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Studies modeling customer satisfaction have often produced conflicting findings, prompting some scholars to suggest that satisfaction may vary under different product and situational conditions. This longitudinal study of business-to-business professional services (management consulting services) examines the moderating effects of two individual-level variables (product-norm experience and stakeholding) and one purchase situation variable (perceived product complexity) on the relationships among perceived performance, disconfirmation of expectations, and satisfaction. The results indicate that the relative impact of performance and disconfirmation on satisfaction varies under different contingency conditions. The impact of experience as a moderator variable is especially noteworthy. When considered in light of previous research results, the current results suggest a nonmonotomic relationship between disconfirmation and satisfaction under differing experience conditions. The findings add new insight to our understanding of the contingent relationships among key constructs in satisfaction evaluation, especially in a business-to-business professional services setting.

Robo-advisor is an artificial intelligence (AI) driven professional financial service that suggests financial portfolios and offers personalised investment recommendations to clients. Since the services are high in credence properties where financial results only become manifest over time and clients typically have difficulty assessing outcomes even after consumption, client psychological comfort is vital for service adoption. Drawing on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), information economic theory and the self-service technology (SST) literature, this study investigates a mediating role of psychological comfort, antecedents of psychological comfort and possible boundary conditions. Thailand (an emerging economy with sophisticated financial systems) was selected as our research context. Data were collected through a mixed method approach involving in-depth interviews with investors followed by a structured survey administered to 548 current and potential investors. The findings revealed clients' key psychological characteristics (performance expectations, suspicion of human financial advisors) and boundary conditions that drive psychological comfort. Performance expectations and suspicion of human advisors are associated with psychological comfort, which subsequently fosters intentions to use and percentage of investment through robo-advisors. Client confidence in ability to search for financial information and need for human interaction have small but distinct moderating effects. This study extends the SST adoption and AI-enabled professional service literature. It reveals psychological comfort as a key mediator between client psychological characteristics and robo-advisors usage.

The purpose of this study is to empirically test and extend our knowledge of the determinants of customer-oriented behaviour of front-line employees across a range of service settings. We examine the need for front-line employees to be both 'willing' (engaged) and 'able' (confidence in their ability) in order to deliver high-quality customer service. Since the organisational environment in which workers operate is known to impact job performance, we include service climate as a third explanatory variable in our model. The research hypotheses are tested using self-report data collected from 878 front-line employees in four service industries, covering both medium and high-contact settings. The results support the notion that to deliver excellent customer service, employees must be both 'willing' (engaged, positive attitude) and 'able' (possess the capability, or at least the confidence, to do so). In addition, service climate (an organisation environment factor), employee demographics, and industry type were found to be significant. Finally, the interaction effects of being 'willing' and 'able' are significant in explaining customer-oriented behaviour of front-line employees.

Recent years have witnessed increased use of self-service technologies (SSTs) across the services sector, which has dramatically changed the nature of the service delivery process. Although an abundance of research has investigated how customers evaluate a new SST and what drives the initial adoption, little is known about how customers interact with, and adapt to, an SST after their first experience. Thus, this study focuses on the dynamic and complex process through which customers move from initial adoption to continued use, after repeated interactions with an SST. A three-wave longitudinal study examines how habit, self-efficacy, and satisfaction affect SST usage over time in a retailing context. The results indicate that as learning occurs and experience accumulates, customers' continued use of an SST is initially largely rational driven (self-efficacy), then largely emotional driven (satisfaction), and, finally, habitual (habit). Over time, habit completely mediates the impact of intentions on future usage. The article concludes with a discussion of the managerial implications and directions for further research.

As in other social exchanges, cultural norms and values are likely to influence customers' perceptions of fairness and satisfaction with the service recovery process. This study contrasts the impact of two recovery attributes (compensation and explanation) on customers' postrecovery perceptions in a cross-cultural context (East-Asia versus United States). The results from this experimental study indicate that compensation seems to drive customers' fairness perceptions, in particular with American consumers. Offering an explanation for the failure had a positive impact on customer perceptions regardless of the customer's cultural orientation. Finally, the study's findings show that perceived fairness is directly linked to postrecovery satisfaction.