Ralf Reichwald, Jörg Siebert and Kathrin Möslein
From an exploratory study of 37 large multinationals, this paper aims to report key findings, derive learnings for the design of corporate leadership systems and identify future…
Abstract
Purpose
From an exploratory study of 37 large multinationals, this paper aims to report key findings, derive learnings for the design of corporate leadership systems and identify future research issues for a better understanding of individual leadership in corporate leadership systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reported builds on ten years of ongoing research on the nature of leadership, leadership communication, and institutional support structures in large multinationals. As such, it is part of ongoing longitudinal leadership research, following a hermeneutic approach.
Findings
From a qualitative as well as quantitative perspective the paper reviews the implementation and usage of corporate leadership instruments and discusses current practices of large corporations trying to select, support, measure, motivate and develop very large numbers of leaders around the world. A conceptual leadership system is presented as a basic frame of reference.
Research limitations/implications
The exploratory research approach has its strength in framing the field of corporate leadership systems. Further in‐depth research is needed on the nature of each the four key fields of the conceptual framework described.
Practical implications
Those who are responsible to design and revise corporate leadership systems will find a valuable frame of reference and selected benchmark data as a basis for the assessment and further development of the corporate leadership landscape.
Originality/value
This paper presents original findings in a highly relevant, but under‐researched field of corporate leadership practice.
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Keywords
Yasin Sahhar, Raymond Loohuis and Jörg Henseler
Customer experience has become a vital premise in service theory and practice. Despite researchers' and managers' growing interest, the customer experience remains a complex and…
Abstract
Purpose
Customer experience has become a vital premise in service theory and practice. Despite researchers' and managers' growing interest, the customer experience remains a complex and multidimensional concept that is challenging for service providers to understand. This study aims to graph the experience in its multidimensionality by categorizing and proposing matching practices for service marketing managers to channel and foster customer experiences in customer journeys.
Design/methodology/approach
To support the predominantly conceptual nature of the study, an abductive approach underpinned by the authors' vast experience in academia and practice, real-life autohermeneutic phenomenological experience tales and theory on customer experience and its management by providers is deployed to craft a model that addresses and highlights the multidimensionality of experience.
Findings
This study introduces the “GraphEx” (Graph Experience) hip-pocket model, which expresses customer experience in a simple yet multidimensional fashion and offers managerial practices to foster the customer's experience. The model contains three dimensions (valence, type of experience and visceral intensity) and five managerial practices (urgent patchwork, restoring, activating and stimulating desire, bolstering and safeguarding appreciation).
Originality/value
This study contributes to the service literature by creating granularity in the multidimensionality of customer experience. This study advances customer experience management in practice by providing service managers with novel possibilities for understanding and managing customer experiences intelligently. This can help service providers streamline and innovate customer experience strategies during customer journeys and foster customer loyalty.
Details
Keywords
Yasin Sahhar, Raymond Loohuis and Jörg Henseler
The purpose of this study is to identify the practices used by service providers to manage the customer service experience (CSE) across multiple phases of the customer journey in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the practices used by service providers to manage the customer service experience (CSE) across multiple phases of the customer journey in a business-to-business (B2B) setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study comprises an ethnography that investigates in real time, from a dyadic perspective, and the CSE management practices at two service providers operating in knowledge-intensive service industries over a period of eight months. Analytically, the study concentrates on critical events that occurred in phases of the customer journey that in some way alter CSE, thus making it necessary for service providers to act to keep their customers satisfied.
Findings
The study uncovers four types of service provider practices that vary based on the mode of organization (ad hoc or regular) and the mode of engagement (reactive or proactive) and based on whether they restore or bolster CSE, including the recurrence of these practices in the customer journey. These practices are conveniently presented in a circumplex typology of CSE management across five phases in the customer journey.
Research limitations/implications
This paper advances the research in CSE management throughout the customer journey in the B2B context by showing that CSE management is dynamic, recurrent and multifaceted in the sense that it requires different modes of organization and engagement, notably during interaction with customers, in different phases of the customer journey.
Practical implications
The circumplex typology acts as a tool for service providers, helping them to redesign their CSE management practices in ongoing service and dialogical processes to keep their customers more engaged and satisfied.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to infuse a dyadic stance into the ongoing discussion of CSE management practices in B2B, in which studies to date have deployed only provider or customer perspectives. In proposing a microlevel view, the study identifies service providers' CSE management practices in multiple customer journey phases, especially when the situation becomes critical.