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Life-history traits, which are physical traits or behaviours that affect growth, survivorship and reproduction, could play an important role in how well organisms respond to environmental change. By looking for trait-based responses within groups, we can gain a mechanistic understanding of why environmental change might favour or penalize certain species over others. We monitored the abundance of at least 154 bee species for 8 consecutive years in a subalpine region of the Rocky Mountains to ask whether bees respond differently to changes in abiotic conditions based on their life-history traits. We found that comb-building cavity nesters and larger bodied bees declined in relative abundance with increasing temperatures, while smaller, soil-nesting bees increased. Further, bees with narrower diet breadths increased in relative abundance with decreased rainfall. Finally, reduced snowpack was associated with reduced relative abundance of bees that overwintered as prepupae whereas bees that overwintered as adults increased in relative abundance, suggesting that overwintering conditions might affect body size, lipid content and overwintering survival. Taken together, our results show how climate change may reshape bee pollinator communities, with bees with certain traits increasing in abundance and others declining, potentially leading to novel plant–pollinator interactions and changes in plant reproduction.

Urbanization has become a dominant driver of landscape transformation across the world, with cities representing centers of economic and socio-cultural development [...]

Installing pollinator habitat is a ubiquitous conservation tool, but little is known about which pollinator taxa require support, or which benefit from habitat installations.We studied the response of rare and common bees to pollinator habitat enhancement. We used independent regional datasets to designate bee species as common or rare based on their rank according to one of three metrics: a) site occurrence frequency, b) local relative abundance, and c) geographic range size. We asked whether the abundance or richness of rare and common bees were greater in pollinator habitat, relative to old-field controls. Because we used an arbitrary, quantile-based cutoff to categorize species rarity, we conducted sensitivity analysis and controlled for rarity classification errors with a null model. With this null model, we determined whether rare and/or common species responded to pollinator habitat disproportionately, compared to the expectation for ‘typical’ bee species.We found that the number of individuals and of species designated as rare based on local relative abundance was greater in pollinator habitat enhancements. The number of individuals from bee species designated as rare based on site occurrence was lower in pollinator habitat enhancements, but the number of species was not clearly different between habitat types. We did not find a clear positive nor negative effect of habitat enhancement for species designated rare based on geographic range size. For all three rarity metrics, common species increased in abundance and richness in pollinator habitat relative to controls. Null models indicated that in most cases, neither rare nor common species disproportionately benefited from pollinator habitat.Synthesis and Applications:Our results suggest that pollinator habitat can lead to an increase in the abundance and richness of bees, including species that are rare and that are common. However, rare species appeared to respond differently than typical species, and depending on how species were classified as rare, could display muted or even negative responses to habitat enhancement. Targeting rare species with specific floral resources or unique habitat types may lead to better outcomes for rare and threatened species.

