IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v121y2020icp592-603.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Similarity over difference: How congruency in customer characteristics drives service experiences

Author

Listed:
  • Nguyen, July
  • Ferraro, Carla
  • Sands, Sean

Abstract

Customers are critical actors in the service ecosystem, with their presence and interaction influencing service delivery and consumption. The interactions between customers in service settings can play an important role, with fellow customers having the potential to impact a focal customer's service experience, evaluations, and subsequent outcomes. Yet research on customer-to-customer interactions within the service encounter is limited. This research has examined the effect of congruency (incongruency) in fellow customer characteristics on focal customer outcomes across two studies. In study one, congruence in customer characteristics is shown to be a critical aspect of the service experience that can affect focal customer outcomes. In study two, status enhancement is shown to plays an important role, enhancing the effect of congruent fellow customer characteristics and mitigating weaker focal customer outcomes that result from incongruent customer characteristics. Importantly, these findings differ by the level of service consumption involvement. Findings present important implications for managers and frontline employees. In particular, regarding the importance of understanding, and potentially managing, congruency in customer characteristics; which can allow favorable responses to the service experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Nguyen, July & Ferraro, Carla & Sands, Sean, 2020. "Similarity over difference: How congruency in customer characteristics drives service experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 592-603.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:121:y:2020:i:c:p:592-603
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296319305405
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer J. Argo & Darren W. Dahl & Rajesh V. Manchanda, 2005. "The Influence of a Mere Social Presence in a Retail Context," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 207-212, September.
    2. Matthew Alexander & Elina Jaakkola & Linda Hollebeek, 2018. "Zooming out: actor engagement beyond the dyadic," Post-Print hal-02008939, HAL.
    3. Brocato, E. Deanne & Voorhees, Clay M. & Baker, Julie, 2012. "Understanding the Influence of Cues from Other Customers in the Service Experience: A Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 384-398.
    4. Verhoef, Peter C. & Lemon, Katherine N. & Parasuraman, A. & Roggeveen, Anne & Tsiros, Michael & Schlesinger, Leonard A., 2009. "Customer Experience Creation: Determinants, Dynamics and Management Strategies," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 31-41.
    5. Vargo, Stephen L. & Lusch, Robert F., 2017. "Service-dominant logic 2025," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 46-67.
    6. Sands, Sean & Harper, Elly & Ferraro, Carla, 2011. "Customer-to-noncustomer interactions: Extending the ‘social’ dimension of the store environment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 438-447.
    7. Belk, Russell W, 1988. "Possessions and the Extended Self," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 139-168, September.
    8. McGrath, Mary Ann & Otnes, Cele, 1995. "Unacquainted influencers: When strangers interact in the retail setting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 261-272, March.
    9. Arnould, Eric J & Price, Linda L, 1993. "River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(1), pages 24-45, June.
    10. Kim, Hye-Young & Kim, Youn-Kyung, 2008. "Shopping enjoyment and store shopping modes: The moderating influence of chronic time pressure," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 410-419.
    11. Holbrook, Morris B & Hirschman, Elizabeth C, 1982. "The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(2), pages 132-140, September.
    12. Ahmed, Ali M., 2007. "Group identity, social distance and intergroup bias," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 324-337, June.
    13. Solomon, Michael R, 1983. "The Role of Products as Social Stimuli: A Symbolic Interactionism Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 10(3), pages 319-329, December.
    14. Sheth, Jagdish N. & Newman, Bruce I. & Gross, Barbara L., 1991. "Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 159-170, March.
    15. Tombs, Alastair G. & McColl-Kennedy, Janet R., 2010. "Social and spatial influence of customers on other customers in the social-servicescape," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 120-131.
    16. Oliver, Richard L, 1993. "Cognitive, Affective, and Attribute BAses of the Satisfaction Response," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(3), pages 418-430, December.
    17. Stephen L. Vargo & Robert F. Lusch, 2016. "Institutions and axioms: an extension and update of service-dominant logic," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 5-23, January.
    18. Thakor, Mrugank V. & Suri, Rajneesh & Saleh, Katayoun, 2008. "Effects of service setting and other consumers’ age on the service perceptions of young consumers," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 137-149.
