Introduction Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in peer to peer (P2P) sharing-service businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. In P2P sharing-service businesses, goods or services are provided by customers (peers) rather than by service firms, who act simply as an intermediary between customers. One customer acts as a service-providing customer (SPC), and the other as a service-receiving customer (SRC). P2P sharing-service firms have no direct control over an SPC’s quality of service provided to an SRC. Further, both SPCs and SRCs are customers to the firm, and therefore firms are concerned with the quality of service provided not only to SRCs but also to SPCs. In the P2P sharing-service context, particularly in the case of services serving the needs of diverse travelers (e.g., Uber or Airbnb), SPCs and SRCs can be people of different genders and races, which can cause them to feel socially distant from each other. Since SPCs are not professional service employees, they may not know how to cope with the social distance, which can result in uncomfortable service experience for both SPCs and SRCs. The more similar to the SPC an SRC feels, the more comfortable the SRC is likely to feel, which can lead to higher service satisfaction. Yet, few studies examined how such social distance can be reduced. This study is intended to fill this gap in the research. Specifically, we propose that an SPC’s form of address for SRC can moderate the effect of the incongruence in gender and race on an SRC’s perceived social distance. Theoretical Development Social distance refers to the level of acceptance people have of others outside of their own social group or class (Bogardus, 1928). It is a measure of perceived difference (or distance) between groups. In the context of the P2P sharing service, SRCs and SPCs can be from diverse social groups. When an SRC encounters an SPC from a social group that is different from theirs, the SRC can feel socially distant from the SPC. Immediate differences an SRC can identify upon meeting an SPC is demographic such as gender, age and race. In this study, we first propose that the difference (incongruence) in gender, age and race makes an SRC feel socially distant from an SPC. Social distance is closely related with similarity (Osbeck & Moghaddam, 1997; Liviatan, Trope & Liberman, 2009). In the context of mentoring, the higher the perceived and actual similarity a portage feels with a mentor, the higher the level of the portage liking and satisfaction for the mentor and with the mentoring service (Ensher, 1997). Matching gender and race between a mentor and a portage positively influenced self-reported grade point average, efficacy and confidence of a portage (Blake-Beard et al. 2011). Race was well demonstrated to influence social distance (Triandis & Triandis, 1960). Taken together, we conjecture that the effect of the difference in gender and race on social distance will apply to the P2P sharing service context and propose the following hypothesis: H1: The incongruence in gender and race between an SRC and an SPC will make SRCs feel more socially distant from SPCs compared to the case of congruence. We propose in this study that the form of address for SRCs by SPCs can influence the level of social distance SRCs feel because of the incongruence in gender and race. The relationship between forms of address and social distance has been proposed (Brown, 1965). Intimate terms of address is associated with intimate relationship. Intimate terms of address is inversely proportional to social distance (Keshavarz, 2001). Calling someone by the first name is related with friendliness (Brown, 1961). The use of first name is positively associated with closeness in relationship (Brown, 1965). An empirical study in the healthcare context showed that most patients preferred to be addressed by the first name (as opposed to last name) (Gillette, Filak & Thorne, 1984). Taken together, we propose the following: H2: Intimate forms of address by the SPC for the SRC will reduce the level of social distance caused by the incongruence in gender and race. We propose that the level of perceived social distance influences the level of comfort SRCs feel with the SPC during the service delivery. The negative effect of social distance on the level of interaction comfort has been shown (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the context of service encounters where customers feel cultural differences, psychological distance was shown to influence comfort negatively (Weiermair, 2000). Since social distance is a dimension of psychological distance (Trope & Liberman, 2011), we propose the effect of social distance on comfort as following: H3: Reduced social distance will lead to a higher level of comfort. The effect of social distance on comfort can vary by customers. In this study, we propose that the effect is moderated by the customer’s motive for the purchase of the P2P sharing service. There are largely four movies for customers who participate in collective consumptions (i.e., sharing service): economic motive, social motive, hedonic motive, and the motive to reduce risks and responsibilities (Benoit, Baker, Bolton, Gruner & Kandampully, 2017). Economic motives are associated with reducing expenses, and social motives are with meeting other people (e.g. more authentic travel) (Benoit et al., 2017). Hedonic motives are related with “accessing products that are exciting or normally out of reach” while motives to reduce risks and responsibilities are related with “no burdens of ownership, option to preview a product for potential purchase” (Benoit et al., 2017). According to a research in the context of P2P accommodations, cost saving, familiarity, trust, and utility are determinants of satisfaction with a sharing option. Thus, we propose that customer motives moderate the effect of social distance on comfort (Möhlmann, 2015). H4: The effect of social distance on comfort vary by customer motives for purchase. When feeling comfortable, people are more likely to trust, feel satisfied, and commit themselves, which can help improve relationship (Spake, Beatty, Brockman & Crutchfield. 2003). Comfort positively influences perceived service quality and satisfaction (Dabholkar, Shepherd & Thorpe, 2000). Comfort influences satisfaction positively (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the P2P sharing-service context, SRCs’ evaluation of SPCs are carried out by reviews. Customer reviews of SPCs’ services are vitally important for both SRCs and SPCs. Reviews help other SRCs to identify desirable SPCs (Ert, Fleischer & Magen, 2016) and SPCs to receive feedback for their service quality improvement. Therefore, we propose the following: H5: Comfort leads to SRC’s intention to write good reviews. Data Collection Data will be collected from American consumers who have used Uber at least once in the past one year through an online scenario-based survey using a 2 (genders: male vs. female) x 3 (races: white vs. yellow vs. black) x 3 (forms of address: no address vs. first name vs. last name) between-subject experimental design. Hypotheses will be tested by an analysis of variance and a structural equation modeling analysis. In the analyses, the potential effects of trust, familiarity, community belonging, utility (Möhlmann, 2015) and age will be controlled. Implications Findings of this study will reveal the importance of reducing social distance that SRCs feel during encounters with SPCs. Of many possible ways to reduce social distance between SRCs and SPCs, the result of this study will show that SPCs’ use of appropriate form of address to SRCs is effective. Further, it will show that the effect of social distance on customer comfort can vary by the purpose of the use of the sharing service. These findings will offer P2P service firms insights on how to help SPCs offer more comfortable services to SRCs and as a result receive positive reviews from SRCs.

