Frédéric Bielen and Nathalie Demoulin
Delay is an important issue for service providers. Indeed, previous studies have widely shown the negative effect of waiting time on consumer service satisfaction. However, being…
Abstract
Purpose
Delay is an important issue for service providers. Indeed, previous studies have widely shown the negative effect of waiting time on consumer service satisfaction. However, being satisfied with the service seems to be insufficient for customers to remain loyal. Creating customer loyalty is even more crucial than just satisfying them. The paper aims to investigate how customers weigh up their service satisfaction and waiting time satisfaction in order to determine whether they will remain loyal or not.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted in the Belgian health care industry. The final sample includes 946 respondents. Regression analyses were performed and the Baron and Kenny method used to test moderator and mediator impacts of variables.
Findings
The results confirm that waiting time satisfaction is not only a service satisfaction determinant, but it also moderates the satisfaction‐loyalty relationship. Moreover, determinants of customer waiting time satisfaction include the perceived waiting time, the satisfaction with information provided in case of delays, and the satisfaction with the waiting environment. In addition, it is shown that waiting time satisfaction is a complete mediating variable in the perceived waiting time and service satisfaction link.
Originality/value
The paper suggests several implications about the waiting time impacts on service satisfaction and customer loyalty. They show the importance of this variable in the service process and explain how to improve it.
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Letizia Alvino, Rob van der Lubbe, Reinoud A.M. Joosten and Efthymios Constantinides
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether or not electroencephalography (EEG) provides a valuable and substantial contribution to the prediction of consumer behaviour and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether or not electroencephalography (EEG) provides a valuable and substantial contribution to the prediction of consumer behaviour and their preferences during product consumption. In this study, the authors especially focus on individual preferences during a wine tasting experience.
Design/methodology/approach
A consumer neuroscience experiment was carried out with 26 participants that evaluated different red wines while their brain activity was recorded with EEG. A within-subjects design was employed and the experiment was carried out in two sessions. All participants took part in a blind taste session (no label session), in which information about the wine was not disclosed, and a normal taste session (label session), during which the bottle and its label were visible.
Findings
The findings suggest that EEG is a useful tool to study brain activity during product experience. EEG has high temporal resolution, low costs, small dimensions and superior manoeuvrability compared to other consumer neuroscience tools. However, it is noticed that there is a lack of solid theoretical background regarding brain areas (e.g. frontal cortex) and brain activity (e.g. brain waves) related to consumer preferences during product experience. This lack of knowledge causes several difficulties in replicating and validating the findings of other consumer neuroscience experiments for studying consumer behaviour.
Originality/value
The experiment presented in this paper is an exploratory study. It provides insights into the possible contribution of EEG data to the prediction of consumer behaviour during product experience.
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Nathalie T.M. Demoulin and Souad Djelassi
This study aims to examine the effect of situational factors, related to transactions and waiting, on customers' cognitive and affective responses to service delivery time…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of situational factors, related to transactions and waiting, on customers' cognitive and affective responses to service delivery time, including their service evaluations.
Design/methodology/approach
A web‐based survey included customers of an online credit company.
Findings
The authors' results demonstrate that disconfirmation influences cognitive but not affective responses. Both transaction importance and opportunity waiting cost influence wait acceptability, and transaction importance moderates the relationship between disconfirmation and wait acceptability. Delivery time worry and transaction worry increase negative affective responses; affective and cognitive responses then determine service evaluation. Opportunity waiting costs increase the positive effect of wait acceptability on service evaluation.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations pertain to the small sample size and the restriction of the survey to customers of only one financial company.
Practical implications
The derived guidelines suggest how banks can improve service evaluations by modifying consumer time expectations, as well as reducing opportunity waiting cost, delivery time worry, and transaction worry.
Originality/value
The conceptualization of service delivery time refers to waiting outside the company's premises, as opposed to in‐line waiting on company premises. This study considers the influence of situational factors, such as transaction importance, transaction worry, waiting cost, and delivery time worry, on customers' reactions to service delivery time in the context of online banking services.
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Kelly A. McGuire, Sheryl E. Kimes, Michael Lynn, Madeline E. Pullman and Russell C. Lloyd
The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model which defines the psychological processes that mediate the relationship between perceived wait duration (PWD) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model which defines the psychological processes that mediate the relationship between perceived wait duration (PWD) and satisfaction. This model will provide a framework for evaluating the impact of situational and environmental variables in the servicescape on customer reaction to the wait experience.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach included one field study and two laboratory experiments in which subjects participated in a service with a pre‐process wait and evaluated their experience on a survey.
Findings
Perceived wasted time, perceived control, perceived boredom, and perceived neglect mediated the relationship between PWD and wait experience evaluation. When tested using filled versus unfilled wait time as the situational variable, the model showed that having something to do during the wait decreased perceived boredom, resulting in a more positive wait experience.
Research limitations/implications
The services used in this paper were functional (as opposed to hedonistic) in nature and wait durations were a maximum of ten minutes.
Originality/value
The framework established in this paper can be used to evaluate customer reaction to the elements of the waiting environment design, which will help managers design waiting environments that maximize customer satisfaction, and help researchers to understand changes in the relationship between PWD and satisfaction under different environmental conditions.
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The problem of waiting is important in service activities, when customers are passive, often standing in a queue. This paper reviews 18 published empirical studies to identify…
Abstract
The problem of waiting is important in service activities, when customers are passive, often standing in a queue. This paper reviews 18 published empirical studies to identify groups of factors and their influence on customers. Some groups of factors reveal significant effects, such as real waiting time or expectation; others such as environmental factors are disappointing. These results alter our vision of the phenomenon, and lead to new directions for further practical or theoretical investigations, for example reintegrating the non‐linear effects of time in the study of waiting, exploring the expectation phenomenon and its variations, classifying customers and situations in order to manage critical waiting circumstances better.
