scholarly journals Building Customer Loyalty in Intercultural Service Encounters: The Role of Service Employees’ Cultural Intelligence

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas G. Paparoidamis ◽  
Huong Thi Thanh Tran ◽  
Constantinos N. Leonidou

Intercultural service encounters, in which customers and service employees from different cultures interact, are becoming more common in the market. Despite the importance of such encounters for international marketers, limited research attention has been directed to this area. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study examines how frontline employees’ cultural intelligence (CQ) influences customer loyalty outcomes of service quality perceptions. Specifically, the authors propose that the three components of CQ—cognitive, emotional/motivational, and physical—have differential moderating effects on the perceived service quality (PSQ)–customer loyalty link and that these effects vary across two national markets. Data collected with a multirespondent (i.e., frontline service employees and customers) cross-cultural research design indicate that cognitive CQ negatively mitigates the impact of PSQ on customer loyalty in an emerging-market context while emotional/motivational CQ has a positive moderating effect in a mature-market setting. When service employees have high physical CQ, the positive role of PSQ in creating and maintaining customer loyalty is strengthened in both markets. The authors discuss these implications for theory and practice.

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piyush Sharma ◽  
Zhan Wu

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the impact of service outcome and perceived cultural distance, respectively, on interaction comfort and perceived service quality in intercultural service encounters. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with university students was used, using service encounter scenarios to manipulate service outcome (failure or success) and photos of service employees to manipulate perceived cultural distance (low vs high). Findings – As hypothesized, the impact of service outcome on interaction comfort and perceived service quality is moderated negatively by consumer ethnocentrism, whereas the impact of perceived cultural distance is moderated positively by intercultural competence. Research limitations/implications – An experimental design using imaginary service scenarios was used in a single service context (i.e. restaurant) with university students as participants, which may restrict the generalizability of our findings. Practical implications – Managers in service firms with multicultural customers should try to recruit service employees with high intercultural competence and low consumer ethnocentrism. They should also develop employee training programs that help minimize the adverse impact of these variables on interaction comfort and service quality in intercultural service encounters. Originality/value – This paper extends prior research by exploring the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the direct and indirect effects of service outcome and perceived cultural distance on interaction comfort, service quality and satisfaction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sefnedi Sefnedi

The notion of customer loyalty as an efective marketing strategy in fecing keen competition has been identified. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of customer satisfaction and switching costs as mediator on the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty. The research population is all banking deposit customers of Nagari Bank Main Branch Padang while the numbers of usable samples were 117 respondents. In order to test hypotheses, this study performs SmartPLS 3.2.8. The results of analysis displayed that the strongest effect of service was found on switching costs compared to customer satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, customer satifcation and switching costs were proven as determinants of customer loyalty, and they also were found as mediator on the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty.The research findings provided some practical contributions that in order to enhancing customer loyalty future, it was suggested to increase customer satisfaction as well switching costs through creating the best service quality. Keywords: Service quality, Customer satisfaction, Switcing costs, and Customer loyalty


2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 365-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Wong

This paper empirically examined the role of emotional satisfaction in service encounters. Specifically, this study seeks to: investigate the relationship between emotional satisfaction and key concepts, such as service quality, customer loyalty, and relationship quality, and clarify the role of emotional satisfaction in predicting customer loyalty and relationship quality. In doing so, this study used the relationship between emotional satisfaction, service quality, customer loyalty, and relationship quality as a context, as well as data from a sample survey of 1,261 Australian retail customers concerning their evaluation of their shopping experiences to address this issue. The results show that service quality is positively associated with emotional satisfaction, which is positively associated with both customer loyalty and relationship quality. Further investigations showed that customers' feelings of enjoyment serve as the best predictor of customer loyalty, while feelings of happiness serve as the best predictor of relationship quality. The findings imply the need for a service firm to strategically leverage on the key antecedents of customer loyalty and relationship quality in its pursuit of customer retention and long‐term profitability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 532-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommy Lau ◽  
Man Lai Cheung ◽  
Guilherme D. Pires ◽  
Carol Chan

Purpose The abolishment of the wine tax in Hong Kong has led to increased wine consumption and increased demand for wine-related professionals, such as sommeliers. Yet the importance of sommeliers’ value-adding performance in the context of upscale Chinese restaurants has not been examined. To address this gap, the SERVQUAL framework is adopted to examine the influence of sommeliers’ service quality (SQ) on customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty in the context of upscale Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach The survey method is used to collect data from 302 units of the population of interest, partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is used to test the links between constructs. Findings Four of the seven dimensions of sommeliers’ service quality, namely, empathy, tangibles, credibility and assurance, have a significant positive impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, whereas the impact of perceived value and responsiveness on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is positive but only marginally significant. Reliability has a weak and non-significant impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Research limitations/implications Examining a small number of upscale Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong limits generalisation of the findings to other contexts. Replication of the research in different contexts will enhance generalizability. In terms of implications, the discussion highlights the importance of sommeliers’ service performance on customers’ SQ perceptions SQ, CS and loyalty, all of which are important variables for restaurateurs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of the influence of the quality of sommelier’s SQ on CS and loyalty in upscale Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. Given the lack of attention to this service role in the literature, the study contributes theory from which further understanding can develop.


Author(s):  
Ana M Moreno-Menéndez ◽  
Unai Arzubiaga ◽  
Vanessa Díaz-Moriana ◽  
José C Casillas

This article critically analyses entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in family firms after a major crisis, to investigate how firms with equal initial levels of EO reach different levels over time. Based on two alternative hypotheses (stability and convergence), we analysed whether the EO of family firms remains intact, strengthens, or weakens after a crisis. Based on an examination of a database of 151 family firms collected in 2004 and 2017, our findings reveal that compared to firms with higher pre-crisis EO levels, those with lower levels saw a larger increase post crisis. Furthermore, unlike the latter group, the former was able to maintain high pre-crisis levels even after the crisis. In addition, we also we found this relationship between pre-crisis and post-crisis EO levels to be influenced by two key periodic discontinuities, namely, organisational decline and generational change contingencies. These findings advance our understanding of temporal aspects of EO and heterogeneous entrepreneurial behaviour among family firms with significant implications for both theory and practice.


Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Jamal Albana ◽  
Mehmet Yeşiltaş

PurposeDrawing on the theory of belongingness, this study scrutinizes the impact of linguistic ostracism on knowledge sharing, knowledge hiding and knowledge hoarding and the moderating role of cultural intelligence (CQ) in a diverse and multi-cultural work setting.Design/methodology/approachA two-phase sampling of judgmental and random sampling techniques was used to recruit local and foreign workers in the Jordanian service industry. The present study empirically analyzes the sample of 394 employees' responses by applying variance-based structural equation modeling (VB-SEM).FindingsVB-SEM results indicate that linguistic ostracism lessens knowledge sharing behavior and heightens knowledge hiding and hoarding. CQ moderates two of the said associations, specifically by buffering the causal link between linguistic ostracism and knowledge hiding, as well as linguistic ostracism and knowledge hoarding. Consequently, CQ did not moderate the causal link between linguistic ostracism and knowledge sharing.Practical implicationsThe study's findings can help managers and decision-makers in such workplaces better understand the deleterious effects of linguistic ostracism and how CQ functions as a buffer. The study concludes with theoretical and managerial implications.Originality/valueVery few investigations have been conducted to determine the consequences of linguistic ostracism in today's multi-cultural and diverse work environment. This paper is among the first to unveil the association of linguistic ostracism and CQ with various knowledge management (KM) concepts.


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