Shanta Banik and Fazlul K. Rabbanee
Status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs (HLPs) has received considerable academic attention. However, existing research is relatively silent on whether HLP status…
Abstract
Purpose
Status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs (HLPs) has received considerable academic attention. However, existing research is relatively silent on whether HLP status demotion fosters service relationship fading by influencing demoted customers’ psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction. Drawing on the relationship fading literature and the stimulus–organism–response framework, this study aims to examine these effects. It further investigates the moderating role of psychological ownership on the links of status demotion with psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies (Studies 1 and 2) were conducted in the context of airline HLPs. Study 1 was a structured survey conducted among 213 demoted airline HLP customers in Australia, and Study 2 was an experiment conducted among 178 executive MBA students in Bangladesh. The PROCESS macro was used to test the moderated mediation model.
Findings
The results of both studies show that HLP status demotion significantly influences customers’ psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction. The findings also reveal that psychological disengagement mediates the relationship between status demotion and the likelihood of patronage reduction. Further, customers with high (low) psychological ownership feel high (less) psychological disengagement and show high (less) likelihood of patronage reduction due to their HLP status demotion.
Originality/value
This study extends the existing literature on relationship marketing and HLPs by offering a better understanding of how and under what conditions status demotion elicits customers’ psychological disengagement and the likelihood of patronage reduction.
Details
Keywords
Shanta Banik, Yongqiang Gao and Fazlul K. Rabbanee
Status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs (HLPs) has received considerable academic attention. However, little is known about whether status demotion engenders two widely…
Abstract
Purpose
Status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs (HLPs) has received considerable academic attention. However, little is known about whether status demotion engenders two widely recognised behavioural intentions: revenge and avoidance. This study aims to make up this gap by examining the effects of status demotion on customers’ revenge and avoidance intentions. The underlying mechanism and boundary conditions of these effects are also explored.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. Study 1 was conducted using a structured survey from 347 active HLP members/customers of Chinese airlines. Study 2 used an online experiment amongst 268 active HLP airline customers in Australia. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling and Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS macro were used for data analysis.
Findings
The results of Study 1 show that status demotion increases customers’ revenge and avoidance intentions simultaneously. Meanwhile, these effects are more significant for demoted customers with an external locus of causality than those with an internal locus of causality and demoted customers with higher entitlement tend to possess more revenge intentions than avoidance intentions. Study 2 further identified perceived inequity as a mechanism, which links status demotion to revenge and avoidance intentions of demoted customers.
Research limitations/implications
This study examines demoted customers’ revenge and avoidance intentions amongst Chinese and Australian airline travellers. Future research may focus on actual behaviour and test the current study’s model in cross-cultural and cross-industry settings.
Practical implications
Managers should deal with demotion decisions carefully as the failure to manage outraged customers may weaken customer-company relationships.
Originality/value
This study extends the existing literature on relationship marketing and HLPs by offering a better understanding of how and under what conditions status demotion elicits customers’ intentions for revenge and avoidance.
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Yongqiang Gao, Yaohan Cai and Shanta Banik
Brand crises are widespread in the marketplace and how consumers perceive and respond to such crises is crucial for brand survival. This paper aims to elucidate the critical role…
Abstract
Purpose
Brand crises are widespread in the marketplace and how consumers perceive and respond to such crises is crucial for brand survival. This paper aims to elucidate the critical role of brand age in shaping consumers’ negative responses to competence-related versus ethics-related crises, with a particular focus on the Eastern cultural context. In addition, the roles of information diagnosticity and culture are investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
In a series of four studies conducted across China and the USA, the authors use a rigorous between-subject experimental design to delve into the dynamics of how the interplay between brand age and brand crisis impacts consumers’ negative responses, specifically negative word-of-mouth and boycott tendency, toward brands perceived as guilty.
