Developing a deeper understanding of the attributes of effective customer contact employees in personal complaint-handling encounters

Purpose – The paper explores the nature of complaint satisfaction. It examines how contact employees should behave and which qualities they should possess. The study also aims to explore the comparability of results obtained from two laddering methods as the alternative techniques may lead to different sets of attributes. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory study using the means-end approach and two laddering techniques (personal interviews and questionnaires) was conducted. Findings –While the personal interviews produced more depth in understanding, the results of the two laddering methods are broadly similar. The research indicates that being taken seriously in the complaint encounter and the employee’s listening skills and competence are particularly important. Research limitations/implications – Due to the exploratory nature of the study and the scope and size of its student sample, the results outlined are tentative in nature. Practical implications – If companies know what customers expect, contact employees may be trained to adapt their behavior to their customers’ underlying expectations, which should have a positive impact on customer satisfaction. For this purpose, the paper gives suggestions to managers to improve active complaint management. Originality/value – The study was the first to successfully apply the means-end approach and two laddering techniques to the issue of complaint satisfaction. The paper has hopefully opened up an area of research and methodology that could reap considerable further benefits for researchers interested in the area of customer complaint satisfaction

Designing and conducting online interviews to investigate interesting consumer phenomena

Purpose – This paper thoroughly explains how qualitative researchers can design and conduct online interviews to investigate interesting consumer phenomena. Design/Methodology/Approach – A semi-standardized qualitative technique called laddering was applied successfully to an online environment. Laddering allows researchers to reach deeper levels of reality and to reveal the reasons behind the reasons. A web survey that included an opinion leadership scale, filled in by 2,472 people, served as a springboard for identifying possible participants for the online laddering interviews. 22 online interviews were conducted with opinion leaders in the specific product field of digital music players such as Apple’s iPod. Findings – By conducting online interviews we were able to gather information from an interesting group of respondents that would have been difficult to contact otherwise. The whole online interviewing process was convenient for respondents who did not have to leave their homes and offices for the interviews. In general respondents enjoyed the online laddering interviewing experience and in particular the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The most valued attributes of Apple’s iPod are “control elements” and “design”, which are linked to values such as hedonism and individuality. Originality/value – The paper is the first to systematicallydescribe how qualitative researchers can conduct laddering interviews online. By explaining the online interviewing process in detail, we dispel criticism that qualitative research reports are often unclear, ambiguous and unstructured. Based on the detailed description of the online laddering process, other researchers can use the technique to get deeper insights into interesting consumer phenomena

Theorising resilience in times of austerity

AbstractResilience is an important theoretical construct that helps to conceptualise the ways individuals and organisations attempt to countervail the effects of poverty and austerity. As a response to prolonged crises, such as the global economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, this chapter focuses on tracing the psychological, behavioural, sociological and spatial perspectives of resilience, advancing our current understanding of resilience theory within the marketing and consumption context of crises and austerity. The chapter reviews recent research exploring the importance of resilience, and more specifically the notion of persistent resilience in response to long-term stressors, such as unemployment, triggered by the austerity measures imposed by European governments following the global economic crisis as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. In advancing previous research in this area, we offer a broader perspective by underlining the impetus for businesses and communities to employ a range of resilience strategies while also highlighting the importance for individuals to develop a sustainable set of resilience capacities to help creatively navigate the market and flexibly adapt to the long-term effects of intense and long-standing crises.</p