Introduction Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in sharing service businesses. In B2C sharing-service businesses such as Zipcar, customers share goods and services provided by a service firm with other customers and perform the roles played by service employees in traditional service businesses. Consequently, how well one customer carries out expected tasks influences the quality of service provided to other customers. Extant studies have emphasized the importance of a governance system to prevent such a social dilemma as the personal interest of an individual being pursued at the sacrifice of the interest of the community. However, few studies have empirically examined the effect of different design of a governance system. To fill this gap in the research, this study examines the framing effect of customer messages on customer intention to cooperate by complying with the request by the firm. Theoretical development For customers to be willing to cooperate with a firm, they have to be first motivated to do so. The framing effect of on customer motivation has been well demonstrated (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995) in diverse service contexts such as healthcare (Christensen, Heckerling, Mackesy, Bernstein, & Elstein, 1991), education (Fryer Jr, Levitt, List, & Sadoff, 2012), and consumer behaviors (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995; White, MacDonnell, & Dahl, 2011) In the context of service consumption, motivation is defined as the inner driver that triggers an individual to cooperate with the service providers (Tsai, Wu, & Huang, 2017). Whether messages were framed as a gain versus a loss exerted a significant impact on consumer motivation. In the consumer behavior contexts, consumer reactions to frames were mixed (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995). In this study, we will examine the framing effect in the context of sharing service consumption. H1: In the B2C sharing service context, the framing of customer message (gain vs. loss) will affect customer motivation to comply with the request of the service firm. Customers tend to behave different depending on the value they pursue through consumption (Hwang & Griffiths, 2017). Even in the same consumption context, values of customer pursuit can vary widely. Hence, we intend to examine the moderating effect of customer value perception of sharing service on the effect of message framing on motivation. Studies showed that customers pursuing utilitarian values consider monetary savings and convenience as important, while customers pursuing symbolic value consider status and self-esteem as important and those pursing hedonic values consider entertainment and exploration as important (Rintamäki, Kanto, Kuusela, & Spence, 2006). The framing effect was shown to differ by the emphasized value of the product in the context of advertisement. A gain frame was more effective than a loss frame when the ad highlighting the hedonic attributes of a product while a loss frame was more effective when the ad stressing the utilitarian attributes of the product (Lin, 2007). Taken together, we conjecture that customers pursing different values will react differently to the same frame of messages and the level of motivation triggered by the same message frame will also differ. H2: Customer value perception of sharing service will moderate the framing effect of customer messages (gain vs. loss) on motivation. Specifically, customers pursuing utilitarian values will react more strongly to the messages framed as a loss (H2a), while customers pursuing hedonic or symbolic values will react more strongly to messages framed as a gain (H2b). The effect of motivation on customer behaviors and behavioral intentions have been well demonstrated (Ganzach & Karsahi, 1995). In the service context, customer cooperation behaviors induced by motivation significantly influence the efficiency of service operations (Mills & Morris, 1986). We propose that the motivation enhanced by customer messaged influence customer willingness to cooperate. H3: In the B2C sharing service context, motivation affects customer willingness to cooperate. Methodology Data will be collected from American consumers who have used a car sharing service at least once in the past one year through an online scenario-based survey using a 2 (message frames: gain vs. loss) x 3 (values of sharing service: utilitarian vs. hedonic vs. symbolic) between-subject experimental design. Hypotheses will be tested by an analysis of variance and a regression analysis. Implication The findings of this study will help P2P service firms better design customer messages in inducing customer cooperation and how to customize the design by customers’ value perceptions of sharing service.