Fil: Senapathi, Deepa. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: Fründ, Jochen. University of Freiburg. Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources. Biometry and Environmental System Analysis. Alemania. Fil: Albrecht, Matthias. Agroscope. Institute for Sustainability Sciences. Suiza. Fil: Garratt, Michael P. D. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: Kleijn, David. Wageningen University. Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group. Países Bajos. Fil: Pickles, Brian J. University of Reading. School of Biological Sciences. Reino Unido. Fil: Potts, Simon G. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: An, Jiandong. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Institute of Apicultural Research. China. Fil: Andersson, Georg K. S. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Andersson, Georg K. S. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Bänsch, Svenja. University of Göttingen. Department of Crop Sciences. Functional Agrobiodiversity. Alemania. Fil: Basu, Parthiba. University of Calcutta. Centre for Pollination Studies. India. Fil: Benjamin, Faye. The State University of New Jersey. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources. Estados Unidos. Fil: Bezerra, Antonio Diego M. The State University of New Jersey. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources. Estados Unidos. Fil: Bhattacharya, Ritam. University of Calcutta. Centre for Pollination Studies. India. Fil: Biesmeijer Jacobus C. Naturalis Biodiversity Centre. Países Bajos. Fil: Blaauw, Brett. University of Georgia. Department of Entomology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Blitzer, Eleanor J. Carroll College. Department of Biology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Brittain, Claire A. Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre. Syngenta. Reino Unido. Fil: Carvalheiro, Luísa G. Universidade Federal de Goiás. Departamento de Ecologia. Brasil. Fil: Cariveau, Daniel P. University of Minnesota. Department of Entomology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Chakraborty, Pushan. University of Calcutta. Centre for Pollination Studies. India. Fil: Chatterjee, Arnob. University of Calcutta. Centre for Pollination Studies. India. Fil: Chatterjee, Soumik. University of Calcutta. Centre for Pollination Studies. India. Fil: Cusser, Sarah. Michigan State University. W. K. Kellogg Biological Station. Estados Unidos. Fil: Danforth, Bryan N. Cornell University. Department of Entomology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Degani, Erika. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: Freitas, Breno M. The State University of New Jersey. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources. Estados Unidos. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Geslin, Benoit. Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Université. IMBE. Francia. Fil: de Groot, G. Arjen. Wageningen University and Research. Wageningen Environmental Research. Países Bajos. Fil: Harrison, Tina. University of California Davis. Department of Entomology and Nematology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Howlett, Brad. The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited. Nueva Zelanda. Fil: Isaacs, Rufus. Michigan State University. Department of Entomology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Jha, Shalene. The University of Texas at Austin. Department of Integrative Biology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Klatt, Björn Kristian. University of Göttingen. Department of Crop Sciences. Agroecology. Alemania. Fil: Krewenka, Kristin. University of Heidelberg. Heidelberg Research Service. Alemania. Fil: Leigh, Samuel. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: Lindström, Sandra A. M. Lund University. Department of Biology. Biodiversity. Suecia. Fil: Mandelik, Yael. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Department of Entomology. Israel. Fil: McKerchar, Megan. University of Worcester. School of Science and Environment. Reino Unido. Fil: Park, Mia. Cornell University. Department of Entomology. Estados Unidos. Fil: Pisanty, Gideon. Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Canada. Fil: Rader, Romina. University of New England. School of Environment and Rural Science. Australia. Fil: Reemer, Menno. Naturalis Biodiversity Centre. Países Bajos. Fil: Rundlöf, Maj. Lund University. Department of Biology. Biodiversity. Suecia. Fil: Smith, Barbara. University of Calcutta. Centre for Pollination Studies. India. Fil: Smith, Henrik G. Lund University. Centre of Environmental and Climate Research & Department of Biology. Suecia. Fil: Nunes Silva, Patrícia. Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia. Brasil. Fil: Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf. University of Würzburg. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology. Alemania. Fil: Tscharntke, Teja. University of Göttingen. Department of Crop Sciences. Agroecology. Alemania. Fil: Webber, Sean. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: Westbury, Duncan B. University of Worcester. School of Science and Environment. Reino Unido. Fil: Westphal, Catrin. University of Göttingen. Department of Crop Sciences. Functional Agrobiodiversity. Alemania. Fil: Wickens, Jennifer B. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: Wickens, Victoria J. University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy & Development. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research. Reino Unido. Fil: Winfree, Rachael. The State University of New Jersey. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources. Estados Unidos. Fil: Zhang, Hong. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Institute of Apicultural Research. China. Fil: Klein, Alexandra-Maria. University of Freiburg. Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources. Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology. Alemania. While an increasing number of studies indicate that the range, diversity and abundance of many wild pollinators has declined, the global area of pollinator-dependent crops has significantly increased over the last few decades. Crop pollination studies to date have mainly focused on either identifying different guilds pollinating various crops, or on factors driving spatial changes and turnover observed in these communities. The mechanisms driving temporal stability for ecosystem functioning and services, however, remain poorly understood. Our study quantifies temporal variability observed in crop pollinators in 21 different crops across multiple years at a global scale. Using data from 43 studies from six continents, we show that (i) higher pollinator diversity confers greater inter-annual stability in pollinator communities, (ii) temporal variation observed in pollinator abundance is primarily driven by the three-most dominant species, and (iii) crops in tropical regions demonstrate higher inter-annual variability in pollinator species richness than crops in temperate regions. We highlight the importance of recognizing wild pollinator diversity in agricultural landscapes to stabilize pollinator persistence across years to protect both biodiversity and crop pollination services. Short-term agricultural management practices aimed at dominant species for stabilizing pollination services need to be considered alongside longer term conservation goals focussed on maintaining and facilitating biodiversity to confer ecological stability. .

