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This paper aims to examine how individuals’ need for distinction moderates the effect of perceived harm to others as a result of preferential treatment on customers’ attitudes towards the service provider.

Two experiments test the hypothesis that when a customer receives preferential treatment, the effect of perceived harm to others on the customer’s attitudes towards the service provider is moderated by their need for distinction and mediated by negative moral emotions, such that mediation occurs for customers with a lower (but not higher) need for distinction.

When customers have a lower need for distinction, they scan the environment to seek information about others when judging their own experience. In contrast, customers with a higher need for distinction tend to disregard others’ opinions and feelings, focusing solely on the benefits they receive from the service provider and avoiding moral emotions. Our results show that customers with a higher need for distinction tend to evaluate the service provider more favourably than those with a lower need for distinction in scenarios where the benefit given to an advantage customer imposes a disadvantage on other customers.

To the best of author’s knowledge, this research is the first to examine the interaction between perceived harm to others and one’s need for distinction as drivers of customers’ response to preferential treatment. The authors are the first to show that negative moral emotions may arise for customers with a lower need for distinction but not for those with a higher need for distinction.

Although preferential treatment has been considered a positive relationship marketing tactic, this research aims to examine how perceived harm to others as a result of preferential treatment invokes consumers’ negative moral emotions and negative attitudes towards the service provider.

Four studies are presented in this research. A pilot study first provides empirical evidence that customers who receive preferential treatment are aware of potential harm caused to other customers. Three experimental studies then test the hypothesis that shame and embarrassment mediate the effect of perceived harm to others on consumers’ responses to earned and unearned preferential treatment, respectively.

The present studies demonstrate that consumers naturally scan the environment and seek out information about others when judging their own experience; consequently, when preferential treatment is perceived to cause harm to others, it can trigger negative moral emotions. In particular, the authors show that shame mediates the effect of perceived harm to others when preferential treatment is earned, whereas embarrassment mediates this effect when preferential treatment is unearned.

The results of this research contribute to the literature on earned and unearned preferential treatment and negative moral emotions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to show that negative moral emotions may arise because of perceptions of harm to other customers, particularly in the context of earned preferential treatment. The authors demonstrate that ordinary shopping contexts have the potential to elicit these negative emotions, raising concerns about ethical and moral practices in service environments.

When designing relationship marketing programs incorporating preferential treatment, firms need to consider both the ethics of justice and the ethics of care. Guidelines considering ethics of care should be developed for employees to ensure appropriate training to deliver preferential treatment effectively and avoiding situations causing potential harm to others. Strategies could include encouraging employees to better scan the servicescape to identify if other customers’ needs should be attended first, and providing clearer justifications when administering preferential treatment. The provision of choices such as delayed redemption and passing on benefits to others can help minimise harm and potentially enhance customer service experience.

The studies presented here are the first to examine the role of perceived harm to others as an antecedent of consumers’ negative responses to preferential treatment. In particular, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to show that negative moral emotions may arise in the context of earned preferential treatment, calling into question some basic principles of relationship marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of interdependent vs independent self-construal on service satisfaction, following the observation of failure and recovery experienced by a fellow customer.

Three experiments were conducted to test the research hypotheses.

After service failure, interdependent observers react less favorably compared to independent observers. After high recovery compensation, interdependent observers react more favorably compared to independent observers. The effects are driven by differences in perceived interactional and distributive justice.

This study uses three scenario-based experiments to test the hypotheses. While providing greater control of the experimental conditions, the external validity of the results is to some extent sacrificed. Moreover, this research does not investigate observers’ reactions to the interactional aspect of recovery.

When handling service failure, firms are required to anticipate and address not only the responses of the target customers involved but also those of potential observers. Providers can accordingly use available customer information to gauge customers’ likely self-construal and to adjust their service delivery and recovery tactics. Providers can influence observing customers’ reactions by creating a servicescape that activates a desired self-construal.

This research is one of a few to examine the effect of service failure and recovery on observing customers, and the first to do so via the lens of self-construal. It contributes to the literature on service failure and recovery and the literature on self-construal and has practical implications for service providers. The value of this research is further highlighted given the increasingly public nature of services and the multicultural context of service delivery.

Multiple forces that shape the identities of adolescents and young adults also influence their subsequent career choices. Early work experiences are key among these forces. Recognizing this, youth service programs have emerged worldwide with the hope of shaping participants’ future trajectories through boosting engagement in civically oriented activities and work. Despite these goals, past research on these programs’ impact has yielded mixed outcomes. Our goal is to understand why this might be the case.

We rely on interview, archival, and longitudinal survey data to examine young adults’ experiences of a European youth service program.

A core feature of youth service programs, namely their dual identity of helping others (i.e., service beneficiaries) and helping oneself (i.e., participants), might partly explain the program’s mixed outcomes. We find that participants focus on one of the organization’s identities largely to the exclusion of the other, creating a dynamic in which their interactions with members who focus on the other identity create challenges and dominate their program experience, to the detriment of a focus on the organization and its goals. This suggests that a previously overlooked feature of youth service programs (i.e., their dual identity) might prove both a blessing for attracting many diverse members and a curse for achieving desired outcomes.

More broadly, our results suggest that dual identity organizations might attract members focused on a select identity, but fail to imbue them with a blended identity; thus, limiting the extent to which such organizations can truly “redirect” future career choices.

