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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between service fairness and customer satisfaction, and test the mediation role of customer psychological empowerment in this relationship.

A cross-sectional empirical study is designed to test the research model. Customers of retail bank in South China are surveyed. Regression analysis and structural equation model analysis are done with SPSS 21.0 and LISREL 8.72 separately.

The results indicate that: first, service fairness increases customer satisfaction. Specifically, distributive fairness, procedural fairness and interactional fairness affect customer satisfaction positively and directly, while informational fairness affects customer satisfaction indirectly. Second, customer psychological empowerment fully mediates the relationship between informational fairness and customer satisfaction, while plays a partial mediating role between distributive fairness, procedural fairness, interactional fairness and customer satisfaction. Third, four kinds of service fairness have different influences on three dimensions of customer psychological empowerment.

The findings provide suggestions for managers to improve customer psychological empowerment by treating customer fairly, and to increase customer satisfaction through empowering customer in services, especially for state-owned banks.

It is recognized that service fairness leads to customer satisfaction in marketing literature; however, the empirical research studies about this are rare. This research not only contributes to service fairness theory, but also enriches our understanding of customer empowerment in service process.

This paper aims to explore the physical attractiveness stereotype in service encounters. Specifically, this paper examines how physical attractiveness affects a customer’s response and whether a customer’s social interaction anxiety and the consumption situation moderate this relationship.

Three experiments were used to test hypotheses. Participants were subject to scenarios of varying levels of physical attractiveness (more vs less), social interaction anxiety (high vs low) and consumption situation (private vs public). Customer participation intention and citizenship behavior were measured along scales.

The results indicate that the physical attractiveness of service providers positively affects customer citizenship behavior, and customer participation intention mediates this relationship. However, the effect only exists for a customer with low social interaction anxiety or presents itself under public consumption conditions.

This work paints a more nuanced picture of missing links in the understanding of the influence of service providers’ physical attractiveness. It enriches the physical attractiveness stereotype literature by identifying the mediating role of customer participation intention while bounding the relationship within conditions related to a customer’s social interaction anxiety and the service consumption situation.

Management may alter the performance of service employees by considering the employee’s physical attractiveness and gauging customer social interaction anxiety while keeping in mind the consumption situation.

This study advances physical attractiveness stereotype research by examining its effect on customer participation intention and citizenship behavior in the service industry. Additionally, this study adds customer social interaction anxiety and consumption situation to the existing literature that addresses employee factors affecting customer behavior.

Drawing on signaling theory and the “signal transmission–interpretation–feedback” framework, this study explores the effects of perceived distributive justice and respect from managers on nurses' work meaningfulness and work effort in public hospitals in China and examines the moderating role of work self-efficacy.

We collected 341 paired questionnaires for nurses and managers from four public hospitals in China. The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression analysis.

Distributive justice and managers' respect for employees are positively related to work meaningfulness. Additionally, work self-efficacy negatively moderates this relationship. Work meaningfulness is positively related to work effort and fully mediates the relationships between perceived distributive justice and respect from the manager and work effort.

This study provides useful insights for healthcare organizations to improve nurses' work meaningfulness from the perspectives of their material and emotional needs, according to their work self-efficacy characteristics, thus promoting their work effort. The findings offer important guidance for improving the effectiveness of grass-roots human resources to cope with unpredictable situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study focuses on the organization's environmental factors that affect the primary staff's work meaningfulness. Further, it analyzes the differences in signal interpretation among nurses with different work self-efficacy characteristics, thus providing new insights into work meaningfulness. Through manager–nurse pairing data, it reveals the important role of work meaningfulness in motivating work effort.

This study aims to evaluate the process of value co-creation within wellness tourism by constructing a structural equation model of customer interactions with the environment, service employees and other customers relating to customer-perceived value and customer engagement.

Questionnaires, including wellness tourists’ customer-environment interaction, customer-service employee interaction, customer-customer interaction, customer-perceived value, customer engagement and demographic background, were developed and distributed at well-known wellness tourism destinations around Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China. This study collected 528 valid questionnaires from hot spring resorts, national forest parks, mountain parks and spa wellness facilities located in Guangdong Province, China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the obtained data.

