Showing papers in "Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science in 1995"

Relationship marketing of services—growing interest, emerging perspectives

Abstract: Relationship marketing is an old idea but a new focus now at the forefront of services marketing practice and academic research. The impetus for its development has come from the maturing of services marketing with the emphasis on quality, increased recognition of potential benefits for the firm and the customer, and technological advances. Accelerating interest and active research are extending the concept to incorporate newer, more sophisticated viewpoints. Emerging perspectives explored here include targeting profitable customers, using the strongest possible strategies for customer bonding, marketing to employees and other stakeholders, and building trust as a marketing tool. Although relationship marketing is developing, more research is needed before it reaches maturity. A baker’s dozen of researchable questions suggests some future directions.

An Integrated Model of Buyer-Seller Relationships:

Abstract: Relationships in business markets are increasingly important in many companies’ operating strategies. A five-stage framework integrates the constructs most often examined in empirical relationship research with the stages of relationship development (partner selection, defining purpose, setting relationship value, and relationship maintenance). The proposed model recognized that a variable may be active at certain stages and become latent in others. Research directions are proposed and managerial implications discussed.

Relationship Marketing in Consumer Markets: Antecedents and Consequences:

Abstract: Understanding the motivations of consumers to engage in relationships with marketers is important for both practitioners and marketing scholars To develop an effective theory of relationship marketing, it is necessary to understand what motivates consumers to reduce their available market choices and engage in a relational market behavior by patronizing the same marketer in subsequent choice situations This article draws on established consumer behavior literature to suggest that consumers engage in relational market behavior due to personal influences, social influences, and institutional influences Consumers reduce their available choice and engage in relational market behavior because they want to simplify their buying and consuming tasks, simplify information processing, reduce perceived risks, and maintain cognitive consistency and a state of psychological comfort They also engage in relational market behavior because of family and social norms, peer group pressures, government mandates, religious tenets, employer influences, and marketer policies The willingness and ability of both consumers and marketers to engage in relational marketing will lead to greater marketing productivity, unless either consumers or marketers abuse the mutual interdependence and cooperation

Consumer ethnocentrism : A test of antecedents and moderators

Abstract: This article identifies theoretical antecedents of consumer ethnocentricity and the effect ethnocentricity has on evaluations toward importing products. Hypotheses pertaining to the relationship between the identified antecedents and consumer ethnocentricity are developed based on an extensive review of the ethnocentrism and country-of-origin literatures. Also identified are factors moderating the effect of ethnocentric tendencies on consumers’ attitudes toward importing products. The hypotheses are subjected to an empirical test using data collected in Korea.

Building service relationships: It’s all about promises

Abstract: Her research focuses on customer evaluations of service, service quality, and service delivery issues. She has published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, and theInternational Journal of Service Industry Management. She is coauthor of the textServices Marketing (McGraw-Hill, forthcoming).

Relationship marketing and distribution channels

Abstract: The interest of practitioners and academics in channel relationship management has shifted from corporate channel structures and relationships in conventional channels governed by use of power to relationships between independent firms involving contractual and normative control mechanisms. In this article, we identify several factors leading to this change of interest, propose a scheme for classifying channel relationship research based on control mechanisms, and suggest areas for future research involving the use of contractual and normative control mechanisms in conventional channel relationships.

Strategic alliances: A synthesis of conceptual foundations

Abstract: Strategic alliances, a manifestation of interorganizational cooperative strategies, entails the pooling of specific resources and skills by the cooperating organizations in order to achieve common goals, as well as goals specific to the individual partners. Gaining access to new markets; accelerating the pace of entry into new markets; sharing of research and development, manufacturing, and/or marketing costs; broadening the product line/filling product line gaps; and learning new skills are among the motives underlying the entry of firms into strategic alliances. During the last decade, an increasing number of firms have entered into alliances with other firms within the same industry, as well as within other industries. Some firms have progressed well beyond forming isolated alliances to establishing a web of intra- and interindustry, and intra-and international strategic alliances. Against this backdrop, we provide a synthesis of the conceptual foundations of strategic alliances and explore the role of marketing in strategic alliances.