Purpose This paper re-conceptualizes and measures brand identity (BI) from a services perspective. This paper aims to develop and test a psychometrically valid and reliable scale to measure service brand identity (SERVBID). Design/methodology/approach A multi-stage research design was adopted drawing on qualitative and quantitative studies consistent with extant scale development procedures. Qualitative studies comprised a comprehensive literature review, expert panel review and interviews to develop a theoretical framework and generate items. Quantitative studies comprised pilot testing (n = 106), online survey for scale development (n = 246) and scale validation (n = 245) on UK-based consumers using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Findings The study finds support for a five-dimensional SERVBID scale comprising: process identity; organization identity; symbolic identity; servicescape identity; and communication identity. Practical implications The SERVBID scale provides practitioners with a practical tool to understand, benchmark and assess SERVBID. The scale will assist marketers in assessing the strength of BI overall as well as the strength of individual facets of BI. Originality/value This study provides a deeper and complete understanding of the theoretical construct of BI through a service-dominant lens, in particular recognizing the defining role of the service process and servicescape in SERVBID construction.

AIM: Land use change reorganizes local communities, resulting in complex changes in biodiversity at larger scales. The biotic homogenization hypothesis predicts that the replacement of sensitive loser species with widespread winner species will lead to loss of beta diversity and ultimately loss of regional diversity at multiple levels of ecological organization. We ask if land use is associated with biotic homogenization patterns in bee communities at two large spatial scales, using both species and phylogenetic dissimilarity indices. LOCATION: North‐eastern USA (New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania). TIME PERIOD: 2013–2015. MAJOR TAXA STUDIED: Superfamily Apoidea (bees). METHODS: We sampled bee communities from replicated sites in forest, agriculture and urban land use types within a large spatial extent spanning four distinct ecoregions. We compared pairwise compositional dissimilarity within and between ecoregions, using both species and phylogenetic dissimilarity indices. We also investigated how compositional difference is related to geographic distance between sites. RESULTS: Forested, agricultural and urban landscapes did not differ detectably in either mean pairwise species dissimilarity or slope of distance‐decay. Dissimilarity among both agricultural and urban bee communities increased with geographic distance. However, urban landscapes had significantly lower phylogenetic pairwise dissimilarity, indicating strong phylogenetic homogenization at within‐ and between‐ecoregion scales. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: We did not detect bee species homogenization in agricultural or urban land use types. However, urban land use was associated with phylogenetic homogenization across a large regional extent. Urban bee communities are dominated by closely related species that maintain beta diversity at the species level, but contribute to low phylogenetic beta diversity relative to forest and agricultural bee communities. We observed similar levels of homogenization at landscape and regional spatial extents, despite inter‐site distances differing by an order of magnitude between these scales. Further urbanization could result in loss of bee biodiversity and evolutionary history at multiple spatial scales.

The response of rare species to human land use is poorly known because rarity is difficult to study; however, it is also important because rare species compose most of biodiversity, and are disproportionately vulnerable. Regional bee pollinator faunas have not been assessed for rarity outside of Europe. Therefore, we do not know to what extent anthropogenic landscapes support rare North American bee biodiversity. We ask how richness and abundance of bee species respond to land use, within quartiles of species defined by their numerical, phenological, and geographical rarity. We conducted a field study to sample bee communities in forested, agricultural, and urban landscapes replicated across a large spatial extent of the northeastern United States. We used large independent data sets to classify observed bee species according to three forms of rarity: their numerical rarity (low regional frequency in a museum-based data set), phenological rarity (short flight season length) and geographical rarity (small range size). For all three forms of rarity, we found half as many rare bee species in agricultural landscapes compared to forest. We found half as many phenologically rare species in urban landscapes. Bees that had both shorter flight seasons and smaller range sizes were between one-third and one-half as rich in both types of anthropogenic landscapes, regardless of regional frequency. Although a minority of rare bee species were found in anthropogenic landscapes, our overall conclusion is that the native vegetation of our region, forest, is critical for supporting rare bee biodiversity.