Aquinas College provides ‘across-school’ leadership positions for each of the key areas of Religious education, spirituality and service. These areas are sometimes referred to as the ‘head, heart and hands’ model of religious formation and they reflect a holistic approach to education by including experiential learning. In doing so, each area becomes an intrinsic part of a young boy’s education at Aquinas and every student is called to be a ‘man for others’. In 2005, a formal service programme was introduced at the Junior School level and a Service Coordinator position was created. It is important to keep in mind the overall context in which this programme was developed. The aim of the programme was not only to promote and engage younger students in volunteering and fundraising (as most primary schools already do), but to also link them to service projects that already existed in the Senior school. The Junior Service Program also incorporates leadership and reflections on gospel values and sees volunteering as a learning exercise as well as an opportunity to help others. The main characteristics of the Junior Service Program (known as the JSP) are: (a) Voluntary, (b) Membership, (c) Structured activities, (d) Reflection, (e) Recognition.

Based on the post-acceptance model of information system continuance (PAMISC), this study investigates the influence of the early-stage users' personal traits (specifically personal innovativeness and technology anxiety) and ex-post instrumentality perceptions (specifically price value, hedonic motivation, compatibility and perceived security) on social diffusion of smart technologies measured by the intention to recommend artificial intelligence-based voice assistant systems (AIVAS) to others.

Survey data from 400 US AIVAS users were collected and analyzed with Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) 18.0 and the partial least square technique using advanced analysis of composites (ADANCO) 2.1.

AIVAS technology is presently at the early stage of market penetration (about 25% of market penetration in the USA). A survey of AIVAS technology users reveals that personal innovativeness is directly and indirectly (through confirmation and continuance) associated with a stronger intention to recommend the use of the device to others. Confirmation is associated with all four ex-post instrumentality perceptions (hedonic motivation, compatibility, price value and perceived security). Among the four, however, only hedonic motivation and compatibility are significant predictors of satisfaction, which lead to use continuance and, eventually, intention to recommend. Finally, technology anxiety is found to be indirectly (but not directly) associated with a lower intention to recommend.

This is the first study conducted on the early-stage AIVAS users that evaluates the influence of both personal traits and ex-post instrumentality perceptions on users' intention for continuance and recommendation to others.

This study aims to determine communication factors in various social settings that influence a comprehensive evaluation process ranging from information search before selecting a service organization to a service value assessment after using healthcare services.

An empirical study using structural equation modeling tests the relationships among factors of the social environment in pre- and post-consumption evaluations with a sample of over 400 outpatients.

The results indicate that service value evaluations are influenced by health-related communications with family before being diagnosed, opinions from family and friends in the decision-making process and interaction with other patients after choosing a hospital. The level of evaluation is mediated by how willing consumers are to exchange thoughts and ideas with others.

Future studies could consider the differences in gender and culture, and include more various resources such as patients from different hospitals and geographical areas for better generalizability.

The paper identifies the importance of understanding how social relationships are involved in creating satisfied customers who will be loyal, generate good news and recommend services to others. The findings are conducive to planning and executing public relations strategies throughout the pre- and post-purchase process.

Unlike the previous research that focused on service provider-oriented factors influencing customer satisfaction, the study investigates the effect of consumer-oriented social elements on service value evaluation to extend the horizon of public relations planning.

Preface The functions of business divide into several areas and the general focus of this book is on one of the most important although least understood of these—DISTRIBUTION. The particular focus is on reviewing current practice in distribution costing and on attempting to push the frontiers back a little by suggesting some new approaches to overcome previously defined shortcomings.

In an online banking context this study seeks to explore the relation between the relationship marketing factors of customer intentions to continue to use services and to recommend these services to others, and the technology acceptance factors of self-control, usefulness, customer value, technology-based service encounter satisfaction and reputation. Innovatively this study also compares the proposed model in two countries, Portugal and Austria.

Derived from a review of previous literature, a survey was developed and data were collected using the online survey service of universities in two countries, Portugal and Austria. The partial least squares approach was employed to test the hypotheses.

The findings showed that self-control and usefulness are important antecedents of customer value delivery. Furthermore perceptions of online bank reputation were enhanced by the satisfaction derived from positive customer encounters with online banking services. Unlike the Portuguese, Austrians' perceptions of bank reputation did not significantly influence their intention to continue to use or their propensity to recommend online banking to others.

Based on literature which suggests that constructs such as customer value, trust, satisfaction and reputation are inter-related to the technology acceptance model, this paper extends earlier theoretical frameworks and is the first study to incorporate relationship marketing constructs into a model examining intention to use, and recommending online banking services. The study also differentiates the model in two countries that represent different business and cultural settings: Portugal and Austria.

The authors' research examines how negative electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) alters focal customers' post-recovery justice perceptions and attitudes to determine their future behavior with the service provider. Specifically, this paper develops and tests a conceptual model to investigate how negative e-WOM alters focal customers' perceptual and attitudinal outcomes after the service recovery experience. It also examines the post-recovery effect of negative e-WOM on focal customers’ willingness to patronize the service after their recovery experience.

To test the hypotheses, two pretests and two experimental studies with created scenarios in the retail context were conducted.

The authors' findings reveal that services are judged during and well beyond failure and recovery occurrences. To maintain a loyal customer base, service managers should develop processes that address service complaints both within and beyond the service consumption stage. The authors also find that despite a favorable recovery, focal customers gravitate toward the failure experience and develop unfavorable attitudes toward the service provider, leading to likely defections.

The authors' research demonstrates the persuasive power of negative e-WOM at the post-service recovery stage, making a unique contribution to the service recovery literature. This research also contributes to the persuasive effect of negative e-WOM, demonstrating message context as a boundary condition of negative e-WOM effects. In general, the authors' work highlights the importance of understanding the psychological processes involved in eliciting the persuasive influence of negative e-WOM in the post-service recovery stage that may lead to the defection of “so-called” successfully recovered customers.