Search results

The purpose of this paper are threefold paper are threefold; firstly, to validate and measure significant dimensions of customer experience in the health care sector; secondly, to evaluate the antecedents and dimensions of customer experience and its impact on customer outcomes in health care; and thirdly, to examine the role of customer involvement as a moderator between antecedents and dimensions of customer experience.

This study is based upon primary data collection sources, particularly in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and survey methods. Both qualitative and quantitative studies were carried out. This qualitative study was conducted to conceptualize customer experience in the health-care sector. Whereas the quantitative study was undertaken to collect data from randomly selected, experienced 181 respondents for testing the proposed model.

Affective, relational and physical have emerged as significant customer experience dimensions in the health-care sector. All three dimensions have a positive and significant impact on the important customer outcomes, that is, satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and brand equity. Service quality, supportive services and contextual services significantly affect customer experience. Customer involvement moderates the relationship between all the three antecedents and dimensions of customer experience.

This study is primarily focused on customers' perceptions of the health-care sector. This study’s model could be implemented in different sectors such as lodging, food service, restaurant or other industries as well. Further, the role of moderators, namely, consumer attitudes, service quality, perceived risk, price and past experience, are also suggested to be explored for theorising the customer experience.

This study makes a maiden attempt to establish affective, relational and physical as three significant dimensions of customer experience in the health-care sector. Sensory and cognitive dimensions are found to be insignificant.

The purpose of this study is to revisit brand performance metrics (BPMs) (brand affinity, brand content and knowledge, brand image, brand ethics and brand value) and evaluate the moderated mediation effect of relationship quality (mediator) and relationship duration (moderator) in brand performance and customer loyalty relationship in an Indian banking context.

The research model was tested in the Indian banking sector. The primary data was collected from the 1,000 account holders of five Indian public and private banks. The data was analysed and validated using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modelling and the Hayes process were used for testing the hypotheses.

The study results established BPMs as a four-dimensional structure comprising brand affinity, brand content and knowledge, brand image, brand ethics and brand value. The BPMs significantly positively impact relational quality (RQ) and customer loyalty. Further results also prove the existence of moderated mediation effect on BPMs and customer loyalty link and portray that the impact of BPMs on customer loyalty is mediated by the RQ and influenced by relationship duration.

The study is confined to the Indian banking sector. It did not examine the dimension-wise impact of brand performance indicators on RQ and customer loyalty. Future research is required to explore their influence in banking and other sectors.

The study findings suggest that to enhance brand performance, banks need to follow excellence in every conduct, take immediate actions against inappropriate behaviour, consistently update their relevant and valuable contents (news, videos, white papers, e-books, case studies, FAQ’s, photos, etc.) on their websites and also introduce loyalty schemes to reimburse customers’ interests with some substantial benefits such as rebates, discounts, annual gifts and extraordinary or additional services. These strategies can pave the way for enhancing long-term quality relationships between customers and their service providers and increasing customer loyalty.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is a maiden attempt to assess the effect of BPMs on customer loyalty in the presence of RQ and at the value of relationship duration/length. Besides, the study results also prove the existence of moderated mediation effect and portray that the impact of customer equity and relational benefits on customer loyalty is influenced by relationship duration and mediated by RQ.

The purpose of this study is to understand the concept of stakeholder marketing orientation (SMO), its dimensionality and the development of an SMO scale. Further, the study also aims to analyze the impact of SMO on business performance (BP) in Indian pharmaceutical marketing companies. The moderating role of organizational culture between the study variables (i.e. SMO and BP) is also evaluated.

The data regarding SMO are gathered from 93 owners/managers of pharmaceutical marketing companies operating in North India. The underlying dimensions of the scale are identified through exploratory factor analysis. Further, the reliability and validity of the scales are also checked. Further, the partial least square (PLS) technique is used to analyze the study variables.

SMO is established as a multi-dimensional scale comprising system thinking (personal consideration of stakeholder, the relationship of stakeholder, systematic problem-solving and interdependence), paradoxical thinking (decision control and autonomy, uniformity and individualization and distance and closeness) and democratic thinking (ease for the stakeholders to share their voice, involvement in decision-making, the existence of participatory culture in the organization). The SMO showed a positive and significant impact on BP (market growth, return on investment, return on asset and market share). Further, the results also indicated the moderating role of organizational culture between SMO and BP relationship.

