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Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to address United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) 8 and 9 from a service perspective. SDG 8 is a call to improve the dignity of service work by enhancing wages, working conditions and development opportunities while SDG 9 calls upon nations to construct resilient infrastructures, promote inclusivity and sustainability and foster innovation. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a bibliometric review to extract important themes from a variety of scholarly journals. Findings: Researchers tend to investigate policy-level topics, such as national and international standards related to working conditions, while ignoring the experiences or well-being of workers occupying marginalized and low-opportunity roles in service organizations. Service researchers, educators and practitioners must collaborate to improve the state of service industries by conducting participatory action research, promoting grassroots organizing/advocacy, implementing digitized customer service and addressing workforce soft skills deficiencies. Research limitations/implications: The authors consider how service work can be transformed into respectable employment and present four specific ways nations can enhance their service industries. Practical implications: Economic planners can view SDGs 8 and 9 as a framework for understanding and promoting the well-being of service employees and accelerating the productivity and innovation levels of the service sector. Originality/value: The United Nations' SDGs are examined from a services perspective, which increases their significance in service-dominated economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the roles of place attachment and social relationships in encouraging clients of a health center to comply with their health providers' directives. We draw on place attachment theory to explore the extent to which emotional bonds between clients and the center promote compliance. Next, we draw on place social bonding to explore whether clients' experiences derived from interactions at the center encourage compliance. Based on data obtained from center clients, we conclude that place attachment and social bonding drive compliance. From a practical perspective, providers and clients must engage in social interaction to promote compliance and engender place attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the opportunities in the service marketplace that have arisen because of the changes brought about by the global pandemic (COVID-19). Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual methodological approach is used to analyze trends in the history of service research and discuss how articles presented in this issue help scholars and practitioners with planning for opportunities and confronting challenges in the new (post COVID-19) service marketplace. Findings: This special issue puts forth six viewpoints and seven research articles that outline opportunities in the new service marketplace from regional and global perspectives. Further, the research articles presented in this issue identify four opportunities for managers to consider when designing services in the new service marketplace; these are labeled as reassurance and fear reduction, rethinking physical space and supply chains for multichannel service delivery, the rise of local and community importance and resilience building to combat customer discourtesy. Practical implications: Managers can understand how the pandemic has profoundly and permanently impacted consumers' perceptions and expectations for service delivery and processes. Originality/value: This work presents scholars with a historical overview of trends in service research. The challenges posed by the pandemic represent the beginning of a new era in service research thought and practice as many previously held theories and understandings of consumers' marketplace behaviors have permanently changed because of behavioral changes that transpired during governmental mandated lockdowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This commentary puts forth a conceptual framework, referred to as the consumer, organization, government framework of unintended digital technology service failures, that specifies consumer, organizational and governmental shortcomings that result in digital technologies failing in terms of negatively affecting consumer, communal, national and/or global welfare. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conceptualize an original framework by engaging in a literature review regarding marketplace failures associated with digital service technologies. Findings: The framework shows that three drivers explain why commercial digital technologies often fail. The first driver highlights misuse or criminal intent from individuals. The second involves organizations failing to prevent or to address technology failures. The third pertains to failures that stem from governmental institutions. Research limitations/implications: The authors encourage researchers to build on their framework by putting forth research questions. To prevent or lessen opportunities for digital technologies to result in service failures, the authors also offer practitioners a "digital technology service failure audit." This audit shows how digital technology creators and managers can anticipate and address consumer, organizational and governmental factors that often cause digital service technologies failures. Social implications: Despite the absence of industry-specific regulations and the existence of some regulatory immunities, digital technology providers have an ethical duty, and may be obligated under applicable tort law principles, to take steps to prevent unintended harm to consumers before launching their service technologies. Originality/value: This work reveals that digital technologies represent new and different threats to vulnerable consumers, who often rely on, but do not fully understand, these technologies in their everyday living. The framework helps consumers, organizations and government agencies to identify and remedy current and potential instances of harmful digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research evaluates enclosed mall shoppers' neural activation in response to the social presence of other people. The study draws on social impact theory to show how the mere presence of other people in an enclosed shopping mall influences six different emotions, including excitement, interest, stress, engagement, focus, and relaxation, within a focal shopper. We evaluate shoppers' emotions by employing the Emotiv EPOC+ headset to obtain electroencephalogram recordings. The data obtained from mall shoppers reveal that the mere presence of other shoppers in an enclosed mall evokes high levels of stress, decreases excitement, and impedes a shopper's ability to focus on a task. These findings imply that shoppers may avoid malls because of their cognitive responses to the social presence of other people, which promotes negative attitudes toward enclosed malls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

