Chia-Lin Hsu, Yu-Hsiang Lin, Mu-Chen Chen, Kuo-Chien Chang and Ai-Yun Hsieh
The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors that affect users’ adoption of e-books using an extension of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors that affect users’ adoption of e-books using an extension of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) that includes the following factors: environmental concerns, perceived benefits, and benevolence trust.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyzed survey responses from 343 participants using structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships in this research model.
Findings
The results show that users’ adoption of e-books is determined by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, environmental concern, perceived benefit, and benevolence trust.
Research limitations/implications
The authors restricted this study to consumers’ adoption of e-books. Further studies could examine consumer’s adoption of other mediums, such as cutting-edge information technologies.
Practical implications
The results suggest that marketers should consider altering their methods of promoting e-books to attract consumers and further affect their usage intention.
Originality/value
This study proposes and tests an extended UTAUT model that includes the additional factors of environmental concern, perceived benefit, and benevolence trust in order to examine the influence of these factors on e-book adoption. The findings are particularly useful for assisting managers to increase e-book adoption.
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Mu-Chen Chen, Yu-Hsiang Hsiao, Kuo-Chien Chang and Ming-Ke Lin
Leisure and tourism activities have proliferated and become important parts of modern life, and the hotel industry plays a necessary role in the supply for and demand from…
Abstract
Purpose
Leisure and tourism activities have proliferated and become important parts of modern life, and the hotel industry plays a necessary role in the supply for and demand from consumers. The purpose of this paper is to develop guidelines for hotel service development by applying a service development approach integrating Kansei engineering and text mining.
Design/methodology/approach
The online reviews represent the voice of customers regarding the products and services. Consumers’ online comments might become a key factor for consumers choosing hotels when planning their tourism itinerary. With the framework of Kansei engineering, this paper adopts text mining to extract the sets of Kansei words and hotel service characteristics from the online contents as well as the relationships among Kansei words, service characteristics and these two sets. The relationships are generated by using link analysis, and then the guidelines for hotel service development are proposed based on the obtained relationships.
Findings
The results of the present research can provide the hotel industry a comprehensive understanding of hotels’ customers opinions, and can offer specific advice on how to differentiate one’s products and services from competitors’ in order to improve customer satisfaction and increase hotels’ performance in the end. Finally, this study finds out the service development guidelines to meet customers’ requirements which can provide suggestions for hotel managers. The implications both for academic and industry are also drawn based on the obtained results.
Originality/value
Now, in the internet era, consumers can comment on their hotel living experience directly through the internet. The large amount of user-generated content (UGC) provided by consumers also provides chances for the hospitality industry to understand consumers’ opinions through online review mining. The UGC with consumers’ opinions to hotel services can be continuously collected and analyzed by hoteliers. Therefore, this paper demonstrates how to apply the hybrid approach integrating Kansei engineering and online review mining to hotel service development.
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This study aims to apply the resource-based and upper-echelons perspectives to integrate concepts of strategic decision-making (i.e. speed and quality) and transformational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to apply the resource-based and upper-echelons perspectives to integrate concepts of strategic decision-making (i.e. speed and quality) and transformational leadership behavior (i.e. inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration and idealized influence) to examine how these resources are influenced by the characteristics of top managers (i.e. demographic backgrounds and entrepreneurial orientation) to affect firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using evidence from a sample of 111 top managers from different firms in Taiwan, this research examined the relationships among the selected variables using two versions of the designed questionnaire: one for the leader, and the other for the followers. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data.
Findings
The findings reveal the following: the entrepreneurial orientation of top managers does affect their leadership style, which affects firm performance; if top managers display traits of transformational leadership, then firm performance will be higher, likely because transformational leaders tend to make high-quality decisions and strategic decision-making speed was influenced by the experience of top managers and the inspirational motivation provided by transformational leadership.
Originality/value
This study makes three specific contributions: improving the limitations of demographics-based top-management studies by investigating both demographics and psychological characteristics; advancing research on the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation and performance by integrating transformational leadership behaviors and examining the proposed research model from a resource-based perspective.
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The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of travel agency’s reputation on customer recommendation behavior by examining the mediating effects of customer-perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of travel agency’s reputation on customer recommendation behavior by examining the mediating effects of customer-perceived functional and emotional value as well as the moderating effects of tour leader performance and customer flow experience in the travel agency sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A statistical analysis of the collected questionnaires was computed based on the 463 usable responses from Taiwan tourists who joining the group package tours traveling to China. Structural equation modeling is the essential analysis methodology used to examine the hypothesized relationships among the variables.
Findings
The analysis results confirm that reputation has positive effects on customers recommendation behaviors in which perceived functional and emotional value work as necessary mediating roles. Nevertheless, the effect of reputation through emotional value on customer recommendation behavior provides a much better explanation than through functional value in the model. In addition, regarding the variables of tour leader performance and customer flow experience in the model, only the tour leader performance is confirmed that moderates the relationships among reputation, perceived value, and customer recommendation behavior. According to the findings, managerial implications are discussed as well.
Originality/value
This study develops a conceptual stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model that, reflecting the mediating role of perceived value and the moderating role of tour leader performance, indicates the effect of reputation on customer recommendation behavior.
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This study attempts to investigate the causal relationships between perceived trust, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and corporate reputation to understand how customer…
Abstract
Purpose
This study attempts to investigate the causal relationships between perceived trust, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and corporate reputation to understand how customer perceptions evolve into customer loyalty in the restaurant sector.
Design/methodology/approach
This study develops a research model and empirically examines the model by collecting data from two different chain restaurants. Based on the aggregated responses (n=529) from surveys conducted in the two selected chain restaurants, structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized relationships between the variables.