This study primarily focuses on the measurement of SMO, exploring its dimensions (system thinking, paradoxical thinking and democratic thinking) and validating using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and PLS techniques. Further, the sample size of the study is small (n = 93), and hence confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and covariance based-SEM could not be applied. It is suggested that future research needs to be undertaken with a bigger sample in the pharmaceutical sector and later in other sectors to validate the results of the study. The impact of moderating variables such as organizational culture, industry size, type and owner experience can also be explored between the study variables in the future. The study is limited to the measurement of SMO from owners/managers’ perspectives, other internal (employees) and external stakeholders such as suppliers, distributors, chemists and hospitals were not contacted because of time constraints. Future research needs to consider the perspectives of these stakeholders in grounding the conceptual framework of SMO.

This research contributes to the development of the SMO scale. It is identified as a practice, based on system thinking, paradoxical thinking and democratic thinking, which provides an organization with better performance. The study results help in strengthening SMO and BP in pharmaceutical marketing industries.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to develop and measure customer engagement scale in context to social media (SM); second, to elucidate the variables that impact customers’ brand engagement on SM and its impact in building customer-based brand equity; and finally, to examine the moderating role of trust in SM brand engagement and brand equity relationship.

The data were collected from 767 SM users working in multinational corporations of Gurgaon city, using purposive sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were undertaken to analyze the data.

The paper outcomes indicated SM brand engagement as a bi-dimensional construct comprising information interest and personal interest. Both social factors and consumer-based factors significantly influence customers’ SM brand engagement. Specifically, results depicted that tie-strength and social identity (social factors); and opportunity seeking and product selection (consumer-based factors) strongly influence customers’ SM brand engagement in comparison to other factors.

The research has two major limitations. First, it is limited to Gen Y only. How older and younger consumers interact with brands via SM can stimulate theoretical development as well as furnish potentially valuable strategic opportunities to brand managers in future research. Second, relationship between SM brand engagement and brand equity is examined using trust as a moderating variable. Thus, the effect of other moderating factors like perceived risk and gender can be investigated in the future.

The paper makes a maiden attempt to examine the moderating role of trust in the relationship between SM brand engagement and brand equity. It adds value to the marketing literature in the development of SM brand engagement scale for Gen Y.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the synergistic impact of marketing orientation (MO) and strategic orientation (SO) on business performance (BP) and to explore role of entrepreneurial qualification (moderating) and SO (mediating) in MO and BP relationship.

Nine hundred small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owners/managers operating in Jammu District, North India, are contacted during October 2013 to February 2014.

The study identifies and confirms MO (marketing strategy, customer philosophy, operational efficiency and integrated marketing) and SO (defensive, proactive, analytical and risk-averse) as multi-dimensional constructs. Although both orientations have positive impact on SMEs performance, however, their synergistic impact is weak. In addition, the study also reveals that MO has direct and indirect impact (through SO) on BP. Lastly, there exists moderating role of entrepreneurial qualification between MO and SO.

The major limitation of the study is the focus on SMEs. Based on the strength of the relationships among the dimensions and sub-dimensions of the MO, SO and BP, replication and validation of research in service sector across the country and globe is required to generalise the results and to develop stronger theory.

This is the first empirical study to investigate the synergistic impact of two well-established notions – MO and SO. It provides empirical evidence for the claim that synergistic impact of marketing and SO on BP is weak, unlike their respective strong impact on BP. This study also clarifies roles of entrepreneurial qualification and SO in MO and BP relationship.

This paper aims to advance the current understanding of social media (SM) brand engagement. Specifically, it validates the dimensionality of SM brand engagement, examines its drivers and explores the impact of SM brand engagement on brand equity.

A survey was conducted with 433 Generation Y (Gen Y) SM users.

