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Abstract
Evidence which demonstrates a link between the affective dimension and satisfaction in a tangible product based context is well documented. However, when placed in a credence service context the role of Affect becomes more complex. Previous research in this field has assumed consumer homogeneity when there is increasing evidence of consumer heterogeneity. This research attempts to address this by examining affective reactions to service encounters between two groups of respondents, one with the ability to make performance assessments about the service and one without. Findings suggest consumers of differing sophistication will vary in the way they form expectation and performance assessments about the technical, functional and affective components of credence services and that consumer sophistication may have a moderating influence on affective reactions evoked. This in turn has implications for the design and delivery of service offerings within such contexts.
Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore current management attitudes towards benchmarking and its implementation within small business‐to‐business service firms in order to enhance a deeper understanding of benchmarking within such contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses in‐depth case analysis of small architectural services to collect empirical data on benchmarking initiatives, attitudes, key characteristics and constraints on benchmarking.FindingsFindings suggest that there are significant variations in the receptiveness of small business‐to‐business firms towards the adoption of benchmarking. There may be an inherent distrust of benchmarking, as it is primarily perceived as being a tool for larger organizations, where productivity improvements are the main driver. Evidence of perceived constraints in both the implementation of benchmarking and in the definition of what constitutes best practice highlighted a cultural difficulty for small architectural firms when adopting a business process orientation. Traditionally, when evaluating their services, architectural practices are oriented towards professional design criteria, often with creative rather than business process priorities. Results suggest less cumbersome measurement models than key performance indicators (KPI) are needed to allow organically developing firms, such as architectural services, to apply benchmarking and quality ideas flexibly.Originality/valueResearch on current management attitudes towards benchmarking or actual implementation of benchmarking techniques in small business‐to‐business service firms is scarce. This paper addresses this by developing a deeper and richer contextual understanding of benchmarking within such contexts.

ABSTRACTThis research contributes to a gap in our understanding of value and its cocreation by empirically investigating issues related to ambiguities of legal ownership of cocreated outputs from a virtual experience environment and the subsequent consequences of these on value creation. The context is Machinima, the making of original content using the content of computer games engines wherein a games developer and members of a virtual community simultaneously collaborate to generate and distribute content thus potentially creating tension around ownership and authorship. The investigation had three aims. The first objective was to provide a holistic gestalt of how value is cocreated, transformed, transferred and consumed when the roles of consumer and producer become 'blurred'. The second objective was to examine how legal 'ambiguity' of ownership potentially acts as an enabler of creativity within such contexts. The final objective was to develop a better understanding of the social, economic and legal determinants and consequences of such ambiguity on ownership as both an experience and an implicit legal arrangement. Taken holistically, the findings suggest the ambiguous nature of ownership from a legal perspective contributes and informs creative endeavour from both an organisational and community perspective. Within the context of this investigation, ownership ambiguity paradoxically may provide an on‐going environment in which value creation processes beneficial to both participant and developer flourish. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the impact of service encounter quality within a service evaluation model. The conceptual model seeks to incorporate the following constructs: service encounter quality, service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value, loyalty to the firm and loyalty to the employees.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model was developed based on a comprehensive literature review. A questionnaire was developed with item measures that captures the constructs in the conceptual model. A survey of business customers was undertaken, and a response rate of 18.6 per cent was obtained. The data are analysed via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.FindingsService encounter quality is directly related to customer satisfaction and service quality perceptions, and indirectly to perceived value and loyalty. The paper offers insights into the specifics of business‐to‐business service dynamics by examining the role of service quality, satisfaction, value on loyalty to both employees of the firm and the firm itself. It demonstrates how firms may be able to contribute to the achievement of organisational objectives through careful and creative management of the service encounter.Originality/valueResearch examining the role that service encounter quality plays within service evaluation models is scarce. Moreover, most service evaluation models are operationalised within a retail customer context. The paper addresses both these shortcomings, by examining a comprehensive service evaluation model which incorporates service encounter quality within a business‐to‐business context.

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on changes in the way in which business‐to‐business companies are responding to customer and market pressures for higher service and relational investments, and the need for new capabilities in managing the business risk in the company's customer portfolio. The paper seeks to propose a model of the strategic sales organization as a basis for management review of how to realign sales, account management, and marketing processes around customers to achieve and sustain superior customer value.Design/methodology/approachThe study traces the emergence of new pressures and mandates which are changing management thinking about the "front‐end" of organizations and edging companies towards a revolution in the role of sales, account management and marketing comparable to earlier reinventions in operations and supply chain strategy.FindingsThe outcome of the review is a model of the imperatives for the strategic sales organization.Practical implicationsThe model produced in the review provides a tool or framework for executive consideration of the strategic sales issue, both in evaluating the strategic role and performance of the existing sales and account management structures and in designing new roles for delivering competitive strength in the future.Originality/valueWhile the strategic role of the sales organization has been discussed in the literature, this paper provides a practical framework for executives to use in addressing the potential role of the strategic sales organization. The framework also highlights promising research directions for marketing and sales scholars.

Drawing on social exchange and anthropomorphism theory, this research examines the role of virtual conversational assistants (VCA) as frontline employees. Specifically, we investigate the effects of AI-derived features, such as anthropomorphism, in building Human-Machine relationships. Drawing on a qualitative interpretivist approach, 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted with global users of Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant. Our findings suggest anthropomorphism is an important factor in understanding the development of trust within Human-Machine interactions. More specifically, the effects of a humanised voice, interactive communication capability and cognitive features evoke a sense of social presence that may positively or negatively impact user trust. We propose that the interplay between a user's perceptions of the bright and dark sides of interacting with an AI-empowered anthropomorphised machine determines categories of trust and subsequent customer engagement behaviours with this embedded form of organisational frontline.