Customers’ cognitive and affective responses evoked during shopping are closely linked to their attitude toward a brand (Kim, Park, Lee & Choi, 2016). Furthermore, personal traits have been known as important moderators. Studies on the antecedents of customer attitude have focused on the main effects of specific predictors and are yet to examine the combined effect of cognitive and affective responses during shopping and personal traits (Fiore & Kim, 2007). Using complexity theory, this study intends to fill this gap in the research, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context. Employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study offers 6 combination patterns of cognitive responses, affective responses, and personal traits leading to positive brand attitude. The results reveals three major findings. First, to shape a customer’s positive attitude toward a luxury brand, managing cognitive responses is more important than managing affective responses. Second, results show that avoiding negative feelings is more important than evoking positive feelings. Third, the combinations that lead to positive attitudes differ by the level of brand familiarity. This study contributes to the S-O-R literature by demonstrating the intertwined relationship between components of the organism (O) (i.e., cognition and emotion). The identified configurations can help luxury retail managers recognize patterns of influential factors on customer attitudes and better design retail experiences.

Service customers influence the quality of service outcome through their role in the service delivery process. As a way of informing customers of their role and motivating customers to play the role well, service providers often use auditory announcements. However, how to design an effective announcement for service customers still remains largely under-studied. To fill this gap in the research, the current study examines the impact of humor in a service announcement on customer intention to comply with the announced message. Specifically, we examine the impact of two humor design factors: location of humor in the announcement and the degree of message-relatedness of the humor. Further, we explore the structure of the impact of humor on customer intention to comply. We propose that the two design elements of humor will first influence the degree of customer perceptions of funniness of the announcement, which will influence the degrees of customer attention to the announcement and customer memory of the message, which will eventually influence customer intention to comply with the message. To empirically examine our hypotheses, we conducted a two (positions of humor: beginning versus ending of the announcement) by two (message relatedness of humor: strong versus weak) between-subject experiment. The context of our experiment was college students’ course evaluation. In the message, listeners were asked to participate in an online evaluation of the course which they were taking. Pre-recorded messages were played to students at the beginning of five different sections of one particular course at a business school in a major university in Seoul, Korea. The results of an ANCOVA analysis demonstrated the significant impact of both humor position in the message and the message-relatedness of the humor. A structural equation modeling analysis showed that perceived funniness influence customer attention to the announcement but not customer memory of the message. The degree of customer attention, in turn, influenced customer intention to comply with the announced message.

Prior research in the U.S. documents the interaction between societal changes, money meanings, and family dynamics in the U.S. (Commuri & Gentry, 2005; Rose & Orr, 2007) and India (Merchant, Rose, & Gour, 2015). The present study extends this line of inquiry by examining and contrasting the money attitudes of couples, money meanings, and dynamics of money management within families of two horizontal collectivist nations (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998): India and South Korea. Twelve and six married couples were interviewed in India and Korea respectively. Both nations are horizontal collectivist nations that place a high value on the perceptions and respect of others. Thus, respondents from both nations emphasize the importance of consuming to convey status and keeping up with their neighbors. Indians frequently discuss religious and mythological texts related to money, doing one’s duty, and prosperity’s fickle nature. In contrast, Koreans are less apt to explicitly discuss religious and mythological texts. They appear to be somewhat more present oriented regarding their attitudes toward money and spending. Findings reveal that Koreans focus on security, respect money’s positive utility and necessity, and greed’s potential pitfalls. Koreans seem less concerned about on saving and focus more on enjoying life. Indians link saving to dharma (doing their duty) and supporting their children. Koreans also place a high value on family and supporting their children, but they appear less concerned about the success of future generations than Indians. These differences appear consistent with cultural values and reflect differences in economic development. For example, the homemaker is highly revered in the Hindu religion and Indian culture (Bharat, 2012) where the role is tied to doing one’s dharmatic duty. Korean and other cultures also revere nurturance within the family, but this reverence tends to be expressed within the culture’s specific economic and historical circumstances. Compared to Korea, Indian culture seems less egalitarian and more conservative in attitudes toward woman.

