The impact of hedonic dining experiences on word of mouth, switching intentions and willingness to pay

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupama Sukhu ◽  
Anil Bilgihan
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Internal Validity ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hedonic Value ◽  
Restaurant Managers ◽  
Positive Word Of Mouth ◽  
The Impact

PurposeWhen customers decide to dine out, they choose a restaurant for both physiological and psychological reasons. The psychological reasons include the hedonic/enjoyment goal of the consumer. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether dining experiences that provide a positive or negative hedonic value will influence positive word of mouth (PWOM), switching intentions (SI) and willingness to pay (WTP).Design/methodology/approachTwo survey-based experiments using student (N = 112) and general restaurant consumer samples (N = 270) were conducted to test the proposed theoretical model. The student sample provided internal validity, whereas the general consumer sample provided external validity for the study. Two types of manipulations were used to manipulate positive and negative restaurant service encounters. The second study randomly assigned participants into positive or negative scenarios.FindingsThe results suggest that positive (negative) service encounters lead to higher (lower) hedonic value. Higher hedonic value leads to PWOM, WTP and reduced SI. The findings of this study would assist restaurant managers and service scholars by bridging the gap between experiential and relationship marketing.Originality/valueThe current research investigates the dining out experience with a holistic lens.

scholarly journals Service encounter microblog word of mouth and its impact on firm reputation

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 717-733
Author(s):  
Jennifer Brannon Barhorst ◽  
Alan Wilson ◽  
Graeme James McLean ◽  
Joshua Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Structural Equation Models ◽  
Service Encounter ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Firm Reputation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Positive And Negative Valence ◽  
The Impact

Purpose It has now become a normal part of the consumption journey for consumers to share their positive and negative service encounters with firms on microblogs such as Twitter. There is, however, a limited amount of research on service encounter microblog word of mouth (SEMWOM) and its impact on firm reputation from a receiver’s perspective. This study aims to understand the comparative effects of positive and negative valence SEMWOM on receivers’ perceptions of firms’ reputations and the factors that are particularly salient to receivers’ perceptions of firm reputation upon exposure to SEMWOM. Design/methodology/approach An experiment exposed 372 Twitter users to positive and negative valence SEMWOM. To determine whether changes in perception of firm reputation occurred on exposure to both positive and negative valence SEMWOM, participants’ perceptions of a range of US airlines were measured before and after exposure to the SEMWOM. To confirm the factors that influence the perception of reputation on such exposure, six structural equation models were created to determine the comparative effects of positive and negative valence SEMWOM among three electronic WOM media as follows: video, photo and text. Findings Both positive and negative valence SEMWOM affect receivers’ perceptions of airlines’ reputations on exposure. Furthermore, the factors that influence perceptions of reputation on exposure to SEMWOM vary depending on valence and type of media contained in a tweet. Originality/value Although consumers now routinely share their positive and negative service encounters with brands on microblogs, scant research has examined receivers of positive and negative valence SEMWOM, important actors in the microblog domain. This study addresses this research gap by empirically investigating the impact of both positive and negative valence SEMWOM on receivers’ perceptions of firm reputation upon exposure to it.

scholarly journals Thinking about service encounters boosts talking about them

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-515
Author(s):  
Magnus Söderlund ◽  
Jan Mattsson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Incident ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Service Encounter ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of thinking about an event as an antecedent to subsequent talk about this event with others (i.e. word-of-mouth). Thinking has been a neglected variable in word-of-mouth research, despite the fact that several conceptual arguments indicate that thinking is likely to enhance talking. Here, the thinking–talking association is examined in the context of service encounters. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected with a critical incident method, and the main variables were measured with questionnaire items. Findings Thinking about a service encounter – after it has been completed – had a positive influence on subsequent talk to others about the encounter. The association was mediated by the memorability of the service encounter and the extent to which what had happened had been subject to rehearsal with the purpose of telling others about it. In addition, with respect to antecedents of consumer thinking, the results indicate that service encounter incongruity had a special role in why the consumer thinks about encounters after they have been completed. Originality/value The findings should be seen in relation to the dominant position of customer satisfaction as an antecedent to word-of-mouth in the existing literature. The present results, however, indicate that satisfaction’s contribution to the variation in talking about the encounter was modest.

scholarly journals Consumer confusion proneness: insights from a developing economy

