Martina G. Gallarza, Francisco Arteaga-Moreno, Giacomo Del Chiappa and Irene Gil-Saura
Within the abundant and not always unanimous body or research on conceptual and methodological approaches to consumer value in services, there are two areas of relative consensus…
Abstract
Purpose
Within the abundant and not always unanimous body or research on conceptual and methodological approaches to consumer value in services, there are two areas of relative consensus: the multidimensional nature of value (intra-variable approach) and the existence of causal relations with other constructs (inter-variable approach). This work aims to contribute additional knowledge in both areas, with a joint approach in a structural model tested for hospitality services.
Design/methodology/approach
The study proposes four scales of intrinsic values (entertainment, aesthetics, ethics and spirituality as relaxation), based on Holbrook’s (1999) value typology, and a casual model to be used to measure the relationships between these four values and overall perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty. The model is tested with PLS on a sample of 585 hotel guests on the island of Sardinia (Italy).
Findings
The psychometric properties of all four value scales, created ad hoc, are tested and approved. Results on the causal model show contrasted links on the intra-variable approach, entertainment, aesthetics and spirituality (measured as relaxation), are positive antecedents of perceived value, while the path ethics-overall value is not confirmed. The value–satisfaction–loyalty chain is fully confirmed, with strong linkages.
Research limitations/implications
The authors acknowledge the use of a convenience sample, of mainly leisure tourists.
Practical implications
The implications for managers are derived on the need of considering extra drivers (intrinsic and therefore fully experiential) of satisfaction and loyalty.
Originality/value
Research on value has been qualified as not univocal and controversial. This study adds knowledge on the use of four less common value types (intrinsic ones) and sheds light on their nature as antecedents of the well-known value–satisfaction–loyalty chain.
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Martina G. Gallarza, Francisco Arteaga, Giacomo Del Chiappa, Irene Gil-Saura and Morris B. Holbrook
In the fertile line of research on consumer value from the services literature, a gap exists between theoretical and empirical knowledge, in particular regarding Holbrook’s…
Abstract
Purpose
In the fertile line of research on consumer value from the services literature, a gap exists between theoretical and empirical knowledge, in particular regarding Holbrook’s conceptual value framework. The purpose of this paper is to find construct validity for a multidimensional value scale based on Holbrook’s proposal.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a literature review, a qualitative phase, and consultation with an expert, eight value scales (efficiency, service quality, play, aesthetics, status, esteem, ethics, and escapism as an adaptation of spirituality) are tested on a sample of 585 hotel customers and are further analyzed with simple and partial correlations, multiple regressions, and structural modeling.
Findings
Following the literature on the merits of Holbrook’s value typology, results are presented in three concatenated phases: validation of Holbrook’s eight value scales corresponding to his eight value types; interrelationships between these value types showing a predominance of the extrinsic-intrinsic and self-other dimensions; and construction of six indices based on the 2×2×2 matrix (self, other, extrinsic, intrinsic, active, and reactive) and a value index as a higher-order representation. The results support Holbrook’s typology, thereby supporting construct validity for the multidimensional scales.
Research limitations/implications
Implications for further conceptual research on value are presented. Meanwhile, the empirical study is context-specific, i.e. related to a hospitality experience.
Originality/value
Although Holbrook’s typology has gained widespread attention, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous research has tested all eight value types simultaneously in the same empirical work.
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María Fuentes-Blasco, Beatriz Moliner-Velázquez and Irene Gil-Saura
The literature recognizes the need to study differences in consumer behavior in highly competitive and dynamic markets. In this paper, the authors look at how the heterogeneous…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature recognizes the need to study differences in consumer behavior in highly competitive and dynamic markets. In this paper, the authors look at how the heterogeneous evaluation of retailing influences customer satisfaction and loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to analyze unobserved heterogeneity on customer value dimensions perceptions in retail establishments, and their potential effects on positive forms of behavioral outcomes considering customer satisfaction as a mediating variable.
