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This study investigates the role of source familiarity in moderating the effect of service adaptive behavior (SAB) on customer satisfaction. Applying the accessibility–diagnosticity framework and situated cognition theory as the theoretical basis, this research hypothesizes that when customers are familiar with the source that provides the service (i.e. brand familiarity for Study 1 and personal familiarity for Study 2), customer satisfaction responses to SAB would be more moderate than when customers are not familiar with the source. Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Two experiments manipulating SAB and the brand name familiarity (Study 1) and personal familiarity with the service staff (Study 2) as the source familiarity were conducted. Customer satisfaction as a function of source familiarity was measured to test the hypothesis that source familiarity moderates the relationship between SAB and customer satisfaction.

Compared to unfamiliar sources, familiar sources generated a more moderate response in customer satisfaction as a function of SAB. High familiarity with the brand and service staff induced top-down, memory-based processing that overrides external stimuli as the basis of satisfaction judgment; bottom-up, stimulus-based processing relying on SAB for judgment kicked in only when the source familiarity is low.

From a practical point of view, this study indicates the importance of SAB, especially for brands with low awareness, and alludes to the comparative importance of relationship building in service delivery processes.

This study contributes to the literature by validating the role of contextual factors in influencing the impact of SAB on customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the perception of crowding by medical staff and patients impacts patients’ perceived service quality (SQ), overall satisfaction and emotional well-being.

Data were collected from 258 matched pairs of medical staff members and their patients at six public hospitals.

Medical staff-perceived crowding negatively influences patients’ perceived SQ. The perceived SQ then impacts patients’ overall satisfaction and emotional well-being. Patients’ perceived crowding does not significantly impact their perceived SQ but increases the positive emotional well-being of patients.

Scant research has investigated a matched pair of service providers and their customers. This study concentrates on how individuals’ perceived human crowding and medical staff SQ affect consumers’ emotional well-being. This research leads to the formulation of theoretical and public policy suggestions to improve the quality of interactive services with minimal cost and disruption.

The purpose of this study is to draws on self-determination and self-evaluation theories to examine the psychological factors impacted by augmented reality (AR) services, an augmented reality try-on system. This study highlights three characteristics of modality, synchronous sense or ownership and re-processability within an AR try-on experiences as well as the moderating effects of consumers’ body surveillance and fashion consciousness.

Using a scenario survey approach, this study designs characteristics of an AR try-on system to examine the research model and the hypotheses. A total of 207 responses are collected and analysed using the SmartPLS 3 statistical software.

The results show that modality, synchronous sense of ownership control and re-processability of AR try-on system positively affect consumer’s rapport experience. Both body surveillance and fashion consciousness significantly moderate the effects of AR try-on service system characteristics on consumer rapport experience.

This study highlights the importance of understanding the implications of the evolution of cyborg consumerism where consumer technology interface systems such as AR, as a source of technologically mediated modality, become part of the consumer’s body, an extension of their body if you will.

Based on the study findings, marketing managers can understand how to better use AR to implement digital promotional strategies for various body-involvement products.

Using immersive technologies, this study shows that AR allows a consumer see an authentic self and tangible extension of their physical self in an online shopping setting, thus enhancing a consumer’s online shopping experience.

Digital transformation (DT) has had a profound impact on how services are delivered, but its effects on service frontline employees in crisis have yet to be examined. Using conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this study is to empirically test the overall effects of DT within service organisations on service employees’ beliefs with respect to crisis preparedness, life satisfaction and customer orientation. It also examines the moderating effects of crisis-related anxiety and job experience on these relationships.

This study’s hypotheses were tested quantitatively with an online survey of N = 592 frontline service employees working in hospitality and retail services organisation during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. A post-hoc study of customer-facing supervisors (N = 268) was conducted to validate the study findings and establish generalisability.

DT predicts service employees’ beliefs regarding crisis preparedness. In turn, crisis preparedness increases life satisfaction and customer orientation. Moreover, crisis-related anxiety negatively moderates the relationship between DT and crisis preparedness. Post hoc analyses validate the results derived from service employees’ data. Surprisingly, there is no significant relationship between crisis preparedness and life satisfaction for supervisors/managers with low job experience.

