Emerald | Managing Service Quality

Bridging the gap between brand strategy and customer experience

simon clatworthy — 2012-03-16 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - This paper describes the development and evaluation of a process model to transform brand strategy into service experiences during the front end of New Service Development (NSD). This is an important yet poorly understood transformation that occurs early in service development projects. The paper describes the theoretical basis for this transformation, and introduces a process model that has been developed to understand and assist with this. Further, it describes early evaluation results and reflections upon its use. Design/methodology/approach - A research through design approach using participatory co-design led to the development of the new process. The development was iterative and carried out together with three service providers. The process model was evaluated using a combination of qualitative methods, including interviews, observation and participatory observation. Findings - This work underlines the importance of aligning the customer experience to the company brand and suggests how this can be achieved. A key element in this is the development of a service personality and consideration of service touch-point behaviours through a combination of analytical work and experience prototyping. The suggested process model has received positive evaluation when used in commercial projects, in terms of brand congruence, project team cohesiveness and experiential result. The work advocates tighter integration between brand management and NSD, and has identified multiple issues regarding the content of a service brand strategy. These include the ways in which a brand department should communicate its brand strategy, and how it should be involved in NSD projects to ensure brand alignment. Research limitations/implications - The evaluation of the model has limitations, both in terms of number of cases and downstream/long term effects. This should therefore be considered an initial evaluation of the model, requiring further verification.Practical implications - The paper describes a structured three stage experience-centric process that improves brand alignment in projects. Further, the work shows that brand specifications for services should increasingly focus upon desired customer experiences, service touch-points and touch-point behaviours rather than the current focus upon visual identity. Originality/value - This is the first paper to suggest a process that transforms a brand strategy into customer experiences during NSD. It also adds original insights into the transition from brand to concept, bridging branding, service design and NSD.

Determinants and consequences of consumer satisfaction with self-service technology in a retail setting

Michael, Chih-Hung Wang — 2012-03-16 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate the antecedents and consequences of consumer satisfaction with the use of self-service technology (SST) in a retail setting.Design/methodology/approach - In cooperation with a survey firm, a total of 424 respondents were collected from among consumers who had experience of using multimedia kiosks at convenience stores in Taiwan. The conceptual model was tested by using structural equation modeling.Findings - The results show that perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment both, initially, influence perceived control and convenience and then affect consumer satisfaction, which in turn has an impact on consumer continued behavior intention. In addition, perceived enjoyment is found to enhance consumer satisfaction, but perceived usefulness is not.Originality/value - This paper proposes a conceptual model to synthesize the essence of the ECM-IT model and two important incentives in self-service (i.e., perceived control and convenience) in order to provide a theoretical explanation for consumer satisfaction in the self-service context. This not only extends the ECM-IT model, but also remedies previous self-service literature that lacked the theoretical background in investigations of consumer satisfaction.

Self-Service Technology Complaint Channel Choice: Exploring Consumers’ Motives

Nichola Robertson — 2012-03-16 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - This study explores consumers’ motives for their choice of complaint channel in the context of self-service technology (SST) failure. Traditional and evolving communication channels are considered.Design/methodology/approach - Qualitative self-report data from consumers who had recently experienced dissatisfaction with SSTs were collected via an open-ended survey question. Three independent coders used a deductive and inductive iterative process to code the data. Findings - The findings suggest that both consumer complaint behaviour (CCB) theory and media richness theory (MRT) help to explain consumers’ motivation for channel choice. However, consumers’ choice appears to be motivated to a greater degree by convenience rather than task-medium fit. Research limitations/implications - This study was set solely in the SST context and explored consumers’ hypothetical complaint channel choice, not actual channel use. Future research could examine the actual performance of complaint channels as perceived by consumers. Consumers’ motivation to choose other emerging electronic complaint channels, such as complaint blogs and forums, could also be explored. Practical implications - Understanding consumers’ complaint channel choice is important for organisations to enable them to provide effective and efficient ways for consumers to complain. As complaint channels proliferate, it is difficult for organisations to know which channels to offer. Originality/value - Choosing an appropriate channel for resolving a complaint is an important consumer decision, which the study of CCB needs to be broadened to include. The current study addresses this gap by, for the first time, integrating CCB theory and MRT. This is valuable because it is common for consumers not to voice their complaints to organisations. To facilitate voiced complaints, organisations need to determine which complaint channels will be most effective and efficient and in which situations.