Design/methodology/approach
On a sample of 820 retail customers, the authors apply a finite mixture structural equation modeling that analyzes unobserved heterogeneity simultaneously. In this model, the authors study the influence of heterogeneous perceptions of excellence, efficiency, entertainment and aesthetics on customer satisfaction and of satisfaction on word-of-mouth (WOM) referral and WOM activity.
Findings
The results show two latent segments where the intensity of causal relations varies, which means that the effect of value dimensions and satisfaction are over or underestimated when heterogeneity is ignored.
Originality/value
The main value of the paper has been to analyze the potential heterogeneity of value dimensions (intravariable approach), and their links with satisfaction and some dimensions of loyalty (intervariable approach). Customer heterogeneity must be studied to understand the satisfaction process and WOM responses in order to design more efficient and effective relationship marketing strategies.
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Antonio Marín-García, Irene Gil-Saura and M. Eugenia Ruíz-Molina
In the current dynamic and competitive environment in which retail companies operate, store equity is a differentiating factor. In view of the scarce research found regarding the…
Abstract
Purpose
In the current dynamic and competitive environment in which retail companies operate, store equity is a differentiating factor. In view of the scarce research found regarding the links between the variables traditionally related to brand equity (store awareness, store image, store perceived quality and store loyalty) and innovation, sustainability and the global retail equity, this study aims to examine these links in depth.
Design/methodology/approach
For a sample of 510 customers of grocery retail establishments and with the help of a structured questionnaire, the relationships between the variables defined in this research were examined using a structural equations model.
Findings
The authors find evidence in favor of the positive influence of innovation and sustainability on the variables related to brand equity. Likewise, store loyalty to the establishment, influenced by store image and perceived quality, emerges as a key variable in the construction of global brand equity.
Research limitations/implications
This study shows that innovation and sustainability have a significant impact on the variables traditionally linked with brand equity.
Practical implications
This research shows that new business models should be created through more innovative and sustainable businesses. In this sense, the managers of retail stores should direct their efforts toward actions aimed at implementing innovation, as well as provide evidence of the sustainability of the store’s activities, with the purpose of improving the perception that consumers have of the store.
Originality/value
The results of this research support the role of store loyalty as key element of brand equity. Also, to the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that addresses the relationship that innovation and sustainability have with the variables linked to store equity.
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Martina G. Gallarza and Irene Gil Saura
Consumer value (CV) is endemic to marketing, and therefore, it is a crucial notion to understand the evolution of tourism research. This paper aims to review the main achievements…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer value (CV) is endemic to marketing, and therefore, it is a crucial notion to understand the evolution of tourism research. This paper aims to review the main achievements made on CV in tourism and hospitality literature and also the shortcomings and propose avenues for future research on tourism through the lens of CV.
Design/methodology/approach
Through relevant citations from 1975 to 2020, a figure describes diachronically the role of CV in different paradigm flaws, both pre and post digitization: experiential consumption in the 1980s, service quality-satisfaction discussion in early 1990s, customer relationship in late 1990s and Service Dominant Logic in 2000s and beyond.
Findings
Tourism services have been preferred fields for inquiry on CV, helping to describe the idiosyncrasy of nearly all tourism consumption settings. Although there is not a clear picture on the number and nature of value dimensions (intra-variable perspective), nor in the direct and indirect effects on the quality-value-satisfaction-loyalty chain (inter-variable), new CV frameworks favor ecosystems of value (different stakeholders, different times and places and mixed motivations) in more comprehensive models.
Originality/value
This paper depicts how CV has contributed to tourism development as a behavioral science through the past 75 years. Moreover, it preconizes that CV is still a valid construct to address all new challenges of human beings as tourists, either online or offline, by enlightening phenomena such as e-value co-creation, over-tourism, peer-to-peer consumption and the power of tourism transformative value.