This study makes an empirical contribution to the service management literature by examining the impact of DT on service employees’ beliefs with respect to crisis preparedness that subsequently influences their life satisfaction and ability to remain customer oriented during a crisis. It highlights an important intersection between technology and service work in terms of a transformative impact of DT on service employee outcomes during crises.

Recent marketing research provides conceptual models to investigate the well-being of collectives, but service system well-being (SSW) remains untested empirically. This research conceptualises and develops a measure for SSW at the micro, meso and macro levels.

Using a series of studies, a multidimensional SSW scale is developed and validated to ensure its generalisability. After the development of preliminary items, Study 1 (N = 435 of service employees) was used to purify items using factor analyses. Study 2 (N = 592 of service employees) used structural equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS and SmartPLS to test the scale's dimensionality, reliability and validity.

The results confirm the validity and reliability of the nine dimensions of SSW. The measure was validated as a third-order micro-, meso- and macro-level construct. The dimensions of existential and transformative well-being contribute to micro-level well-being. The dimensions of social, community and collaborative well-being contribute to meso-level well-being. Government, leadership, strategic and resource well-being drive macro-level well-being. In addition, a nomological network was specified to assess the impact of SSW on service actor life satisfaction and customer orientation.

The study contributes to services literature by theorising SSW as a hierarchical structure and empirically validating the dimensions and micro-meso-macro levels that contribute to SSW.

The SSW scale is a useful diagnostic tool for assessing levels of well-being across different systems and providing insights that can help develop interventions to improve the well-being of collectives.

The research is the first study to theorise the micro, meso and macro levels of service system well-being and operationally validate the SSW construct.

This study aims to test a theoretical model of co-creation dynamics, service innovation and competitive advantage. The authors explore the dynamics of collaboration between travel agents and their suppliers in co-creating value for their customers. A research model is proposed to examine the relationship among six co-creation elements (co-creation dynamics), service innovation, competitive advantage and two antecedents: technology adoption and environmental change and the moderating effects of trust.

An empirical survey was performed based on travel agencies in Taiwan and Malaysia. A total of 105 valid responses from Taiwan and 102 valid responses from Malaysia were received. SPSS and partial least square were used to analyze the data.

A new six-element construct of co-creation dynamics was suggested. All the proposed effects were found significant in which trust enhanced the effect of elements of innovation for Taiwan travel agencies. However, in contrast to the proposed hypotheses, technology adoption had no direct effect, whereas trust had no moderating effect for Malaysia travel agencies.

This study suggests that managers should include co-creation approaches with partners and customers while developing new services. The identification of areas that may be lacking can allow managers to develop capabilities to improve business co-creation competency.

This study links the relational view with service-dominant logic that emphasizes business co-creation and service innovation as operant resources and a key fundamental source for competitive advantage. This study also looks at interpreting business co-creation and discusses whether business co-creation affects service innovation in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Drawing on the extant multichannel service quality literature and customer needs regarding the experiential value of online and offline shopping, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among multichannel service delivery quality (MSDQ), customer experiences, continued engagement intentions and customer involvement.

A research model with five hypotheses was proposed. Data were collected from 911 Taiwanese consumers who had a minimum of two years of multichannel shopping experience. The consumers were asked to complete a survey about their experience with MSDQ. Structural equation modelling was adopted to analyse the data.

The results of the analysis suggest that MSDQ positively impacts customer experiences, which in turn influence their continued engagement intentions. Furthermore, the analysis found that customer involvement positively moderates the effects of MSDQ on customer experiences.

This study adopts the customer experience view to examine the effect of a holistic MSDQ design (including information transparency and accessibility and channel integration) on continued engagement intentions. By integrating a different conceptual lens, this study investigates the relationships among multichannel service quality, customer experiences and customer involvement, which adds alternative insights to the existing findings.

Managers must provide approaches to enhance the customer experiential values of utilitarianism, aesthetic appeal and playfulness; facilitate the information flow to be transparent and easily accessible; and provide different degrees of service based on customers’ experiences with their multichannel services to satisfy all consumers’ shopping needs.