Service Environment, Provider Mood, and Provider-Customer Interaction

Kendra Fowler, Eileen Bridges — 2012-03-16 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of the relationships between the service environment, service provider mood, and provider-customer interaction. Specifically, mood is evaluated as a potential moderator of the relationship between the service environment and provider-customer interaction. Design/methodology/approach - A multi-method data collection approach was utilized, including observation and provider and customer surveys. Hypotheses are tested using regression, ANOVA, and MANOVA. Findings - Findings indicate that service provider evaluations of the physical environment improve in the presence of an appropriate ambient scent. Behavioral responses are also enhanced: providers are viewed as more courteous and customers more friendly. Perhaps the most interesting observation is that provider mood moderates the relationship between the service environment and customer perceptions of service provider behavior.Research limitations/implications - The only environmental characteristic that was manipulated was scent, and access was granted to only one store over the course of three consecutive Saturdays. Consequently, validity is threatened by the potential for impact of factors other than the manipulated characteristic. Practical implications - Implications for managers include careful consideration of potential changes to the ambient environment; if introduction of an appropriate scent can be undesirable, other changes may also lead to unexpected results. Changes under consideration should be tested before implementation.Originality/value - This research extends service theory by examining the relationship between providers and customers in an actual retail setting. Important theoretical contributions include: (1) demonstrating that service provider mood moderates the relationship between service environmental characteristics and customer perceptions of provider behavior, and (2) finding that positive changes to the environment can amplify negative outcomes.

The Adoption of Mobile Value-Added Services: Investigating the Influence of IS Quality and Perceived Playfulness

Kai Wang, Chien-Liang Lin — 2012-03-16 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - Mobile telecommunication service providers endeavor to mitigate the declining voice service revenue through popularization of mobile value-added services (MVASs). To understand determinants that influence mobile phone subscribers’ intentions to use MVASs, this study investigates the influences of perceived playfulness and IS quality on mobile phone subscribers’ intentions to use MVASs.Design/methodology/approach - An online survey involving 304 subjects was conducted, followed by a PLS (partial least squares) analysis, which yielded strong evidence in support of our proposed research model.Findings - Our results confirmed that information quality, system quality, and service quality serve as important antecedents of perceived ease of use and usefulness among mobile phone subscribers. Additionally, we found that the perceived playfulness of MVASs mediates the influence of perceived ease of use on intentions of mobile phone subscribers to adopt the services. The comparison between experienced and inexperienced users also suggest that inexperienced subscribers are attracted to MVASs that satisfy their need for information or play, whereas experienced subscribers tend to take into account system and service qualities.Research limitations/implications - Self-selection within the online data collection process was unavoidable; in addition, this study was unable to perform a comparison across different mobile phone subscriber groups and was limited to those MVASs available at the time of data collection.Practical implications - The results of this study can assist mobile telecommunication service providers in understanding the critical determinants that influence mobile phone subscribers’ decisions to adopt MVASs. Besides IS quality factors, the results suggest that service providers should also value the quality of perceived playfulness, which reflects user engagement and enjoyment of the services, beyond usefulness alone.Originality/value - This study contributes to the understanding of MVAS adoption by introducing IS quality factors and perceived playfulness to current theoretical models; and, furthermore, provides sound evidence that information quality, system quality, service quality, and perceived playfulness are critical factors that influence consumer decisions to adopt these services.