IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i18p8090-d1479121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Value Relevance of Customer Satisfaction

Author

Listed:
  • Ha-Yeon Park

    (Department of Business Administration, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung 25601, Republic of Korea)

  • Cheong-Kyu Park

    (Dongguk Business School, Dongguk University, Seoul 04620, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on customer satisfaction and the value relevance of customer satisfaction. COVID-19 is an unprecedented pandemic that has changed all areas of business. Customer relations are one of the biggest paradigm shifts of this period. Companies have placed more attention on customer relations than on any other areas, and customer relations are an essential element in corporate sustainability. The value relevance directly represents the sustainability of corporations. It is very important for firms to retain their customers in the market, create a potential demand, and, thus, increase the firm value. We investigate whether companies financially benefit from customer relations. Employing the value relevance model, we regress firm value on the customer satisfaction scores with other control variables. We find that the customer satisfaction score has increased throughout the sample period, and that the value relevance of customer satisfaction has declined after the COVID-19 outbreak. Together, we interpret the results as indicating the impact of COVID-19 on the value relevance of customer satisfaction, especially the decreasing trends in value relevance. The results are robust even after controlling endogeneity and outliers. This study has several implications for practitioners and academia regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the value relevance of customer satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Ha-Yeon Park & Cheong-Kyu Park, 2024. "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Value Relevance of Customer Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-16, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:18:p:8090-:d:1479121
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/18/8090/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/18/8090/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brav, Alon & Geczy, Christopher & Gompers, Paul A., 2000. "Is the abnormal return following equity issuances anomalous?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 209-249, May.
    2. Robert Jacobson & Natalie Mizik, 2009. "The Financial Markets and Customer Satisfaction: Reexamining Possible Financial Market Mispricing of Customer Satisfaction," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 810-819, 09-10.
    3. Ittner, CD & Larcker, DF, 1998. "Are nonfinancial measures leading indicators of financial performance? An analysis of customer satisfaction," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36, pages 1-35.
    4. Blume, Marshall E. & Stambaugh, Robert F., 1983. "Biases in computed returns : An application to the size effect," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 387-404, November.
    5. Amir, Eli & Lev, Baruch, 1996. "Value-relevance of nonfinancial information: The wireless communications industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 3-30, October.
    6. Ittner, Christopher D. & Larcker, David F. & Randall, Taylor, 2003. "Performance implications of strategic performance measurement in financial services firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(7-8), pages 715-741.
    7. Vikas Mittal & Kyuhong Han & Carly Frennea & Markus Blut & Muzeeb Shaik & Narendra Bosukonda & Shrihari Sridhar, 2023. "Customer satisfaction, loyalty behaviors, and firm financial performance: what 40 years of research tells us," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 171-187, June.
    8. Ryan Sullivan & Allan Timmermann & Halbert White, 1999. "Data‐Snooping, Technical Trading Rule Performance, and the Bootstrap," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(5), pages 1647-1691, October.
    9. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 2000. "Forecasting Profitability and Earnings," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(2), pages 161-175, April.
    10. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    11. Ittner, Christopher D. & Larcker, David F. & Taylor, Daniel J., 2009. "The Stock Market's Pricing of Customer Satisfaction," Research Papers 2036, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    12. Hyo Jung (Julie) Chang & Tun-Min (Catherine) Jai, 2015. "Is fast fashion sustainable? The effect of positioning strategies on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(4), pages 853-867, October.
    13. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1996. "Multifactor Explanations of Asset Pricing Anomalies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-84, March.
    14. Christopher Ittner & David Larcker & Daniel Taylor, 2009. "—The Stock Market's Pricing of Customer Satisfaction," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 826-835, 09-10.
    15. Kothari, S. P. & Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1995. "Price and return models," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 155-192, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Christopher Ittner & David Larcker & Daniel Taylor, 2009. "—The Stock Market's Pricing of Customer Satisfaction," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 826-835, 09-10.
    2. Ittner, Christopher D. & Larcker, David F. & Taylor, Daniel J., 2009. "The Stock Market's Pricing of Customer Satisfaction," Research Papers 2036, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    3. Robert Merrin & Arvid Hoffmann & Joost Pennings, 2013. "Customer satisfaction as a buffer against sentimental stock-price corrections," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 13-27, March.
    4. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    5. Terpstra, Maarten & Verbeeten, Frank H.M., 2014. "Customer satisfaction: Cost driver or value driver? Empirical evidence from the financial services industry," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 499-508.
    6. Huang, Ming-Hui & Trusov, Michael, 2020. "Customer satisfaction underappreciation: The relation of customer satisfaction to CEO compensation," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 129-150.
    7. Robert Jacobson & Natalie Mizik, 2009. "—Customer Satisfaction-Based Mispricing: Issues and Misconceptions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 836-845, 09-10.
    8. Chan, Konan & Ikenberry, David L. & Lee, Inmoo & Wang, Yanzhi, 2010. "Share repurchases as a potential tool to mislead investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 137-158, April.
    9. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, July.
    10. Keith Lam & Frank Li, 2008. "The risk premiums of the four-factor asset pricing model in the Hong Kong stock market," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(20), pages 1667-1680.
    11. David Hirshleifer & Kewei Hou & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "The Accrual Anomaly: Risk or Mispricing?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 320-335, February.
    12. Christopher J. Neely & David E. Rapach & Jun Tu & Guofu Zhou, 2014. "Forecasting the Equity Risk Premium: The Role of Technical Indicators," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(7), pages 1772-1791, July.
    13. Anne Schmitz & Nieves Villaseñor-Román, 2018. "Do Brands Matter in Unlisted Firms? An Empirical Study of the Association between Brand Equity and Financial Performance," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-12, October.
    14. Cameron Truong & Thu Ha Nguyen & Thanh Huynh, 2021. "Customer satisfaction and the cost of capital," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 293-342, March.
    15. Daniel, Kent & Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2002. "Investor psychology in capital markets: evidence and policy implications," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 139-209, January.
    16. Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2000. "Do firms mislead investors by overstating earnings before seasoned equity offerings?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 339-371, June.
    17. Tomasz Wójtowicz, 2017. "High-volume return premium on the stock markets in Warsaw and Vienna," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 48(4), pages 375-402.
    18. Cooper, Michael J. & Gubellini, Stefano, 2011. "The critical role of conditioning information in determining if value is really riskier than growth," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 289-305, March.
    19. Su, Chen & Bangassa, Kenbata, 2011. "The impact of underwriter reputation on initial returns and long-run performance of Chinese IPOs," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 760-791.
    20. Caldeira, João F & Moura, Guilherme Valle & Santos, André Alves Portela, 2013. "Seleção de carteiras utilizando o modelo Fama-French-Carhart," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 67(1), April.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:18:p:8090-:d:1479121. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.