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 722-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fandy Tjiptono ◽  
Denni Arli ◽  
Tania Bucic
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Consumer Satisfaction ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Confusion ◽  
Young Consumers ◽  
Positive Word Of Mouth ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine young consumers’ general tendency to become confused and its effect on the word of mouth, trust, and consumer satisfaction in Indonesia – the largest smartphone market in Southeast Asia. Design/methodology/approach – A combination of convenience and purposive sampling were used to select the sample of young adults in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY), Indonesia. Findings – The results confirm that consumer confusion proneness comprises three dimensions; similarity confusion, overload confusion, and ambiguity confusion among young consumers in the smartphone market. Furthermore, each dimension has different consumer behavioural implications. Practical implications – In the context of Indonesia and when targeting young consumers, companies should focus on defining unique product features instead of simply imitating competitor offerings, because similarity confusion negatively affects consumer trust. Moreover, managers should consistently emphasize unique and value-adding features to overload the product. This will lead to increased positive word of mouth, especially with the growing trend of social media usage among young consumers in Indonesia. Originality/value – This paper represents a replication of Walsh and Mitchell's (2010) study. It is unique in that it is set in the context of the Indonesian smartphone market – the largest smartphone market in Southeast Asia, and concentrates specifically on the young consumer market. It provides valuable insights into the impact of consumer confusion proneness on the word of mouth, trust, and consumer across this age group and in this market.

Emotional intelligence in transcendent customer experiences

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 709-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupama Sukhu ◽  
Soobin Seo ◽  
Robert Scharff ◽  
Blair Kidwell
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Internal Validity ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
High Ability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediation Analyses

PurposeThis services marketing research provides a theoretical framework for experiential and relationship marketing and extends the theory of transcendent customer experience (TCE). Specifically, this paper aims to identify how the drivers (emotional intelligence [EI]), outcomes (customer loyalty, willingness to pay and word of mouth [WOM] intentions) and influences (openness to experience) of TCE are integrated. The research contributes to the theoretical debate regarding ability-based and self-reported EI measures by examining their influence on TCE.Design/methodology/approachStudents and general consumers provided data through structured online surveys in three survey-based experiments. Linear and multiple regressions, mediation analyses and simple effects tests were used for data analysis.FindingsFindings suggest that self-reported and ability-based measures of EI influence TCE differently. Participants who had high self-reported EI evaluated positive service encounters as more transcendent than they evaluated negative service encounters. Participants who had high ability-based EI evaluated positive service encounters as less transcendent than they evaluated negative service encounters. TCE experiences evoked higher loyalty, willingness to pay (WTP) and WOM recommendations. Furthermore, dispositional factors were significant in forming TCE: participants who were highly open to experience and had high ability-based EI interpreted their service encounter as less transcendent than did participants who were more closed to experience and had low ability-based EI.Research limitations/implicationsTCE, a relatively new concept, offers theoretical advancement in context and constructs. The student-provided data gave high internal validity; the general consumer-provided data gave external validity. Ideally, a future field study in an actual consumption setting should replicate the findings. A self-reported questionnaire used to measure constructs may have introduced common method variance that biased the results.Practical implicationsBy understanding that EI affects perceptions of transcendence in positive/negative service encounters, marketers can better implement consumer-oriented marketing strategies that will enhance TCE, customer loyalty, WTP and WOM.Originality/valueDespite considerable research in experiential and relationship marketing, room remains for theoretical and practical enhancement in the under-researched concept of TCE. This research is the first attempt to extend TCE theory to marketing by identifying the drivers, outcomes and moderators of TCE in service encounters. The research also provides theoretical advancement in EI research. The results contradict previous research claiming that ability-based and self-reported measures are equally valid. Instead, using the two EI scales interchangeably leads to potentially different outcomes.

scholarly journals The impact of regulatory focus and word of mouth valence on search and experience attribute evaluation

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 1353-1373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajat Roy ◽  
Vik Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Product Positioning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumption Decision ◽  
Positive Word Of Mouth ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the direct and interactive effects of regulatory focus (promotion versus prevention), attribute type (search versus experience) and word of mouth valence (positive versus negative) on consumption decision for a service and a product. Design/methodology/approach Three empirical studies (two laboratories and a field experiment) using “university” and “mobile phone” as the research setting were used to test the key hypotheses. Findings Promotion (prevention)-focused subjects preferred experience (search) attributes over their counterparts while making consumption decision. This preference was further reinforced for both promotion and prevention-focused people under positive word of mouth. Under negative word of mouth, in comparison to their counterparts, promotion-focused people still retained their preference for experience attributes, whereas prevention-focused subjects reversed their preference and maintained status quo. Research limitations/implications Future research may validate and extend authors’ findings by looking into the underlying process or studying additional word of mouth variables that may moderate the current findings. Practical implications The findings will help managers devise a range of marketing strategies in the areas of advertising and product positioning, especially for products/services that are showcased in terms of experience and search attributes. Originality/value The current research is novel as no prior research has proposed and tested the two-way interaction between regulatory focus and search/experience attributes, or its further moderation by word of mouth valence.

