The Net Promotor Score (NPS) is one of the most well-known metrics for measuring customer loyalty. Originally designed by Reichheld (2003), the measure asks participants to rate their likelihood to recommend the brand on a scale of 0-10, after which respondents are placed into a ‘detractors’ group, ‘passive’ group or ‘promotors’ group. While the measure has attracted much attention due to its simplicity and ease of use, there has equally been much criticism of its reliability, nomological validity and how it is connected to business outcomes. Therefore, the current study aims to understand whether the NPS can be used to identify brand advocacy, and secondly, does the NPS work in a care-based, low switching service context. The study included three unique contexts: at home care, residential care and disability care. In total, there were 611 participants, all of which were based in Australia. A questionnaire was developed and administered to each group and included both quantitative and qualitative questions to understand the consumer experience. The findings supported NPS as an effective metric in a care-based, low-switching context for identifying positive customer advocacy. The implication is that the NPS can be used to track organizational performance; and the extended NPS allows organizations to understand and encourage (address) positive (negative) advocacy. In addition, suggestions for an ‘earned advocacy score’ were provided which may offer a more effective way of understanding consumer experience, while providing clearer, more detailed and more actionable data. The current study provides much needed insight for brand and care organizations to understand how the NPS might be used effectively to facilitate better brand outcomes.

In response to the increasing deployment of brand chatbots in the service sector, this study developed a conceptual framework to examine the psychological processes through which brand chatbots contribute to relationship building efforts. A 2 (interactivity: high vs. low) X 2 (anthropomorphic conversation style: warm vs. competent) between-subject design was conducted in the context of the coffee service business. The levels of interactivity in the chatbots were operationalized by altering the subdimensions of interactivity: modality (i.e., media richness, response latency), message (i.e., interdependency in message exchanges), and source (i.e., customization of content flow). Different linguistic elements (e.g., terms of address, vocabulary, punctuation, emoticons) were used to construct two sets of scripts that emphasized either warmth or competence of the chatbots. Based on the results of the pretests, four brand chatbots via Facebook Messenger were developed using the platform provided by GoSky AI Inc.

This study examines the effects of the public’s perception of emergency medical service (EMS) on the public health system’s brand equity and the moderating effect of governance on this relationship using Keller’s customer-based brand equity model. It uses four EMS functions: rescue/first-aid and transfer activities; disaster prevention, preparation, and response activities; educational activities in urgent situations; and medical treatment in emergency rooms to examine the effects of them on brand meaning of the public health system. Our findings are important for understanding the public as customers of the public health system and devising and/ or adapting healthcare policies and marketing strategies to develop brand equity and increase customers’ loyalty to the public health system.

Service failure of high severity can lead to high recovery satisfaction when recovery efforts are seen very fair. Customers satisfied with recovery efforts and displaying high attachment anxiety will continue to repurchase. Attachment avoidance did not have an impact on the behavioural intentions and neither did the brand authenticity perception.

본 연구의 목적은 국내 레스토랑 이용객의 서비스 실패 후 감정변화에 영향을 미치는 실패 귀인 요소, 그리고 고객의 브랜드 관계 품질이 서비스 실패 귀인 지각에 대한 환원효과를 검증하는 것이다. 본 연구의 시사점으로는 귀인이론은 귀인이론과 귀인적 이론으로 구분할 수 있는데 한 모형에서 귀인이론에 영향을 미치는 개인 신념과 귀인 후의 감정반응 간의 영향관계를 통합적으로 측정하는 연구는 미미하다. 신념(BRQ: Brand Relationship Quality)-귀인-감정 3단계 모형을 구축하고 충돌 감정 반응(분노 VS동정)의 독립성을 같이 검증되었다. 먼저, 감성적BRQ(친밀감 및 사랑)은 통제가능성 귀인에 미치는 환원효과가 있는데 행동적BRQ(상호의존)은 통제가능성 귀인에 미치는 확대효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 관리적 관점에서 레스토랑 관리자는 고객의 서비스 실패의 반복 발생 가능성 지각을 낮추고 고객의 동정을 환기해야 한다. 통합적으로 레스토랑 관리자는 고객의 서비스 실패 귀인 지각을 잘 조절하고 고객의 BRQ이 감정반응에게의 영향효과를 환원시켜야 한다. 여러 가지의 서비스 회복 방안을 수립하고 귀 인을 잘 조절해야 한다. 뿐만 아니라, BRQ은 각각 분노 및 동정에 다른 효과(확대VS환충)가 있기 때문 에 고객 BRQ의 특성에 따라 다른 서비스 실패 회복 방안을 제시해야 한다. 예를 들면, 이성적 BRQ 고객에게 금전 보상이나 공정성 거래, 친밀감 및 사랑 고객에게 감정배려, 상호의존 고객에게 호혜성 설득 등 방안을 상황에 맞게 개발해야 한다. 본 연구는 서비스 실패 후 귀인의 매개효과를 탐색적으로 검증하 였는데 BRQ-귀인-감정 과정에서의 여러 가지 조절요인을 고려하지 않는 한계점이 있다. 따라서 추후의 연구에서 서비스 실패 강도의 조절효과를 고려해야 하고 더 완전한 모형을 구축해야 한다.