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Irene Sánchez-González, Irene Gil-Saura and Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina
The present research aims to analyse the retailer's commitment to sustainable development (RCSD) perceived by the consumers and how it contributes to store equity creation through…
Abstract
Purpose
The present research aims to analyse the retailer's commitment to sustainable development (RCSD) perceived by the consumers and how it contributes to store equity creation through image, perceived quality and loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
A primary research was conducted through a structured questionnaire to analyse the relationships between the variables included in the proposed model. The fieldwork was conducted in 2019, obtaining responses from 617 retail consumers from four cities in Ecuador – Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca and Machala – obtained. A structural equation model is estimated with the partial least squares technique.
Findings
There is evidence in favour of the contribution of sustainability to store equity. The positive influence of RCSD on perceived quality and the impact of the latter, together with store image, contribute to loyalty, which emerges as a critical construct in building store equity.
Research limitations/implications
Some limitations of the present study – geographic scope limited to Ecuador, analyses restricted to food retailers and pre-COVID-19 data collection – may open new research opportunities replicating the study in other regions for other retail activities and in the post pandemic context.
Practical implications
The retailer's actions demonstrate a commitment to economic, social and environmental sustainability. As a result of this, the establishment's perceived quality improves, which is of interest to academics and retail management professionals.
Originality/value
The present research provides evidence on the chain of effects that explains the positive contribution of RCSD to store equity creation in grocery retailing.
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Gloria Berenguer-Contri, Irene Gil-Saura and Martina Gallarza
This paper aims to identify the role of coproduction and value-in-use in the overall hotel experience value, and its effects on cognitive-affective satisfaction and loyalty. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the role of coproduction and value-in-use in the overall hotel experience value, and its effects on cognitive-affective satisfaction and loyalty. The country chosen is Spain, in the context of the “new normal,” where the increase in tourist flow after the COVID-19 pandemic has been very relevant, setting up the chance to better assess and discuss value creation in a post-pandemic era.
Design/methodology/approach
The causal model is validated with partial least squares (PLS) in a panel of 405 hotel guests (applying sampling quotas by sex, age and region).
Findings
The chain of effects is verified with stronger links at the end and with a greater weight of value-in-use compared to coproduction. Hotels’ efforts to adapt to the pandemic situation work better if a customized, unique experience is offered and if intensive communication is with and not just to the guest. The role of experience value is key for the cocreation to produce results for satisfaction and loyalty.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the value creation literature by highlighting the respective roles of coproduction and value-in-use as drivers of the satisfaction−loyalty chain, and by introducing the guest’s overall hotel experience value into this chain. This is viewed against the backdrop of the contextual changes that have occurred since 2020 in the Spanish hotel industry. The post-pandemic context “forces” the client to actively participate. Analysis of the implications of this kind of new cocreation on the overall customer experience is relevant for both tourism scholars and managers.
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Beatriz Moliner-Velázquez, María Fuentes-Blasco and Irene Gil-Saura
This study aims to examine how technologies contribute to consumer loyalty in the tourist industry. To achieve this objective, information and communication technology (ICT…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how technologies contribute to consumer loyalty in the tourist industry. To achieve this objective, information and communication technology (ICT) development and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) are analysed to explore their direct and indirect effects on satisfaction and loyalty dimensions. The moderating role of customer characteristics (personal and experience-related variables) is also considered to study the complex relationship between satisfaction and loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative study based on a questionnaire structured was developed. The survey was conducted with 386 guests from Spanish hotels. SEM methodology is applied to estimate the structural equation model and multi-group analysis.
Findings
Results confirm significant relationships in the sequence “ICT advancement-satisfaction with ICT-satisfaction with hotel-loyalty”, the mediating effect of eWOM and the moderating effects of the customer characteristics.
Practical implications
ICT can be a key element to improve loyalty and differentiate from competitors. Managers should recognise that customers will have different loyalty behaviours according to their personal characteristics and type of experience.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the recent and still scanty research line on ICT advancement from the consumer perspective. The novelty lies in the relationships between ICT, satisfaction and loyalty in hotels with particular attention to WOM (both personal and electronic) and the inclusion of different moderating variables.