Customer emotion evoked during shopping is closely linked to customers’ central attitude toward the brand. Few studies, however, have examined what type of customer emotion is triggered at what stage of shopping by what factors, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context. This study intends to fill this gap in the research. To differentiate between customer emotions displayed before and after entering a luxury shop, we first identified what emotions are displayed at each stage and what factors triggered such emotions. We then examined the impact of customer emotions at each stage on customer responses, such as evaluations of service quality and brand attitude. Further, we attempted to identify patterns in the change in the type of customer emotions between before and after entering a luxury shop (i.e., from positive to negative or from negative to positive) and examined their effect on brand attitude. We collected 298 valid responses through a self-administered survey among luxury shop visitors in a major duty free complex in Seoul, Korea. The results show that customers display diverse emotions prior to entering a luxury shop. When customers were divided into four emotion groups (positive emotions only, mixed emotions, negative emotions only, no emotion), the positive emotion only group was the largest. As for specific emotions, happiness, contentment, and feeling comfortable were the three most experienced emotions. Negative emotions such as fear or shame were rarely experienced. Brand familiarity affected the type of emotion customers felt. While customers with high brand familiarity tended to feel privileged and comfortable, those with low brand familiarity tended to feel fear and shame. The emotions customers felt also differed by the shopping motive. When the motive was browsing only, customers tended to feel shame. When purchasing was a part of the motive, they tended to feel comfortable. Customer emotions displayed after entering a luxury shop were also diverse. The positive emotion only group was the largest, but it was not as large in the case of emotions felt prior to entering the shop. The effect of the retail service quality (RSQ) dimensions on in-store emotions varied depending on the specific emotion. The RSQ dimensions of "reliability" and "physical aspect" influenced the greatest number of in-store customer emotions. The moderating effect of brand familiarity was significant. The number of emotions affected significantly by RSQ dimensions was higher with the group with low familiarity. The moderating effect of the shopping motive was also significant. The RSQ dimensions that influenced emotion differed by the shopping motive. In terms of the effect of in-store emotions on brand attitude, it differed by the specific emotion. A significant effect was only present in three positive emotions (happiness, pride, privileged) and one negative emotion (anger). This implies that not all in-store emotions are equally influential on customer attitude. As for the effect of emotion change pattern on brand attitude, due to a large difference in the sample size of the emotion change pattern group (positive to positive (PP), positive to negative (NP), negative to positive (NP), negative to negative (NN)), we could not conduct a meaningful statistical analysis but could only observe some directions and tendencies. The brand attitude of the NP group tended to be higher than that of the PP group. This study contributes academically by extending the research on customer emotion, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context, in three ways. Firstly, we differentiated customer emotion before and after entering a shop. Secondly, we identified the triggers for specific emotions. Thirdly, we attempted to identify and examine the patterns of changes in customer emotion between before and after entering a shop and the impact of this pattern on customer responses. Managerially, this study contributes in two ways. Firstly, we demonstrated the importance of managing customer emotion at various stages of shopping at a specific emotional level. Secondly, we showed what factors should be managed for a particular customer emotion. Our research could be further extended in several ways. Customer experience research has shown that other customers present in the service setting can influence customer emotion; hence, in a luxury retail store, the degree of customers’ sense of compatibility with other customers may affect customer emotion and therefore should be explored. Another factor for future consideration is gender. Extant research in a luxury setting shows that the characteristics of luxury consumption tend to vary by gender. Considering that males’ luxury consumption is increasing, the difference in customer emotions based on gender might be worth investigating.

