Consumer satisfaction and post-purchase intentions: an exploratory study of museum visitors

This paper examines the relationship between consumer satisfaction and subsequent intentions in the museum context, as well as the moderating influence of demographic characteristics such as gender, age and education in that relationship. The relationship between satisfaction and a range of service elements, overall satisfaction with the experience and intentions was investigated. Museum marketers can profit by examining the "value chain" of museum experience outlined in the model presented, especially the greater likelihood of consumers recommending the experience to others than making a repeat visit themselves, and by investigating segment differences beyond those reported here.

Conceptualizing the ιnfluence of the self-service technology context on consumer voice

The self-service technology (SST) context is characterized by consumer participation in service production and delivery, independent of service personnel; a lack of interpersonal interaction between consumers and service personnel; and consumers being required tointerface and interact with technology. With these features of the SST context in mind, in situations where SSTs fail to perform as promised, some challenges arise: consumers who are dissatisfied do not have the security or reassurance of service personnel to assist them; service personnel do not have the opportunity to prompt consumers to voice their dissatisfaction; and consumers need to initiate their own complaint response. If consumers fail to report their dissatisfaction directly to the organization, organizations will not know that a problem exists and may experience negative consequences such as consumer switching behavior. As reports of consumer dissatisfaction with SSTs become increasingly common, it is important, therefore, to investigate how organizations with SST-based offerings can encourage consumers to voice their dissatisfaction directly to the organization. Although the antecedents of consumer voice are well documented in the interpersonal services context, in the context of SSTs they have been subject to very little conceptual or empirical scrutiny. This paper argues that voice needs to be revisited with respect to SSTs due to their unique characteristics compared to interpersonal services, and presents a conceptual model of the antecedents of consumers' voice behavior in the context of SSTs.

Understanding consumer adoption of internet banking : an interpretive study in the Australian banking context

This paper reports key findings from an interpretive study of Australian banking consumer experiences with the adoption of internet banking. The paper provides an understanding of how and why specific factors affect the consumer decision whether or not to bank on the internet, in the Australian context. A theoretical framework is provided that conceptualizes and links consumer-oriented issues influencing adoption of internet banking. The paper also provides a set of recommendations for Australian banks. Specifically, the findings suggest that convenience is the main motivator for consumers to bank on the internet, while there is a range of other influential factors that may be modulated by banks. The findings also highlight increasing risk acceptance by consumers in regard to internet-based services and the growing importance of offering deep levels of consumer support for such services. Gender differences are also highlighted. Finally, the paper suggests that banks will be better able to manage consumer experiences with moving to internet banking if they understand that such experiences involve a process of adjustment and learning over time, and not merely the adoption of a new technology.

Who`s complaining? Using MOSAIC to identify the profile of complainants

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to bring together established research in the field of consumer complaint responses: to contextualise this research into the area of complaints about advertising in Australia; and to empirically test the proposition that it is possible to construct a profile
of complainants about advertising in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach – Postcodes obtained from the Advertising Standards Board complaints database were entered into Pacific micro marketing MOSAIC software, which uses data at the postcode level to cluster individuals into homogeneous groups.

Findings – Characteristics shared among consumers who engage in “amplified voicing” include above average income levels, above average disposable income levels, higher than average education levels, professional and associate professional occupations, middle- to late-middle-aged household heads and above average representation of working women. Their interests tend towards culture, technology, entertaining, sport, food and fashion.

Research limitations/implications – Complainants seem to be unrepresentative of those most likely to be disadvantaged by “unacceptable” advertising. It is suggested that it now falls to advertising professionals and marketing academics to encourage greater involvement of all members of Australian society in the current complaints process and build wider understanding of practices that contravene the regulatory system.

Originality/value – This study investigates the effects of advertising on consumers and hence on society in general, and examines the changing nature and structure of the advertising self-regulatory system in Australia. Though based on fieldwork in Australia, it provides an international perspective, and is potentially transferable to other societies.

Complaint behaviour: a study of the differences between complainants about advertising in Australia and the population at large

Advertising expenditure has risen globally and in Australia there has been a 2.7-fold increase in the last ten years. It is suggested that some advertisements may be “unacceptable”, that is, unfair, misleading, deceptive, offensive, false or socially irresponsible. This research is concerned with consumer behaviour and consumer complaint behaviour specifically in the area of advertising in Australia. The findings indicate that complainants are significantly different from the population at large. This research will afford the regulatory bodies a better understanding of the complaining public as well as educating marketing communications strategists in effectively reaching their target markets.

Patient or consumer? The colonization of the psychiatric clinic

Information is given a privileged place in the psychiatric clinic, as illustrated by the prevalence and volume of data to be collected and forms to be completed by psychiatric nurses. Information though is different to knowledge. The present paper argues that information is part of a managerial discourse that implies commodification whereas knowledge is part of a clinical discourse that allows room for the suffering of the patient. Information belongs to the discourse of managerialism, one that positions the patient as customer/consumer and in doing so renders them unsuffering. The patient's suffering is silenced by their construction as a consumer. The discourse of managerialism seeks a complete data set of information. By way of contrast, another discourse, that of psychoanalysis offers the institution the idea that there are always holes, gaps, and uncertainty. The idea of uncertainty, gaps, things remaining unknown and a limit sits uncomfortably with the dominant discourse of managerialism; one that demands no limits, complete data sets, and many satisfied customers. This market model of managerialism denies the potential of the therapeutic relationship; that something curative might be produced via the transference. In addition, the managerialist discourse potentially positions the patient as both illegitimate and unsuffering.

