Customer participation in the service encounter

This paper considers the role of service customers in those service encounters where the customer participates in the service production and delivery process, and the customer factors, motivations and incentive mechanism to participate in service delivery are analyzed. This study explores the relationship between service quality and service customer participation in the service encounter and the effect of customer participation on service providers＇ job stress. Finally, the management implications about customer participation in the service encounter from the findings are discussed.

Review of Intercultural Service Encounters:Cross-cultural Interactions and Service Quality,Edited by Piyush Sharma,Switzerland,Springer,2019,pp.vii+101,€54,99(hbk),ISBN 978-3-319-91940-9;€46(ebk),ISBN 978-3-319-91941-6

Since the 1990s,globalization has aroused people’s attention constantly.Meanwhile,with more and more immigrants,migrant workers,international students,foreign tourists,and business people,cross-cultural interaction has increased dramatically.Consequently,the communication and interaction between service employees and customers from different cultural backgrounds is getting frequent.Services have gotten great profits from the phenomenon which is known as intercultural service encounters(ICSE).For one who has contributed a lot to ICSE,Piyush Sharma in his book Intercultural Service Encounters:Cross-cultural Interactions and Service Quality attempts to concentrate on some significant factors closely related to ICSE,from the perspective of service employees.Account for Piyush Sharma’s novel view on the relationship of employees and customers in the process of ICSE,here is a review of his work.For each part of Piyush Sharma’s volume,this review gives readers a brief and concise summary,which is followed by comprehensive comments of the reviewer.This review is a good guidance and introduction for those who are interested in ICSE and those who major in foreign languages and marketing management to have a good command of Piyush Sharma’s volume.

The Impact of Automation in Service Industries＂ An Empirical Study

Academic research into service industries has explored the characteristics of interpersonal interactions between employees and customers, but there are few studies addressing the issues of consumer interaction with technology and its influence on the objectives and results of the operations subsystem. This study examines the elements of the service encounter, and the changes automation originates in them and their relationships. The paper also examines changes in the elements and results of the operations subsystem, as a result of automation. We propose that the customer＇s relationship with employees and/or technology and automated systems for the service impact the objectives and results of the operations subsystem, all of which could have an effect on the company＇s competitive position. The empirical study is focused on four industries, namely, toll motorways, car parks, carwash and video/DVD rental companies, in an attempt to identify objectives that lead companies to implement automated processes affecting the customer＇s relationship with the company. The hypotheses generated are contrasted with a structural equation modelling. The results confirm that the customer＇s relationship with employees and automated systems for the service impacts the objectives and results of the operations subsystem. Also, the results show how automation can enable firms simultaneously to achieve acceptable levels of flexibility and productivity, two dimensions that have traditionally been considered opposites.

Information Security Service Support-Helping End-Users Cope with Security

Organizations implement an information security program for the protection of their information assets. The success of such a program depends primarily on the effective implementation and execution of associated information security policies and controls. These policies and controls depend directly upon the resultant behavior and actions of end-users. Hence, end-users play a critical role in the effective implementation and running of an information security program in any organization. However, end-users are often unable to navigate and comprehend the various policies, controls and associated issues. Support to end-users is therefore a vital element, but is often neglected by present information security management systems. In the service industry, support to customers is established as an important determinant of customer perceived service quality. This paper applies the same philosophy to provide support to end-users, who are the customers of the Information Security Service.

SERVICE VALUE NETWORKS: VALUE, PERFORMANCE AND STRATEGY FOR THE SERVICES INDUSTRY

Services may be investigated from many perspectives. They encapsulate over 65% of global business, yet many gaps in the services knowledge base exist – particularly from areas including information technology, operational, customer targeting, and services provision. This research investigates an emerging and truly disruptive business scenario – the service value network, from a marketing, an operations and services approach. The service value network is defined as the flexible, dynamic, delivery of a service, or product, by a business’s coordinated value chains (supply chains and demand chains working in harmony), such that a value-adding, specific, service solution is effectively, and efficiently, delivered to the individual customer. The ‘physical and virtual service value network customer – business encounter model’ is developed. Impediments to the development of a service value networks are investigated. Eight key areas related to website customer encounters are offered as investigation areas. The customer ‘touch-points’ across the virtual service encounter offers a raft of new research possibilities and possible new pathways to competitive advantage. Approaches to measure service network encounter effectors are explained. Current and future areas of business research are described. This paper frames the research agenda for service value networks.