The literature has focussed primarily on service providers’ technology capabilities and resources to design multichannel delivery systems. However, this study develops an MSDQ model and investigates its effects on customers’ experiences and continued engagement intentions.

Applying social exchange theory as the theoretical basis, this paper aims to examine the impacts of two forms of digital social interaction on social well-being and helping behavior of customers: moderator–customer interaction quality and customer–customer social support. Furthermore, this paper investigates customer exchange ideology as a moderator of these impacts.

This paper adopted a purposive sampling method for survey materials sent to customers of firm-hosted virtual communities (FHVCs) using a consumer panel service company. The self-administered survey was developed from existing scales, and 265 usable responses were obtained.

Both forms of digital social interaction within FHVCs positively impact social well-being, which in turn positively influences helping behavior in the community. Social well-being is decomposed into social integration and social contribution, and each partially mediates the impact of customer–customer social support and moderator–customer interaction quality on helping behavior. This finding provides greater explanatory power for the role that digital social interactions have in predicting customer helping behavior in an FHVC. In addition, an exchange ideology positively moderates the impact of customer–customer social support on helping behavior via social integration.

This paper demonstrates that resource exchange dynamics occur digitally within FHVCs, which then affect social well-being and helping behaviors in customers. From a practical point of view, this study indicates the potential that digital interactions have in generating social and economic value through helping behaviors.

Informed by the broaden-and-build theory of emotions, this study aims to investigate the relationships between consumers’ motives and personal and social outcomes in access-based services (ABS). Further, drawing on territorial behaviour literature, the second goal of this research is to test the moderating effects of psychological ownership on the relationships between personal outcomes and consumer territorial behaviour.

This research comprises a quantitative online survey complemented by a qualitative interview study. The quantitative study employed an online consumer panel survey of 317 samples. Later, the qualitative study sought additional insights into the economic benefit motives and manifestation of territorial behaviour of bicycle-sharing users to enrich the results of quantitative study. The quantitative data were analysed using structural equation modelling, and the interviews were transcribed and analysed using an inductive and deductive thematic analysis.

The results indicated that specific motives significantly affected certain personal outcomes. Namely, economic benefit, enjoyment and reputation motives drove life satisfaction, while enjoyment, sustainability and social relationships promoted feelings of gratitude. Furthermore, life satisfaction positively affected consumer cooperation, helping other consumers and territorial behaviour. In contrast, feelings of gratitude had a positive relationship with cooperation and helping other consumers, but a negative one with territorial behaviour. Additional examination revealed that consumers’ psychological ownership of the shared bicycle in an ABS model moderated the effect of gratitude on consumer territorial behaviour.

This study offers and tests a model on ABS in the context of bicycle-sharing services. Thus, it presents avenues to test the model on other ABS, e.g. clothing or home sharing.

Managers in ABS can foster positive emotional states of gratitude and life satisfaction that will inevitably promote consumer cooperation and helping behaviour.

This study is among the first to propose and examine a model that tests the relationships between consumers’ motives and personal and social outcomes in ABS.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a concept of service system well-being by presenting its collective conceptualisation and ten key domains.

Service system well-being domains were established using multi-level theory and a qualitative case study research design. To validate the domains initially developed from the literature, 19 in-depth interviews were conducted across two case studies that represented the service systems of a hospital and a multi-store retail franchise chain. A multi-stakeholder approach was used to explore the actor’s perspectives about service system well-being. Key domains of service system well-being were identified using deductive categorisation analysis.

The findings found evidence of ten key domains of well-being, namely strategic, governance, leadership, resource, community, social, collaborative, cultural, existential and transformational, among service system stakeholders.

Service system well-being is a collective concept comprising ten domains that emerged at different levels of the service system. The propositions outlined the classification of and interlinkages between the domains. This exploratory study was conducted in a limited service context and focussed on ten key domains.

Service managers in commercial and social organisations are able to apply the notion of service system well-being to identify gaps and nurture well-being deficiencies within different domains of service-system well-being.

Based on multi-level theory, the study is the first to conceptualise and explore the concept of service system well-being across multiple actors.