Consumer acceptability of low fat foods containing inulin and oligofructose

Inulin and oligofructose were used as fat replacers in Anzac cookies, blueberry muffins, carrot cake, chocolate cake, lemon cheesecake, ice cream, and beef sausages at levels ranging from 4 to 13g/100g, achieving a significant reduction in fat content (20% to 80% relative). These foods were rated as acceptable by an untrained taste panel, but scored consistently lower than their full-fat counterparts (controls). Regression analysis showed that, unlike the controls, texture was more important than flavor in determining overall acceptability of the low-fat foods. Inulin and oligofructose are readily incorporated into bakery and meat formulations, but their use might be limited by adverse physiological effects when consumed at high levels.

Consumer complaint behaviour and relationship marketing: a research agenda

A void identified within the Relationship Marketing literature is the lack of research on dissatisfactory or problem relationships, so the utilisation of work that has been conducted in the area of Consumer Complaint Behaviour (CCB) is appropriate. Therefore, this paper identifies ways in which the CCB literature may be used to advance knowledge in the field of Relationship Marketing. As the context of this paper is consumer - service provider relationships, an assessment is made of some of the implications of technology-infusion in service encounters, at two levels, namely at the broad relationship marketing level, that is, the likely impact of technology infusion on consumer - service provider relationships, and then more specifically regarding implications for CCB.

The impact of service intangibility on consumer service quality expectations

Research consistently demonstrates the strategic benefits of providing quality in service delivery (Tse and Wilton 1988; Anderson and Zeithaml 1984). However, to deliver a quality service, it is first necessary to determine the level of quality expectations that consumers have for a particular service industry. This paper examines whether quality expectations vary across services based on their degree of total intangibility. A controlled, repeated measures design is utilised, whereby subjects are each asked to evaluate three services that vary in their degree of intangibility. Contrary to past findings, results indicate that consumer expectations for service quality do not vary with the level of intangibility of the service.

Consumer satisfaction and post-purchase intentions: an exploratory study of museum visitors

This paper examines the relationship between consumer satisfaction and future intentions in the museum context, and the role that demographic characteristics such as gender, age and education play. The variables Expectations Met, Satisfaction, Value, Intention to Return, and Recommendation to Others, were all found to be correlated. However, although it is often assumed that the level of educational attainment, gender and age correlate strongly with arts and cultural usage, this research found that the only statistically significant differences were that females had a higher mean Intention to Return, and there was a weak positive association between Age and Satisfaction, and weak negative associations between Education and Expectations Met, Satisfaction, and Recommendation to Others. Museum marketers may profit from examining the "value chain" of museum experience outlined in the model presented, especially the greater likelihood of positive recommendations to others than individual intention to revisit, and by investigating segment differences beyond those reported here.

Measuring consumer involvement : a test of the automobile involvement scale

This study empirically investigated consumer involvement with a product class. Data was collected from 178 vehicle buyers. Reliability and factor analyses investigated the structure of the Bloch (1981) instrument and the dimensions underlying involvement. In terms of replication, the results suggest the reduced-item version of the instrument previously proposed by Shimp and Sharma (1983) is reliable and is a less excessive measurement instrument. Similar dimensions underlying involvement with the product class are reported here. The study extends previous work by obtaining similar results in a different cultural setting, producing findings from a more relevant sample, applying an additional method of data collection, and suggesting that the underlying dimensions may be temporally stable.

Self-concept and motivation as predictors of actual consumer behaviour

The need to predict consumer behaviour outcomes is considered to be a very important issue for marketers. Isolated individual psychological constructs such as attitudes, motives, personality traits and learning styles have been used to identify their predictive capacity for actual consumer behaviour with varying degrees of success. This paper attempts to test
empirically the predictive power of two constructs, motivation and self-concept, regarding business consumer’s actions in a service context, using an Australian representative sample.

More dominant in their inactivity: consumer response and the adoption of digital TV in Australia

After much hesitation, discussion, and power brokering, Australia adopted digital TV for its Free-to air broadcasting on January 1, 2001. However, by December 2002, only a few thousand homes had adopted the technology. This paper examines the implementation and regulation of digital TV in Australia from the point of view of the ‘established base’ the new technology will replace, theories on diffusion and innovation of new technologies, and the Justification Model, which sees technology choice as social gambling. It then evaluates the various protectionist regulations and limitations imposed on the technology to safeguard the various stakeholders, the implementation strategies used, lack of digital content, marketing efforts, negative media coverage, and the economic realities of the technology, and argues that if consumers reject the technology altogether, it would lead to Australia missing the future applications of digital technology and the opportunity to address the issue of the ‘digital divide’ in the 21st century.