A framework for encouraging retail customer feedback

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine antecedents of the under researched area of customer feedback in a retail context with feedback defined as positive and negative comments as well as suggestions for product/service improvements. A market-oriented firm listens to customers and puts their feedback into practice. Research on customer engagement, which includes customer feedback, has recently surged. The preponderance of feedback research to date has been focused on customer complaint behavior which is negatively valenced. Much less attention has been paid to customer feedback (including sharing positive information, thoughts and suggestions for new ideas, in addition to negative information) even though it has great value for companies. This research addresses this gap by integrating literature on customer orientation and engagement and relationship marketing antecedents (social benefits) and outcomes (commitment) to better understand what retailers can do to encourage customer feedback throu...

[1]  The Effect of Retailer Communication on Customer Advocacy: The Moderating Role of Trust , 2010 .

[2]  Robert W. Palmatier,et al.  Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Relationship Marketing: A Meta-Analysis , 2006 .

[3]  Eric W.T. Ngai,et al.  Consumer complaint behaviour of Asians and non‐Asians about hotel services: An empirical analysis , 2007 .

[4]  Pallab Paul,et al.  An exploratory investigation of the interdependence between marketing and operations functions in service firms , 1994 .

[5]  Dwayne D. Gremler,et al.  Understanding Relationship Marketing Outcomes , 2002 .

[6]  Alison Dean,et al.  The Impact of the Customer Orientation of Call Center Employees on Customers' Affective Commitment and Loyalty , 2007 .

[7]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Addressing Moderated Mediation Hypotheses: Theory, Methods, and Prescriptions , 2007, Multivariate behavioral research.

[8]  P. Patterson,et al.  The impact of service climate and service provider personality on employees' customer‐oriented behavior in a high‐contact setting , 2011 .

[9]  Jean-Charles Chebat,et al.  Silent Voices , 2005 .

[10]  K. Reynolds,et al.  Customer benefits and company consequences of customer-salesperson relationships in retailing , 1999 .

[11]  R. Oliver.  Whence Consumer Loyalty? , 1999 .

[12]  Thorsten Hennig-Thurau,et al.  Customer orientation of service employees: Its impact on customer satisfaction, commitment, and retention , 2004 .

[13]  A. Hayes.  Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach , 2013 .

[14]  James A. Narus,et al.  A Model of Distributor Firm and Manufacturer Firm Working Partnerships , 1990 .

[15]  Eve D. Rosenzweig,et al.  A Tale of Two Countries’ Conservatism, Service Quality, and Feedback on Customer Satisfaction , 2004 .

[16]  Michael Harker,et al.  Who's complaining? Using MOSAIC to identify the profile of complainants , 2005 .

[17]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing , 2004 .

[18]  Tom J. Brown,et al.  The Customer Orientation of Service Workers: Personality Trait Effects on Self-and Supervisor Performance Ratings , 2002 .

[19]  W. Reinartz,et al.  Customer Engagement as a New Perspective in Customer Management , 2010 .

[20]  Jakki J. Mohr,et al.  Collaborative Communication in Interfirm Relationships: Moderating Effects of Integration and Control , 1996 .

[21]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Relationships between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust within and between Organizations , 1992 .

[22]  Linda L. Price,et al.  Commercial Friendships: Service Provider--Client Relationships in Context , 1999 .

[23]  F. Dwyer,et al.  Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships: , 1987 .

[24]  David L. Mothersbaugh,et al.  Switching barriers and repurchase intentions in services , 2000 .

[25]  John G. Lynch,et al.  Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis , 2010 .

[26]  L. Berry,et al.  Customers' motivations for maintaining relationships with service providers , 1997 .

[27]  Robert W. Palmatier,et al.  Returns on Business-to-Business Relationship Marketing Investments: Strategies for Leveraging Profits , 2006 .

[28]  Robert E. Spekman,et al.  Characteristics of partnership success: Partnership attributes, communication behavior, and conflict resolution techniques , 1994 .

[29]  Li-Wei Wu.  Inertia: Spurious Loyalty or Action Loyalty? , 2011 .

[30]  Linda L. Price,et al.  The market maven: A diffuser of marketplace information. , 1987 .

[31]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models , 2004, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[32]  Christian Grönroos,et al.  Service Management and Marketing: Managing the Moments of Truth in Service Competition , 1992 .

[33]  C. Fornell.  A National Customer Satisfaction Barometer: The Swedish Experience: , 1992 .

[34]  T. Lam,et al.  Customer complaint behaviour towards hotel restaurant services , 2003 .

[35]  Yuping Liu.  The Long-Term Impact of Loyalty Programs on Consumer Purchase Behavior and Loyalty , 2007 .

[36]  B. Sparks,et al.  Evaluative and relational influences on service loyalty , 2001 .

[37]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Moving Forward and Making a Difference: Research Priorities for the Science of Service , 2010 .

[38]  Mary T. Holden,et al.  Affirming Communication's Primary Role in a Manufacturer-Retailer Context , 2004 .

[39]  Kau Ah Keng,et al.  Determinants of Consumer Complaint Behaviour , 1995 .

[40]  David E. Bowen,et al.  Managing customers as human resources in service organizations , 1986 .

