Towards a new model of “customer compliance” service provision

Abstract

Purpose:In the last 10 years, businesses taking advantage of market deregulation, call-centre, Intranet and Internet technology have broken traditional marketing norms and path dependent customer management practices. These businesses offer substantially lower prices and good customer service. In spite of anecdotal evidence of the high level of service complaints in the press, these businesses are expanding rapidly by growing the market and by taking share from traditional suppliers. Service failure recovery and complaint management are two areas which are extensively re-designed by such businesses. This paper identifies and examines such new practices. The authors suggest that the traditional 'customer-centricity' model is being replaced by a 'customer-compliance business model' (CCBM) of service provision. This new model and its propositions defy conventional thinking in the areas of service recovery and complaint management. Design/Methodology/Approach:Available data and research are reviewed, in an attempt to understand CCBM. Differences with the customer-centricity model are discussed. Findings:CCBM cannot be explained adequately by current assumptions in marketing. It breaks commonplace marketing expectations about service failure and recovery. Research limitations/implications:The emphasis is on explaining innovations in service recovery and complaint management. Practical implications:Companies which operate the CCBM model are of growing importance to developed, serviceorientated economies. We build upon evidence to show how CCBM businesses have abandoned or minimised costly customer centricity and have broken past norms and conventional marketing thinking and practice. Originality/value:The scarcity of research in this area is explained by the recent, rapid evolution of these new model businesses. This study reveals and makes sense of important trends in service provision, distinct from and incompatible with normative arguments in some academic writings that advocate service recovery excellence.4

How to reduce the negative impact of customer non-compliance: an empirical study

“…To this end the results of our study identify several organisational practices reduce the influence of customer non-compliance on service quality, which in this research was found negative in agreement with previous studies (e.g. Kasabov & Warlow, 2010;Lin & Hsieh, 2011). Specifically, the results of the analysis indicate that three organizational variables have a negative moderating effect on the aforementioned relationship: customer orientation, SB effectiveness and employee empowerment.…”

“…This helps the company to effectively implement the service plan and meet the predefined quality standards (Kasabov & Warlow, 2010). Also, it helps the company standardise the service process and offer a more reliable service to customers.…”

“…Much of this research has been focused on the organizational factors that ensure customers' complying behaviour during the service encounter. Among others, the factors include the standardization of the service procedures, the trust between the company and the customer, the company's customer orientation and the employees' friendliness (Dellande, Gilly, & Graham, 2004;Kasabov & Warlow, 2010;Lin & Hsieh, 2011).…”

“…To this end a very important concept is customer compliance, which is defined as the extent to which customers follow front line employees' instructions and the service provider's policies and procedures (Hausman, 2004, Dellande, Gilly, & Graham, 2004Kasabov & Warlow, 2010). In the present study we focus on this important concept, aiming to understand its implications on the service outcome, as well as the organizational practices that reduce the negative impact of low customer compliance.…”

Organisational Complaint Management

“…As a conclusion: complaint management represents an important element within a defensive marketing strategy and it supports a company's ability to react to market needs and changes fast and effectively (Kasabov and Warlow 2010). Successful complaint management supports a company in protecting its market share by keeping its customer base satisfied, even if dissatisfaction could occur.…”