Latent classes of service quality, logistics costs and loyalty

Latent classes of accounting outsourcing firms

Purpose

Outsourcing of accounting increasingly attracts research interest, but research concerning the impact of the benefits of outsourcing on firm capabilities and performance across firms remains limited. This paper aims to reveal the unobservable latent classes of firms that outsource their accounting functions by testing a research model concerning the topic.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors build on accounting outsourcing research and adapt a research model from the literature on business services outsourcing. The authors analyze the data from 261 small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe using finite mixture structural equation modeling (FMSEM) and additional methods.

Findings

The authors reveal three latent classes with different research models. Thriving outsourcers (N = 103) have a positive attitude toward accounting outsourcing and associate competitive capabilities with mediating the relationship from outsourcing benefits to firm performance. Annoyed outsourcers (N = 143) are dissatisfied with their accounting service provider and only associate outsourcing benefits with competitive capabilities. Convenient outsourcers (N = 15) feel comfortable with their current accounting service provider and associate outsourcing benefits with neither capabilities nor with firm performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study initiates the discussion about the unobservable heterogeneity among accounting outsourcers. The study introduces the use of the FMSEM method in accounting outsourcing research.

Practical implications

The study offers novel insights concerning accounting outsourcers and proposes original explanations for their outsourcing decisions that would help both the outsourcers and accounting service providers.

Originality/value

The study might be the first to categorize accounting outsourcers using FMSEM.

Impact of value-adding services on quality, loyalty and brand equity in the brewing industry

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of logistics value-adding services and perceived service quality on brand equity among B2B customers of a brewery company.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model is developed and tested using survey data from 173 hotel, restaurant and catering (HoReCa) industry customers of a brewery company in Finland.

Findings

Value-adding services play an important role in building the brewery company’s brand equity through perceived service quality. Besides a direct impact on overall service quality, an indirect impact is detected through the operational dimension of service quality in logistics.

Research limitations/implications

A broader data set would be needed to generalize the findings also beyond the brewery business and the HoReCa industry customers in Finland.

Practical implications

To increase brand equity, value-adding services like logistics can play an important role for B2B customers. This study is important for practitioners and academics, as there has been little quantitative research available regarding value-adding services in the context of service quality and brand equity research.

Originality/value

This paper combines logistics as value-adding service to customers’ willingness to pay extra profits to cooperate with service producer.