IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v21y2014i6p958-965.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploiting consumer–employee–retailer interactions in technology-enriched retail environments through a relational lens

Author

Listed:
  • Pantano, Eleonora
  • Migliarese, Piero

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationships between consumer, frontline employees and retailer (organization) subjected to the disruptive force prompted by the adoption of innovative technologies in retail settings. Starting from qualitative data involving 43 frontline employees with different experiences, our analysis revealed that the way for building and maintaining organizational relationships changes differently considering consumer–employee and employee–retailer perspective. In particular, the emergent computer-mediated relationships seem to produce beneficial effects, while combining employees׳ existing capabilities with new competencies, thus resulting in an improvement of the entire retail process. Similarly, they are more satisfied and appreciated organization effort in supporting their jobs through the innovative technologies. Hence, the study provides an empirical contribution to the emerging literature on consumer–employee–retailer (organization) relationships in the innovative scenario through the in-depth investigation of these relationships of four case firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Pantano, Eleonora & Migliarese, Piero, 2014. "Exploiting consumer–employee–retailer interactions in technology-enriched retail environments through a relational lens," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 958-965.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:21:y:2014:i:6:p:958-965
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.08.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698914001234
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.08.015?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. Zhu, Zhen & Nakata, Cheryl & Sivakumar, K. & Grewal, Dhruv, 2013. "Fix It or Leave It? Customer Recovery from Self-service Technology Failures," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 15-29.
    2. Sun, Tao & Tai, Zixue & Tsai, Ke-Chuan, 2009. "The role of interdependent self-construal in consumers’ susceptibility to retail salespersons’ influence: A hierarchical approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 360-366.
    3. Keeling, Kathleen & Keeling, Debbie & McGoldrick, Peter, 2013. "Retail relationships in a digital age," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 847-855.
    4. Pantano, Eleonora & Viassone, Milena, 2014. "Demand pull and technology push perspective in technology-based innovations for the points of sale: The retailers evaluation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 43-47.
    5. Wagner, Judy A. & Klein, Noreen M. & Keith, Janet E., 2003. "Buyer-seller relationships and selling effectiveness: the moderating influence of buyer expertise and product competitive position," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 295-302, April.
    6. Poujol, Juliet F. & Siadou-martin, Béatrice & Vidal, David & Pellat, Ghislaine, 2013. "The impact of salespeople's relational behaviors and organizational fairness on customer loyalty: An empirical study in B-to-B relationships," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 429-438.
    7. Juliet Poujol & Béatrice Siadou-Martin & David Vidal & Ghislaine Pellat, 2013. "The impact of salespeople's relational behaviors and organizational fairness on customer loyalty: An empirical study in B-to-B relationships," Post-Print hal-01992773, HAL.
    8. Fanny Poujol & D. Vidal & B. Siadou-Martin & G. Pellat, 2013. "The impact of salespeople's relational behaviors and organizational fairness on customer loyalty: An empirical study in B-to-B relationships," Post-Print halshs-00642472, HAL.
    9. Michael Ahearne & Eli Jones & Adam Rapp & John Mathieu, 2008. "High Touch Through High Tech: The Impact of Salesperson Technology Usage on Sales Performance via Mediating Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 671-685, April.
    10. Michaud Trevinal, Aurélia & Stenger, Thomas, 2014. "Toward a conceptualization of the online shopping experience," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 314-326.
    11. Steve Wood & Jonathan Reynolds, 2013. "Knowledge management, organisational learning and memory in UK retail network planning," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 150-170, February.
    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. Yang, Defeng & Chen, Xiaoyun & Ma, Baolong & Wei, Haiying, 2022. "When can interaction orientation create more service value? The moderating role of frontline employees' trust in managers and employee deep acting," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Benjamin Barann & Jan H. Betzing & Marco Niemann & Benedikt Hoffmeister & Jörg Becker, 2022. "Exploring customers’ likeliness to use e-service touchpoints in brick and mortar retail," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(2), pages 523-545, June.
    3. Tsai, Pei-Hsuan & Tang, Jia-Wei & Chen, Chih-Jou, 2022. "Partnerships that go places: How to successfully market products from vendor partners at retail stores from the vendors’ perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Mertens, Willem & Recker, Jan & Kummer, Tyge-F. & Kohlborn, Thomas & Viaene, Stijn, 2016. "Constructive deviance as a driver for performance in retail," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 193-203.
    5. Albors-Garrigos, Jose, 2020. "Barriers and enablers for innovation in the retail sector: Co-innovating with the customer. A case study in grocery retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    6. Willems, Kim & Smolders, Annelien & Brengman, Malaika & Luyten, Kris & Schöning, Johannes, 2017. "The path-to-purchase is paved with digital opportunities: An inventory of shopper-oriented retail technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 228-242.