    19. Sirgy, M. Joseph & Grewal, Dhruv & Mangleburg, Tamara, 2000. "Retail Environment, Self-Congruity, and Retail Patronage: An Integrative Model and a Research Agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 127-138, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ifie, Kemefasu & Mousavi, Sahar & Xie, Junyi, 2023. "Enforcement of service rules by frontline employees: A conceptual model and research propositions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Wang, Feng & Zhang, Xueting & Chen, Man & Zeng, Wei & Cao, Rong, 2022. "The influential paradox: Brand and deal content sharing by influencers in friendship networks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 503-514.
    3. Cavusgil, Erin & Yayla, Serdar & Cem Kutlubay, Omer & Yeniyurt, Sengun, 2022. "The impact of demographic similarity on customers in a service setting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 145-160.
    4. Nguyen Bac Nguyen & João Carlos Rosmaninho Menezes, 2021. "The thirty-year evolution of customer-to-customer interaction research: a systematic literature review and research implications," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 15(3), pages 391-444, September.
    5. Song, Hanqun & Yang, Huijun & Ma, Emily, 2022. "Restaurants’ outdoor signs say more than you think: An enquiry from a linguistic landscape perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zha, Dongmei & Marvi, Reza & Foroudi, Pantea, 2023. "Synthesizing the customer experience concept: A multimodularity approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Nguyen Bac Nguyen & João Carlos Rosmaninho Menezes, 2021. "The thirty-year evolution of customer-to-customer interaction research: a systematic literature review and research implications," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 15(3), pages 391-444, September.
    3. Sarker, Moniruzzaman & Mohd-Any, Amrul Asraf & Kamarulzaman, Yusniza, 2021. "Validating a consumer-based service brand equity (CBSBE) model in the airline industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    4. Lohmann, Katharina, 2022. "Personality as a Determinant of Customer Experience Quality and Value-in-Use in a Public Crisis Situation – The Case of E-Learning," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 7(2), pages 390-411.
    5. Ittamalla, Rajesh & Srinivas Kumar, Daruri Venkata, 2021. "Determinants of holistic passenger experience in public transportation: Scale development and validation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    6. van Tonder, Estelle & Saunders, Stephen Graham & Farquhar, Jillian Dawes, 2020. "Explicating the resource integration process during self-service socialisation: Conceptual framework and research propositions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 516-523.
    7. Hope Jensen Schau & Melissa Archpru Akaka, 2021. "From customer journeys to consumption journeys: a consumer culture approach to investigating value creation in practice-embedded consumption," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 9-22, June.
    8. Katarzyna Dziewanowska, 2015. "Dimensions of Real and Virtual Consumer Experiences," Faculty of Management Working Paper Series 42015, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management.
    9. Terblanche, Nic S., 2018. "Revisiting the supermarket in-store customer shopping experience," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 48-59.
    10. Brocato, E. Deanne & Voorhees, Clay M. & Baker, Julie, 2012. "Understanding the Influence of Cues from Other Customers in the Service Experience: A Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 384-398.
    11. Christian Homburg & Danijel Jozić & Christina Kuehnl, 2017. "Customer experience management: toward implementing an evolving marketing concept," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 377-401, May.
    12. Terblanche, Nic S. & Kidd, Martin, 2021. "Exploring an in-store customer journey for customers shopping for outdoor apparel," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    13. Aurélie Hemonnet-Goujot & Pierre Valette-Florence, 2022. "“All you need is love”. From product design value perception to luxury brand love: An integrated framework," Post-Print hal-03562015, HAL.
    14. Luther, Louisa & Benkenstein, Martin & Rummelhagen, Katja, 2016. "Enhancing patients' hospital satisfaction by taking advantage of interpersonal similarity," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 50-58.
    15. Rami Alkhudary & Bertrand Belvaux & Nathalie Guibert, 2023. "Understanding non-fungible tokens (NFTs): insights on consumption practices and a research agenda," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 321-336, June.
    16. Melissa Archpru Akaka & Hope Jensen Schau, 2019. "Value creation in consumption journeys: recursive reflexivity and practice continuity," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 499-515, May.
    17. Bäckström, Kristina, 2011. "“Shopping as leisure: An exploration of manifoldness and dynamics in consumers shopping experiencesâ€," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 200-209.
    18. Luck, Michael & Benkenstein, Martin, 2015. "Consumers between supermarket shelves: The influence of inter-personal distance on consumer behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 104-114.
    19. Hollebeek, Linda D. & Macky, Keith, 2019. "Digital Content Marketing's Role in Fostering Consumer Engagement, Trust, and Value: Framework, Fundamental Propositions, and Implications," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 27-41.
    20. Hemonnet-Goujot, Aurélie & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2022. "“All you need is love” from product design value perception to luxury brand love: An integrated framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1463-1475.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:121:y:2020:i:c:p:592-603. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.