Bumble bees are among the best‐studied bee groups worldwide, yet surprisingly we know almost nothing about their overwintering habitats nor the microsite characteristics that govern selection of these sites. This gap represents a critical barrier for their conservation, especially if preferred overwintering habitats differ from foraging and nesting habitats. Current conservation plans focus on foraging habitat, potentially creating a problem of partial habitats where improved forage might fail to prevent population declines due to limited overwintering sites. We provide the first data on the overwintering habitat for any western North American bumble bee. Our data suggest that overwintering and foraging habitats are likely distinct, and queens’ selection of overwintering sites may be shaped by environmental stressors of the year. In our study area, queens overwintered in litter beneath cypress trees, where no floral resources exist. Whether this separation of overwintering and foraging habitat holds for other bumble bee species remains to be discovered. Our data highlight the need to consider the whole life cycle for understanding population dynamics and conservation planning. This need is underscored by growing evidence for the decline of multiple North American bumble bee species.

Strategy formulation is commonly understood as the match between a firm’s internal resources and skills and its external environment. Marketing strategy performance is the function of a dynamic, interactive process incorporating internal firm resources, external environmental factors and competitive actions. The study aims to assess the impact of competitor actions on marketing strategy performance. We develop a model that accommodates the effects of 29 variables (comprising internal marketing strategy variables, external environmental factors and competitors’ marketing mix variables) on business performance. We empirically test the model using simultaneous equation modelling of time-series data on UK car manufacturers collected from publicly available resources and annual reports. The results show that external factors, in particular competitors’ marketing mix elements, have a greater influence on a company’s business performance than internal (marketing and non-marketing) strategy variables. Implications for marketing theory and management are discussed.

Summary Plant–pollinator interactions are affected by global change, with largely negative impacts on pollination and plant reproduction. Urban areas provide a unique and productive study system for understanding the impacts of many global change drivers on plant–pollinator interactions. We review the mechanistic pathways through which urban drivers alter plant–pollinator interactions. The literature on urban drivers of plant–pollinator interactions is small but growing and has already produced exciting insights about how population processes or pollinator behaviour interacts with landscape urban drivers to affect pollination outcomes. Habitat loss and fragmentation can change flower visitation rates and pollination success through changes in pollinator foraging behaviour or through population-level effects on pollinators. Urban environments, where impermeable surface provides an inhospitable matrix, may allow researchers to identify habitat fragments more clearly than in many other environments. Recent studies have found that non-native plants are not differently preferred by pollinators relative to native plants, therefore removing the basis for expecting pollinator-mediated competition between native and non-native plants in urban habitats. However, non-native species together with managed vegetation may have powerful effects in urban habitats via changes in community-level plant phenology and consequent changes in pollinator phenology. The current level of climate warming has not caused plants and pollinators to become detectably temporally separated, although at the same time, diversity among species’ phenological responses could buffer plant–pollinator interactions from climate variation. Due to the urban warming effect, cities provide a promising system for better understanding the warming effects on plant–pollinator interactions. Environmental contaminants such as soil nitrogen and heavy metal pollution have been examined with respect to plant–pollinator interactions in small-scale, mechanistic studies. The extent to which environmental contaminants drive plant–pollinator interactions in actual urban landscapes is, however, currently unknown. Important knowledge gaps that require research attention include understanding the consequences of plant and pollinator trait filtering on plant–pollinator interactions, and expanding the literature to include underrepresented biomes and pollinator taxa.