Reflections on relationship marketing in consumer markets

Abstract: The article by S&P is a landmark in the evolution of relationship marketing concepts. Much of what has been done in the past has addressed narrow aspects of relationship marketing or else has taken for granted the meaning of marketing relationships. S&P set the agenda for future work and give us many provocative ideas for pursuing relationship marketing topics. Their synthesis and integration of ideas from disparate literatures and their proposal for the underlying motivation for entering marketing relationships do much to delineate the direction researchers should take in the future. Before we go too far down any one path, however, we should redouble our efforts to specify exactly what is a marketing relationship. Then we would have the foundation to follow the path so eloquently forged by Jagdish Sheth and Atul Parvatiyar.

Relationship Marketing: The Strategy Continuum:

Abstract: Few service firms will apply a pure transaction marketing strategy. Even highly standardized service operations include direct contacts with customers, and the customers do perceive the production and delivery process. Hence there are part-time marketers and functional quality effects, so we cannot talk about a pure transaction marketing situation. However, the more standardized the process is, the more dominating is the core service and the technical quality of the outcome of the production and delivery process and the less difficult it is to manage the personnel from a marketing point of view. Firms can position their strategic approach along the strategy continuum, and the more a relationship-type strategy is called for, the more has to be invested in interactive marketing, the functional quality impact, and internal marketing. In such a situation, it is at the same time more important to create information systems where the firm is managing its customer base directly and not relying on market share statistics and ad hoc customer surveys.

Relationships in business markets: Exchange episodes, value creation, and their empirical assessment

Abstract: David Wilson (1995) has provided us with much grist for thought with his integrated framework for customer-supplier relationship development. In focusing on which constructs are “active” and therefore most meaningful at each stage, he has opened a new vista for research in this area. Our models and empirical research ought to reflect this, but to date they largely have not. I have suggested qualitative, longitudinal research as a preferred next step in gaining the knowledge that we will need to make field-survey, longitudinal research worthwhile.

Relationship marketing and the consumer

Abstract: Collectively, the responses of the individuals interviewed reveal that there is a multitude of reasons for participating in a marketing relationship. Although many of the reasons are cognitive in nature, many others are affective. This affective “dimension” of relationship marketing remains unexplored but would seem to offer great promise for explaining the long-term nature of a firm-consumer relationship. Moreover, a liberal interpretation of the collective responses of the interviewed individuals suggests an alternative fundamental axiom of relationship marketing consistent with the definition of Angeles (1992): Consumers enter into a marketing relationship because they expect to receive positive value from their participation. Acceptance of this axiom would seem to suggest a conceptualization and research agenda much broader and potentially more productive than that associated with the axiom currently being offered. Sheth and Parvatiyar have raised a question that, despite its obviousness in retrospect, has yet to be addressed satisfactorily. Hopefully their article will prove to be the genesis of an answer. Although no one is likely to agree with all of their propositions, or even their speculation that relationship marketing will ultimately improve marketing productivity, Sheth and Parvatiyar have done the discipline a service by focusing attention on a neglected topic. Indeed, what they have effectively done is to challenge the discipline to debate what they believe to be the fundamental axiom of relationship marketing in consumer markets. Regardless of the outcome of this debate, marketing knowledge will have advanced.

Relationship marketing and distribution channels: Exploring fundamental issues

Abstract: He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Illinois. His research has primarily been concentrated in three conceptual areas of marketing: channels of distribution, legal aspects of marketing, and international marketing. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Marketing and Public Policy, Journal of Marketing Channels, Law and Society Review, and others.