Findings
Results show that brand age helps mitigate the negative responses of consumers in competence-related crises, yet exacerbates such reactions in ethics-related crises. In addition, information diagnosticity mediates the interactive effect of brand crisis and brand age on consumers’ negative responses. However, the results of the cross-cultural comparison study suggest that brand age exaggerates consumers’ negative responses to ethics-related brand crises only in Eastern cultures, but not in the Western contexts.
Research limitations/implications
The research reveals the dual-edged impact of brand age during crises, enriches the literature that draws on information diagnosticity within the hierarchical restrictive schema theory. It also clarifies the boundary mechanisms related to cultural differences.
Practical implications
The findings of this research provide meaningful implications for brand managers by communicating the oldness of a brand may serve to buffer negative consumer responses to competence-related crises but can exacerbate the consequences of ethics-related crises.
Originality/value
This research offers a novel perspective on the nuanced influence of brand age on consumers’ adverse reactions to brand crises. It clarifies why emphasizing the oldness of brands in Eastern-culture markets is effective in mitigating competence-related crises but often counterproductive for ethics-related crises.
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Fazlul K. Rabbanee, Mohammad Moinul Haque, Shanta Banik and Mohammad Majedul Islam
The purpose of this paper is to offer a better understanding of managing engagement in an emerging economy service. It explores the role of organisational climates for initiative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a better understanding of managing engagement in an emerging economy service. It explores the role of organisational climates for initiative and psychological safety as the key drivers of employee engagement (EE). It also examines the effects of EE on customer engagement (CE) and, in turn, on relationship commitment and switching intention.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a structured survey of service employees and customers of 69 bank branches in Bangladesh using two survey instruments. Responses were collected from 156 employees and 316 customers. A dyadic data set was created by matching customer data with the corresponding employee data collected from each bank branch. Structural equation modelling using AMOS (version 22.0) was employed for data analysis.
Findings
Organisational climates for initiative and psychological safety positively influence EE. In turn, EE significantly influences CE which has a significant impact on customer relationship commitment and switching intention.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could consider actual customer behaviour, such as repeat purchase, as the key outcome variable.
Practical implications
The findings emphasise that investment by service managers in organisational resources to facilitate favourable climates for initiative and psychological safety would engage employees at work, which would ultimately help to attain CE and commitment, and reduce switching intention.
Originality/value
This research extends the existing engagement literature with empirical evidence supporting two new EE drivers and two new CE outcomes. It offers a better understanding of managing engagement in the financial services industry of an emerging economy, focussing on the relationship chain from organisational climate to EE, CE and customer-based outcomes.
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Md Maruf Hossan Chowdhury, A.K.M. Shakil Mahmud, Shanta Banik, Fazlul K. Rabbanee, Mohammed Quaddus and Mohammed Alamgir
Drawing on the dynamic capability view (DCV), this research determines the suitable configurations of resilience strategies for sustainable tourism supply chain performance amidst…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the dynamic capability view (DCV), this research determines the suitable configurations of resilience strategies for sustainable tourism supply chain performance amidst “extreme” disruptive events affecting the entire supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
This research applies a multi-study and multi-method approach. Study 1 utilizes in-depth interviews to identify a list of tourism supply chain sustainability risks and resilience strategies. Study 2, using quality function deployment (QFD) technique, determines the most important resilience strategies corresponding to highly significant risks. Study 3, on the other hand, adopts a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to determine the best recipe of resilience strategies and risks to make the tourism supply chain performance sustainable.
Findings
The findings reveal that sustainable tourism performance during an extreme disruptive event (e.g. COVID-19 health crisis) depends on the combined effect of tourism resilience strategies and risks instead of their individual effect.
Practical implications
The research findings offer significant managerial implications. Managers may experiment with multiple causal conditions of risks and resilience strategies to engender the expected outcome.
Originality/value
This research extends current knowledge on tourism supply chain and offers insights for managers to mitigate the risks and ensures sustainable performance in the context of extreme disruptive events.