Although the majority of prior literature has suggested the key reasons for consumer complaining in service failures are to vent negative emotions (e.g. anger, dissatisfaction) and to seek redress (Blodgett, Hill, & Tax 1997; Nyer 1997), some research has also pointed out that customers will give constructive suggestions to firms through complaining (Groth, 2005; Liu & Mattila, 2015). In this regard, consumer complaining can be classified into two types, namely, positive complaint (i.e., with constructive suggestion) and negative complaint (i.e., without constructive suggestion). Understanding what situations would dissatisfied consumers choose to give constructive suggestions in service failures would be of utmost important to firms. We suggest that a firm’s brand image may affect consumers’ intention to choose what types of complaint in service failures. In general, consumers may perceive a brand as having a competence image (e.g., professional and efficient) or having a warmth image (e.g., friendly and approachable) (Kervyn, Fiske and Malone, 2012). Comparatively speaking, a warmth image is associated with friendship and caring, whereas a competence image is associated with expertise. Therefore, it is possible that consumers would have a higher empathy and intention to help a firm with a warmth (vs. competent) image, and be more likely to choose positive complaint when a failure happens to this firm. An experimental study confirmed this prediction. In addition, we found that although a firm’s competence (vs. warmth) image does not affect the likelihood to give constructive suggestions in service failures, it leads to a higher level of return intention. Implications and future research directions will be discussed.

Customer engagement (CE) has commonly defined as a psychological state or process that leads to customer loyalty (Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric, & Ilic, 2011). CE research has received increasing attention due to its critical role in luring favorable customer experience and outcomes such as brand trust, affection, and future purchase intention (Harrigan, Evers, Miles, & Daly, 2017; So, King, Sparks, & Wang, 2016). Despite scholars’ continuous efforts in advancing the CE field of study, several limitations remain unaddressed. First, empirical research focuses primarily on antecedents and consequences of CE that are derived from individual dispositions (Harrigan, et al., 2017); thus, customer actual behavioral outcomes of CE are generally unexplored. Second, most, if not all, empirical research investigates the nomological network of CE based on individual-level factors (Khan, Rahman, & Fatma, 2016; So, King, & Sparks, 2014). Such an individual-level approach is important as it builds the necessary foundation of the CE domain of study. Yet, the roles of organizational strategic position are largely ignored, while organizational-level situational factors are rarely considered. This research aims to bridge the aforementioned research gaps by constructing both individual-level dispositions and organizational-level situational factors into an integrated framework. In particular, this research seeks to explore the roles of two organizational strategic initiatives – service environment and brand equity – on customer engagement and its impact on customer behaviors.

The antecedents of customer loyalty have been a subject of interest to marketers and researchers alike. Few studies have investigated the moderating influence of brand image on customer satisfaction and loyalty. A framework was developed and tested to link casino service quality with satisfaction (affective and cognitive satisfaction) and loyalty (revisit intention and willingness to recommend). The influence of brand image as a moderator was also proposed. Quantitative surveys with 240 mainland Chinese tourists, who were the major source of tourists in Macau, were conducted. All the proposed hypotheses were supported. This study contribute knowledge on customers’ satisfaction and loyalty to casinos by explaining the interrelationships between casino brand image, casino service, customer satisfaction and loyalty. The research demonstrates that satisfied customers are more inclined to revisit and recommend the casino. These relations are stronger for customers who scored higher in image than those who scored lower. The study provides promotional marketing strategies for the casino industry and theoretical suggestions for future study.

