The Value of Measuring Customer Satisfaction

A growing number of service firms now collect customer satisfaction ratings, along with objective service performance measures, for each service transaction. However, little is known about whether these two types of data are substitutes or complements, from both a conceptual and an applied point of view. This paper answers this question via the use of unique data consisting of individual-level cross-sectional and time-series measures of objective service performance, customer satisfaction, and purchase behavior. Using theory from the customer satisfaction literature, the data are applied to a two stage model of customer satisfaction and interpurchase time. The results suggest that the two sources of data provide complementary insights. In other words, customer satisfaction data provide information on business outcomes over and above that obtained from objective service performance data. The benefit of using and the cost of collecting these data are also quantified. The results are consistent across two different - quick service restaurant and auto rental - service industries, suggesting that they may be generalizable.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113095/1/1283_Manchanda.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113095/4/1283_Manchanda_Oct2015.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113095/6/1283_Cho_Jan2017.pdfDescription of 1283_Manchanda_Oct2015.pdf : October 2015 RevisionDescription of 1283_Cho_Jan2017.pdf : January 2017 revisio

The Role of Network Embeddedness in Film Success

In the early stage of film development when producers assemble a development team, it is important to understand the means by which different team members may contribute to the film\u27s box office. Building upon theories from marketing and sociology, we propose that these contributions arise from team members\u27 positions, or embeddedness, in a social network weaved through past film collaborations. These collaborations provide team members with opportunities to draw knowledge and skills from the network for new film projects. Our conceptual framework accentuates two aspects of network embeddedness: positional embeddedness (PE)—how well a person is tied to well-connected others, and junctional embeddedness (JE)—the extent to which a person bridges sub-communities in the industry. We examine how the importance of PE and JE varies by functional role (cast versus crew), and is moderated by the film\u27s studio affiliation. Analyzing more than 15,000 industry professionals over nearly two decades of film collaborations, this research reveals crucial and divergent relationships: while high PE is more valuable for the cast, high JE is critical for the crew. This role distinction also depends on a film\u27s studio affiliation. Managerially, these findings provide guidance to film executives and producers in revenue maximization through strategic team assembly, and to talents in career management

—Interbrand Variant Overlap: Impact on Brand Preference and Portfolio Profit

Firms often carry a portfolio of multiple brands within a product category to target different quality tiers in the market. Furthermore, to satisfy heterogeneous consumer preferences within each quality tier, these firms also offer several variants for each brand. A natural outcome of this practice is interbrand variant overlap that could occur across tiers or within a tier. In this paper, we show that across-tier variant overlap is likely to diminish the preference of an upper-tier brand and enhance the preference of a lower-tier brand. We also find that variant overlap within a tier is likely to increase preferences of a brand belonging to the tier. Such variant overlap effects have important brand portfolio management implications for a multibrand firm. Specifically, we demonstrate that such a firm can enhance its portfolio profit under certain conditions by pruning its variants to reduce variant overlap. Because our paper relies on aggregate data, future research should investigate variant overlap at the individual level using panel or experimental data.brand portfolio management, variant overlap, product line pruning, multibrand firm, Bayesian

Time to pay attention to attention: using attention-based process traces to better understand consumer decision-making

This paper examines consumers’ attention traces (e.g., sequences of eye fixations and saccades) during choice. Due to reduced equipment cost and increased ease of analysis, attention traces can reflect a more fine-grained representation of decision-making activities (e.g., formation of a consideration set, alternative evaluation, and decision strategies). Besides enabling a better understanding of actual consumer choice, attention traces support more complex models of choice, and point to the prospects of specific interventions at various stages of the choice process. We identify and discuss promising areas for future research

Time to pay attention to attention: using attention-based process traces to better understand consumer decision-making

This paper examines consumers’ attention traces (e.g., sequences of eye fixations and saccades) during choice. Due to reduced equipment cost and increased ease of analysis, attention traces can reflect a more fine-grained representation of decision-making activities (e.g., formation of a consideration set, alternative evaluation, and decision strategies). Besides enabling a better understanding of actual consumer choice, attention traces support more complex models of choice, and point to the prospects of specific interventions at various stages of the choice process. We identify and discuss promising areas for future research