Chih‐Wen Huang and Ai‐Ping Tai
With increasing competition in the global marketplace, a prime and basic question for many enterprises is how to construct a global strategy for existing product mixes through…
Abstract
With increasing competition in the global marketplace, a prime and basic question for many enterprises is how to construct a global strategy for existing product mixes through standardization or localization, so as to achieve success in regional or local markets. The purpose of this paper is to investigate customer value perceptions of products, to view what variables are important to consumers, and lastly to make comparisons via a cross‐cultural study. Using the same survey method to collect data from Taipei (Taiwan), Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (China), and Tokyo (Japan), perceived customer values of products were collected together in a List of customer values. The results yielded a wide array of both crosscultural differences and similarities in East Asia.
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Yingying Liao, Ebrahim Soltani, Fangrong Li and Chih-Wen Ting
Prior research examining cultural effects on customer service expectations has primarily used more generic Western cultural theory on an aggregate scale or with only a single…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior research examining cultural effects on customer service expectations has primarily used more generic Western cultural theory on an aggregate scale or with only a single variable to draw conclusions on a customer’s underlying reasoning for buying a service. This study aims to focus on culturally distinct clusters within non-Western nations, specifically exploring within-cluster differences in service expectations within the Confucian Asia cluster.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed a measurement model of Chinese cultural values and service expectations, consisting of a three and five-factor structure, respectively. Data from a sample of 351 diners were analysed using SmartPLS software. The data was compared with similar studies within the Confucian Asia cluster to understand the culture effect on service expectations and within-cluster variations.
Findings
The findings underscore the varying importance of cultural values in shaping customer service expectations, emphasizing their relative, rather than equal, significance. The study provides insights into potential within-group differences in customer service expectations within the same cultural cluster – without losing sight of the fundamental cultural heterogeneity of the Confucian culture.
Practical implications
Managers should leverage the distinct cultural values of their operating country to gain insights into diverse customer groups, predict their behaviours and meet their needs and expectations.
Originality/value
This study offers valuable insights to both service management scholars and practitioners by focusing on culturally distinct clusters of non-Western nations and exploring their effects on variation in service expectations within these clusters.
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Jaime Ortiz, Tao-Sheng Chiu, Chih Wen-Hai and Che-Wei Hsu
The research framework of this study is based on tri-component attitude model (cognition-affect-conation) which explores consumers’ positive or negative emotions, as well as…
Abstract
Purpose
The research framework of this study is based on tri-component attitude model (cognition-affect-conation) which explores consumers’ positive or negative emotions, as well as various types of thoughts and actions, triggered by their perceived justice in the context of service failure. This study aims to probe the possible mediating and moderating effects caused by the process where consumers form their thoughts and actions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducts a survey to consumers after restaurant dining. This study collects data from 262 respondents and analyzes the data with the structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that perceived justice has significant effect on empathy, anger, positive word-of-mouth, repurchase intention and revenge. Empathy has a significant and positive effect on positive word-of-mouth. Anger has significant and positive effects on revenge and avoidance. Empathy is a mediator between perceived justice and positive word-of-mouth. Blame attribution and service failure severity are the moderators in the relationship between perceived justice and empathy/anger.
Research limitations/implications
Consumers might have experienced the scenarios described in the questionnaire and their responses might be based on recall of their previous dining experiences in other restaurants, thereby resulting in a time lapse problem and affecting the conclusions of this study.
Practical implications
It is not adequate to gain consumers’ choices just demonstrate favorable customer perceived justice and empathy in today’s industrial highly competitiveness because blame attribution and perception of service failure severity result in different positive and negative emotions and behavioral intentions. Therefore, food and beverage industry must have a various recovery approaches to recover service failure and create a more appealing relationship with consumers.
Originality/value
This study investigates the relationships among perceived justice, emotions and behavioral intentions which are seldom discussed in the past studies. In addition, this study investigates the mediating effect of empathy in the relationship between perceived justice and positive word-of-mouth. The results of this study indicate that blame attribution and service failure severity are the moderators between perceived justice and emotions (empathy/anger). The mediator of empathy and the moderators of blame attribution and service failure severity can enhance the research gap in the context of service recovery for the tri-component attitude model.
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Jaime Ortiz, Wen-Hai Chih and Hsiu-Chen Teng
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among cognitive-based trust, affect-based trust, sense of belonging, self-image congruity, perceived community-brand…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among cognitive-based trust, affect-based trust, sense of belonging, self-image congruity, perceived community-brand similarity, and information intention by applying the uses and gratification (U&G) theory and the dual mediating hypothesis in the context of Taiwanese social networking brand sites.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses specific metrics to measure construct items. The respondents have used or currently use the Facebook Apple fan page for more than three months. This study conducts the online survey of mySurvey through the website and provides respondents with convenience store coupon rewards to increase the response rate. This study collects 500 samples with 381 valid samples and uses a structural equation modeling to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The effects of cognitive-based trust on psychological factors are higher than the effects of affect-based trust on psychological factors. In addition, cognitive-based trust has the largest effect on perceived community-brand similarity as well as on self-image congruity. Hence, cognitive-based trust is far a more important factor than affect-based trust for the effects on psychological factors. Self-image congruity has significant and positive effects on the intention to give, obtain, and pass information. Self-image congruity has the largest effect on the intention to pass information as well as on the intention to obtain information, but sense of belonging has the largest effect on the intention to give information. The effects of perceived community-brand similarity on the intention to give information and the intention to obtain information are significant yet mild.
