Testing the influence of real-time performance feedback on employees in digital services

Measuring and managing service productivity: a meta-analysis

Despite service productivity’s scholarly prominence and practical relevance, past research in marketing has primarily adopted isolated perspectives from which disjointed empirical findings reign supreme. As the acquisition of knowledge about service productivity accelerates, the collective evidence becomes more interdisciplinary but also more fragmented. This study uses a meta-analysis to integrate the substantial empirical record on service productivity. We formulate hypotheses on the moderators of service productivity-determinant relationships and meta-analyze 77 articles, relying on 81 independent samples with a cumulative sample size of 30,238 participants to test our predictions. Our meta-analysis provides empirical evidence that service quality and internal efficiency must be considered jointly, not in isolation, to maximize profitability. Thus, relying on one aspect in isolation is less appropriate for measurement purposes and might not lead to positive outcomes. This important finding should concern service scholars and managers because falling profit margins require service firms to move beyond the traditional manufacturing productivity that separates service quality from internal efficiency and consider service productivity as a profitability concept. In sum, our findings provide a viable model to explain the main service productivity determinants and moderating variables, offering valuable insights for practitioners that aim to deliver cost-efficient service quality and promising future research directions.

Employees’ peak experience at work: Understanding the triggers and impacts

The importance of providing a positive employee experience (EX) has gotten a lot of attention in recent years. However, peak experience (PE), as a highly positive experience, has been studied and applied in the field of human resource management only to a very limited extent. We still know little about how employees’ peak experience (EPE) happens and what the impact will be. Therefore, based on the affective events theory and the two-factor theory, our research conducted an in-depth exploration of EPE through three studies. In Study 1, we constructed a theoretical model centered on EPE based on and interview data. In Study 2, we developed and validated a scale for measuring triggers of EPE, which is a four-dimensional scale (elevation, insight, pride, and connection) with 16 items. In Study 3, we adopted structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationship between EPE and its triggers as well as its impacts using data from 424 valid questionnaires. Our research shows that elevation, insight, pride, and connection can trigger EPE; employees are more likely to have proactive behavior (PB) and word-of-mouth referrals after they have PE; and the more job-relevant the triggers are, the stronger the association between PE and PB is. Our research provides a reliable and effective measurement tool for scholars to study EPE, broadens the findings of PE and EX, and points out feasible measures for organizations to create EPE.

Affordances advancing user-created communication (UCC) in service: interactivity, visibility and anonymity

Purpose

Digital platform users not only consume but also produce communication related to their experiences. Although service research has explored users' motivations to communicate and focused on outcomes such as electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), it remains largely unexplored how users iteratively interact with communication artifacts and potentially create value for themselves, other users and service providers. The purpose of this paper is, thus, to introduce communicative affordances as a framework to advance user-created communication (UCC) in service.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from the literature in communication, service research and interactive marketing, an affordance perspective on UCC in service is introduced.

Findings

Three UCC affordances for the service context are presented – interactivity, visibility and anonymity – opportunities and challenges for service providers associated with these affordances are discussed and, finally, affordance-specific research questions and general recommendations for future research are offered.

Research limitations/implications

By conceptualizing UCC in service from an affordances perspective, this paper moves beyond the traditional sender–receiver communication framework and emphasizes opportunities and challenges for service research and practice.

Practical implications

Instead of focusing separately on specific technologies or user behaviors, it is recommended that service managers adopt a holistic perspective of user goals and motivations, use experiences and platform design.

Originality/value

By conceptualizing UCC as an augmenting, dialogical process concerning users’ experiences, and by introducing communicative affordances as a framework to advance UCC in service, an in-depth understanding of the diverse and ever-evolving landscape of communication in service is offered.