The Role of Friendship in Relationship Marketing, Investigated in the Retail Service Industries

Ahn, Joong‐Bae; Ock, Jung-Won; Greene, Henry; Rho, Tae-Seok

doi:10.1080/15332969.2014.916128

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Additionally, early research argues that intention to recommend is a consequence of CF (Price and Arnould, 1999), which is also similar to the proposition by Vivek et al (2012) that customer engagement is an antecedent factor to the spread of WoM. Moreover, a study on customers of fast food/hair salon concludes that CF plays a key role in customers decisions (Ahn et al ,2014). It has been also recently argued that in collectivist cultures such as SSA, small retailers are particularly considered by consumers because they believe they place more emphasis on personal contacts (Budhathoki et al ,2018), implying the significance of CF in the retail environment.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Further, this study provides empirical support for the implicit assumption about the role of CF in the context of street vendors in Botswana (Brown and Rammidi, 2014). In fact, beginning from the late 90s, scholars have debated on the benefits of CF to service providers and retailers alike (Ahn et al ,2014; Grayson, 2007; Price and Arnould, 1999). This study has moved forward this important debate by revealing that CPQ is an antecedent factor and WoM communication is a consequence of CF.…”

Section: General Discussion and Implications Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding customer-perceived quality in informal stores

Osakwe

2019

JSM

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PurposeAlthough customer-perceived quality (CPQ) has been studied for years, very little is known about the implications of CPQ to informal retail stores particularly in collectivist and high uncertainty avoidance societies like Nigeria. More specifically, this study aims to investigate the indirect implications of CPQ to post-purchase behaviour primarily word-of-mouth (WoM) communication which is even more critical for customer acquisition in the research context. By so doing, it develops a contextualised model in which the emerging concept of commercial friendship (CF) is incorporated to mediate the relationship between CPQ and WoM communication. Design/methodology/approachUsing a survey-based design, data were gathered from 372 informal merchants' customers. Structural equation modelling technique primarily PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation modelling) was used in analysing the data. FindingsThe data confirm that the multifaceted CPQ construct has an important implication for WoM through the mediation of CF. Supplementary analysis reveals that CF fully mediates one of the sub-components of CPQ, namely, personal interaction in relationship to WoM in addition to acting as a partial mediator between store policy, physical aspect and reliability and WoM. Originality/valueThe value of this study is that it draws attention to the special role that CF plays in the investigation of the relationship between CPQ and WoM communication in the research context. Additionally, it is a step towards extending and contextualising research about service quality perceptions and its outcomes in non-traditional Western contexts.

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Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: General Discussion and Implications Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding customer-perceived quality in informal stores

Osakwe

2019

JSM

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“…Friendly displays also have been linked to relationship quality drivers, such as satisfaction and commitment (Ahn et al, 2014;Engel et al, 2013;Grandey et al, 2005a;Johnston, 1997;Surprenant and Solomon, 1987;Tsai and Huang, 2002). To ensure a positive experience and retain customers, FLEs should aim at relationship building (Dagger et al, 2013), which they can do by exhibiting friendly behaviors (Wang et al, 2017).…”

Section: Frontline Employee Friendlinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Frontline employee (FLE) friendliness receives renewed awareness in services marketing literature (Houston et al, 2018), seemingly because friendly FLEs enable service firms to create closer customer-employee interactions, i.e. during service encounters, frontline employees are expected to exhibit positive emotional displays, such as friendliness (Yu and Ngan, 2019), which then emerges as a determinant of service relationship quality, especially when measured as customer satisfaction (Engel et al, 2013;Ho, 2012;Keh et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2016) or commitment (Ahn et al, 2014;Gruber et al, 2011;Jones et al, 2008). Successful service firms devote considerable resources to training their FLEs to exhibit friendly behaviors, such as requiring them to greet, thank, and smile in interactions with customers (Taylor, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, most studies examine only one dimension of FLE friendliness and conceptualize it as unidimensional (e.g., Ahn et al, 2014;Butcher and Heffernan, 2006;Lin and Hsieh, 2011;Liu et al, 2016), which cannot offer an adequate assessment of the scope of the multidimensional construct or its relationships with related constructs such as relationship quality. Firms may ask employees to be friendly (Yu and Ngan, 2019), but no conclusive evidence specifies the relative importance of the different dimensions of FLE friendliness, particularly across service contexts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dimensionality of frontline employee friendliness in service encounters

Boninsegni

Furrer

Mattila³

2020

JOSM

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PurposeThis article explores four dimensions of frontline employee (FLE) friendliness (humorous, informal, conversational, and approachable) to propose a relevant measurement instrument of the influence of FLE friendliness on relationship quality and perceived value, as well as its indirect influence on repatronage intentions. Recent studies suggest FLE friendliness, defined as a tendency to convey an affective customer–employee social interaction, is a critical determinant of relationship marketing, but few scholars agree on its dimensionality. This study seeks a deeper understanding of FLE friendliness by investigating its different dimensions in various service contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe mixed-method design, including both qualitative and quantitative research, offers a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of FLE friendliness.FindingsThe content analysis suggests FLE friendliness is multidimensional and composed of humorous, informal, conversational, and approachable behaviors. The results of a quantitative survey, conducted across four service contexts, validate this four-factor model. A second quantitative survey across two service contexts reveals the weights and relative importance of the dimensions, and then a third quantitative survey across three service contexts confirms that FLE friendliness is a significant driver of relationship quality, perceived value, and repatronage intentions (indirectly).Originality/valueThis study contributes to relationship marketing literature by strengthening the conceptual foundations of FLE friendliness, clarifying the dimensionality of the construct, developing a comprehensive measurement instrument, and extending previous research on the customer–employee interactions.

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