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G. Peevers, F. McInnes, H. Morton, A. Matthews and M.A. Jack
The purpose of this paper is to deliver empirical data comparing the effects of music with the effects of providing waiting time information on customers who are kept on hold when…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deliver empirical data comparing the effects of music with the effects of providing waiting time information on customers who are kept on hold when telephoning their bank. It aims to discover if either has a more positive impact on their affective responses (satisfaction), and to discern if these effects are measurably different to a telephone call without music, or waiting time information, and for different durations of wait.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is an empirical study using bank customers as participants. Questionnaires and user observations techniques are employed to collect quantitative data which are analysed using repeated measures ANOVAs.
Findings
Overall the presence of updates, or music, has a positive influence on satisfaction when compared to just a ringing tone, but for a waiting time of one minute music has no influence on satisfaction. The acceptable waiting time threshold plays a very critical influence on satisfaction with the service. A waiting time above this results in larger differences being observed in the responses to the four treatments, with music and updates both having greater influence. In general, the presence of music and updates are also shown to reduce the overestimation of perceived waiting time.
Originality/value
This paper reports findings from an existing UK telephone banking service with 197 customers in three different locations. Implications from the findings provide insights for telephone service managers when choosing between adopting music or updates for managing on‐hold periods.
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Panagiotis Gkorezis, Naoum Mylonas and Eugenia Petridou
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived external prestige on organizational identification in the context of a Greek public organization and to address the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived external prestige on organizational identification in the context of a Greek public organization and to address the moderating role of gender in the relationship between perceived external prestige and organizational identification.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained from a sample of 159 employees working in Citizens Service Centers. Analysis was conducted using moderated hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
Perceived external prestige is positively related with organizational identification (β=0.33, p<0.001). The influence of the interaction of perceived external prestige and gender on organizational identification is also supported (β=−0.29, p<0.05). In particular, the effect of perceived external prestige on organizational identification was stronger for men.
Research limitations/implications
There is limited inference to other private and public organizations because data are based on one public organization. The cross‐sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the moderating role of gender in the relationship between perceived external prestige and organizational identification.
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Panagiotis Gkorezis, Naoum Mylonas and Eugenia Petridou
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived external prestige (PEP) on organizational identification in the context of a Greek public organization and to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived external prestige (PEP) on organizational identification in the context of a Greek public organization and to address the moderating role of gender in the relationship between PEP and organizational identification.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained from a sample of 159 employees working in Citizens Service Centers. Analysis was conducted using moderated hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
PEP is positively related with organizational identification (β=0.33, p<0.001). The influence of the interaction of PEP and gender on organizational identification is also supported (β=−0.29 p<0.05). In particular, the effect of PEP on organizational identification was stronger for men.
Research limitations/implications
Limited inference to other private and public organizations because data are based on one public organization. The cross‐sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the moderating role of gender in the relationship between PEP and organizational identification.
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Esra Memili and Dianne H.B. Welsh
Since non‐family employees form a large portion of employees in many family firms and they play an important role in the transgenerational survival of those firms, the purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Since non‐family employees form a large portion of employees in many family firms and they play an important role in the transgenerational survival of those firms, the purpose of this paper is to explore how family influence factors affect non‐family employees' organizational identification and then organizational attachment, which can consequently influence their turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
In this conceptual paper, the paper attempts to answer two important research questions: What are the family firm‐specific determinants of nonfamily employees' organizational identification in family firms? How does nonfamily employees' organizational identification affect their tenure in family firms? Thereby, the paper develops a conceptual model linking family influence dimensions (i.e. power, experience, and culture), nonfamily employees' organizational identification, organizational attachment, and turnover intentions within the domain of the stewardship theory.
Findings
The model presented in this paper can help scholars and family business managers better understand the idiosyncratic family influence dimensions that can affect nonfamily employees' perceptions and intentions associated with their tenure in family firms. If family firms can limit the negative effects of family influence factors, make the best use of the positive effects, and integrate key nonfamily employees into the family firm through helping them satisfy their higher‐order needs, they can uninterruptedly move forward toward achieving long‐term competitive advantages and superior performance.
Research limitations/implications
Aside from the antecedents of nonfamily employees' organizational identification that are pointed out in this paper, there may be other determinants that are beyond the scope of this paper. The governance structure and strategic orientations are some of the possibilities constituting avenues for future research.
Social implications
Family firms with great employee care cannot only increase employees' loyalty to their firms, but also help them develop work‐life balance.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the only attempts to use social identity theory to explain non‐family employees' organizational identification and attachment in family firms that can affect their turnover intentions. Not only does this add to our knowledge of family firm human resources management and provide new directions for future research, but it also suggests the usefulness of social identity theory in family business research.
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Ana B. Casado Díaz and Francisco J. Más Ruíz
The objective of this study is to examine the relationships that exist among the attributions, the affect and behavioural intentions of consumers who suffer delays in services. As…
Abstract
The objective of this study is to examine the relationships that exist among the attributions, the affect and behavioural intentions of consumers who suffer delays in services. As a new element, we propose to consider two different affective dimensions: anger (emotional reaction) and satisfaction with the service (cognitive and emotional evaluation). The methodology employed is based on structural equation modeling and the empirical application in the airline industry, which was carried out in Spain, demonstrates the existence of the sequence “attribution‐affect‐behavioural intention”, with anger being the mediator in the relationship between the attribution of control on behavioural intention (propensity to complain and repurchase intentions).