In services in general, customers play critical roles in determining the success of service delivery. Some services (such as education) require an active participation of customers for the successful accomplishment of purchase objectives. Yet, there are few systematic and integrated researches in defining the dimensions of customer’s active participation and in empirically testing the effect of customer’s active participation on customer’s perceived performance (as opposed to the firm’ performance and customer satisfaction). Existing studies have focused mainly on the general concept of customer participation during a service encounter, leaving the specific concept of customer’s active participation in various situations still under-researched. Through this study, we intended to fill this gap in research. Specifically, using college business education as our study context, we first propose the concept of “customer’s active participation (CAP)” as the reflection of customer engagement concept and identify the dimensions of CAP. We then empirically examine the effect of CAP on customer perceptions of performance of their own (CPP). Through the review of literature on the topics of customer participation, customer engagement, employee engagement and focus group interviews, we defined customer’s active participation and identified its dimension as follows. We defined customer’s active participation as “customers' making not only their individual efforts to ensure the successful outcome of the service delivery but also active interacting with service providers, other customers, and others in and outside of the service delivery context to achieve their consumption goal”. We then identified five dimensions of customer’s active participation; in-service-space interaction, 3 kinds of outside-service-space interactions (customer-to-service provider, customer-to-customer, customer-to-others), and individual level participation both in and outside the service space. In order to collect necessary data, we administered a self-administered survey using a questionnaire among undergraduate-level business major students at Yonsei School of Business. As a result of an EFA, we confirmed the uni-dimensionality of each of five determinants and the reliability of the measurement items for each dimension. The CFA result of a different set of data collected from another set of respondents among undergraduate business major students at Yonsei School of Business, we confirmed that the five dimensions well explain the customer’s active participation (CAP). Results also supported that customer’s active participation (CAP) positively influences customer’s perceptions of performance (CPP). This study contributes academically and practically in several ways. First, this study is the first attempt to propose the concept of “customer’s active participation (CAP)”. Second, this study identified the major determinants of CAP and developed a scale in the business education context. Third, this study empirically verified and the importance of the effect of CAP on their perception of own performance. Practically, this study contributes by showing the importance of managing CAP and by proposing the specific dimensions of CAP that should be managed.

Intrigued by the recent emergence and success of low-cost airlines, which use the additive option price framing (as opposed to the subtractive option price framing used by the traditional full-service airlines), we attempted to develop and empirically test a theoretical model that can help better understand the success of this innovative pricing practice for optional services. Drawing on the prospect theory and the loss aversion and endowment effect theory, we argue that option price framing affect customer responses such as perceived risk, perceived price fairness and affect. Further, we propose interaction effects between option framing and product type (utilitarian vs. hedonic) on perceived risk. Using a quasi-experimental design, we constructed four scenarios (2 option price framings x 2 product types). We administered the scenario-based survey among part-time MBA students (full-time managers). Analysis results of 132 responses demonstrated that customer responses in perceived risk, perceived fairness and affect were more favorable in the additive option framing, which in turn led to higher purchase intention. Further, these effects were stronger for utilitarian products. For hedonic products, no difference in perceived risk was observed between the two option price framings. Consequently, our study offered an explanation for when and why the additive option price framing might work better.

The role of other customers play in determining a service customer's experience has emerged as important and received growing attention recently. Yet, the role of companions has not. In this study, using the healthcare setting as our research context, we explore how companions affect the patient throughout the service encounter process. Specifically, we propose that the quality of the role companions play affects the quality of the role patients play, which eventually affects the perceived quality of the service patients receive from the healthcare provider. In other words, we propose companions as a source of improving customer perceptions of service quality. Further, in an effort to define the desirable type of companions, we propose that the quality of relationship between the customer and the companion will influence the customer perception of the companion role quality. We also propose that the patient's stress level will moderate the effect of companion's role on the patient's role. In order to measure the quality of the role a companion and a patient play respectively, we first developed a scale for each by comprehensively compiling existing scales for each. We adopted the existing SERVQUAL items to measure perceived service quality. We adapted existing scales for measuring the quality of relationship between the patient and the companion and for measuring the patient's stress level. We plan to conduct a self-administered survey among the patients at a major university hospital in Seoul, Korea. We will analyze the collected data through a factor analysis, an analysis of variance, and a structural equation modeling approach. Findings of the current study will contribute academically by extending the research stream in viewing other human factors in the service setting as influential factor in determining the customer perception of service quality. Managerially, our study will contribute by demonstrating the importance of ensuring that companions play their role well throughout the service encounter process and also by presenting a comprehensive scale to measure the companion's role.

The influential role other customers play in forming a customer's service experience has gained growing academic and managerial attention recently. We intend to extend this stream of the research by proposing the effect of the interactions with other customers on the customer's quality perception of the service provided by the service firm. Through our findings we suggest that service firms should look beyond service personnel and consider other customers as a human factor influential on customer perceptions of service quality. Specifically, we propose that the perceived quality of C2C interactions indirectly affect customer perceptions of service quality through the mediation by the perceived social-emotional support. Using the selective halo effect theory, we theorize that the perceived quality of C2C interactions influence perceived quality of the assurance and empathy dimensions of SERVQUAL. We also suggest that the strength of the effect depends on customer role types. In order to fill the gap in the customer interaction research, which is mostly centered around experiential service settings, we choose a service setting in which functional benefits are more valued (i.e. healthcare services). Our study findings will help service managers become more aware of the importance of managing C2C interactions and learn specifically which aspects of C2C interactions to manage.