turn, greater for services than for government agencies, as well as find cause for concern in the observation that customer satisfaction in the United States is declining, primarily because of decreasing satisfaction with services. The authors estimate the model for the seven major economic sectors for which data are collected. Highlights of the findings include that (1) customization is more important than reliability in determining customer satisfaction, (2) customer expectations play a greater role in sectors in which variance in production and consumption is relatively low, and (3) customer satisfaction is more quality-driven than value- or price-driven. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of ACSI for public policymakers, managers, consumers, and marketing in general

Direct regression, reverse regression, and covariance structure analysis

This paper discusses the issues in estimating the effects of marketing variables with linear models. When the variables are not directly observable, it is well known that direct regression yields biased estimates. Several researchers have recently suggested reverse regression as an alternative procedure. However, it is shown that the reverse regression approach also fails to provide unbiased estimates in general, except for some special cases. It is proposed that covariance structure analysis with an appropriate measurement model can ensure the unbiasedness of estimated effects. These issues are examined in the context of assessing market pioneer advantages.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47088/1/11002_2004_Article_BF00554134.pd