These studies draw on evolutionary psychology and intrasexual female competition to examine why female shoppers often prefer working with gay male (GM) sales associates over heterosexual female (HF) sales associates. Study 1 finds that female shoppers often attribute trustworthiness to GM sales associates. Study 2 draws on theories of intrasexual competition and shows that female shoppers are more likely to trust product recommendations from a GM sales associate than an HF sales associate when they feel a sense of competitiveness with the female associate. Study 3 reveals that female shoppers' trust in GM sales associates is limited to situations in which they are intending to purchase products that are meant to enhance their physical appearance. Study 4 extends these findings by showing that women are more likely to trust GM sales associates (vs. HF sales associates) when the objective of their purchase is to attract a desirable mate. The findings suggest that retailers should hire a diverse workforce and consider the role of e‐commerce in helping some female shoppers avoid potentially uncomfortable situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss two parallel but distinct subfields of marketing that share common interests (enhancing consumers' lives and improving well-being): social marketing and transformative service research. The authors also suggest a research agenda. Design/methodology/approach: The paper offers a conceptual approach and research agenda by comparing and contrasting the two marketing fields of transformative service research and social marketing. Findings: Specifically, this paper proposes three opportunities to propel both fields forward: 1) breaking boundaries that inhibit research progress, which includes collaboration between public, private and nonprofit sectors to improve well-being; 2) adopting more customer-oriented approaches that go beyond the organizational and individual levels; and 3) taking a non-linear approach to theory development that innovates and co-creates solutions. Originality/value: This paper presents the challenges and structural barriers for two subfields seeking to improve human well-being. This paper is the first to bring these subfields together and propose a way for them to move forward together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that clarifies the social supportive role of cancer resource center services in the lives of men with cancer and its impact on their perceived quality of life. Design/methodology/approach: Personal reflections. Findings: The authors put forth a conceptual framework which shows that men with cancer may perceive the availability of four types of social support from others present in a cancer resource center. The perceived availability of social support is posited to enhance their perceptions of their quality of life. Research limitations/implications: The study yields propositions that may be empirically tested by services and health researchers in future studies. In addition, the research findings may not extend to terminally ill male cancer patients. Practical implications: Given the health benefits associated with social support, health-care professionals, social workers and cancer center directors should encourage their male cancer patients to participate in cancer resource programing and activities. Social implications: Cancer resource centers offer male cancer patients opportunities to enhance their quality of life beyond the use of pharmaceutical drugs or professional medical treatment. The health benefits may lower costs associated with medical expenses. Originality/value: This study contributes to an emerging paradigm in services marketing. It is one of the first papers to focus on the socially supportive role that cancer resource center services may assume in the lives of men with cancer and those surviving the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research assesses consumers' neural activation in response to natural elements, present in a lifestyle center, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). The study builds on previous research that demonstrates not only consumer preferences for greenery in shopping areas but also the stress-reducing, or restorative, health benefits that consumers may receive by spending time in green areas. This study extends these findings by offering insights derived from consumer neural responses. Participants recruited in a shopping mall viewed a video that showed a customer journey through a lifestyle center that either featured biophilic design or did not. Participants wore a mobile Emotiv EPOC+ EEG headset to record neural responses to the video; their responses reflect six emotional and sub-conscious dimensions. The data indicate that biophilia design elements stimulate consumers' neural activities associated with excitement, interest, decreased stress, engagement, attention, and relaxation, thus explaining why shoppers tend to respond positively to retail greenery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have overlooked how poor consumers judge service quality in health care settings in Latin America. This research addresses this void by exploring how vulnerable consumers evaluate quality in a public hospital. The results show that vulnerable consumers evaluate hospitals on service delivery process, physician-patient relationship, and medical service reliability. Vulnerable consumers judge health care quality foremost on a provider's ability to provide them with fairness. The results also show that vulnerable consumers view the quality of their relationship with a physician just as important as reliability. Hospitals that serve vulnerable patients should strive to emphasize fairness and empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates reasons why male cancer patients may refrain from patronizing cancer resource centers. By drawing upon a wide range of research from the social sciences and visual design literatures, the authors put forth original propositions that suggest how cancer resource center managers can manipulate a center's servicescape, or built environment, as well as its service offerings, website design, and printed communications to attract more male cancer patients. Despite the inherent challenges of discussing gender in cancer care and limitations to its generalizability in all settings, this research reveals that differences exist regarding the way men and women respond to cancer resource center marketing initiatives. Given the profound benefits that cancer resource centers often assume in a cancer patient's life, including a decreased mortality rate, we encourage service marketing and public health researchers, as well as cancer resource center directors, to consider the