Practical implications
SNS members are eager to participate in e-word-of-mouth (e-WOM) activities via affection and social interaction, care for each other, and a feeling of concern. SNS managers should focus on members’ interaction content and processes to foster long-term relationships and create value propositions. Managers should use innovative online platforms to maintain communication and interaction in order to: provide cognitive trust among members; acquire members’ trust; retain members; and enhance members’ connectivity. SNS managers must increase members’ psychological connection, utilize cognitive-/affect-based trust, and attract brand devotion for common interests.
Social implications
In terms of the SNS members’ interaction and participation in interpersonal relationships, psychological perspectives can generate long-term reliance and sense of belonging. The willingness to exchange information and the involvement of continuous participation can affect the e-WOM behavior of giving and passing information. Brand fan page members are more willing to engage in e-WOM intentions when they have a higher self-image congruity and sense of belonging.
Originality/value
This study adopts the tricomponent attitude model to examine the relationship among cognition, affection, and behavioral intentions of community members between individuals and groups.
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Tao-Sheng Chiu, Wen-Hai Chih, Jaime Ortiz and Chia-Yi Wang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between e-buyers and e-sellers in the context of the Chinese culture. It examines the relationships among swift…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between e-buyers and e-sellers in the context of the Chinese culture. It examines the relationships among swift guanxi, trust, uncertainty, and repurchase intentions. This study probes the possible mediation effects caused by the process where consumers form their thoughts and actions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed a theoretical model to examine how swift guanxi, trust, and uncertainty influence repurchase intentions of online auction consumers. The mediation effects of trust and uncertainty were also examined. This study gathered 455 valid samples and analyzed data by applying a structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results confirm that swift guanxi has significant and positive effects on trust and repurchase intentions, but swift guanxi has a significant and negative effect on uncertainty. In addition, trust has a significant and positive effect on repurchase intentions. On the other hand, uncertainty has a significant and negative effect on repurchase intentions. Finally, both trust and uncertainty have partial mediation effects between swift guanxi and repurchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
The findings extend the current state of knowledge about the relationships among swift guanxi, trust, uncertainty, and repurchase intentions, as well as reveal the psychological mechanism of the effects of trust and uncertainty on repurchase intentions.
Practical implications
The findings provide a deeper understanding of the effect of customers’ swift guanxi on repurchase intentions under different perspectives of the double-edged sword of trust and uncertainty in Yahoo! Online auction.
Originality/value
This study decomposes the constructs of swift guanxi, trust, and uncertainty into various dimensions and investigates the relationships between these dimensions and repurchase intentions. It has not been done in this way previously. The results contribute to the understanding of online auction customers’ behaviors.
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Ching-Hung Lee, Qiye Li, Yu-Chi Lee and Chih-Wen Shih
A good customer experience means meeting the customer expectation. Thus, unexpected customer experience is usually a good point to initiate improvement or innovation for product…
Abstract
Purpose
A good customer experience means meeting the customer expectation. Thus, unexpected customer experience is usually a good point to initiate improvement or innovation for product or service design. Attempting to enhance the customer experience in the customer journey, this study aims to demonstrate a customer journey centred service design approach to receive the design requirements based on customers' needs and to use a systematic approach to generate solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
A holistic service design method named 3E model was proposed. It integrates customer experience journey map (CXJM), the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) and service assembly and service replacement mechanism into three design stages. In stage 1, CXJM is enhanced with emotional range analysis to identify the customer pain points as well as customers' requirements (CRs) in exhibition, tourism and hotel sectors for initializing service design. Stage 2 investigates the specific design requirements (DRs) of the smart exhibition system and the contradictions. Then, the innovative principles were analyzed. In Stage 3, expected exhibition service system was designed.
Findings
The new service system which named the smart expo system based on information and communication technology (ICT) is proposed. It consists of “Tourism Link assists”, “i-Kaohsiung hotel service center”, “Smart AEC” and “O2O e-tickets”.
Originality/value
The proposed 3E model builds a systematic and coherent design method for the smart exhibition service area. It provides the linkage and action-oriented guidance from customer pain points, service parameters, innovative principles to solutions.