The study results validate SM brand engagement as a multidimensional construct comprising utilitarian, hedonic and social dimensions. Three categories of SM engagement antecedents were identified: social factors (social identity and tie-strength), user-based factors (service, product and price information, hedonic motives and prior experience with SM) and firm-generated information (personalized advertising, mass advertising, promotional offers and price information). Finally, SM brand engagement was positively related to brand equity.

This study focused on Gen Y SM users in India. This study should be replicated in other contexts to establish the generalizability of the findings.

A better understanding of the dimensionality and drivers of SM brand engagement can help managers to enhance their SM strategies to build brand equity.

This is the first study to provide a comprehensive examination of the dimensions, drivers and consequences of SM brand engagement.

This study aims to explore the drivers (i.e. service innovation, service exchange, customer wellbeing and employee wellbeing) and organizational culture in the service ecosystem in the hospitality sector.

This study adopted a quantitative approach by collecting data from employees and customers of the top 10 hotels (identified from three major websites, i.e. Goibibo, Trivago and MakeMyTrip) functional in Jammu city, North India. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and partial least square analysis are used to analyse the data.

The study findings reveal that among the four drivers (i.e., service innovation, service exchange, employee wellbeing and customer wellbeing) customer wellbeing shows a strong impact and significant impact on the service ecosystem. Following this, the study also exhibits that organizational culture significantly moderates the relationship between service innovation and the service ecosystem. However, it does not show any moderating influence among the other drivers of the service ecosystem.

This study is conducted only in the top 10 hotels (three and four stars) of Jammu city, North India, which might not represent all Indian hotels.

The study contributes by establishing the role of four service ecosystem drivers, namely service innovation, service exchange, employee wellbeing and customer wellbeing. Following this, the study empirically tested and validated the service ecosystem framework in the context of north Indian hotels. The study also establishes the significant role of organizational culture, particularly group culture and hierarchy culture, in strengthening the service ecosystem.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the influence of the quality of online classes on student satisfaction and student loyalty; second, to explore the mediating role of student participation between online classes and student satisfaction; third, to examine the mediating role of student satisfaction between online classes and student loyalty.

The primary data is collected from the postgraduate students in Jammu and Kashmir, India. A descriptive research design was applied to collect the primary data via Google questionnaire with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind to maintain social distance.

The result reveals that online classes and student participation positively affect student satisfaction. Student participation is a partial mediator between online classes and student satisfaction, with 0.393 Variance Accounted For (VAF). In comparison, it is a full mediator between online classes and student loyalty with 0.96 VAF.

The current study was restricted to postgraduate students, while future research could include research scholars, graduate students, and others. Only government institutions in Jammu and Kashmir were employed for the present study. The study may eventually be expanded to include private universities and more states.

The suggested approach can help teachers, students, policymakers and administrators. The study emphasizes the crucial elements of student engagement and happiness, which must be prioritized to improve online teaching and learning effectiveness and win over students' loyalty.

The study tested the conceptual framework of an integrated approach connecting online classes, student participation, student satisfaction and student loyalty. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period, as it was the need of the hour to come out of such a crisis in the future. The present study can also provide a roadmap for transformation from physical to virtual classrooms.

The paper aims to establish structure of patient satisfaction construct in Indian health care settings.

The data were collected from 528 indoor patients who were seeking treatment from Government Medical College (GMC), Bakshi Nagar and Acharya Chandra Medical College and Hospital Sidra (ASCOMS), Sidhara, the two teaching and research hospitals operating in Jammu City, India. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to verify the scale dimensions.

The results reveal that patient satisfaction is a multidimensional construct comprised of four dimensions, namely: physical maintenance, physician care, nursing care and internal facilities. Among the four hypothesized models, only model 2 depicting the impact of dimensions on satisfaction showed a good fit while the other three models showed either average (model 4) or poor (models 1 and 3) fit. The analysis of the models indicates that all patient satisfaction dimensions positively and significantly contribute to patient satisfaction and which also act as an important mediating factor between the satisfaction dimensions and patient loyalty.

The cross‐sectional design of the research is the limitation as all measures were collected at a single point‐of‐time. Because the findings of the study are based on overall satisfaction of the patients, no comparison is made between the degree of patient satisfaction achieved in public and private health care hospitals.

The paper measures patient satisfaction in the Indian context.