This paper aims to contribute to the universal discourse on financial services continuance behavior by examining the impact of service cost on customers’ service-quality perception and service continuance intention. It presents the results of an empirical study that has explored the impacts of service cost, service quality, and customer satisfaction on health insurance customers’ behavioral intention toward continuing or discontinuing with their service providers. Very few studies had examined the impact of service cost on service-quality perception. Our study attempts to fill that gap. A sample of 820 customers was surveyed, and 624 usable responses were analyzed with ANOVA, standard multiple regression, and logistic regression. Our findings indicate that, although highly satisfied health insurance customers will most likely retain their current service providers, customer dissatisfaction does not necessarily lead to discontinuance. Our results also provide some operational implications for health insurance managers, with strategies for reducing attrition and improving customer retention.

Risk represents the unknown future: an intangible commodity. Public risk may affect any part of society and government is expected to respond, implying a need for governance and accountability. Public risk governance though is complicated by the multiplicity of different stakeholders and the network of interactions. We explore public risk governance through the actors involved in public risk governance and accountability. Through synthesis of the related and theoretically consistent concepts of governance, stakeholder theory and social network theory we develop the concept and underlying principles of ‘knowledgeable supervision’ as a means of public risk governance.

The response and effect trait framework, if supported empirically, would provide for powerful and general predictions about how biodiversity loss will lead to loss in ecosystem function. This framework proposes that species traits will explain how different species respond to disturbance (i.e. response traits) as well as their contribution to ecosystem function (i.e. effect traits). However, predictive response and effect traits remain elusive for most systems. Here, we present detailed data on crop pollination services provided by native, wild bees to explore the role of six commonly used species traits in determining how crop pollination is affected by increasing agricultural intensification. Analyses were conducted in parallel for three crop systems (watermelon, cranberry, and blueberry) located within the same geographical region (mid-Atlantic USA). Bee species traits did not strongly predict species’ response to agricultural intensification, and the few traits that were weakly predictive were not consistent across crops. Similarly, no trait predicted species’ overall functional contribution in any of the three crop systems, although body size was a good predictor of per capita efficiency in two systems. So far, most studies looking for response or effect traits in pollination systems have found weak and often contradicting links. Overall we were unable to make generalizable predictions regarding species responses to land-use change and its effect on the delivery of ecosystem services. Pollinator traits may be useful for understanding ecological processes in some systems, but thus far the promise of traits-based ecology has yet to be fulfilled for pollination ecology.

Purpose – To demonstrate the successful use of lifestage segmentation and survival analysis to identify cross‐selling opportunities.Design/methodology/approach – The study applies lifestyle analysis and Cox's regression analysis model to behavioural and demographic data describing 10,979 UK customers of a large international insurance company.Findings – There are clear differences between the lifestage segments identified with respect to customer characteristics affecting the likelihood of a second purchase from the company and the timeframes within which that is likely to take place. The “mature” segments appear to offer greater opportunities for retention and cross‐selling than the “younger” segments.Research limitations/implications – The study was limited by the type of data available for analysis, which related mainly to life insurance and pension products characterised by low transaction frequency. Different results might be expected for banking or credit‐and‐loan products. The findings could be enh...

During the 20 year lifetime of the Journal of Financial Services Marketing the study of online banking adoption has emerged and matured as a field. Now 20 years on, we reflect on the accumulated online banking adoption knowledge and consider what this tells us. On the basis of an audit of published research over a 10-year period, 1998–2008, we identify the core theories and approaches utilised to study online banking. The findings reveal the widespread application of the Technology Adoption Model (TAM). Drawing on the current debate regarding TAM within the Information Systems domain, we critically evaluate the ongoing appropriateness of TAM for online banking adoption research, and call for a refreshed approach to the study of bank technology adoption. The paper concludes by highlighting other theories that offer potential to extend knowledge in this area.

An e-enabled distribution chain has many advantages: a key element is the company website which combines sales and marketing functions. Intermediary websites interface between the supplier and the marketplace; consequently, adoption and use of websites by intermediaries can benefit an extended supply chain. We examined intermediary e-commerce development, focusing on the adoption and use of websites, the factors influencing initial adoption, the characteristics of adopters and patterns of website use. Based on interview and survey data from financial services intermediaries, we used Rogers' model of innovation to identify adopter groups. Statistically significant differences were found between the five adopter categories in terms of key company characteristics, key factors influencing the initial decision to develop a website and its subsequent use. There are implications for providers in widening intermediary participation in website technology.

