Fitting Restaurant Service Style to Brand Image for Greater Customer Satisfaction

Supported by academic researchers, the restaurant industry has devoted enormous effort to the task of conceptualizing and developing measures of “service quality,” 1 based on the reasonable proposition that restaurant guests’ satisfaction relies on quality of service. However, it has become clear to us that quality alone is not the full measure of how restaurant guests gauge or react to their servers’ actions. Consequently, in this CHR report, we measure the effects of “service style,” which we conceptualize as a manner of delivering guest service that is specifically identifiable on some dimension other than quality. We feel that this issue of service style has largely been overlooked, and we believe it’s important to assess the effectiveness of different service styles in a particular restaurant context

Touch Versus Tech: When Technology Functions as a Barrier or a Benefit to Service Encounters

Interpersonal exchanges between customers and frontline service employees increasingly involve the use of technology, such as point-of-sale terminals, tablets, and kiosks. The present research draws on role and script theories to demonstrate that customer reactions to technology-infused service exchanges depend on the presence of employee rapport. When rapport is present during the exchange, the use of technology functions as an interpersonal barrier preventing the customer from responding in kind to employee rapport-building efforts, thereby decreasing service encounter evaluations. However, during service encounters in which employees are not engaging in rapport building, technology functions as an interpersonal barrier, enabling customers to retreat from the relatively unpleasant service interaction, thereby increasing service encounter evaluations. Two analyses using J.D. Power Guest Satisfaction Index data support the barrier and beneficial effects of technology use during service encounters with and without rapport, respectively. A follow-up experiment replicates this data pattern and identifies psychological discomfort as a key process that governs the effect. For managers, the results demonstrate the inherent incompatibility of initiatives designed to encourage employee–customer rapport with those that introduce technology into frontline service exchanges

“Service Encounter 2.0” : an investigation into the roles of technology, employees and customers

The service encounter – one of the foundational concepts in service research – is fundamentally changing due to rapid evolutions in technology. In this paper, we offer an updated perspective on what we label the “Service Encounter 2.0”. To this end, we develop a conceptual framework that captures the essence of the Service Encounter 2.0 and provides a synthesis of the changing interdependent roles of technology, employees, and customers. We find that technology either augments or substitutes service employees, and can foster network connections. In turn, employees and customers are taking on the role of enabler, innovator, coordinator and differentiator. In addition, we identify critical areas for future research on this important topic

Shopping under the influence of curiosity: How retailers use mystery to drive purchase motivation ☆

Mystery appeals are gaining popularity as a shopper marketing strategy. In this practice, firms intentionally restrict information about their offerings in order to pique consumer curiosity and drive purchase motivation. The present research examines curiosity's role in influencing consumer behavior. Study 1 reveals that mystery appeals create more curiosity than other affective states, and that curiosity predicts purchase motivation via a direct path. Exploring the optimal level of information needed to maximize curiosity, study 1 finds that participants are more curious when given moderate information, over minimal information. Next, study 2 demonstrates that shopping in an actively curious state can impact consumer outcomes via an indirect path that is mediated by consumer evaluation of the mystery appeal. This research is the first to identify curiosity as the affective state that is primarily triggered by mystery appeals, and to explain how curiosity directly and indirectly impacts consumer purchase motivation

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Truly, Madly, Deeply: Consumers in the Throes of Material Possession Love

Our treatment of material possession love expands an understanding of the role that discrete emotional attachment forms play in identifying commercial value for marketers and in enhancing consumer well-being. Employing a mixed-methods research design—relying on both qualitative and quantitative data—we develop and empirically test a three-factor, but seven-faceted, conceptualization of material possession love in four separate consumption contexts (automobiles, computers, bicycles, and firearms). We find love-smitten consumers nurturing their beloved possessions, in part, by buying complementary products and services. We also find that material possession love is empirically tied to loneliness and social affiliation deficits, which suggests a compensatory basis of consumer well-being. We distinguish possession love from the construct of attitude and empirically demonstrate the distinct functionality of each. Our concluding discussion considers our mixed-methods findings and their implications for consumer research.