[41]  Young-Gul Kim,et al.  The Effect of Information Satisfaction and Relational Benefit on Consumers' Online Shopping Site Commitments , 2006, J. Electron. Commer. Organ..

[42]  Mark S. Johnson,et al.  The Different Roles of Satisfaction, Trust, and Commitment in Customer Relationships , 1999 .

[43]  A. Gustafsson,et al.  The Effects of Customer Satisfaction, Relationship Commitment Dimensions, and Triggers on Customer Retention , 2005 .

[44]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents: , 1990 .

[45]  Dominique Crié,et al.  Consumers' complaint behaviour. Taxonomy, typology and determinants: Towards a unified ontology , 2003 .

[46]  Carmen Barroso Castro,et al.  The influence of employee organizational citizenship behavior on customer loyalty , 2004 .

[47]  Jagdip Singh,et al.  A typology of consumer dissatisfaction response styles , 1990 .

[48]  O. Ferrell,et al.  The management of customer-contact service employees: An empirical investigation. , 1996 .

[49]  Jagdip Singh,et al.  Consumer Trust, Value, and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges , 2002 .

[50]  Bård Tronvoll,et al.  A dynamic model of customer complaining behaviour from the perspective of service‐dominant logic , 2012 .

[51]  J. Kolodinsky.  Usefulness of Economics in Explaining Consumer Complaints , 1995 .

[52]  R. B. Woodruff,et al.  Customer value: The next source for competitive advantage , 1997 .

[53]  Anna S. Mattila,et al.  The impact of service failures on customer loyalty , 2004 .

[54]  Sandy D. Jap,et al.  Control Mechanisms and the Relationship Life Cycle: Implications for Safeguarding Specific Investments and Developing Commitment , 2000 .

[55]  K. Reynolds,et al.  Customer-sales associate retail relationships , 1996 .

[56]  Gordon L. Fullerton.  When Does Commitment Lead to Loyalty? , 2003 .

[57]  Magnus Söderlund.  Customer satisfaction and its consequences on customer behaviour revisited , 1998 .

[58]  David L. Mothersbaugh,et al.  The Positive and Negative Effects of Switching Costs on Relational Outcomes , 2007 .

[59]  Frederick E. Webster,et al.  Rediscovering the marketing concept , 1988 .

[60]  Jill G. Griffin.  Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It, How to Keep It , 1995 .

[61]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[62]  H. Bansal,et al.  A three-component model of customer commitment to service providers , 2004 .

[63]  J. Peiró,et al.  Linking organizational resources and work engagement to employee performance and customer loyalty: the mediation of service climate. , 2005, The Journal of applied psychology.

[64]  H. Yen,et al.  Internet retail customer loyalty: the mediating role of relational benefits , 2003 .

[65]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[66]  Christian Homburg,et al.  How Organizational Complaint Handling Drives Customer Loyalty: An Analysis of the Mechanistic and the Organic Approach , 2005 .

[67]  Lance A. Bettencourt,et al.  Customer voluntary performance: Customers as partners in service delivery , 1997 .

[68]  L. Berry,et al.  The Combined Effects of the Physical Environment and Employee Behavior on Customer Perception of Restaurant Service Quality , 2007 .

[69]  Dwayne D. Gremler,et al.  Customer-Employee Rapport in Service Relationships , 2000 .

[70]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  On the evaluation of structural equation models , 1988 .

[71]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Relational benefits in services industries: The customer’s perspective , 1998 .

[72]  Gavin L. Fox.  Getting Good Complaining without Bad Complaining , 2008 .

[73]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[74]  S. West,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. , 1994 .

[75]  G. Odekerken-Schröder,et al.  Investments in Consumer Relationships: A Cross-Country and Cross-Industry Exploration , 2001 .

[76]  F. Webster.  The rediscovery of the marketing concept , 1988 .

[77]  Daniel C. Bello,et al.  Two sides to attitudinal commitment: The effect of calculative and loyalty commitment on enforcement mechanisms in distribution channels , 2002 .

[78]  Martin Klarmann,et al.  When does salespeople’s customer orientation lead to customer loyalty? The differential effects of relational and functional customer orientation , 2011 .

[79]  Gordon L. Fullerton.  How commitment both enables and undermines marketing relationships , 2005 .

[80]  Scott E. Sampson.  Gathering customer feedback via the Internet: instruments and prospects , 1998 .

[81]  Robert W. Palmatier,et al.  Customer Loyalty to Whom? Managing the Benefits and Risks of Salesperson-Owned Loyalty , 2007 .

[82]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences , 1993 .

[83]  Paul G. Patterson,et al.  Relationship benefits in service industries: a replication in a Southeast Asian context , 2001 .

[84]  Barry J. Babin,et al.  Employee Behavior in a Service Environment: A Model and Test of Potential Differences between Men and Women: , 1998 .

[85]  J. J. Cronin,et al.  Customer Orientation , 2001 .

[86]  L. Berry.  Relationship marketing of services—growing interest, emerging perspectives , 1995 .

[87]  Raymond Liu,et al.  Recognizing cross‐cultural differences in consumer complaint behavior and intentions: an empirical examination , 2001 .

[88]  Stephen S. Tax,et al.  Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing: , 1998 .

[89]  John P. Meyer,et al.  Commitment in the workplace: toward a general model , 2001 .