The results reveal that all three types of interactions, which include the customer-environment interaction (CEI), the customer-service employee interaction (CSI) and the customer-customer interaction (CCI), have positive effects on customer-perceived value (CPV) and that CPV positively affects customer engagement (CE). Based on these findings, recommendations for the management of wellness tourism service enterprises are given.

The causes and effects of CPV in wellness tourism, from the perspective of value co-creation, is a rather unexplored area of study. It contributes not only to knowledge about factors that foster CPV but also to the understanding of connections between CPV and CE.

本研究通过构建顾客与环境、服务员工和其他顾客之间互动对顾客感知价值和顾客契合的结构方程模型, 探究养生旅游中的价值共创过程。

本研究在中国广东省广州市附近知名的养生旅游目的地发放问卷, 问卷内容包括养生旅游者的顾客-环境互动, 顾客-服务员工互动, 顾客-顾客互动, 顾客感知价值, 顾客契合和人口统计学背景。本研究从广东省温泉度假区、国家森林公园、山脉等旅游目的地收集了有效问卷528份, 使用结构方程模型(Structural Equation Modeling, SEM)对所获得的数据进行分析。

本研究数据分析结果显示, 顾客与环境互动、顾客与服务人员互动和顾客与顾客互动三种互动类型均对顾客感知价值有正向影响, 而顾客感知价值正向影响顾客契合。在此基础上, 本文针对养生旅游服务企业提出了管理建议。

本研究从价值共同创造的角度对养生旅游中顾客感知价值的因果关系进行了一项未被探索的研究, 这不仅有助于我们识别并培育影响顾客感知价值的因素, 而且有助于我们理解顾客感知价值与顾客契合之间的联系。

Este estudio evaluó el proceso de la creación conjunta de valor dentro del turismo de bienestar, mediante la construcción de un modelo de ecuación estructural de las interacciones de los clientes con (1) el medio ambiente, (2) los empleados de servicio y (3) otros clientes relacionados con el valor percibido por el cliente y el compromiso del cliente.

Los cuestionarios fueron distribuidos en destinos de turismo de bienestar conocidos cerca de la ciudad de Guangzhou, provincia de Guangdong, China. El contenido del cuestionario incluye: interacción cliente-medio ambiente, interacción cliente-empleado de servicio, interacción cliente-cliente, valor percibido por el clientes, compromiso del clientes y el contexto demográficos. Este estudio recopiló 528 cuestionarios válidos de centros turísticos de aguas termales, parques forestales nacionales, montañas y spas de bienestar localizados en la provincia de Guangdong,China. Se utilizó el modelo de la ecuación estructural (Structural Equation Modeling, SEM) para analizar los datos obtenidos.

Los resultados revelan que los tres tipos de interacciones, que incluyen la interacción cliente-medio ambiente (ICMA), la interacción cliente-empleados de servicio (ICES), y la interacción cliente-cliente (ICC), tienen efectos positivos en el valor percibido por el cliente (VPC), y que el VPC afecta positivamente el compromiso del cliente (CC). Con base en estos resultados, se dan recomendaciones de gestión para las empresas de servicios de turismo de bienestar.

Este es un estudio bastante inexplorado sobre la causa y el efecto del VPC en el turismo de bienestar, desde la perspectiva de la creación conjunta de valor (CCV). Este estudio no solo contribuye al conocimiento sobre los factores que fomentan el VPC, sino también a la comprensión de las conexiones entre el VPC y el CC.

This paper aims to investigate the brand building behavior in the luxury hotel industry from the perspective of frontline employees. In particular, this study addresses the importance and relevance of supportive leadership, brand building behavior and customers’ perceived brand image in the hotel industry.

The research uses data from four luxury class (4 and 5 star) hotels in the Pearl River Delta of China. Contact with frontline employees yielded employee and customer data, with 243 of 369 employee questionnaires having one or more matches with 1,158 customer questionnaires. Hierarchical linear modeling was adopted to test the research model.

Luxury hotels benefit from managers who provide supportive leadership that encourages employee brand building behavior. In turn, employee brand building behavior influences customers’ positive perception of brand image.

