IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v47y2019i2d10.1007_s11747-018-0594-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Outsourcing the pain, keeping the pleasure: effects of outsourced touchpoints in the customer journey

Author

Listed:
  • Anne-Madeleine Kranzbühler

    (University of Amsterdam)

  • Mirella H. P. Kleijnen

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Peeter W. J. Verlegh

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Abstract

Firms struggle to manage touchpoints in their customer journey that consumers perceive as dissatisfying. Based on attribution theory and associative learning we examine branded outsourcing as a strategic means to reduce such touchpoints’ negative impact on brand evaluations. We find in the field and in a series of experimental studies that brands can reduce the detrimental impact of dissatisfying touchpoints. This effect is reversed for satisfying touchpoints. Importantly, we find that the explanation for the effect of branded outsourcing goes beyond consumers’ responsibility attributions. Rather, we find evidence that branded outsourcing reduces the extent to which consumers mentally associate the focal brand with the outsourced touchpoint, which results in a shift in brand evaluations. In an additional study we show that a strong third-party brand is not always more beneficial than a weak third-party brand, which further enhances the managerial relevance of our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne-Madeleine Kranzbühler & Mirella H. P. Kleijnen & Peeter W. J. Verlegh, 2019. "Outsourcing the pain, keeping the pleasure: effects of outsourced touchpoints in the customer journey," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 308-327, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:47:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11747-018-0594-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-018-0594-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-018-0594-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-018-0594-5?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. Kakabadse, Andrew & Kakabadse, Nada, 2002. "Trends in Outsourcing:: Contrasting USA and Europe," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 189-198, April.
    2. Markus Reitzig & Stefan Wagner, 2010. "The hidden costs of outsourcing: evidence from patent data," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(11), pages 1183-1201, November.
    3. Rebecca Hamilton, 2016. "Consumer-based strategy: using multiple methods to generate consumer insights that inform strategy," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 281-285, May.
    4. Folkes, Valerie S, 1988. "Recent Attribution Research in Consumer Behavior: A Review and New Directions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(4), pages 548-565, March.
    5. Steven Sweldens & Stijn M. J. Van Osselaer & Chris Janiszewski, 2010. "Evaluative Conditioning Procedures and the Resilience of Conditioned Brand Attitudes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(3), pages 473-489, October.
    6. Shimp, Terence A & Stuart, Elnora W & Engle, Randall W, 1991. "A Program of Classical Conditioning Experiments Testing Variations in the Conditioned Stimulus and Context," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 18(1), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Sharon Ng & Michael J. Houston, 2006. "Exemplars or Beliefs? The Impact of Self-View on the Nature and Relative Influence of Brand Associations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(4), pages 519-529, March.
    8. 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.
    9. Drazen Prelec & George Loewenstein, 1998. "The Red and the Black: Mental Accounting of Savings and Debt," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 4-28.
    10. Doreén Pick & Jacquelyn S. Thomas & Sebastian Tillmanns & Manfred Krafft, 2016. "Customer win-back: the role of attributions and perceptions in customers’ willingness to return," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 218-240, March.
    11. Weiner, Bernard, 2000. "Attributional Thoughts about Consumer Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(3), pages 382-387, December.
    12. Ping Zhang & Gisela M. von Dran, 2000. "Satisfiers and dissatisfiers: A two‐factor model for website design and evaluation," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 51(14), pages 1253-1268.
    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. Tueanrat, Yanika & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2021. "Going on a journey: A review of the customer journey literature," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 336-353.
    2. Tueanrat, Yanika & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2021. "A conceptual framework of the antecedents of customer journey satisfaction in omnichannel retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Baier, Daniel & Rese, Alexandra, 2020. "How to increase multichannel shopping satisfaction? An adapted Kano based stage-gate approach to select new technologies," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    4. Monica Cerdan Chiscano & Ana Isabel Jiménez-Zarco, 2021. "Towards an Inclusive Museum Management Strategy. An Exploratory Study of Consumption Experience in Visitors with Disabilities. The Case of the CosmoCaixa Science Museum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Rebecca Hamilton & Linda L. Price, 2019. "Consumer journeys: developing consumer-based strategy," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 187-191, March.
    6. Henkens, Bieke & Verleye, Katrien & Larivière, Bart, 2021. "The smarter, the better?! Customer well-being, engagement, and perceptions in smart service systems," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 425-447.