propositions put forth in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This work explores the reasons Nepalese emigrate for employment to Persian Gulf countries, despite potential risks of doing so. The authors obtained data from questionnaires administered to Nepalese who reside in rural areas. The data suggest that Nepalese realize the dangers associated with the Gulf. However, Nepalese emigrate because of limited opportunities in Nepal, an obligation to improve their families’ well-being, and the allure of Gulf nations. Although migrant deaths are a concern for the Nepali government, findings suggest that many Nepali accept risks associated with Gulf employment. Thus, Gulf migration is unenviable until the Nepali economy can support its population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although post-transaction surveys (i.e. trailer calls) allow service organizations to better understand their customers, these surveys inherently assume that all customers have the same service expectations of the organization’s service quality. This research reveals that telecommunications customers from different countries of origin have different service expectations; thus, post-transaction surveys based on this assumption can be flawed. We conduct in-depth interviews with recent immigrants in Israel, as well as local customers, to evaluate their expectations of their remote (i.e. telephone) service recovery encounters. Interviews included customers from each of the three primary regions from which they originated: Israel (home), former Soviet Union, and Ethiopia. The data show that the organization’s customers have vastly different expectations of how the firm should handle a called-in service failure, which influenced their post-transaction survey scores. Organizations must realize that their customers have varying service expectations due to cultural influences, which in turn affect their post-transaction survey scores. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to articles published within the issue is presented on topics including village-type residential accommodation for people with dementia, benefits of leisure destinations to senior and elderly adults, and non-medical services that help improve the lives of older-aged and elderly.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including consumers' captive service, transformative mental health services delivered via mobile devices, and role of loan sharks in Colombia.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the positive aspects of casinos, and gambling entertainment in particular, by revealing the health potential of these commercial establishments. In doing so, this work helps explain the affinity of Chinese consumers with gambling. Design/methodology/approach – The authors draw on Attention Restoration Theory to put forth a framework on the restorative potential of a casino on human health and its effects on managerial outcomes. The authors use a sample of 605 Chinese tourists in Macau and use both structural equation modeling and moderation analyses. Findings – Tourists’ ability to sense a casino’s restorative potential is positively related to their well-being and their propensity to view Macau as a value, to spend money in Macau and to revisit Macau. Moderation analyses reveal that tourists may still perceive a casino’s restorative qualities regardless of whether they plan to engage in gambling or other activities, are winning or losing money or reside outside mainland China. Research limitations/implications – The paper links gaming studies to the transformative research paradigm and considers the possibility that some socially unacceptable services may actually be beneficial to human well-being. Practical implications – The results help clarify why Chinese tourists tend to engage in casino patronage and gambling activities throughout the world. Social implications – This work discusses health benefits associated with socially unacceptable products and suggests that many “sinful services” may offer consumers transformative benefits. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to explore positive aspects of gambling and spending time in casino environments, while showing that casinos may be “healthy places” for some consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses several reports within the issue on topics including nursing homes' service quality; role of nonprofits in social innovation; and link between social innovation and a work climate.

This research provides business educators who teach retailing and services courses with an innovative way to encourage students to engage in problem-based learning solving by incorporating reality television into their curricula. The authors explore the reality television genre from several theoretical perspectives to lend support to the conclusion that reality programs easily captivate their audiences by stimulating self-involvement. The authors present an assignment based on B. S. Bloom's (1956) revised taxonomy that educators can employ when incorporating reality programming into their courses. They then provide data to demonstrate direct and indirect measures of learning outcomes associated with reality programming in business curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help senior center managers and service researchers understand why some patrons experience health benefits, primarily fatigue relief, through senior center day services participation. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conduct two separate studies at a senior center. The first study represents a grounded theory that offers an original, basic social process regarding mental restoration in senior centers. The second study draws on Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and employs survey methodology. Findings – Senior center patrons who perceive a center's restorative stimuli experience health benefits such as relief from four types of fatigue, enhanced quality of life, and improved physical and mental well-being. Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that senior centers may be relatively inexpensive, non-medical services that can help patrons relieve fatigue symptoms, which are often treated with pharmaceutical medication and medical visits. A limitation is the small sample size, which restricts generalizability. Practical implications – The results show that senior center managers may promote patron health by fostering service designs and programs that allow members to temporarily escape from everyday life and interact in an ever-changing environment that fosters a sense of belonging. Social implications – Senior center day services help patrons relieve fatigue, and its symptoms, in an affordable, non-medical, and non-pharmaceutical manner. Originality/value – The paper clarifies the role of senior centers in patrons’ lives by drawing on ART. Senior centers that can offer patrons restorative environments are likely to play a significant role in patrons’ physical, social, and mental well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This article seeks to illustrate how social commonalities between employees and their customers often result in customers believing that they are entitled to discounts in retail settings. Design/methodology/approach – This study employs survey methodology to reveal the extent to which various social commonalities between customers and service providers encourage customers to believe that they are entitled to financial discounts. Findings – The findings show that commonalities may cause customers to adhere to narcissism – that is, many customers may expect discounts even when they know that employees may jeopardize their jobs by providing them. Research limitations/implications – Customer relationships dramatically change with commonalities, as customers believe that social relationships propel them to "best customer status" and that they are entitled to discounts. Practical implications – Customers who become increasingly connected with employees expect relational benefits that usually require time to develop. Retailers that encourage their employees to develop social media bonds with their customers must realize that customers desire to be financially rewarded for maintaining these linkages. Originality/value – This work reveals that customers who maintain social commonalities with employees expect to receive some type of financial benefit from doing so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Services marketing and retailing courses place service quality at the heart of the curriculum, painting service providers as defenders of their customers’ welfare and thwarters of service failures by ushering in recovery solutions. Yet academic literature and the popular press provide evidence that in some cases, service providers act as discriminatory agents toward their own customers. Likewise, other customers in the servicescape can negatively influence a customer’s service quality experience. This article attempts to address shortcomings in services marketing textbooks and classroom discussions by providing educators with a multicultural service sensitivity exercise that they can employ in undergraduate, graduate, and executive MBA courses. The article offers educators an easy-to-implement, active learning exercise that shows students how many consumers fail to obtain quality service in the marketplace. The goal of the exercise is to help students develop an appreciation for diversity and understand how to manage a service setting so that all customers receive optimal service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate customer purchase of a service organization's logo/branded merchandise as a type of customer voluntary performance behavior. Design/methodology/approach – The article employs three separate studies; two are conducted with customers of Curves, the world's largest fitness franchise, and the other is conducted at a weight-lifting gym. Two empirical studies test a proposed mediation model using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping techniques. The third study represents a humanistic inquiry that elucidates the social influences that encourage a customer to purchase a service firm's logo products. Findings – The results show that a customer's integration into a service-based community encourages him or her to purchase the firm's logo merchandise. In addition, a customer's ability to identify with the firm mediates this relationship. The immersion of customers' self- and social identities in a firm emerges as a critical factor to enhancing their appreciation of the firm by purchasing financially lucrative logo consumables. Research limitations/implications – The article theoretically links customer voluntary performance with a customer's integration into a service community (ISC), organizational identification, and pooled associations. Because the concept of ISC is newly coined in this article, researchers are encouraged to develop the concept both empirically and theoretically. Practical implications – Service and retail managers should understand that a key to selling organizational logo/branded merchandise is to encourage customers to form in-house social relationships with other customers and employees. Originality/value – The article demonstrates that service-based customer communities are often lucrative for service firms. Customers may demonstrate their appreciation for commercially based friendships by purchasing and displaying the host organization's logo products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study represents the first empirical examination of a neglected phenomenon - namely, service nepotism. We propose a framework that explains a process in which customers cue service providers of potential shared commonalities, such as sexual orientation and ethnicity, in service settings in which they also represent distinct, alienated or marginalized minorities. By drawing on qualitative evidence from American gay men and ethnic Turks residing in Germany, this research proposes that customers may signal commonalities to like employees by deploying similarity-to-self cues or group markers during exchanges. Driven by ethnocentric 'tribal' biases, employees may respond to these cues by providing like customers with relational resources, such as upgrades, monetary discounts and enhanced service quality. We explain how these relational resources influence customers' behaviours and discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate customer purchase of a service organization's logo/branded merchandise as a type of customer voluntary performance behavior. Design/methodology/approach – The article employs three separate studies; two are conducted with customers of Curves, the world's largest fitness franchise, and the other is conducted at a weight-lifting gym. Two empirical studies test a proposed mediation model using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping techniques. The third study represents a humanistic inquiry that elucidates the social influences that encourage a customer to purchase a service firm's logo products. Findings – The results show that a customer's integration into a service-based community encourages him or her to purchase the firm's logo merchandise. In addition, a customer's ability to identify with the firm mediates this relationship. The immersion of customers' self- and social identities in a firm emerges as a critical factor to enhancing their appreciation of the firm by purchasing financially lucrative logo consumables. Research limitations/implications – The article theoretically links customer voluntary performance with a customer's integration into a service community (ISC), organizational identification, and pooled associations. Because the concept of ISC is newly coined in this article, researchers are encouraged to develop the concept both empirically and theoretically. Practical implications – Service and retail managers should understand that a key to selling organizational logo/branded merchandise is to encourage customers to form in-house social relationships with other customers and employees. Originality/value – The article demonstrates that service-based customer communities are often lucrative for service firms. Customers may demonstrate their appreciation for commercially based friendships by purchasing and displaying the host organization's logo products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Researchers have explored the extent to which consumers belonging to minority, ethnic, marginalized, and sub-cultural groups experience discrimination in retail settings. This study aims to explore the converse of retail racism – namely, reverse retail discrimination. The work shows that gay men in the USA and Turkish people in Germany often secure relational benefits, or "family allowances," from like employees, for no reason other than that they share a socio-collective trait. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs grounded theory methodology to put forth a framework regarding five types of family allowances. The framework emerges from two in-depth interview studies conducted with gay and Turkish people. A third qualitative study reveals insights into how majority groups view family allowances. Findings – This study reveals that consumers who share ethnic and sexual orientation traits with like employees obtain family allowances; these are complementary products, monetary discounts, service improvements, customer comfort, and the sharing of information. The study also reveals that consumers from majority groups realize that reverse retail discrimination exists; however, they react negatively to having their thoughts confirmed. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited in that respondents were gay men and Turkish people. Studies are needed to further develop understanding of reverse retail discrimination and to investigate the extent to which managers realize that this phenomenon occurs. Practical implications – Managers should realize that the potential for reverse discrimination exists and that discriminatory victims may become discriminatory agents. Originality/value – This study develops the concept of family allowances. In addition, the study expands knowledge regarding a new type of marketplace discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to show how instant messaging (IM) service providers are helping and hindering societal mental health among young adults. That is, IM services provide users with an ability to obtain instantaneous and inexpensive support in their time of need. However, excessive internet usage may place IM users at risk of experiencing symptoms associated with internet addiction and adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose a framework obtained from coding qualitative data. They test the framework with structural equation methodology and latent mean analysis from data collected from younger-aged Chinese and American IM users in two studies. Findings – Younger-aged IM users in both China and the US obtain social support from their virtual networks. However, both groups of IM users show signs of elevated levels of internet addiction and of being at risk of experiencing symptoms associated with ADHD. Research limitations/implications – Excessive IM and internet usage may hinder young adults' mental health, and the problem is likely to grow in the future. The work confirms recent trends in US psychology to consider internet addiction a mental health disorder. Social implications – Both service and public health researchers are encouraged to consider the impact of technological services, including internet usage and IM, on consumer health and well-being. People with ADHD are particularly susceptible to internet addiction; thus, technological services may be damaging society's mental health. Originality/value – The paper illustrates how researchers can engage in transformative service research, referring to research with implications that affect global consumer health and well-being. The work also shows a "dark side" to services and the unintended consequences of service technology on public health. Both topics have not been explored in service research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Casinos are important travel attractions, but they are often overshadowed by hardcore gambling behaviors. Although gambling has been found as a key tourism driver, it is unclear how casinos, as hospitality service providers, are able to fulfill other travel needs. This article highlights an emerging but under studied phenomenon in tourism and hospitality research: casino tourism. Based on empirical data collected in the world gaming capital, Macau, the results reveal that tourists’ casino excursions are primarily motivated by five factors: entertainment and novelty seeking, leisure activity, escape from pressure, casino sightseeing, and socialization. The findings suggest that although gambling is part of the casino experience tourists seek, mainland Chinese tourists are looking for assorted travel and leisure experiences. These experiences can further be classified into two segments: entertainment-for-socialization seekers and sightseeing-for-relaxation seekers. Demographic differences in addition to two- and three-way interactions of the motivational factors are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – This article aims to illustrate how service organizations (e.g. cancer resource centers) can create restorative servicescapes. The article addresses whether cancer patients respond favorably to a cancer center's restorative servicescape and explores the reasons they might patronize the center and interact socially with others. Design/methodology/approach – This article synthesizes various streams of literature from services marketing, natural psychology, and cancer and medical research. The study defines and develops the framework's categories and advances propositions based on the framework. Findings – The model proposes that cancer patients should respond favorably to a cancer center's restorative servicescape. By spending time in the center, people living with cancer may be able to remedy four frequently experienced, negative symptoms associated with fatigue. Research limitations/implications – The study explores a not-for-profit cancer resource center that offers members an array of participatory activities within a homelike environment. However, it may be difficult for traditional medical facilities to fashion restorative servicescapes. Practical implications – The study helps inform medical practitioners about the psychosocial benefits cancer resource centers offer cancer patients. This article provides a discussion regarding a cancer center's development of its Connect-to-Care program, based on an oncologist and a cancer center representative joining together to discuss a patient's cancer diagnosis and care. Originality/value – This article proposes a theoretical understanding on how the physical and restorative qualities of an environment transform human health. It links the services domain to the health sciences and suggests a means by which cancer patients can "do more with less" by combining medical treatment with cancer resource center patronage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to put forth an expanded servicescape framework that shows that a perceived servicescape comprises physical, social, socially symbolic, and natural environmental dimensions. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper offers an in-depth literature review on servicescape topics from a variety of disciplines, both inside and outside marketing, to advance a logical framework built on Bitner's seminal article (1992). Findings – A servicescape comprises not only objective, measureable, and managerially controllable stimuli but also subjective, immeasurable, and often managerially uncontrollable social, symbolic, and natural stimuli, which all influence customer approach/avoidance decisions and social interaction behaviors. Furthermore, customer responses to social, symbolic, and natural stimuli are often the drivers of profound person-place attachments. Research limitations/implications – The framework supports a servicescape paradigm that links marketing, environmental/natural psychology, humanistic geography, and sociology. Practical implications – Although managers can easily control a service firm's physical stimuli, they need to understand how other critical environmental stimuli influence consumer behavior and which stimuli might overweigh a customer's response to a firm's physical dimensions. Social implications – The paper shows how a servicescape's naturally restorative dimension can promote relief from mental fatigue and improve customer health and well-being. Thus, government institutions (e.g. schools, hospitals) can improve people's lives by creating natural servicescapes that have restorative potential. Originality/value – The framework organizes more than 25 years of servicescape research in a cogent framework that has cross-disciplinary implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research expands marketing's knowledge regarding unethical retail disposition (URD). URD is a type of consumer fraud, whereby consumers purchase an item of merchandise with the intent of using it and returning it to a retailer for a refund. The authors first employ grounded theory methodology to develop an original framework illustrating why consumers engage in either URD participation or restraint; next, they demonstrate empirical support for the framework. The authors support and augment previous URD research by reporting that URD offenders employ eight neutralization techniques to remedy personal guilt associated with committing the fraudulent behavior. This research also takes a novel approach by illustrating that consumers describe six motivations underlying URD restraint. Most concerning for retailers is that four of the six reasons for restraint are tenuous. Thus, consumers who refrain from URD may be easily swayed to participate in this illicit behavior. The authors posit that URD may represent a means by which consumers express disdain and mistrust for contemporary retailers, contributing to the societal discrimination that retail organizations owned by 'middlemen minorities' engaged in trade and commerce often experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to show how value equity and its subdimensions of service quality, cost, and convenience drive customer satisfaction among business and leisure travelers who are attending events (e.g. conventions, expositions, parades, cultural events) in Macau, China. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected through a survey of 322 leisure and 91 business travelers who were present at 40 different major events in Macau, using a questionnaire that was designed by practitioners, academics, and tourism governmental authorities. The data were used to support the structural framework, and group comparison modeling was employed to show that a respondent's leisure or business travel status serves as a moderator between value equity and customer satisfaction. Findings - The results show that though value equity is positively related to customer satisfaction among both business and leisure travelers, some major differences exist regarding how these groups respond to an event's marketing actions that promote value and how they derive satisfaction from value. For example, leisure travelers place more emphasis on a venue's space and layout than business travelers. In terms of satisfaction, business travelers place more importance than leisure travelers on service quality but are less sensitive to an event's price. Research limitations/implications - The paper extends the value equity literature by applying the concept to event planning. The paper suggests that event planners should consider designing and implementing marketing actions that focus on value equity, in addition to traditional planning that relies on the service marketing mix. Given that the study's scales were adapted for use at 40 different venues in Macau, event planners may need to modify the scale items for their respective locales. The authors also put forth recommendation regarding expanding the SERVQUAL survey. Originality/value - Although value equity has been explored in hospitality/lodging, the concept is relatively unexplored in event planning. In addition, this paper shows how group consensus using the Delphi method among tourism academics and practitioners can yield a set of reliable service quality, cost, and convenience scales that may apply to a series of event venues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study seeks to achieve two objectives: first, to expand on Fodness's five-dimensional travel motivation scale by empirically demonstrating that a sixth driving force – shopping – encourages tourists to visit particular destinations; and second, to provide a clear demonstration for using AMOS structural equation modeling to analyze group comparisons, which researchers could employ in future studies. Design/methodology/approach – The study offers and evaluates a proposed higher-order travel motivation structural model using confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis. It also explores a tourist's country of origin (the USA or Japan) as a moderator. The empirical study is supported through data from a convenient sample of 1,042 tourists (521 American and Japanese tourists, respectively) who were vacationing in Honolulu, Hawaii. Findings – The findings demonstrate that five of the six motivational forces encourage US and Japanese tourists to vacation in Honolulu. In addition, the results reveal that a tourist's country of origin moderates three motivational factors. Research limitations/implications – The study