Beyond country image favorability: How brand positioning via country personality stereotypes enhances brand evaluations

Across four lab experiments and a field study, we find that brands are evaluated more favorably when the brand is positioned in a manner that is congruent with the brand’s home country personality stereotype than when brand positioning is incongruent. Results demonstrate that cultural authenticity mediates this effect. We also uncover a moderating effect whereby brands are viewed more favorably when brand positioning and country personality stereotypes are incongruent, rather than congruent, under conditions of consumer animosity toward the firm’s home country. This study is the first to demonstrate how international firms can leverage country-of-origin personality stereotypes as a brand-building advantage. -- A partir de quatre expériences de laboratoire et d’une étude de terrain, nous constatons que les marques sont évaluées plus favorablement lorsque la marque est positionnée de manière conforme au stéréotype de personnalité du pays d’origine de la marque que lorsque le positionnement de la marque est non conforme. Les résultats montrent que l’authenticité culturelle a un effet médiateur sur cette relation. Nous découvrons également un effet modérateur par lequel les marques sont perçues plus favorablement lorsque le positionnement de la marque et les stéréotypes de la personnalité du pays sont non conformes, plutôt que conformes, dans les cas d’animosité du consommateur envers le pays d’origine de la firme. Cette étude est la première à démontrer comment les firmes internationales peuvent tirer parti des stéréotypes de personnalité du pays d’origine comme avantage de développement de la marque. -- En cuatro experimentos de laboratorio y un estudio de campo, encontramos que las marcas se evalúan más favorablemente cuando se posiciona la marca de una manera que es congruente con el estereotipo de la personalidad de la marca del país de origen, que cuando el posicionamiento de marca es incongruente. Los resultados demuestran que la autenticidad cultural media este efecto. También descubrimos un efecto moderador por el cual las marcas son vistas de manera más favorable cuando el posicionamiento de marca y los estereotipos de la personalidad del país son incongruentes, en lugar de congruentes, en condiciones de animosidad del consumidor hacia el país de origen de la empresa. Este estudio es el primero en demostrar como las empresas internacionales pueden aprovechar los estereotipos de la personalidad del país de origen como una ventaja de creación de marca. -- Por meio de quatro experimentos de laboratório e um estudo de campo, descobrimos que marcas são avaliadas mais favoravelmente quando a marca é posicionada de forma congruente com o estereótipo de personalidade do país de origem do que quando o posicionamento da marca é incongruente. Os resultados demonstram que a autenticidade cultural medeia esse efeito. Também descobrimos um efeito moderador pelo qual as marcas são vistas mais favoravelmente quando o posicionamento da marca e os estereótipos de personalidade do país são incongruentes, e não congruentes, sob condições de animosidade do consumidor em relação ao país de origem da empresa. Este estudo é o primeiro a demonstrar como empresas internacionais podem alavancar os estereótipos de personalidade do país de origem como uma vantagem de construção de marca. -- 在四个实验室实验和实地研究中, 我们发现, 当品牌定位的方式与品牌的母国国家刻板印象一致时,品牌的评估较品牌定位不一致时更有利。结果表明, 文化真实性可以调节这种效应。我们还发现了一种调节效应, 即当品牌定位和国家个性刻板印象在消费者对公司母国的敌意情况下不一致(而不是一致)时, 品牌被更有利地看待。本研究首次揭示了国际公司如何利用原籍国个性刻板印象获得品牌建设优势

Building the bottom line by developing the frontline: Career development for service employees

Service firms must remember that the way they treat their employees is exactly how those employees will, in turn, treat customers. As such, taking good care of frontline personnel should be a top management concern. One way that service employees can be shown they are valued members of the organization entails the implementation of thoughtful and organized career development programs, initiatives which help increase employees' job satisfaction and feelings of empowerment in their customer-facing roles. Before they can become enthusiastic about meeting the needs of their customers, employees have to feel that their own needs are being met within the organization. In this regard, firm investment in frontline employee career development programs will be money well spent: they are capable of reducing employee turnover and increasing customer satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability. This article provides a conceptual model of career development which should prove useful to service managers in evaluating their own career development efforts. Also presented herein is a framework for tying together many disparate areas of career development that have heretofore been handled separately in the services literature.Career development Frontline employees Improved service quality Empowerment Services human resource management

Shopping Under the Influence of Curiosity: How Retailers Use Mystery to Drive Purchase Motivation

Mystery appeals are gaining popularity as a shopper marketing strategy. In this practice, firms intentionally restrict information about their offerings in order to pique consumer curiosity and drive purchase motivation. The present research examines curiosity\u27s role in influencing consumer behavior. Study 1 reveals that mystery appeals create more curiosity than other affective states, and that curiosity predicts purchase motivation via a direct path. Exploring the optimal level of information needed to maximize curiosity, study 1 finds that participants are more curious when given moderate information, over minimal information. Next, study 2 demonstrates that shopping in an actively curious state can impact consumer outcomes via an indirect path that is mediated by consumer evaluation of the mystery appeal. This research is the first to identify curiosity as the affective state that is primarily triggered by mystery appeals, and to explain how curiosity directly and indirectly impacts consumer purchase motivation