Even though luxury brands embraced social media (Godey et al., 2016; Kim & Ko, 2012), research on the use of social media for luxury brand marketing is limited. Given the increasing popularity of social media, it is imperative to examine social media-based communication strategies for luxury brands to achieve desirable consumer evaluations of brands and advertising. This research explored the role of brand anthropomorphism strategies in social media in enhancing consumers’ advertising and brand evaluations. Specifically, this research investigated (1) the effects of verbal-based brand anthropomorphism in the luxury goods brand context (Study 1), (2) the effects of verbalbased brand anthropomorphism in the luxury service brand context (Study 2), and (3) the effects of verbal-based brand anthropomorphism cues (Study 3) on consumers’ luxury brand and advertising evaluations. Studies 1 and 2 both collectively examined the role of self-focused anthropomorphized brand effects in two different contexts. Consumers easily connect themselves with an anthropomorphized advertising, compared to an objectified advertising for luxury brands. Study 3 identified the fit between luxury brand type and an anthropomorphized brand cue to explore the effectiveness of brand anthropomorphism. Depending on the type of luxury brands, consumers processed anthropomorphized brand cues differently. Consumers favorably perceived the fit between luxury good brands and partner cues; on the other hand, consumers favorably perceived the fit between luxury service brands and servant cues. Results of this research contribute to the social media advertising and luxury brand marketing literature by clarifying the role of brand anthropomorphism in consumer-brand relationships as well as in brand-advertising relationships. Results also provide industry suggestions for delivering personified brand messages to have desirable consumer brand and advertising evaluations.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between conspicuous consumption tendency, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions of college students regarding eating out by limiting conspicuous consumption tendency among several psychological variables to acquire a more precise and concrete influence factor on consumption behavior to eat out. First, as for sensing other people, pursuing individuality and brand orientation among conspicuous consumption tendency of restaurant costumers had significant effects on brand attitudes, whereas the influence of status symbols and pursuing trend factor on brand attitudes was not verified. Second, as for sensing other people, pursing individuality, pursuing trends, and brand orientation factor among conspicuous consumption tendency had significant effects on purchasing intention. Otherwise, the significant effect relationship between status symbols factor and purchasing intentions was not confirmed. Third, as purchase intentions increased, brand attitudes of consumers increased according to existing research. Thus, this study suggests a more departmentalized marketing strategy method to create profits and enhance competitiveness of food service enterprises, and academic implications suggest fundamental data of relevant studies on conspicuous consumption tendency and purchasing behavior of consumers to eat out

This study investigates whether goods and service brands have different social media strategy to develop relationships with consumers. A content analysis of 10,752 brand posts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts of 10 Indonesian leading brands finds that goods and service brands have different strategies in utilizing their social media.

Customer equity can estimate customer lifetime value for the company (Rust et al, 2004). The firm can make proper marketing strategy with customer equity. Customer equity can both satisfy consumers and make a profit for the company (Lemon et al., 2001).So we built a model to connect service quality and customer equity to study how to prove the competitive power of traditional market. In this paper we used customer satisfaction and brand attitude as mediating variables since Store brands have become an important contributor to retail differentiation and basis for building store loyalty (Dodd and Lindley, 2003) and in retail market customer equity varies with customer satisfaction( Pappu and Quester 2006). Considering that Chinese economic growth rate was slowing down, traditional market is being a priority for Chinese Government to relieve severe export pressure and employment pressure. In this research we would like to study the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction and brand attitude and how they influence customer equity in traditional markets. Through this study we also find out how to competitive power of traditional market through managing CLV and proving service quality

This study builds upon the scant brand personality (BP) literature in services and highlights its applicability to services marketing, which is critical given increasing interest in building favourable service brands. This study examines the impact of Geuens, Weijters and De Wulf’s, (2009) BP measure, an arguably theoretically superior measure of BP to Aaker’s (1997), into an accepted nomological net by Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001), and tests the extent to which BP dimensions determine behavioural outcomes in services (Geuens et al., 2009).

This study investigated and compared the brand personality of domestically run family restaurants with quick service restaurants. Information was elicited from respective patrons using self-administered questionnaires which asked questions on recognizable brand characteristic and attributes of each restaurant through image maps. Data from the self-administrated questionnaires were collected and analysed using comparative statistical analysis, including frequency, t-test, chi-square, factor analysis, reliability analysis and correspondence analysis. Overall, patrons identified 5 factors which they used to rank individual restaurants; sophistication, competence, likeableness, trendiness, and ruggedness. Overall results showed the family restaurants that scored highly on likeableness and trendiness were Outback and TGIF. Furthermore, Vips was the only family restaurants that scored highly in ruggedness. In relation to quick service restaurants, Lotteria scored highest for competence while McDonalds and Burger King scored best for sophistication. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

IP Telephony service was restricted to an outgoing call and low quality since the trust domestic IP Telephony service launch of Saerome co. Ltd, in Jan. 2000. However, Interest of IP Telephony service, which is substituted for PSTN, has been highly elated because of the developed equipment softswitch and new technology. This kind of importance and marketing of VoIP are recognized to telecommunication providers. With this trend, they try to administrate customer satisfaction and invest R&D to survive in this hard competition and unexpected change. To achieve this objective, they should try to realize the searching process of the quality decision attribution (QDA). However, there is little research on the aspect of service quality of Internet telephony so far. For this, the investigator established the tangibles, the reliability, the responsibility, the assurance, the empathy, the charge with information sources as core elements. In order to examine the influence of IP Telephony service upon the attitudes toward a brand and the purchase intention.

Today, consumer needs are diversified, continually changing and differentiated. Under the market conditions of unlimited competition to satisfy those needs, businesses focus on relationship-building with customers, as well as on quality of Services. As a result, in this era of consumer-centered brand marketing, brand identity is surfacing as a competitive edge that a company can benefit from for a long time : this is related to the fact that people want to know why a consumer selects and purchases a certain brand out of so many others.