Debra J. Dahab, Wanru Su, Laura Riolli and Raymond Marquardt
This paper presents the results of survey research conducted in 1994 and 1995 on consumer perceptions of different retail formats in Albania. As a developing country where…
Abstract
This paper presents the results of survey research conducted in 1994 and 1995 on consumer perceptions of different retail formats in Albania. As a developing country where consumers and retailers are learning to adjust to a new market system, Albania presents a unique context for this type of study. We measured consumer perceptions of merchandising and customer service attributes and overall satisfaction for private stores with a permanent location, kiosks, and open market vendors. Contrary to other studies of informal retailers, our results show that open market vendors and, to a lesser extent, kiosks provide consumers with less overall satisfaction as compared to the permanent, private stores. Since these markets are segmented to a certain extent by product type, consumers shopped across all markets. Over time, consumers are becoming more confident of their decision skills, product quality has become more important, and permanent private stores were perceived as improving in merchandising and service. However, shopping frequency in the open market increased due to the economic situation. Implications for both Albanian entrepreneurs and potential foreign investors are discussed.
HsiuJu Rebecca Yen, Kevin P. Gwinner and Wanru Su
This study explores the impact of two factors that are prominent in the service literature: customer participation and service expectation. Owing to the interactive nature of…
Abstract
This study explores the impact of two factors that are prominent in the service literature: customer participation and service expectation. Owing to the interactive nature of services, customers often participate in the co‐production of the service. In addition, customers normally enter into the service with certain expectations regarding the level of service they are likely to receive. The survey argues that the participative roles adopted by customers in service specification and delivery and their pre‐encounter service expectations influence how customers attribute the causes of service failure. Finally, the implications from the findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided. The effect of emotional response caused by a service failure on locus attributions remains to be further investigated.