Brand building behavior is a top-to-bottom process. Luxury hotels need to pay attention to internal brand building orientation, while managers should reinforce the organization’s cultural orientation and provide appropriate job skills training to improve employees’ willingness and ability to build the company’s brand.

Findings of this study contribute to the brand management literature and the hotel management literature by addressing important matters affecting the frontline employees’ brand building behavior.

This research aims to contribute to the transformative service research (TSR) literature by examining how customer participation in the service process influences their service experience and eudaimonic well-being, as moderated by customer empowerment and social support.

In the contexts of wedding (n = 623) and tourism services (n = 520), two surveys were conducted to test the hypotheses using mediation and moderation analyses.

Customer participation had a positive effect on their well-being, as mediated by service experience. These effects were moderated by customer empowerment and social support. Specifically, customer empowerment negatively moderated the relationship between customer participation and their service experience for both services. In addition, the moderating effect of social support on the relationship between customer participation and service experience was positive for the wedding service but negative for the tourism service.

The findings imply that firms should encourage customer participation to enhance their service experience and well-being. In addition, the firm could judiciously empower customers by adapting to the level of customer participation. Furthermore, depending on the complexity of the service required to produce the expected service outcomes, the firm may encourage the customers to engage their social network for support.

This research uses the service ecosystem perspective to examine the roles of the customer, the firm and the customer's social network in shaping their service experience and well-being for two common and important mental stimulus services, enriching the authors’ understanding on the role mental stimulus services play in enhancing consumers' eudaimonic well-being.

This paper aims to examine the mediating role of brand relationship quality in the relationship between brand experience and customer citizenship behavior.

Two studies were conducted in China. Data were collected via questionnaire surveys. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping methods were used for data analyses.

Results show that brand relationship quality mediates the effects of the four dimensions of brand experience (i.e. sensory, affective, behavioral and intellectual) on the two aspects of customer citizenship behavior (i.e. toward other customers and toward the organization). In addition, service provider ratings can moderate the effect of brand relationship quality on customer citizenship behavior.

The findings suggest that marketing or service managers should build high quality of customer–brand relationship to enhance customer citizenship behaviors by providing memorable and pleasurable brand experiences. Brands with high ratings can facilitate the effect of brand relationship quality on customer citizenship behavior.

This research sheds light on the mediating role of brand relationship quality in the relationship between brand experience and customer citizenship behavior.

This study aims to apply the elaboration likelihood model to explore when, how and why robotic services increase customer engagement.

A field survey and two experiments were conducted to examine the proposed theoretical framework.

The robots’ proactive behavior encouraged customers to trust and engage with them. The influence of this behavior on customer engagement increased for highly interaction-oriented customers or when the reputations of companies were poor.

The findings can inform the efficient management of customer–robot interactions and thus support firms’ relationship marketing objectives.

The literature on robotic services has recognized that robots should be proactive to ensure positive customer experiences, but few studies have explored the relational outcomes of proactive robotic services. The authors’ in-depth empirical examination thus extends research into the role these services can play in fostering customer engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between customer interactivity and the value it realizes for employees and customers, that is, employee creativity and customer-perceived economic value, and to test the mediation role of knowledge exchange quality in this relationship.

A cross-sectional empirical study using pairing data collected from the employees and customers of a high-contact service industry is designed to test the research model. Customers and employees in 75 hotels in China are surveyed. Equation model analysis is performed with SPSS and Amos.

Customer interactivity has a positive effect on the employee creativity and customer-perceived economic value, and the quality of knowledge exchange mediates the two processes.

The findings provide suggestions for managers to take action to promote interactions between customers and employees and to encourage them to actively participate in the value creation process. Additionally, enterprises can establish a knowledge integration mechanism to improve the quality of knowledge exchange.

This study explores the value of interaction from the perspective of both sides of the interaction, enriching and expanding the theory of interaction. Few studies simultaneously consider the value of both parties in the interaction process. From a two-way perspective, this study extends the past unilateral angle to a multilateral perspective and clearly explains the mechanism behind continuous interaction. This study finds the key mediator variable – knowledge exchange quality – in how customer–employee interactions achieve value. It theoretically enriches the research on the interaction-value mechanism from the perspective of knowledge management.