provides researchers and practitioners with a 22-item six-dimensional travel motivational scale. Given that travel motivation is linked to customer satisfaction and loyalty, researchers should consider the travel-quality scale (TRAVLQUAL). Although one of Fodness's five dimensions was not significant, the finding was based on tourists' motivations to visit one site, Honolulu, and thus researchers should not eliminate this dimension from future motivational studies. Originality/value – The study links together the tourism shopping and travel motivation paradigms. Thus, it can be used as an easy-to-follow reference guide for exploring group comparisons with AMOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how the return-on-marketing framework and its customer equity drivers (value, brand, and relationship) can be combined with service quality (SERVQUAL) measures to help managers develop strategies for high- and low-ethnocentric Vietnamese customers. Design/methodology/approach -The services literature is employed to propose a framework. The structure of. the framework is evaluated from data obtained from self-administered questionnaires, which are mailed to an automobile firm's customers. To explore the moderating affect of ethnocentrism, the model's proposed relationships and fit statistics are tested by employing multi-group comparisons (high- and low-ethnocentrism) through structural equation modeling. Findings - Ethnocentrism encourages customers to express loyalty and to spread positive word of mouth about Company X; which is a local automobile manufacturer. High-ethnocentric customers are also less reactive to Company X's value drivers, including product quality, price, and convenience, than low-ethnocentric customers. However, high-ethnocentric customers place greater importance on dealership SERVQUAL than low-ethnocentric customers. Practical implications - The findings indicate that Southeast Asian managers should consider consumer ethnocentrism a factor that influences marketing planning, as well as ways they can use the return-on-marketing and SERVQUAL frameworks for strategic planning. In addition, managers should understand that ethnocentric customers counterbalance their willingness to forgo product quality with augmented expectations of dealership SERVQUAL. Originality/value - This paper combines the product-focused return-on-marketing framework with the SERVQUAL-focused SERVQUAL framework to show how these elements influence consumers' future behavioral intentions under the moderating influence of ethnocentrism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the restorative qualities of an actual café that represents a "hybrid third place." Similar to third places, the café studied in this work offers its customers food, beverages, and opportunities to participate in social activities. By drawing upon attention restoration theory (ART), the authors show that the café's built environment, or servicescape, features the three stimuli that are required to facilitate personal restoration and promote relief from symptoms associated with mental fatigue. The authors also explore how social activities and social integration promote customer restoration and investigate how perceived restorativeness is related to commercial social support, place attachment, and customer health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce restorative servicescapes. The work demonstrates that younger-aged consumers may remedy symptoms associated with directed attention fatigue, including adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), by patronizing third places, such as video arcades and coffee shops. Design/methodology/approach - This paper evaluates a servicescape's restorative potential by drawing on established measures. Attention restoration theory (ART) has been explored in natural and environmental psychology, rather than marketing. The first study uses survey methodology to - explore whether teenagers who patronize a video arcade sense its restorative potential. The second study uses survey methodology to explore the relationship between patronizing a restorative third place and being at risk for ADHD. Findings - Study 1 reveals that video arcade patrons sense the arcade's restorative potential. Therefore, commercial servicescapes may possess restorative qualities. Study 2 reveals that college-aged students, who patronize a restorative servicescape, are significantly less likely than other students to be at risk for experiencing ADHD. Research limitations/implications - Although the data reveal a relationship between restorative servicescapes and ADHD risk, a diagnosis is not obtained. Furthermore, because survey methodology is employed, the causal influence of restorative servicescapes cannot be evaluated on their customers' health. However, commercial servicescapes can mimic the restorative properties found in nature. Thus, the health potential of public places on health may be profound. Practical implications - Educational institutions, governmental agencies, and parents should consider publicly supporting third places for teenagers because doing so can remedy symptoms associated with mental fatigue. Originality/value - The paper brings ART into the marketing discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate which types of service employees provide their customers with social support and to understand why they do so. Design/methodology/approach - The article employs a network-based inventory method to evaluate a customer's commercial-based social support network and grounded theory to develop a framework illustrating the interdependence between service providers and their customers regarding the exchange of intrinsic support and extrinsic financial incentives and gifts. Findings - Indirect service employees who do not directly receive tips from customers emerge as key providers of social support. Also, commercial friendships are not marketplace niceties. Service providers and customers engage in a mutually beneficial exchange of social support, gifts, and tips under the guise of commercial friendships. Research limitations/implications - The article is based upon service provider and customer relationships in an American diner. Researchers may want to apply the offered model to other contexts and locals. Also, researchers may want to reconsider the idea that service providers willingly provide social support to their customers. Practical implications - The hiring and training of service employees, such as cashiers, hostesses, and "bus boys," should be taken into consideration as they may be key providers of social support. Service providers should realize the extrinsic and intrinsic benefits or providing support. Originality/value - The paper empirically investigates the role of indirect service employees in providing customers with social support. Also, it demonstrates that commercial friendships are mutually beneficial relationships where service providers and customers