David Leiño Calleja, Jeroen Schepers and Edwin J. Nijssen
The impact of frontline robots (FLRs) on customer orientation perceptions remains unclear. This is remarkable because customers may associate FLRs with standardization and…
Abstract
Purpose
The impact of frontline robots (FLRs) on customer orientation perceptions remains unclear. This is remarkable because customers may associate FLRs with standardization and cost-cutting, such that they may not fit firms that aim to be customer oriented.
Design/methodology/approach
In four experiments, data are collected from customers interacting with frontline employees (FLEs) and FLRs in different settings.
Findings
FLEs are perceived as more customer-oriented than FLRs due to higher competence and warmth evaluations. A relational interaction style attenuates the difference in perceived competence between FLRs and FLEs. These agents are also perceived as more similar in competence and warmth when FLRs participate in the customer journey's information and negotiation stages. Switching from FLE to FLR in the journey harms FLR evaluations.
Practical implications
The authors recommend firms to place FLRs only in the negotiation stage or in both the information and negotiation stages of the customer journey. Still then customers should not transition from employees to robots (vice versa does no harm). Firms should ensure that FLRs utilize a relational style when interacting with customers for optimal effects.
Originality/value
The authors bridge the FLR and sales/marketing literature by drawing on social cognition theory. The authors also identify the product categories for which customers are willing to negotiate with an FLR. Broadly speaking, this study’s findings underline that customers perceive robots as having agency (i.e. the mental capacity for acting with intentionality) and, just as humans, can be customer-oriented.
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Paolo Guenzi and Edwin J. Nijssen
Value-based selling (VBS) is increasingly a key success factor in business to business (B2B) settings, but its relationship with digital solutions selling (DSS) has not been…
Abstract
Purpose
Value-based selling (VBS) is increasingly a key success factor in business to business (B2B) settings, but its relationship with digital solutions selling (DSS) has not been explored. This study aims to develop a motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA)-based model that shows how an individual salesperson’s task-specific motivation to implement DSS affects personal capabilities to engage in DSS-related internal coordination, customer networking and ultimately VBS behavior. The authors also account for the supervisor’s DSS-focused behavioral control as the opportunity variable, potentially influencing all other variables in the framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test the model and hypotheses using data of 178 salespeople from a B2B company growing its digital solutions business. Path modeling and SmartPLS software are used to estimate the model.
Findings
The results demonstrate the key importance of DSS implementation motivation to implement VBS. The findings emphasize the mediating role of salespeople’s ability to collaborate with colleagues and engage in customer networking to configure the right idiosyncratic digital solutions and demonstrate these solutions’ economic value. Supervisors have a fundamental role in directly and indirectly stimulating DSS motivation, DSS-related customer networking ability and VBS.
Research limitations/implications
The study has several limitations. The authors examined a single company. In addition to internal coordination and customer networking, other relevant abilities of salespeople could be considered as mediators between DSS and VBS. Similarly, other opportunity factors may be analyzed in the future, such as supervisors’ risk orientation and ability to stimulate team spirit. Future research could also investigate other salespeople’s individual talents and additional organizational support variables that predict a salesperson’s behavioral and outcome performance in DSS and VBS.
Practical implications
Companies willing to adopt VBS should acquire, develop and retain salespeople characterized by strong motivation to implement DSS. Supervisors should adopt a DSS-focused behavioral control, and companies should support supervisors through appropriate training on how to manage detailed feedback to salespeople constructively and sales performance management systems that systematically track DSS-related sales force activities and results. Companies should also facilitate DSS-related teamwork, for example, through team incentives, and DSS-related customer networking, for instance, through appropriate sales enablement platforms and tools.
Originality/value
The research addresses the communalities and differences between solutions selling and VBS, suggesting a causal relationship. While prior research has analyzed solutions and value mainly as corporate strategies at the organizational level, the current study considers implementation at the individual salesperson level. The study focuses on digital solutions, which are more uncertain and complex to sell than traditional solutions.
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David Leiño Calleja, Jeroen Schepers and Edwin J. Nijssen
Customer perceptions toward hybrid human–robot teams remain largely unexplored. We focus on the impact of frontline robots’ (FLRs) automated social presence (ASP) on customers’…
Abstract
Purpose
Customer perceptions toward hybrid human–robot teams remain largely unexplored. We focus on the impact of frontline robots’ (FLRs) automated social presence (ASP) on customers’ perceived teamwork quality, and ultimately frontline employees’ (FLEs) competence and warmth. We explore the role of interrogation as a relevant contingency. We complement the customer view with insights into the FLEs’ viewpoint.