研究目的
本论文旨在评估科技在旅游产业顾客忠诚中的作用。为此, 本论文分析了ICT研发和eWOM对顾客满意和顾客忠诚的直接和间接影响。本论文还分析了顾客特点(个人方面和体验方面的多个变量)在顾客满意和顾客忠诚之间的复杂关系的调节作用。
研究方法
研究样本采集通过结构问卷的方式, 共搜集386位西班牙酒店顾客的问卷, 采用SEM方法做定量分析, 评估了结构方程模型和多组分析。
研究结果
研究结果肯定了“ICT发展-顾客对ICT满意-顾客对酒店满意-顾客忠诚”这一系列逻辑关系。此外, 研究结果还肯定了eWOM的间接作用, 以及顾客特点的调节作用。
研究实践意义
研究表明ICT可以作为提高顾客忠诚和区分竞争者的关键因素。经营者应该认识到不同的顾客特点和体验类别对顾客忠诚有着不同的作用。
研究原创性/价值
本论文对从消费者角度出发研究ICT发展的稀少文献有着显著贡献。其特别之处在于本论文整体研究了对ICT、顾客满意、酒店忠诚、WOM(线上与线下)、以及多个调节变量等一系列关系。
关键词
:信息和通讯技术(ICT)、口碑效应(WOM)、在线口碑效应(eWOM)、顾客满意、顾客忠诚、酒店业
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Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, Irene Gil-Saura and David Servera-Francés
This work aims to attempt an in-depth study of the link between relationship benefits and store loyalty, examining the moderating role of the retailer’s degree of innovation in…
Abstract
Purpose
This work aims to attempt an in-depth study of the link between relationship benefits and store loyalty, examining the moderating role of the retailer’s degree of innovation in these relations.
Design/methodology/approach
An equations model has been contrasted based on 820 valid individual structured questionnaires administered to consumers of 13 trade names in four retail distribution sectors (food, textile, electronics and household goods).
Findings
The results provide evidence of the positive influence of relationship benefits on store loyalty and in particular the benefits stemming from trust. The links between social and special treatment benefits in relation to loyalty are, however, significantly stronger in the less innovative establishments.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides evidence of the moderating role of innovation on the relationship between social benefits and special treatment benefits and loyalty.
Practical implications
Technology may be used as a differentiation tool. The retailer should concentrate its investments on information and communications technology solutions that contribute to enhance the customer experience at the point of sale without neglecting the social dimension to increase the benefits of trust and ultimately, customer loyalty.
Originality/value
The paper provides an in-depth examination of the retail innovation variable which is scarcely analysed in the literature, offering support for the idea that innovation at the point of sale plays a moderating role in the links between relational benefits and customer loyalty.
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Antonio Marín-García, Irene Gil-Saura, Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina and Mihaela Moise
The objective of this work is to respond to the calls for research that, in retail and from the company’s perspective, support the importance of retaining a vision towards…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this work is to respond to the calls for research that, in retail and from the company’s perspective, support the importance of retaining a vision towards sustainability-oriented service innovation (SOSI), delving into the nature of this construct and examining its possible antecedent variables (information and communication technologies or ICT) and its consequent variables (volume and radicalness of innovation).
Design/methodology/approach
To contrast the proposed hypotheses and respond to the main objective of the research, an empirical study was carried out through face-to-face interviews with 200 managers of retail commercial establishments.
Findings
Empirical evidence highlights the important role that SOSI plays in fostering innovative capacity and disrupting innovative practices within the retail sector, particularly from the perspective of store managers, catalysed by the influence of ICT. The findings underline SOSI’s clear contribution to innovation dynamics in retail.
Originality/value
This research analyses SOSI from the perspective of the retail manager within the unique context of the current permacrisis. It contributes to progress in the conceptualisation of SOSI, offering a comprehensive understanding of the construct and its accompanying elements. It provides valuable insights for academics and policy development practitioners navigating the changing landscape of SOSI in the retail sector.