The Perceived Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility on Organizational Effectiveness: A Survey of Marketers

Abstract: A necessary but insufficient condition for marketers to act ethically and be socially responsible is that they must perceive ethics and social responsibility to be important. However, little is known about marketers’ perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility components of business decisions. The objectives of this study are (1)to assess the marketing practitioners’ perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness, and (2) to analyze the relative influences of selected personal characteristics and organizational factors underlying a marketer’s perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility. The results from a mail survey of American Marketing Association members indicate that the marketers generally believe that ethics and social responsibility are important components of organizational effectiveness. The results partly indicate that there is a positive relationship between a marketer’s corporate ethical values and his or her perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility. The results also indicate that the marketers’ perceptions regarding ethics and social responsibility can be explained by idealism and relativism.

Exchange Relationships and Interfirm Power in Channels of Distribution

Abstract: The article by Weitz and Jap in this volume makes a significant contribution to the marketing literature, as it enhances our understanding of relationship marketing in channels of distribution. Our commentary was designed to elaborate on important issues raised by Weitz and Jap. We hope it generates interest in channel relationships that are in trouble, leads channel researchers to consider alternative channel contexts when formulating and testing theory, and motivates a more open and positive view of interfirm power and its use.

Corporate culture, environmental adaptation, and innovation adoption: A qualitative/quantitative approach.

Abstract: Deshpande and Webster have identified the linkage between corporate culture and innovation adoption as an important industrial marketing topic. In the present study, this relationship is examined by both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The linear regression model, which depicts the corporate culture of adaptive companies attempting to survive in a competitive international environment, demonstrates that corporate culture is predictive of technology adoption. Qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews supplement quantitative results. The divergent cultures and survival modes for innovative and noninnovative companies are presented. Theoretical and methodological implications for marketing research are discussed, and management implications for industrial marketers are presented. Benefits of juxtaposing qualitative/quantitative methods are illustrated.

The consumer retail search process: A conceptual model and research agenda

Abstract: Consumers are continually faced with the task of finding their way through a wide variety of retail environments. Surprisingly, very little research has addressed questions about how consumers physically search through retail settings. This article explores this important, yet little researched behavior. A conceptual model of the consumer’s retail search process (CRSP) and several research propositions are advanced. The CRSP model integrates research findings relevant to an understanding of consumer retail search behavior. Literature from such diverse fields of scientific inquiry as environmental psychology, human factors, architecture, and marketing are reviewed and serve as the theoretical basis of the CRSP model.

The effects of filled waiting time and service provider control over the delay on evaluations of service

Abstract: This article reports on an experiment that investigated the effects of a delay, perceived control over a delay, and the extent to which time was filled during the delay on various performance evaluations in a service encounter It was determined that delays lower customers’ overall evaluations of service and of the tangible and reliability attributes of the service in particular When delayed, performance evaluations were affected by whether the service provider was perceived to have control over the delay and whether the customer’s waiting time was filled Overall performance evaluations and performance evaluations of tangibility, reliability, and responsiveness were highest when perceived service provider control was low and the waiting customer’s time was filled These evaluations were lowest when perceived service provider control was high and waiting time was not filled

Switching Behavior in Automobile Markets: A Consideration-Sets Model

Abstract: Consideration-set formation and the direct and indirect consequences of consideration-set size on switching behavior in automobile markets provide the focus for this model development and testing effort. Empirical support is provided for a model revealing that consideration sets, formed as a consequence of prior experience, product knowledge, and satisfaction, play a substantial role in a consumer’s decision to switch or repurchase the same brand acquired on the previous purchase occasion. Consideration sets are shown to affect the switching decision both directly and indirectly (by motivating retailer search activities).

Export channel design: The use of foreign distributors and agents

Abstract: Because many manufacturers are unable to integrate vertically into global distribution, the nonintegrated market entry modes of foreign distributor and agent are frequently used. Unfortunately, little is known about choosing efficiently between distributor and agent because research has only partially examined the importance of transaction and production costs in determining institutional arrangements. To specify efficient channel design, this article develops and tests hypotheses linking the characteristics of export exchange to the cost-minimizing mode of export channel governance. Based on a sample of 269 manufacturers, results suggest that market diversity, type of transaction-specific asset, and production cost economies all affect the choice between foreign-based agents and distributors. The article concludes with the implications of these results for export management and future export research.

