Prior social robotics research has shown that robot design influences if people perceive a robot as friendly, trustworthy, or safe (Castro-Gonzalez et al., 2016; Rosenthal-Von Der Pütten & Krämer, 2014). Meanwhile, recent conceptual work has suggested that social robots will increasingly be used in the front line of service encounters (Gonzalez-Jimenez, 2018; Van doorn et al., 2017). According to The International Journal of Social Robotics social robots are robots that can communicate and interact with humans, among themselves, and with the environment, within the cultural and social structure assigned to its role. Real examples of the inclusion of these robots in retail settings already exist. For instance, some retailers use Softbank´s robot Pepper to greet and inform customers. Social robots such as Pepper can use their sensors and cameras to interpret customer reactions and adapt accordingly. Moreover, the robot can even make product recommendations based on the assessed customer´s mood, age, gender and, if available, purchase history (McKenna, 2018). Not surprisingly, there is a vast market potential associated with these robots, which is expected to grow to 87 billion by 2025 (BCG, 2017).

This study was conducted to survey the perception and preferences of customers that have dined at Korean restaurants in China and investigate the importance and performance level of quality attributes, customer satisfaction, revisit intention and recommendation intention. The survey was conducted January 31~March 1, 2016 in China. The 293 questionnaires (97.7%) were analyzed using SPSS(Ver. 23.0) and AMOS(Ver. 21.0). Results of this study are as follow: Customers that dined at a Korean restaurant in China were composed of 157 women and 136 men. Regarding the reason for preferring Korean cuisine, taste, hygiene and nutritional value of Korean food were the most significant quality factors. Regarding complaints about Korean food, Chinese people placed much emphasis on freshness of ingredients when dining out, based on the majority of complaints about ingredients that were not fresh. The main reason for leftover food were personal eating habits and that of customers revisiting food taste and nutrition. Path model among customer satisfaction, revisit intention and recommendation intention revealed the factor of menus and attributes of menu items regarding customer’s age that had an impact on customers’ satisfaction, and association with customers’ satisfaction, revisit intention and recommendation intention as well.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of Chinese perceptions of quality attributes on customer’s satisfaction, revisit intention and recommendation intention for coffee shops in Beijing, China. Subjects of this study included 200 customers who had visited a coffee shop at least once during the last year. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS v23.0 and AMOS v21.0. In this study, the majority of customers visited a coffee shop once or twice a week with friends. Respondents preferred tall-sized warm coffee in the store. The coffee shop quality attributes of were derived from five exploratory factors identified upon analysis of 30 observational variables. It was important to maintain and strengthen the quality attributes of coffee shops in this area because IPA(Importance Performance Analysis) analysis showed that “Doing great, keep it well” part was a desirable area because it had high importance and performance. Finally, path analysis revealed that customer satisfaction was influenced by employee attitude and affected revisit intention and recommendation intention.

Restaurants implement menu labeling to provide nutritional information to customers in an attempt to help customers select healthy menu items. Considering the increase in food-away-from-home consumption, the purpose of this study was to identify motivators and barriers in restaurant customers regarding use of menu labeling. Data were collected from a survey on restaurant customers in Seoul, Korea. The findings of this study indicate that customers used menu labeling for health reasons. However, barriers to using menu labeling were identified as small font size, difficulty in locating nutritional information display, and difficulty in interpreting nutritional information. In addition, they also suggested expanding the scope of menu labeling for restaurants by including chain restaurants with less than 100 units. The findings of this study offer strategies for the government to improve menu labeling practices for customers.

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.

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.

The main aim of this research study is to compare the Relationship Marketing Orientation (RMO) between public and private commercial banks in Sri Lanka. Thus, the findings of this study can possibly be useful to promote application of Relationship Marketing Orientation in both public and private banks in Sri Lanka. The theory of social exchange provides a theoretical base for this study. Trust, bonding, communication, shared value, empathy and reciprocity were considered as dimensions of the RMO. The data obtained from 1002 customers of Sri Lankan commercial banks were analyzed to test relevant hypotheses. The findings revealed that Relationship Marketing Orientation of private banks is significantly higher than that of public banks. In particular, in terms of individual dimensions of the RMO, Bonding, Shared Value and Empathy of the private banks seemed to be significantly higher than those of the public banks. Nevertheless, public banks were more trustworthy than private banks. Based on these findings, we have provided interesting implications and recommendations to the both private and public banks.