Findings
The results reveal that corporate reputation creates loyalty through trust and value, two factors that act as important mediating variables in the model. Another key finding, based on a comparison of the total effects, is that perceived trust affects customer loyalty through customer satisfaction and that it has a stronger effect than perceived value.
Practical implications
Along with the reputation‐loyalty linkage, which is mediated by trust and value, the minor influence of customer‐perceived value implies that restaurant managers should consider enhancing their diners' perceived value by providing innovative products and services.
Originality/value
This study develops a conceptual stimulus‐organism‐response (S‐O‐R) model that reflects the mediating role of trust and value to indicate the effect of the customer perceptions of the corporate reputation on customer loyalty in the restaurant sector.
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Mu-Chen Chen, Kuo-Chien Chang, Chia-Lin Hsu and Jia-Hau Xiao
To obtain a competitive advantage in the logistics market, international express companies should design services to stimulate customers’ usage intention by understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
To obtain a competitive advantage in the logistics market, international express companies should design services to stimulate customers’ usage intention by understanding customers’ affective perceptions (or in Japanese, Kansei) of the service offerings. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationships among the service elements of international express, customer Kansei perceptions, and intentions to use the service, to provide new ideas for the design of international express services (IESs).
Design/methodology/approach
By using Kansei engineering approach, customers’ Kansei perceptions related to elements of IES are first determined, and the logistic regression technique is then used to analyze three constructed models based on the relationships among the service elements of international express, customers’ Kansei perceptions, and usage intention.
Findings
Accordingly, five critical service elements that correspond to four vital Kansei words related to usage intention were obtained based on cross-comparisons of the results of three models. The findings have important implications for international express managers, in that the priorities in designing services should be those service elements that favorably elicit certain Kansei perceptions among customers and effectively lead to customers’ usage intention in the pre-purchase phase. Moreover, some important missing Kansei perceptions further derived from customers’ real service experiences in the post-purchase stage should be incorporated into future design considerations.
Originality/value
This study incorporated customers’ Kansei perceptions into the procedure of IES design. By understanding the service elements and feelings that customers deem important, international express companies can improve the content of existing services and strengthen the design of new services to increase customers’ behavioral intentions.
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Kuo‐Chien Chang, Mu‐Chen Chen, Chia‐Lin Hsu and Nien‐Te Kuo
This paper attempts to investigate the casual relationships among service convenience, perceived service value, perceived service guarantee strength, customer satisfaction, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper attempts to investigate the casual relationships among service convenience, perceived service value, perceived service guarantee strength, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Although previous studies have addressed the importance of these variables, the understanding of the mediating effect of customer‐perceived service value and the moderating effect of customer‐perceived service guarantee strength on customer post‐purchasing behaviours still remain key issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A statistical analysis of the collected questionnaires was computed based on the 498 usable responses from the four branches of the selected Chinese chain restaurant. Structural equation modelling is the essential analysis methodology used to examine the hypothesised relationships among the variables.
Findings
Analysis confirms that customer satisfaction is positively influenced by service convenience, whereas customer loyalty is positively influenced by customer satisfaction. Furthermore, customer satisfaction is indirectly influenced by service convenience through perceived service value. Finally, another key finding is the relationship between service convenience and customer satisfaction, which is stronger for customers who perceive high service guarantee strength than for those who perceive low service guarantee strength.
Originality/value
The study contributes to a conceptual model that, reflecting the mediating role of customer‐perceived service value and the moderating role of customer‐perceived service guarantee strength, indicates the effect of service convenience on customers' post‐purchasing behaviours.
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Mu‐Chen Chen, Kuo‐Chien Chang, Chia‐Lin Hsu and I‐Ching Yang
By applying Kano model, this study attempts to investigate the categorization of home delivery quality elements derived from service convenience model and their impact on customer…
Abstract
Purpose
By applying Kano model, this study attempts to investigate the categorization of home delivery quality elements derived from service convenience model and their impact on customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the research framework and hypotheses are constructed through a literature review. Kano model is applied to classify the home delivery service elements into five quality attributes and gender is included to understand the difference of customer perception on the obtained quality elements. Statistical analyses of the collected questionnaires were computed based on the 476 effective responses regarding the home delivery service.
Findings
The results confirm that customers' perception of home delivery service elements are classified into one‐dimensional and must‐be attributes by Kano model, while this study contributes to the creation of attractive elements that significantly affect the customer satisfaction and owning an enormous potential to further differentiate competitors. Customer satisfaction is positively correlated with different types of service convenience. It also suggests that the customers with different gender have significantly different views to quality elements of home delivery service.
Originality/value
The major contribution of this study is that it attempts to examine the categorization of home delivery quality elements derived from service convenience model and their impact on customer satisfaction.
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Chia‐Lin Hsu, Mu‐Chen Chen, Kuo‐Chien Chang and Chuang‐Min Chao
Using the concept of loss aversion, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in the home delivery industry. The second purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
Using the concept of loss aversion, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in the home delivery industry. The second purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of service convenience in the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty. Furthermore, this paper attempts to demonstrate the existence of a moderating effect either on the service quality loss (SQLOSS)‐customer loyalty link, or on the service quality gain (SQGAIN)‐customer loyalty link, or on both.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the research model and hypotheses are constructed through a literature review. Data are collected by a questionnaire survey, and the adapted SERVQUAL scale is taken as the measurement instrument. Structural equation modeling is adopted to confirm the above relationships.
Findings
From the results come the finding that a loss in service quality has a greater effect on customer loyalty than that of a SQGAIN in the home delivery industry. This paper also proves that the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty is moderated by service convenience.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates the effect of asymmetric response of service quality on customer loyalty.