Salesperson Stereotypes, Consumer Emotions, and their Impact on Information Processing:

Abstract: This study examines salesperson stereotypes and their effect on the selling environment. After reviewing relevant literature, the authors advance a hierarchical structure of salesperson stereotype categories. Experimental results suggest that stereotypes influence consumer emotions, and these emotions then mediate the relationship between stereotype activation and subsequent consumer cognitions.

Standardization versus customization in international marketing: An investigation using bridging conjoint analysis

Abstract: We present and illustrate a methodology by which researchers can assess the relative importance and test the significance of various marketing-related factors as they influence the degree of standardization/customization of international marketing strategy. The standardization decision is viewed as a continuum with complete standardization and complete customization as the two extremes. Specific hypotheses related to the impact of marketing mix variables on the degree of standardization are formulated. These hypotheses are empirically investigated through a survey of international marketing managers. This investigation is carried out using conjoint analysis. Bridging methodology is introduced in order to accommodate the large number of variables in the study. The analysis is conducted at the individual level, at the group level, and at the aggregate level. Finally, we discuss the methodological and managerial implications of the findings and potential areas of future research.

The moderating effects of insupplier/outsupplier status on organizational buyer attitudes

Abstract: A conceptual model of the relationships among buyers’ perceptions of and attitudes toward elements of a vendor company’s marketing mix is developed and tested, and the moderating effects of insupplier/outsupplier status are assessed. Attitude centrality and self-perception theories predict that buyer perceptions of and attitudes toward the company, the salesperson, and the product will be more closely interlinked for insuppliers than for outsuppliers. Theory regarding category-based affect and attitude accessibility predicts that buyers will use extrinsic cues to a greater extent when making judgments about outsupplier as compared with insupplier salespeople. The results indicated significant moderating effects of insupplier/outsupplier status and generally validated predictions made on the basis of attitude theory. Perceived company reputation was more strongly related to salesperson and product attitudes for insuppliers than for outsuppliers. Extrinsic cues were used to a greater extent by buyers evaluating outsuppliers. Implications of the findings for management and a more complete understanding of organizational buying are discussed.

Cross-Functional Working Relationships in Marketing

Abstract: Marketing managers spend a large part of their day interacting with superiors, subordinates, and peers from other functional units in the organization. To effectively serve as an advocate for the consumer at various levels of the hierarchy and across functions, the marketing manager must initiate, develop, nurture, and sustain a network of relationships with multiple constituencies within the firm. Special relationship skills are required in managing this cross-functional exchange network and in mobilizing support for a particular strategy course. Indeed, the reputational effectiveness of marketing managers (and of marketing units) rests on their ability to respond to the needs and demands of members of this internal exchange network. Because the needs of the involved constituent groups often conflict, a set of adaptive processes characterize exchange relations across functions. The central purpose of this commentary is to review promising conceptual perspectives and to suggest several lines of research that might deepen our understanding of the challenging interfunctional role that marketing managers assume in the firm.

Rethinking the Effect of Perceived Fit on Customers' Evaluations of New Products:

Abstract: Prior research has demonstrated that customer evaluations of a new product are directly related to the degree to which a company’s skills are perceived to “fit” with those required to provide the new product. This finding has led to recommendations that firms focus on perceptually close new product areas. However, many firms have successfully entered perceptually distant markets. We reconcile this apparent contradiction by proposing that the effect of perceived fit on new product evaluation is not direct, but is mediated by the certainty a customer has that a company can deliver the proposed new product. Our findings indicate that, by itself, perceived fit has a positive impact on industrial product evaluations. However, the relationship between fit and new product evaluations, previously held to be direct, is instead mediated by customer certainty. That is, when the effect of customer certainty is considered, the direct effect of fit disappears. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Perception of marital roles in purchase decision processes: A cross-cultural study

Abstract: Following the approach of the classic 1974 marital-role influence study of Davis and Rigaux, the present study focuses on differences in decision making (i.e., joint, husband dominated, wife dominated) across 24 product categories as a function of two key factors. These factors are stage of the decision process (i.e., problem recognition, information search, and the final decision) and culture (People’s Republic of China and the United States). The Jacobson Marital-Role Egalitarianism Scale is included to further assess individual differences in husband and wife traditionality-modernism. The major findings are that emphasis on joint, husband-dominated, and wife-dominated decisions vary by stage and by stage-culture interaction. Practical implications are presented with suggestions for future research.