Design/methodology/approach
We manipulate FLR’s ASP cues (speech and identity) in a hybrid team in four business-to-consumer (B2C) video-based experiments and collect data from online participants. We combine these with one business-to-business (B2B) field survey which collected data from FLEs working in hybrid teams.
Findings
When FLR’s ASP increases, customers more positively evaluate teamwork quality, ultimately affecting FLEs’ competence and warmth. FLEs who correct (interrogate) robotic mistakes strengthen the positive effect of FLRs’ ASP on teamwork quality. When FLRs correct FLEs, ASP’s effect on teamwork quality is also strengthened, while FLEs are not “punished” for erring. In contrast, FLEs themselves do perceive corrections as detrimental to teamwork quality. We term this the hybrid team evaluation paradox.
Practical implications
We recommend that firms deploy hybrid teams equipped with high-ASP FLRs (name and speech suffice). FLEs should be trained, and FLRs programmed, to appropriately use interrogation. Managers should pay attention to the paradox, given the conflicting perceptions toward interrogative behaviors.
Originality/value
We advance the hybrid teams literature by drawing on ASP, social cognition and collective mindfulness theories and behaviors that ameliorate customer perceptions. Our results support using FLRs to enhance FLEs’ capabilities.
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Jeroen Schepers and Edwin J. Nijssen
Many organizations expect their service engineers, or frontline employees (FLEs), to behave as brand advocates by engaging in favorable communication about the brand and its…
Abstract
Purpose
Many organizations expect their service engineers, or frontline employees (FLEs), to behave as brand advocates by engaging in favorable communication about the brand and its offerings toward customers. However, this approach is not without risk as customers may be disappointed or even frustrated with brand advocacy behavior in many service encounters. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of FLEs’ brand advocacy on customer satisfaction with the service encounter, and identify the conditions under which the effects are detrimental. This paper specifically considers service issue severity and product newness as contingency conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on social identification theory, the paper builds a conceptual model, which is empirically tested using a data set that matches data from service engineers, customers, and archival records from the after-sales service department of a globally operating business-to-business print and document management solutions provider.
Findings
This paper finds that brand advocacy behavior harms customer satisfaction especially in service encounters that involve simple service issues (e.g. maintenance) for products that are new to the market. Fortunately, brand identification can compensate this negative effect under many service conditions. While the joint effect of brand identification and advocacy is most beneficial for severe service issues of new products, no effect on customer satisfaction was found for established products.
Practical implications
This paper identifies those service situations in which brand advocacy is advisable and guides managers toward achieving more favorable customer evaluations.
Originality/value
Past research has considered several FLE branding activities in the frontline but the effects of brand advocacy have not been isolated. In addition, most studies have assumed the effects of employee brand-related behaviors on customer satisfaction to be universally positive rather than negative and focused on antecedents and not on moderators and consequences.
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Edwin J. Nijssen and Ruud T. Frambach
This research investigates (1) the share of new product development (NPD) research services in market research (MR) companies’ turnover, (2) MR companies’ awareness and use of NPD…
Abstract
This research investigates (1) the share of new product development (NPD) research services in market research (MR) companies’ turnover, (2) MR companies’ awareness and use of NPD tools and the modifications made to these NPD tools, and (3) MR company managers’ perceptions of the influence of client use of commissioned NPD research on client NPD performance. The results from a sample of 35 Dutch and Belgium MR companies show that NPD research is a major growth area. MR companies mainly use qualitative research and focus on marketing‐mix and product optimization services. A moderate awareness and use of NPD tools exists, although major differences between tools exist. In over 75 percent of all cases MR companies have adjusted the NPD tools they use. Especially customization and standardization of the tools have taken place. Analyzing the relationship between the level of use of commissioned NPD research and client NPD performance, no significant main effect is found. However, a positive effect exists between the use of MR companies’ services and NPD performance for firms that specifically aim to solve NPD problems and/or increase their NPD success.
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Bas Hillebrand, Ron G.M. Kemp and Edwin J. Nijssen
The aim of this paper is to investigate the differential effect of customer orientation and future market focus on organization inertia and firm innovativeness of small and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate the differential effect of customer orientation and future market focus on organization inertia and firm innovativeness of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the business‐to‐business service industry. It is motivated by the observation that small and medium‐sized service firms' proxy to customers may lead to incremental service improvement in response to customer requests for customization and improvement, but may derail programs for more innovative services.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey among 217 small and medium‐sized service firms is used to test the hypotheses developed. The data are analyzed using a path model and Lisrel software.
