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This research explores the effects of the DART model of value co‐creation on customer retention. To do so, the current research examines the moderating role of types of customer (i.e., corporate vs. retail) and the mediating effect of customer engagement. Two studies were conducted through structured surveys among 362 bank customers (Study 1) and 316 hotel customers (Study 2). Partial least‐squares‐based structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) was employed to analyze the data. The results of Study 1 show that each element of the DART model significantly influences customer retention. The effects of dialog, risk assessment, and transparency on customer retention are found to be higher (lower) for corporate (retail) customers, while the effect of access on customer retention is higher (lower) for retail (corporate) customers. Study 2 further identified customer engagement as a mediator explaining the underlying mechanism in the links between each element of the DART model and customer retention. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically identifies the varying effects of customer participation (CP) in service industry on a relationship's developmental stages. Because CP simultaneously affects and is affected by a relationship in service settings, its influence on the relationship's developmental stage requires examination. This study aims to fill the gap between phenomenon and theory that existed in previous CP studies by comparing and analysing the effects of four CP sub-factors (information seeking, information sharing, personal interaction and responsible behaviour) on encounter satisfaction during the developmental stage of a relationship between customer and service provider. Additionally, this study provides service companies with strategic implications for utilizing CP. This study considers the relationship dynamics to which prior CP studies paid little attention. Thoroughly verifying these CP sub-factors provides a foothold for a new perspective on the inconsistent results of CP studies. According to research result, the influence of information-seeking behaviour on encounter satisfaction decreases as a relationship grows. In contrast, information sharing and personal interaction increase. Lastly, responsible behaviour made no significant difference. This study enables service marketing managers to understand CP during the developmental stage of a customer relationship and establish needed and appropriate management guidelines for customer-related interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study developed a conceptual model depicting the relationships between perceived encounter quality, patient participation, self-efficacy, satisfaction and loyalty intentions. The hypothesized relationships in the model were assessed using the data collected from 396 respondents in Hong Kong, China. Using moderated regression analysis, the results showed that technical quality, empathy, communication and physical environment have a significant impact on satisfaction, which in turn influences loyalty intentions. Self-efficacy displays a significant moderating influence on the relationship between patient participation and satisfaction. The implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the abstracts of articles on personal selling and sales management published in various journals in the U.S. Purchasing agents want salespeople who have a thorough knowledge of what their customers are purchasing, can offer insights into helping them make things more efficiently, can act as a bridge between all the various departments at both companies and are concerned with service and follow-up. Sales managers should develop policies for handling customer grievances and effectively train their sales staffs to utilize such approaches. Established complaint-handling procedures not only prepare the salesperson but also lead to customer perceptions of situational fairness. Designing a sales compensation plan that can motivate effective salesperson performance consistent with marketing strategies is an age-old important issue. One of the abstracts discusses a step-by-step process for developing and implementing a sales compensation plan which recognizes the link between sales compensation, evaluation and motivation.

The article explores the concept of cocreation of value, defined as the tourist’s interest in mental and physical participation in an activity and its role in tourist experiences. Based on the theoretical perspective of “the new service-dominant logic,” customer participation in tourist experiences is explored and tested as a moderating variable on the perceived value – satisfaction relationship. In essence, the customer partakes mentally and physically in an experience, which moderates the role that experience value has on overall satisfaction. The study thus hypothesizes that the higher the level of participation, the stronger the experience value–satisfaction link becomes and vice versa. Using a sample drawn from tourists in Norway, the results confirm that experience value is an effective predictor of tourist satisfaction. The study reveals that the level of cocreation moderates the effect between the experience value of winter tourism activities and satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies examined whether employees’ emotional labor as perceived by customers, moderates the relationship between customers’ participation and money spent. In Study I, 30 in-depth interviews were conducted with customers to examine participation during shopping as well as customers’ awareness of their service employees’ behaviors. The interviews revealed two types of customer participation: emotional engagement and physical effort. Based on Study I, Study II investigated 114 customers, and the moderating role of perceived employees’ emotional labor on the relationships between customer participation and spending money. Even when customers were highly involved in the purchasing process, they spent less money when they observed employee inauthenticity as manifested in Surface Acting. However, Deep Acting positively moderated the relationship between customer participation and spending money. These findings help shed light on the circumstances in which customer participation is strengthened (leading to greater spending) or weakened. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many service interactions require customers to actively participate, yet customers often do not participate at levels that optimize their outcomes, particularly in health care. To gain insight into how customers shape a service experience with highly uncertain outcomes, we construct a model on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. The model is used to empirically assess how situation-specific emotions and customer participation during a health care service experience affect perceptions of the service provider. The model is tested using data from 190 medical clinic customers. Consistent with theory, results reveal that as customers' relative affect levels become more positive, levels of participation increase as well. In turn, higher levels of positivity and participation improve customer perceptions of the quality of the service provider and satisfaction with the co-produced service experience. Implications of this research focus managers on designing services to help clients manage their emotions in ways that facilitate positivity and participation and thus improve service perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]