PurposeTo critically assesses the extent to which consumers are being empowered by the internet, focusing specifically on the role of the internet in the context of online pension information provision.Design/methodology/approachA mixed method study involving focus groups and observational research. Focus groups explored consumer meanings of empowerment and pension information needs. Actual information provision was measured using a content analysis of a sample of 20 pension web sites from 1996 to 2004 accessed from the internet archive.FindingsWhile consumers generally feel that the internet is empowering, the sense of empowerment has not been fully realised in the context of pensions. The findings reveal gaps between consumer needs for information and information provision with implications for pension providers and consumers.Research limitations/implicationsRelies on consumers' own reported information needs. Pensions are complex and consumers may not fully appreciate the most relevant information in order to make an informed pension decision. Researching professional financial advisors could close the loop and help understand what information consumers should be using to make decisions.Practical implicationsProvides useful insights for pension providers and employers in understanding the value of pension web sites and the features/facilities that consumers value most in using them.Originality/valueAddresses a key concern of government – insufficient pension provision – and helps to understand how the internet can be used to engage consumers in pensions and encourage them to take greater responsibility for and ownership of their retirement saving.

PurposeTo provide an investigation of e‐commerce development via an examination of the forces shaping web site development among intermediaries in an extended supply chain.Design/methodology/approachA two‐stage research design combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Unstructured interviews conducted in the spirit of phenomenology elicited a range of critical incidents of web site development which were further examined via a quantitative survey of intermediaries to test for relationships between critical incidents and web site adoption.FindingsAdopter groups were identified which showed statistically significant differences in terms of the critical incidents driving web site development as well as differences in terms of key company characteristics. The timing of web site adoption was also found to affect the subsequent use of the technology, with early adopters making more advanced use.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations associated with the use of retrospective data and respondents’ abilities to recall events, although attempts were made to minimise these through external validation.Practical implicationsProvides useful insights for providers of financial services in understanding how to progress the adoption of web site technology by intermediaries, suggesting the development of networks of relationships involving IT suppliers rather than simply focusing on relationships with preferred intermediaries.Originality/valueAddresses a research gap in terms of business‐to‐business e‐commerce and offers practical guidance on how to widen participation in the financial services supply chain.

Service-Dominant logic emphasises the customer role as co-creator of value. However, there is little empirical evidence of how customers perceive and experience value co-creation from participation in service co-production. The internet and interactive websites have increased the potential for consumers to engage in co-production through increased self-service which is acknowledged to contribute to consumer empowerment. The paper explores empirically the impact of service co-production via web technology on consumer perceptions of e-empowerment. Findings suggest that e-empowerment is multidimensional comprising empowerment and disempowerment dimensions. The paper makes several contributions to services theory. Variable co-production leads to different types of empowerment/ disempowerment. Value-in-use can be perceived as process value and outcome value. The findings challenge the assumption that co-production naturally leads to co-creation of value. Co-production can be a double-edged sword: for some it can be value-enhancing, whereas for others it can be value-destructing. The paper notes several implications for practice.

Service loyalty is attracting growing interest as a result of the important role that services play in today’s global economy. Advances in technology have increased demand for a services-based economy and prompted a shift from a product-centred logic to a service centred logic. Despite general agreement between researchers and practitioners of the strategic importance of service loyalty, and growing acceptance of a dynamic or processual perspective, scales used to measure the dynamic view of service loyalty can be criticised for their lack of methodological robustness. This paper contributes both theoretically and practically by critically examining these service loyalty scales and proposing a new multiitem scale based on Oliver’s (1997) conceptualisation using a mixed method study. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from UK retail bank customers using indepthinterviews and an interviewer-administered survey. A two-step structural equation modelling strategy was used to validate the measurement and structural models. The results provide support for a four-dimensional scale of service loyalty. This study provides service researchers and managers with a better understanding of service loyalty and presents them with a robust scale for its measurement, in turn improving their ability to make accurate conclusions.