Findings
The results show that customer orientation breeds inertia, whereas future market focus increases the willingness to cannibalize existing technology, service portfolio and routines, which in turn stimulates firm innovativeness.
Research limitations/implications
The results suggest that it is important to distinguish between customer orientation and future market focus, and that particularly small and medium‐sized firms may require both orientations for sustained firm performance. Future research may be directed at developing tools for monitoring against inertia and helping managers to decide more objectively when to listen to their current customers and when not to.
Practical implications
The results suggest managers should complement customer orientation with activities and management attention geared towards developing future market vision.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to simultaneously investigate the role of customer orientation and future market focus for small and medium‐sized firms in the service industry.
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Among the range of strategies available to a company, line extensions are an important way to keep a brand alive and to realize incremental financial growth. In order to be…
Abstract
Among the range of strategies available to a company, line extensions are an important way to keep a brand alive and to realize incremental financial growth. In order to be successful at introducing new extensions managers should understand line extensions’ key success factors. In this study three market‐related factors’ impact on line extension success were investigated, i.e. the level of competition in the market place; retailer power; and consumers’ variety seeking behavior. Data collected from 49 marketing and product managers in the fast‐moving consumer goods industry showed that line extensions have very little added value over existing products, and that cannibalization is very much related to a line extension’s success. Of all line extensions, those involving new flavors and new packaging/sizes were most successful. Extensions that improved product quality were found to be unsuccessful. The market‐variables: level of competition; retailer power; and variety seeking behavior all had a negative influence on line extension success. Dominant brands were hurt more by variety seeking behavior’s negative impact than less dominant brands.
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Edwin J. Nijssen, Jeroen J. L. Schepers and Daniel Belanche
Customers often think that innovations, such as self-service technologies (SSTs), are introduced by service providers to cut costs rather than extend customer service levels. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Customers often think that innovations, such as self-service technologies (SSTs), are introduced by service providers to cut costs rather than extend customer service levels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customers use such attributions to adjust their perceptions of relational value.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on attribution and relationship marketing theories, this study proposes a conceptual model that includes benefit and cost attributions, their antecedents, and consequences. Survey data came from customers of a supermarket that recently introduced self-scanning technology.
Findings
Attributions mediate the impact of SST performance on relational value. This value is highest for customers with high-benefit and low-cost attributions; customers with low-benefit and low-cost attributions exhibit detrimental effects on the exchange relationship with the firm. Characterized by low self-efficacy, low education, and low spending, these latter customers appear ambivalent and possibly confused about the provider’s motives for introducing SST.
Practical implications
This research has important implications for service managers responsible for communicating technological innovations to customers. A clear reason for the introduction should be provided, to stimulate customers’ attribution and prevent ambivalence among those with low self-efficacy and low education.
Originality/value
Most SST research focusses on adoption, non-adoption, and disadoption. The more subtle responses by customers facing a new SST and the consequences for the customer-provider exchange relationship, as addressed herein, have been left largely unexplored.
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Edwin J. Nijssen, Susan P. Douglas and Gilles Calis
Examines the nature of the search process used by international firms in identifying trading partners in emerging markets, and to what extent systematic information collection on…
Abstract
Examines the nature of the search process used by international firms in identifying trading partners in emerging markets, and to what extent systematic information collection on potential partners is likely to enhance the choice of satisfactory partners. The results, based on 46 Dutch companies, suggest that only a few companies have formal procedures to find trading partners and that they tend to depend on informal and personal contacts for information. A company’s involvement in export/import activities and entry strategy was found to have a positive influence on the actual selection of satisfactory partners. This was also true for formalization of the search process, company size, a more extensive partner‐evaluation and prior research experience with finding trading partners. Proactiveness/breadth of search was not found to have a significant positive effect, and depth of search even happened to be negatively correlated with successful partner selection. Finally, the results did not support modeling searching for importing and exporting relationships separately.
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Peter C. Verhoef, Edwin J. Nijssen and Laurens M. Sloot
In recent years, the quality of private label products and their market shares have grown to such an extent that most consumer goods manufacturers, brand leaders included, can not…
Abstract
In recent years, the quality of private label products and their market shares have grown to such an extent that most consumer goods manufacturers, brand leaders included, can not afford to ignore them. Private labels are, however, not just another generic competitor. The retailer that sells them is also an important account, and the issue includes the question: to produce private label or not? Several authors have recently suggested a number of effective strategies for leading national brand manufacturers against private labels. However, the empirical evidence for the strategies identified is scarce. Using a sample of 101 Dutch national brand manufacturers, we get a better understanding of the sets of strategies companies use. Using an inductive approach, we find four dominant profiles that are linked to performance and are discussed.