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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of service recovery dimensions on customer satisfaction and, subsequently, on customer loyalty in the context of the hotel industry.

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 500 respondents who had the experiences of staying in the hotels in Malaysia. The structural equation modelling technique was used to study the relationship between the model and the developed hypotheses.

The findings revealed that service recovery dimensions are significantly related to customer satisfaction and have a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

As the main sector in the hospitality business, hotels play a vital role in the tourism industry. Therefore, the developments in tourism and hotels go hand in hand, as they are mutually dependent on each other. With significant yearly developments in the tourism industry and at a constant rate, hotel operators should reconsider their business strategies to achieve customer loyalty and sustain their businesses. In view of that, the findings of this study not only benchmarks better hotel services but also provides an improved understanding of service recovery that will effectively aid hotel operators in handling service failures; otherwise, customer dissatisfaction may occur if poor service recovery strategies are implemented.

The intense competition in the service industry has driven companies to place extra attention on service recovery so as to ensure continuous success. With a yearly significant development in the tourism industry at a constant rate, hotel providers (one of the major beneficiaries) are driven to reconsider their business strategies to achieve customer loyalty and sustain their business.

The eagerness of global marketers to establish a competitive advantage based upon service quality excellence within emerging markets displays a degree of naïveté in respect to the influence of environmental factors upon consumption behaviour. An example of this is the global application of Parasuraman, Zeithamal and Berry’s conceptualisation of service quality (SERVQUAL) in 1988 without consideration of the possible influence of the variety of cultures found in international markets. This paper takes a cautionary stance to such global application, and proposes that cultural values endow consumers with rules that guide their evaluation of service quality. Field research was conducted within Taiwan to ascertain whether the dominant service quality model holds in this “foreign” environment. The results indicate that not only do cultural values influence the hierarchy of service quality dimensions, but also that Parasuraman et al.’s SERVQUAL conceptual model does not capture the breadth of criteria utilised by Taiwanese consumers. Interpersonal relations are highlighted as a dimension of service quality that is not adequately addressed by SERVQUAL.

To explore the extent to which generosity, as instructed by culture, performs both a formative and a filtering role in the consumers’ service experience.

The critical realism paradigm, a multi‐method/discipline approach is adopted. The research focuses on the Taiwanese consumer as a case and uses qualitative research techniques to model their consumption.

The most significant contribution this paper makes is informing understanding of the cognitive processes Taiwanese consumers engage in when determining their quality evaluation. The results lend further support to the existence of a relationship between culture and service quality evaluation.

The paper has consequences at a macro level for global strategy formulation and at a micro level for service quality measurement.

This paper contributes to the growing body of evidence lending support to the existence of a relationship between culture and service quality evaluation. The conceptual foundation is laid for further measure development.

This research seeks to provide guidance for the global manager by determining the manner through which social interaction influences service quality evaluation. Furthermore, the paper aims to explore the function of economic development in altering the role of social relationships in service quality evaluation.

Consistent with the critical realism paradigm a multi‐method design is adopted for this study. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's structuralist perspective of culture is utilised as the analytical framework.

The findings challenge both marketing and sociology theory that propose that individuals are less focussed on nurturing inter‐personal relationships as they are empowered economically. Indeed it is found that social networks (i.e. social capital) perform a key role in service quality preference formation and dissemination. The evidence suggests that economic development has not mitigated the influence of social relationships upon service consumption.

The paper identifies a research agenda towards developing a measure of service quality that more comprehensively probes the social element of the service encounter. In order to more fully explore the impact of economic capital on the service quality construct it is identified that a longitudinal study is required that focuses upon nations as they transition from developing to developed nation status.

This study has significant implications for marketing managers seeking to build a presence in Taiwan or other similarly profiled Confucian based societies. It is advised that strategists should adopt a customised strategic plan when operating within Taiwan and similarly profiled cultures. In particular this study encourages a focus upon nurturing inter‐personal relationships and leveraging these relationships to effectively communicate to target markets in Confucian societies.

This study adopts a sociological perspective of the cultural influence upon the service quality evaluation process.This approach is presented as preferable to the national values‐oriented studies that have dominated research in the area.

A fundamental proposition in marketing strategy is that a market orientation is positively related to firm performance. However, the mechanisms of this relationship have yet to be explored in detail, especially in service industries where intangible assets are relatively more important. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a model that identifies important intermediate variables between a market orientation and increased firm value. The model posits that a market orientation guides investment in market‐based assets and other asset types, that these assets may be levered to create a competitive advantage and value for customers, and that this results in loyalty and easier customer attraction. Quicker and more extensive market penetration, shorter sales cycles, and decreased marketing and sales costs enhance the cash flow of a market‐oriented firm. This may be recognised in higher valuations, which ultimately translate into higher share prices and wealth creation for the owners of the firm.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the emergent consumer tribe literature to facilitate a more complete understanding of the antecedents and roles implicit within consumer tribal membership. Principally a conceptual paper, this study focuses upon how a more complete understanding of consumer roles can be leveraged to create sustainable loyalty.

This study comprised an examination of the tribe's social behaviour, membership roles and influence on individual consumption. The research was approached interpretively with a case study design investigating a tribe of vinyl record collectors in a New Zealand context.

Key findings include the confirmation of Kozinets' antecedents of tribal membership and the four roles of tribal members previously conceptualised by Cova and Cova. The tribe was found to have a core set of values that moderated any individual differences. A hierarchy, managed through the distribution of “cultural capital”, was found to exist amongst the group. In an extension of Cova's modelling a fifth role of “Chief” was identified, whereby the Chief was found to act as an opinion leader and organiser amongst the group.

Owing to constraints of both time and research funding, only one tribe was examined in this case study, hence the results are very specific to the group studied. Future research should apply the managerial implications from this study to other case contexts to test and expand understanding of consumer tribe dynamics and the creation of consumer loyalty.

This paper creates a link between extant consumer behaviour, loyalty and consumer culture theory. The presented results have implications for the marketing manager through advancement towards creation of a model of tools a firm can use to connect with and build sustainable loyalty with consumer tribes.

Utilizing data drawn from 18 in-depth case studies the authors explore in detail the factors shaping employment in a diverse range of Irish small- and medium-sized enterprises. Existing theory in HRM is deemed inadequate in capturing the complexity of HRM in SMEs especially as it treats organizations as hermetically sealed entities. In an effort to animate the criticism directed at normative models of HRM the authors use a conceptual framework with an emergent, open systems theoretical proposition to examine the parameters, dynamics and determining factors of HRM at each of the case study companies. The results show that the notion of a normative HRM model was not coherent in terms of actual practices but rather reactive, and emergent HRM-related processes were often imposed to meet legislative requirements or to reinforce owner–manager legitimacy and control. The authors conclude that an appreciation of the interaction between structural factors both inside and outside the immediate work milieu is crucial if the heterogeneity of HRM in SMEs is to be adequately accommodated and understood.