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Wen-Hai Chih, Li-Chun Hsu and Jaime Ortiz
This study explores the effects of interpersonal determinants (tie strength and homophily) and informational determinants (source trustworthiness and customer endorsement) on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the effects of interpersonal determinants (tie strength and homophily) and informational determinants (source trustworthiness and customer endorsement) on perceived positive electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) review credibility (PPERC), which subsequently affects attitude toward the product (ATP), attitude toward the Fan Page (ATFP), and eWOM review adoption (ERA) based on the cognition-affection-behavior (CAB) model.
Design/methodology/approach
The research sample consists of 402 subjects who used the Fan Page of Fashion Guide for more than one year. This research adopts a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the proposed model, which shows a good fit.
Findings
The results indicate that tie strength, homophily, source trustworthiness and customer endorsement each have a significant and positive effect on PPERC, respectively. In addition, homophily has a significant and positive effect on the strength and source trustworthiness. Furthermore, the results reveal that PPERC has a significant and positive effect on ATP, ATFP and ERA.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by integrating multi perspectives and factors from informational determinants and interpersonal determinants. In addition, this study proposes that these determinants affect ERA via PPERC and dual attitudes (ATP and ATFP).
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Wen-Hai Chih, Li-Chun Hsu and Dah-Kwei Liou
The purpose of this paper is to explore a model of how people are influenced from the perspectives of individuals (cognitive trust and affective trust), group (sense of virtual…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore a model of how people are influenced from the perspectives of individuals (cognitive trust and affective trust), group (sense of virtual community), and social influence (normative influence and information influence) factors.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts structural equation modeling to test the proposed model and the structural model shows a good fit. This research sample consists of 312 members who have used Facebook for at least six months.
Findings
The results indicate the following. Both cognitive trust and affective trust have effects on members’ sense of virtual community. Cognitive trust, affective trust, and sense of virtual community have effects on both normative influence and informative influence, respectively. Members in a virtual community could create a sense of virtual community via affective trust. Members’ sense of virtual community partially mediates between cognitive/affective trust and normative/informative influence.
Originality/value
This study investigates the multiple perspectives of the interpersonal interaction between individual, community, and social influence.
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Andreawan Honora, Kai-Yu Wang and Wen-Hai Chih
This research investigates the role of customer forgiveness as the result of online service recovery transparency in predicting customer engagement. It also examines the…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates the role of customer forgiveness as the result of online service recovery transparency in predicting customer engagement. It also examines the moderating roles of timeliness and personalization in this proposed model.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey study using retrospective experience sampling and a scenario-based experimental study were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
Customer forgiveness positively influences customer engagement and plays a mediating role in the relationship between service recovery transparency and customer engagement. Additionally, timeliness and personalization moderate the positive influence of service recovery transparency on customer forgiveness. The positive influence of service recovery transparency on customer forgiveness is more apparent when levels of timeliness and personalization decrease.
Practical implications
To retain focal customers' engagement after a service failure, firms must obtain their forgiveness. One of the firm's online complaint handling strategies to increase the forgiveness level of focal customers is to provide a high level of service recovery transparency (i.e. responding to their complaints in a public channel), especially when the firm is unable to respond to online complaints quickly or provide highly personalized responses.
Originality/value
This research provides new insights into the underlying mechanism of customer engagement by applying the concept of customer forgiveness. It also contributes to the social influence theory by applying the essence of the theory to explain how other customers' virtual presence during the online complaint handling influences the forgiveness of focal customers in order to gain their engagement. Additionally, it provides insight into the conditions under which the role of service recovery transparency can be very effective in dealing with online complaints.
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Kai-Yu Wang, Wen-Hai Chih, Li-Chun Hsu and Wei-Ching Lin
This research investigates whether and how perceived firm remorse (PFR) influences consumers’ coping behaviors in the digital media service recovery context. It also examines how…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates whether and how perceived firm remorse (PFR) influences consumers’ coping behaviors in the digital media service recovery context. It also examines how an apology should be delivered to generate PFR.
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, 452 mobile application service users were recruited for a survey study, and Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. In Study 2, 1,255 mobile application service users were recruited for an experimental study.
Findings
Study 1 shows that PFR negatively influences blame attribution and positively influences emotional empathy. Emotional empathy negatively affects coping behaviors. According to this study, blame attribution and emotional empathy do not have any serial mediation effect on the relationship between PFR and coping behaviors. Only emotional empathy mediates the effect of PFR on coping behaviors. Study 2 finds that response time and apology mode jointly influence PFR.
Research limitations/implications
This research establishes the relationship between PFR and coping behaviors and shows the mediating role of emotional empathy in this relationship.
Practical implications
Service providers should consider response time and apology mode, as the two factors jointly influence the extent of PFR, which affects consumers’ coping behaviors through emotional empathy. A grace period, in which PFR does not decrease, is present when a public apology is offered. Such an effect does not exist when a private apology is offered.
Originality/value
This research explains how PFR influences coping behaviors and demonstrates how apology mode moderates the effect of response time on PFR in the digital media service recovery context.