Delivering warmth by hand: customer responses to different formats of written communication
| Autor: | Lan Xia, Xingyao Ren, Jiangang Du |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Marketing
Service (business) media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences Closeness Applied psychology Services marketing Context (language use) Service provider 050105 experimental psychology Feeling Handwriting 0502 economics and business 050211 marketing 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Quality (business) Psychology media_common |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Services Marketing. 32:223-234 |
| ISSN: | 0887-6045 |
| DOI: | 10.1108/jsm-04-2017-0133 |
| Popis: | Purpose The effect of different formats of message delivery has received little theoretical and empirical examination. This research focuses on the effect of written relational communication formats used by service providers. This study aims to answer three questions: Do different formats of written communications (i.e. handwriting and print) influence customer perceptions (i.e. feelings of warmth) of service firms? What are the mediators of these influences (i.e. perceived effort and psychological closeness)? And under what conditions do they occur (i.e. what is the contextual factor)? Design/methodology/approach One field study and three laboratory studies were conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of format in written communication. Findings Handwritten messages are more effective than print messages in building relationships in a service context because they elicit stronger feelings of warmth because of both the perception of greater effort and feelings of greater psychological closeness to the service provider. However, the presence of handwriting fails to deliver feelings of warmth when the quality of core services is low. Practical implications Service providers can effectively use handwritten communication to signal effort and create psychological closeness for relationship building with their key customers only when the quality of core services meets customer expectations. Originality/value First, the research differentiates the formats of written relational communication (handwritten vs print), and links communication formats with feelings of warmth, which is an important factor for impression and relationship formation in the practice of services marketing. Second, based on cognitive-experiential self-theory, this research demonstrates the dual mediators underlying the effect of handwriting (vs print) on warmth: perceived effort and psychological closeness. Third, it identifies the quality of core service as a boundary condition for the effect of handwritten communication. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|