realize extrinsic and/or intrinsic benefits from these relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces the concept of return on community (ROC) to the services marketing domain. The ROC represents the health outcomes to customers and financial outcomes to firms that materialize when customers receive social support from other customers in service establishments. By administering Barrera's Arizona Social Support Interview Schedule to teenagers who patronize a video arcade, to members of Gold's Gym, and to middle-aged women who exercise at Curves, the author shows that customers can obtain six types of social support from other customers: intimate interaction, social participation, physical assistance, feedback, guidance, and material aid. In terms of health benefits, intercustomer support provides customers with group cohesion and enhanced well-being. Service firms that host supportive customer networks benefit from customer satisfaction, positive intentional behaviors, and the ability to charge higher prices. By using the contingent valuation method, this article also reveals how customers value support from other customers and employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces theory about how deficits in social support motivate consumers to replace lost social resources by forming relationships with customers and employees in commercial "third places." The authors demonstrate support for a multiple-indicator multiple-cause model that illustrates how six common events that destroy or erode a person's social support can cause the person to obtain emotional support and companionship in a third place. The model supports the linkage between commercial social support and a consumer's sense of attachment to a third place that harbors his or her social support network The authors also propose and test hypotheses that reveal that consumers obtain social support in a third place to the extent to which they lost it outside the place. In essence, third-place patrons match their lost support to their commercial support, thus remedying negative symptoms associated with isolation. The article concludes with a discussion of managerial implications and limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this paper were to explore reasons why consumers shop at a favored retail organization and to explore the relationship among these shopping motivations and outcomes, specifically perceived service quality, customer loyalty, and behavioral intentions. The paper's findings can aid retailers in identifying primary shopper-types (i.e., goal, bargain, social) and, based upon these types, to more accurately understand shoppers' buying behavior. The findings suggest that the most successful retailers are those who are staging experiences rather than merely delivering goods and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether tourists in Hawaii experience the Bali Syndrome. The Bali Syndrome suggests that tourists in Polynesian destinations experience artificial cultures. To explore the syndrome, the paper investigates whether tourists are interested in purchasing Hawaiian souvenirs and memorabilia that are based on the state's history and culture, as well as the extent to which Hawaiian history and local culture motivates their Hawaiian sojourn. Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs survey methodology in two studies. Both studies are based upon questionnaire responses from a convenience sample of approximately 700 tourists in Waikiki. Findings – Although tourists in Hawaii express an interest in the state's history and local culture, the majority have no intention of purchasing historic/cultural souvenirs or memorabilia. Research limitations/implications – Marketing and tourism planners in Hawaii, Fiji, and Bali should create advertising and promotional campaigns that focus on the "escape" qualities of these destinations, rather than on Polynesian histories and cultures. Given that the study was conducted in Waikiki, researchers may want to explore the Bali Syndrome in other Polynesian destinations. Practical implications – Marketing and tourism planners may respond to the Bali Syndrome from four different perspectives; these are, servicescape, ethics, cause-related, and eco-tourism. Originality/value – The paper provides empirical evidence that the Bali Syndrome exists and then offers a range of possible responses based upon four perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service establishments would relish the opportunity to have their customers display customer voluntary performance (CVP) behaviors, which refer to helpful, discretionary customer behaviors that support an organization's service performance and quality. This article draws on resource exchange theory to offer an explanation as to why some customers display CVP in the form of customer citizenship and customer care behaviors. The data reveal that customers who receive social-emotional support and, to a lesser extent, instrumental support from other customers in a service establishment reciprocate by exhibiting CVP toward the establishment and to customers in the establishment. This article demonstrates that socially supportive service environments are beneficial for customers' health and for organizational profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates product and service consumption between first-time and repeat Japanese visitors in Hawaii. Overall, the empirical results reveal that repeat visitors to Waikiki are likely to be Japanese females, in their mid-thirties, who relish in fun, self-indulgent, overall hedonic consumption. during their stay. Unlike first-time visitors, who take sightseeing tours and who express interest in purchasing products reminiscent of the local culture, repeat visitors are likely to engage in shopping, golfing, and in patronizing spas during their Hawaiian vacation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using grounded theory methodology, a framework that illustrates how and why third places—that is, places such as diners, coffee shops, and taverns—become meaningful in consumers' lives is offered. The framework suggests that some consumers patronize third places to satisfy not only their consumption needs but also their needs for companionship and emotional support. These supportive needs are prevalent in older-aged consumers, who often experience events that diminish relationships. Therefore, these consumers may turn to their "commercial friendships" in third places for support. On the basis of the consumer needs that a third place satisfies, consumers identify a third place as place-as-practical, place-as-gathering, or place-as-home. The framework is versed with the Social Support Questionnaire for Transactions instrument. The data reveal that as the frequency to which consumers obtain companionship and emotional support from their commercial friendships increases, so too does their loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]