Despite the increasing attention to customer engagement (CE) by practitioners and academics, extant studies have largely been restricted to conceptualized relationships without empirical testing (So, King, & Sparks, 2014). Drawing on social identity theory and social exchange theory, this study develops a research model delineating the relationship between customer identification (CI), CE and customer purchasing behaviors in virtual communities. The model was tested with structural equation modeling and survey data from 513 members of two virtual tourism communities. Results indicate that both customer-community identification and customer-customer identification (constituting two classifications of CI) have directly positive effect on customer engagement attitude, on which the duration of membership in a community has a moderating effect. Additionally, customer-customer identification influences customer engagement behavior directly and positively, of which customer engagement attitude is the psychological foundation. Finally, customer engagement attitude and customer engagement behavior will promote customers’ purchasing behaviors. The contribution of this paper is that CE has been empirically validated to compose of customer engagement attitude and customer engagement behavior these two separate variables, and CI is testified to be an antecedent rather than a dimension of CE, in line with the standpoints proposed by Algesheimer, Dholakia, and Herrmann (2005).Through the current investigation, empirical studies into the concept connotation and formation mechanism of CE are enriched, and the insight into customer behavior management and CE marketing is intensified.

This paper is aimed at proposing a new approach to connecting the measurements of customer satisfaction on healthcare services with the prioritized identification of healthcare service processes to be improved. As customers’ requirements for healthcare services have become too diverse and healthcare service systems have been increasingly complex, there has been growing interest in the customer-oriented evaluation of healthcare service quality and the systematic improvement of healthcare service processes. Most of the previous studies on service quality evaluation are based on SERVQUAL model. However, because of the unique characteristics and constraints inherent in healthcare service systems, it has been reported that SERVQUAL would be inadequate to be applied to healthcare service systems. As an alternative, SERVPERF has recently been widely used in the evaluation of healthcare service quality. However, there is a lack of studies on how to use the measurements of healthcare service quality systematically to improve service functions and processes. With this issue in mind, we firstly measured the customer-perceived satisfaction on the healthcare service quality from the six dimensions based on SERVPERF. Then we identified the relationships between the subjective measurements and healthcare service processes through brainstorming and expert interview. By using the relationships, we developed a customer journey map in healthcare services that visually describe the interaction between customers and healthcare service systems. The developed customer journey map would help service designers easily identify a healthcare service process that needs to be improved with priority. It is expected that the design improvement process proposed in this study would be a useful method for enhancing the quality of healthcare services.

본 연구는 사회적기업에 대한 관심이 높아짐에 따라, 일반 소비자들의 사회적기업 제품 구매 및 관심을 증대시키기 위하여, 기존 사회적기업 제품 구매경험을 가진 소비자들을 연구하고자 한다. 사회적기업 소비자가 제품을 구매하는 대가로 현장에서 제공받는 다양한 주관적 보상의 개념인 관계혜택이 재구매나 추천의도 등 고객행동에 미치는 영향을 확인하고자 한다. 또한 개인이 해당 사회적기업 제품을 생산, 판매하는 사회적기업과의 동일시 정도가 관계혜택(사회적 혜택, 특별우대 혜택, 확신적 혜택)과 고객행동(재구매의도, 추천의도)간의 관계를 매개할 수 있음을 검증하고자 한다. 본 연구의 가설검증결과는 다음과 같다. 가설 1은 관계혜택(사회적 혜택, 특별우대 혜택, 확신적 혜택)이 고객행동(재구매의도, 추천의도)에 정(+)의 영향을 미칠 것이다이며, 검증 결과 가설 1은 부분채택되었다. 구체적으로 재구매의도에 영향을 미치는 변수는 사회적 혜택과 확신적 혜택이며, 추천의도에 영향을 미치는 변수는 확신적 혜택이었다. 가설 2는 관계혜택(사회적 혜택, 특별우대 혜택, 확신적 혜택)이 개인-기업 동일시에 정(+)의 영향을 미칠것이다이며, 검증 결과 가설 2는 채택되었다. 가설 3은 개인-기업 동일시는 고객행동에 정(+)의 영향을 미칠 것이다이며, 검증 결과 가설3은 채택되었다. 가설 4는 개인-조직 동일시가 관계혜택(사회적 혜택, 특별우대 혜택, 확신적 혜택)과 고객행동과의 관계에 매개효과를 나타낼 것이다이며, 검증 결과 가설 4는 부분채택되었다. 구체적으로 개인-기업동일시는 사회적 혜택 및 확신적 혜택과 재구매의도 간의 관계를 매개하였고, 확신적 혜택과 추천의도 간의 관계를 매개하였다. 본 연구의 목적달성을 위한 분석결과, 사회적기업 마케팅 측면에서 개인-기업 동일시, 관계혜택에 집중한 전략을 수립하고, 시행함으로써 재구매와 추천의도와 같은 고객의 구매행동을 기대할 수 있다는 시사점을 제공하였다는데 의의가 있다. 끝으로 본 연구의 한계와 향후 연구방안을 제언하였다.

Communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important for the success of organizations (Coombs and Holladay, 2012; McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). Several studies have focused on consumer responses to CSR and found that positive evaluations of CSR initiatives led to greater loyalty to both companies and their brands and to more positive behaviors toward companies (Dhanesh, 2015; Glavas and Godwin, 2013; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). Therefore, the effective communication of these CSR initiatives appears to be important (Eberle, et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2013). However, research on how consumers perceive a company’s communication of specific CSR motives in relation to its corporate reputation is scarce (De Vries et al., 2013). The current study aimed to investigate the role that communicating CSR motives plays in someone’s perception of a company. To investigate the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motives in explaining consumer-company identification, scepticism and reputation, we conducted two online consumer survey studies. In Study 1 (N=178), we used a well-known personal care product (PCP). In Study 2 (N=220), in the context of a large worldwide furniture retailer, we tried to replicate the findings of Study 1. In contrast to Study 1, we now added situational scepticism. The results of the current study show that the positive relationship between intrinsic CSR motives and company evaluations were replicated from previous studies. In this relationship consumer-company identification and scepticism play a mediating role. However this role seems to be different for positive versus negative attributions. The negative relationship between extrinsic CSR motives and company evaluations seems to be more ambiguous. Suggestions are made for a more meta-analytical approach to distinct consumers’ perceptions on a company’s CSR motives.

The purpose of this research was to identify not only the effect of what consumers want from their brand identification and brand attachment, but also the effect of their perceived brand identification on their perceived brand attachment in the family restaurant setting. This research also investigated the causal relationship between a consumer's perceived brand attachment and brand loyalty. A total of 332 questionnaires were collected from customers who visited one of 4 nationallybranded family restaurants in Daegu. With the consent of the store managers of each family restaurant brand, students of Dongguk University helped respondents fill out questionnaires and collected the data. There were three major findings of this research. First, the benefits that consumers wanted were found to have a significant effect on their perceived brand identification and brand attachment. Second, the perceived brand identification of customers was found to have a significant effect on their perceived brand attachment. And third, the perceived brand attachment of customers was found to have a significant effect on their perceived brand loyalty. Also, consumer's benefits sought affected their perceived brand attachment through their perceived brand identification, and consumer's benefits sought and brand identification respectively influenced their perceived brand loyalty through their perceived brand attachment. Therefore, marketing managers or general managers of family restaurants should identify consumer benefits in order to increase sales and profits.