AbstractThe paper presents findings of an empirical qualitative investigation into the role of machinima (machine‐cinema) in extending the brand reach of game developers' market propositions, drawing on participation, co‐creation and immaterial labour literature. Machinima is a contemporary Internet cultural phenomenon, whereby firms' 'super' customers create original works from game assets beyond that of merely gameplay. Interestingly, firms' marketing strategies are evidently focussed on traditional channels with apparently little emphasis given to Internet born cultures such as machinima, which now has massive global following. Thus, the resultant user‐generated content, which may be subsequently adapted and further distributed by other customers, is harnessed by firms, effectively exploiting the prowess of the community of games players to market their endeavours as advertising and product development. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on a study which aims to identify the characteristics and determinants of client sophistication within the UK corporate legal services market and to investigate its effect in determining the nature and essence of client‐solicitor relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses in‐depth interviews of a range of individuals involved in the selection and evaluation of legal services used by their organisations and practice lawyers working for a variety of regional and national law firms involved in the delivery of legal advice related to corporate and commercial issues.FindingsFindings suggest the level of client sophistication has a moderating influence in a number of key areas. These are identified as: service evaluation criteria; interdependency and power; the atmosphere in which solicitor‐client interactions take place and relationships develop; the nature of joint personal relational goals and the role of trust and extent of commitment.Originality/valueThe paper enriches the limited literature on business‐to‐business credence services and develops a deeper understanding of the nature of relationships within such contexts.

This article examines the evolution of social marketing as the subject of doctoral dissertations. Search strategies were used and online databases mined to identify 93 social marketing-focused doctoral theses completed between 1971 and 2013. Dissertation titles and abstracts were analyzed to determine growth trends, institutional output, disciplinary context, topical coverage, theory and model use, and differences between countries. Results indicate that the growth in the number of doctoral theses on social marketing was neither stable nor continuous over the examined period but that a rapid increase has been seen in recent years. More than 80% of the identified doctoral dissertations were undertaken in American and British educational institutions. The largest contributions came from the fields of health sciences and education, followed by business administration, marketing, communications, and psychology. Public health was predominantly the research topic. Theories and models were not always reported, with Theory of Planned Behaviour, Diffusion of Innovations Theory, and Health Belief Model being utilized most often. This study also suggests that many dissertations were focused on program development while paying relatively limited attention to theoretical advancement. This study contributes to the debate on the academic legitimacy of social marketing and helps shape directions for further knowledge creation in the field.

PurposeDependence on access to European markets through subcontracting relationships with European firms has exposed subcontracting clothing and textile producers in less developed economies to the vagaries of international market competition. This paper aims to examine the problems that such exposure creates and the requirements for developing marketing activities through the concept of the alliance life cycle as a viable solution for a sample of Tunisian clothing and textile firms.Design/methodology/approachThe inductive reasoning of this research was implemented through qualitative research based on a range of tools derived from a case study and a dual ethnographic approach.FindingsThe main results showed that life cycle stages of the subcontracting firms reflected Schumpeter's creation and destruction cycle of innovation. Therefore, subcontracting firms could learn from their activities with their business customers so that they developed marketing competences in innovative processes. The findings also demonstrated that some of the firms in the Tunisian clothing and textile industries were more successful than others.Research limitations/implicationsThis research focused mainly on subcontracting alliances with implications for future study of other alliances for different industries.Practical implicationsThe life cycle approach could be of great interest to subcontracting managers in the post Multi Fibre Arrangement era. This approach is relevant mainly for decision makers in providing them with a framework within which they might optimise their marketing strategies and their implementations.Originality/valueThe research originality resides in its Schumpeterian perspective in considering business‐to‐business relationships. The value of the paper is to focus on the evolutionary aspects of relationships between contractors and subcontractors and the patterns of the marketing development within these relationships.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the attributes of effective complaint management in business‐to‐business relationships, and to reveal the underlying benefits that buying organizations are looking for when complaining.Design/methodology/approachA semi‐standardized qualitative technique called laddering was applied successfully to an online environment with 22 representatives of companies in the manufacturing industry participating.FindingsThe resulting hierarchical value map displays 13 attributes which exemplify the complaint resolution management expectations. A total of 14 constructs represent consequences of such resolution activities, while four constructs can be interpreted as values. Take "Quick action" is the most important of the expected attributes and behaviours of complaint resolution management. Four consequences seem to dominate the assessment: Financial benefits, Prevention of future problems, Solution, and Effective resolution handling. "Maintain supplier relationships" appears as a dominant value in the perceptions of respondents, with half of them mentioning this as an end.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to the exploratory nature of the study in general and the scope and size of its sample in particular, the findings are tentative in nature. The study involved a group of representatives of large UK manufacturing companies with complaint handling responsibilities and so the results cannot be generalised.Originality/valueThe findings enrich the existing limited stock of knowledge on complaint management in business relationships by developing a deeper understanding of the attributes that complaining customer companies desire from suppliers, as well as the underlying business logic (i.e. values) for these expectations. The quality of the results also suggests that the laddering questionnaire technique can be transferred effectively to an online environment.