    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. Gergely Nyilasy & Harsha Gangadharbatla & Angela Paladino, 2014. "Perceived Greenwashing: The Interactive Effects of Green Advertising and Corporate Environmental Performance on Consumer Reactions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 693-707, December.
    2. Arora, Swapan Deep & Chakraborty, Anirban, 2021. "Intellectual structure of consumer complaining behavior (CCB) research: A bibliometric analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 60-74.
    3. Nika Meyer (née Mozafari) & Melanie Schwede & Maik Hammerschmidt & Welf Hermann Weiger, 2022. "Users taking the blame? How service failure, recovery, and robot design affect user attributions and retention," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(4), pages 2491-2505, December.
    4. Li, Yi & Fumagalli, Elena, 2022. "Spoiled Rotten: How and When Discontinuation of Repetitive and Regular Delight Offers Increases Customer Desire for Revenge," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 412-431.
    5. Tom Joonhwan Kim & Youjae Yi & Jongan Choi, 2020. "The boomerang effect of brand personality congruency in a product-harm crisis," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(4), pages 645-661, November.
    6. TINA M. Ashok K. Lalwani & David H. Silvera & Kent B. Monroe, 2012. "Price Promotion (In)consistency and Consumers’ Brand Evaluations: The Role of Reference Prices," Working Papers 0022, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    7. Doreén Pick & Jacquelyn S. Thomas & Sebastian Tillmanns & Manfred Krafft, 2016. "Customer win-back: the role of attributions and perceptions in customers’ willingness to return," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 218-240, March.
    8. Alex H. Cohen & Jorge E. Fresneda & Rolph E. Anderson, 2020. "What retailers need to understand about website inaccessibility and disabled consumers: Challenges and opportunities," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 854-889, September.
    9. Andreas Herrmann & Frank Huber & Christian Seilheimer, 2003. "Die Qual der Wahl: Die Bedeutung des Regret bei Kaufentscheidungen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 224-249, May.
    10. Rohit Aggarwal & Ram Gopal & Ramesh Sankaranarayanan & Param Vir Singh, 2012. "Blog, Blogger, and the Firm: Can Negative Employee Posts Lead to Positive Outcomes?," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 306-322, June.
    11. Collins Opoku Antwi & Jun Ren & Wilberforce Owusu-Ansah & Henry Kofi Mensah & Michael Osei Aboagye, 2021. "Airport Self-Service Technologies, Passenger Self-Concept, and Behavior: An Attributional View," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Jessica Mikeska & Elise Johansen Harvey, 2015. "The Political CEO: An Event Study Comparing Consumer Attributions of CEO Behavior," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(1), pages 76-92, March.
    13. Molintas, Dominique Trual, 2010. "Globalisation impact on Danish SME: Offshore Outsourcing & local competitiveness," MPRA Paper 96529, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Paydas Turan, Ceyda, 2022. "Deal or deny: The effectiveness of crisis response strategies on brand equity of the focal brand in co-branding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 615-629.
    15. Gao, Hongzhi & Knight, John G. & Zhang, Hongxia & Mather, Damien, 2013. "Guilt by association: Heuristic risks for foreign brands during a product-harm crisis in China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1044-1051.
    16. Gallan, Andrew S. & Helkkula, Anu & McConnell, William R., 2024. "Why did this happen to me? Causal attributions of illness and cultural health capital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    17. Alba, George & Slongo, Luiz Antonio, 2020. "Getting a no-reply is also a reply: An investigation of unreplied consumer attributions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    18. Romani, Simona & Grappi, Silvia & Dalli, Daniele, 2012. "Emotions that drive consumers away from brands: Measuring negative emotions toward brands and their behavioral effects," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 55-67.
    19. Simone T. Peinkofer & Yao Henry Jin, 2023. "The impact of order fulfillment information disclosure on consequences of deceptive counterfeits," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(1), pages 237-260, January.
    20. Harris, Katherine E. & Grewal, Dhruv & Mohr, Lois A. & Bernhardt, Kenneth L., 2006. "Consumer responses to service recovery strategies: The moderating role of online versus offline environment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 425-431, 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:spr:joamsc:v:47:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11747-018-0594-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.