    7. Mertens, Willem & Recker, Jan, 2020. "How store managers can empower their teams to engage in constructive deviance: Theory development through a multiple case study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Kurata, Hisashi, 2019. "Is the information of customer types and preferences to personal selling worth the investment in innovative technology? A modeling approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 371-379.
    9. Lucia-Palacios, Laura & Pérez-López, Raúl & Polo-Redondo, Yolanda, 2020. "How situational circumstances modify the effects of frontline employees’ competences on customer satisfaction with the store," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    10. Ekström, Karin M. & Jönsson, Håkan, 2022. "Orchestrating retail in small cities," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Bassano, Clara & Piciocchi, Paolo & Spohrer, James (Jim) C. & Pietronudo, Maria Cristina, 2018. "Managing value co-creation in consumer service systems within smart retail settings," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 190-197.
    12. Mertens, Willem & Recker, Jan, 2020. "Can constructive deviance be empowered? A multi-level field study in Australian supermarkets," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(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. Arditto, Luis & Cambra-Fierro, Jesús J. & Fuentes-Blasco, María & Jaraba, Ana Olavarría & Vázquez-Carrasco, Rosario, 2020. "“How does customer perception of salespeople influence the relationship? A study in an emerging economyâ€," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    2. Jia, Fang & Wei, Liyuan & Jiang, Ling & Hu, Zuohao & Yang, Zhilin, 2021. "Curbing opportunism in marketing channels: The roles of influence strategy and perceived fairness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 69-80.
    3. Bassano, Clara & Piciocchi, Paolo & Spohrer, James (Jim) C. & Pietronudo, Maria Cristina, 2018. "Managing value co-creation in consumer service systems within smart retail settings," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 190-197.
    4. Choi, Yu Hua & Choo, Ho Jung, 2016. "Effects of Chinese consumers' relationship benefits and satisfaction on attitudes toward foreign fashion brands:The moderating role of country of salesperson," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 99-106.
    5. Willems, Kim & Smolders, Annelien & Brengman, Malaika & Luyten, Kris & Schöning, Johannes, 2017. "The path-to-purchase is paved with digital opportunities: An inventory of shopper-oriented retail technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 228-242.
    6. Di Pietro, Loredana & Pantano, Eleonora & Di Virgilio, Francesca, 2014. "Frontline employees׳ attitudes towards self-service technologies: Threats or opportunity for job performance?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 844-850.
    7. Isidoro Romero & Juan A. Martínez-Román, 2015. "Determinants of technology adoption in the retail trade industry – the case of SMEs in Spain," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 17(39), pages 646-646, May.
    8. Pantano, Eleonora & Viassone, Milena, 2015. "Engaging consumers on new integrated multichannel retail settings: Challenges for retailers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 106-114.
    9. Adapa, Sujana & Fazal-e-Hasan, Syed Muhammad & Makam, Sathyaprakash Balaji & Azeem, Muhammad Masood & Mortimer, Gary, 2020. "Examining the antecedents and consequences of perceived shopping value through smart retail technology," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    10. Mu-Chen Chen & Kuo-Chien Chang & Chia-Lin Hsu & German Alcibiades Vega Leon, 2018. "Investigating the impacts of guanxi and relationship marketing in port logistics: two cases," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 20(4), pages 603-623, December.
    11. Ryan Mullins & Raj Agnihotri, 2022. "Digital selling: organizational and managerial influences for frontline readiness and effectiveness," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 800-821, July.
    12. Cai, Ya-Jun & Lo, Chris K.Y., 2020. "Omni-channel management in the new retailing era: A systematic review and future research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    13. K.S. Madhushankha & R. Senathirajag, 2022. "Determinants for Consumer Choice of “Electronic Banking Utilization†; Evidence from Customers of Public Banks in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(1), pages 624-634, January.
    14. Dacko, Scott G., 2017. "Enabling smart retail settings via mobile augmented reality shopping apps," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 243-256.
    15. Lionel Nicod & Sylvie Llosa, 2018. "How should customers be trained in their role as coproducers? The influence of training and its characteristics on the benefits of coproduction," Post-Print hal-03513344, HAL.
    16. Becker, Jan U. & Greve, Goetz & Albers, Sönke, 2009. "The impact of technological and organizational implementation of CRM on customer acquisition, maintenance, and retention," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 207-215.
    17. Rodolfo Vázquez-Casielles & Víctor Iglesias & Concepción Varela-Neira, 2017. "Co-creation and service recovery process communication: effects on satisfaction, repurchase intentions, and word of mouth," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 11(2), pages 321-343, June.
    18. Alireza Nili & Mary Tate & David Johnstone, 2019. "The process of solving problems with self-service technologies: a study from the user’s perspective," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 373-407, June.
    19. McDowell, William C. & Wilson, Rachel C. & Kile, Charles Owen, 2016. "An examination of retail website design and conversion rate," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 4837-4842.
    20. Lena Steinhoff & Denni Arli & Scott Weaven & Irina V. Kozlenkova, 2019. "Online relationship marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 369-393, May.

    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:joreco:v:21:y:2014:i:6:p:958-965. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    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.