Bundle evaluation in different market segments: The effects of discount framing and buyers’ preference heterogeneity

Abstract: Heterogeneity of buyers’ preferences has played a significant role in the earlier economic analyses of bundling and continues to be important in the recent investigations initiated by marketing and consumer researchers. Guided by a decision-framing conceptualization, this study suggests that in a market characterized by heterogeneous preferences for items included in a bundle offer, buyers’ bundle evaluations may vary significantly depending on which item is featured as the price leader (i.e., the discounted item). When two unequally preferred items were evaluated for purchase as a set, bundle evaluation was more enhanced when the price leader was also the more preferred item. Thus, under such preference conditions, bundle evaluation may be quite sensitive to the choice of the price leader. Besides highlighting the importance of incorporating psychological considerations in bundling research, the results of this study also raise questions about the validity of a key assumption made in the extant analyses of bundling strategies. Specifically, perceived savings on one item may not always transfer readily to other items included in a bundle offer.

International Alliances: Why Now?

Abstract: Varadarajan and Cunningham (1995) suggest several items for further research, including “Why are strategic alliances more pervasive in some industries relative to others?” (p. 294) and “Which objectives are best pursued using an alliance strategy?” (p. 295). The speculations offered here suggest that such research can be more deeply grounded in the industry structure. For example, one can suggest that the competitive intensity and the degree to which markets are global will help explain why ISAs in distribution and manufacturing are formed. It is also possible to advance the hypothesis that where the objectives of the alliances revolve around R&D, the speed of new product introductions will predict an increasing reliance on ISAs.

Personality characteristics and salespeople's choice of coping strategies

Abstract: The issue of whether salespeople cope with sales stressors in ways consistent with their personality characteristics remains largely unaddressed in the empirical literature. Should certain personality characteristics make salespeople more stress resistant, implications for the selection of sales candidates already possessing such characteristics or for the cultivation of such characteristics within existing salespeople could be developed. A framework is developed suggesting why salespeople with certain personality characteristics—those high on challenge, self-determination, and involvement in self and surroundings—may employ different coping strategies. Support for hypotheses was developed in a study that used a stratified random sample of 322 sales organizations. Salespeople high on challenge, self-determination, and involvement were found to use more problem-focused coping strategies.

Explaining the Variation in Short-Term Sales Response to Retail Price Promotions

Abstract: This study focuses on the short-term sales response to price promotions in retail grocery stores and attempts to explain its variation using frequency of price promotions and the consecutive scheduling of price promotions. Retail managers’ expectations and tenets from behavioral theories provide the basis for the hypotheses that the frequency of price promotions and consecutive scheduling of price promotions affect short-term response to price promotions. The hypotheses are tested on three frequently purchased product categories, using store-level data from retail chains in three major markets. The analysis is validated with additional data on the same product categories and markets. A variety of managerial implications are drawn from the results and suggestions for future research are offered.

A provider-cost/patron-effort schema for classifying products

Abstract: Since the commodity-oriented thinkers of marketing’s early history, marketers have sought a valid schema for classifying products. Currently, the marketing literature is dominated by two types of schemata for classifying products: product-based and consumer cost-based. Despite marketing tenets such asexchange is the focal notion of marketing andgood marketing theory integrates the perspectives of firms and consumers, no existing schema embodies either exchange or a dual firm/consumer perspective. After reviewing the existing classificational schemata, one such schema is proposed and evaluated. The two classifying dimensions of this schema are providers’ relative variable costs (PRVC) and patrons’ relative effort (PRE). Crossing high and low levels of PRVC and PRE yields four product categories: low cost/effort, patroneffort heavy, provider-cost heavy, and high cost/effort.