Chinese brand–individual values congruity and willingness of consumers from other countries to use positive word of mouth

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Xi Chen ◽  
Qing Fang ◽  
Zhenyuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Brand Commitment ◽  
Positive Word ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Perceived Values ◽  
Word Of Mouth Communication ◽  
Positive Word Of Mouth ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Congruity of brand and individual values is the degree of fit or similarity between consumers' personal values and the perceived values of a certain brand. In this study, we took Huawei as the test brand and investigated 525 consumers in 30 countries to examine whether congruity of brand and individual values influences consumer word-of-mouth communication in an international context. The results show that (a) brand commitment played a mediating role in the effect of brand–individual values congruity on word of mouth, (b) the consistency of a brand's practices and its values (brand behavior congruity) moderated the relationship between brand–individual values congruity and the consumers' brand commitment, and (c) brand behavior congruity moderated the mediating role of brand commitment in the relationship between values congruity and positive word of mouth. Our findings provide insight into the impact of values congruity for consumers.

Impact of word-of-mouth, job attributes and relationship strength on employer attractiveness

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 721-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiz Ahamad
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Job Attributes ◽  
Relationship Strength ◽  
Job Information ◽  
Employer Attractiveness ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Job information through word-of-mouth (WOM) has a crucial impact on employer attractiveness. The phenomenal rise of social media offers alternate WOM platforms for sharing job information, which is quite different from traditional face-to-face WOM. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differential impact of traditional word-of-mouth (t-WOM) and social media word-of-mouth (s-WOM) on employer attractiveness along with the difference in the job attributes and relationship strength with the information source. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 × 2 experiment was conducted to examine the impact of information source (t-WOM and s-WOM), job attributes (tangible and intangible) and relationship strength (strong and weak), on employer attractiveness. Source expertise and source trust were treated as the control variable. Findings The result shows the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness. Moreover, t-WOM from strong relation source found to have a high impact on employer attractiveness than s-WOM. No significant difference due to job attributes was found. Research limitations/implications Use of only positive WOM and not the negative one, student as the subjects, etc. Practical implications The present study suggests using t-WOM and s-WOM to attract talented job seekers. Originality/value This is the first study to analyze the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness.

Should I suggest this YouTube clip? The impact of UGC source credibility on eWOM and purchase intention

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mazzini Muda ◽  
Muhammad Iskandar Hamzah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Source Credibility ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn spite of the increasing organic and interactive marketing activities over social media, a general understanding of the source credibility of voluntary user-generated content (UGC) is still limited. In line with the social identity theory, this paper examines the effects of consumers' perceived source credibility of UGC in YouTube videos on their attitudes and behavioral intentions. Additionally, source homophily theory is included to predict the antecedent of source credibility.Design/methodology/approachThree hundred and seventy two Generation Y respondents were interviewed using snowball sampling. Data were analyzed with component-based structural equation modeling technique of partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsFindings confirmed that perceived source credibility indirectly affects purchase intention (PI) and electronic word-of-mouth via attitude toward UGC. Besides, perceived source credibility mediates the effect of perceived source homophily on attitude toward UGC.Practical implicationsSince today's consumers have begun to trust and rely more on UGC than company-generated content on social media when making purchase decisions, companies may reconsider democratizing certain aspects of their branding strategies. Firms may fine-tune their marketing communication budgets – not only just by sponsoring public figures and celebrities but also by nurturing coproductive engagements with independent content creators who are ordinary consumers. Endowed with their imposing credibility, these micro-influencers and prosumers have high potentials to be uplifted to brand ambassadors.Originality/valueWhile consumers' purchase outcome can be measured easily using metrics and analytics, the roles of source homophily in stages leading up to the purchase is still elusive. Drawing on the rich theoretical basis of source homophily may help researchers to understand not only how credibility and attitude are related to PI but also how this nexus generates positive word of mouth among UGC followers within the social media circles.

The robot-to-robot service encounter: an examination of the impact of inter-robot warmth

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Magnus Söderlund
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Service Robot ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Experimental Setting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Synthetic Agents ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to examine humans’ reactions to service robots’ display of warmth in robot-to-robot interactions – a setting in which humans’ impressions of a service robot will not only be based on what this robot does in relation to humans, but also on what it does to other robots. Design/methodology/approach Service robot display of warmth was manipulated in an experimental setting in such a way that a service robot A expressed low versus high levels of warmth in relation to another service robot B. Findings The results indicate that a high level of warmth expressed by robot A vis-à-vis robot B boosted humans’ overall evaluations of A, and that this influence was mediated by the perceived humanness and the perceived happiness of A. Originality/value Numerous studies have examined humans’ reactions when they interact with a service robot or other synthetic agents that provide service. Future service encounters, however, will comprise also multi-robot systems, which means that there will be many opportunities for humans to be exposed to robot-to-robot interactions. Yet, this setting has hitherto rarely been examined in the service literature.

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