Search Results (18)

The proliferation of digital platforms and interactive technologies has transformed the way service providers engage with their customers, particularly in emerging economies, where digital inclusion is an ongoing process. This study explores the relationship between omnichannel strategies and customer satisfaction, conceptualized here as a proxy for Quality of Experience (QoE), within a smart service station located in a digitally underserved region. Grounded in customer journey theory and the expectancy–disconfirmation paradigm, the study investigates how data integration, digital payment systems, and logistical flexibility—key components of intelligent e-service systems—influence user perceptions and satisfaction. Based on a correlational design with a non-probabilistic sample of 108 customers, the findings reveal a moderate association between overall omnichannel integration and satisfaction (ρ = 0.555, p < 0.01). However, a multiple regression analysis indicates that no individual dimension significantly predicts satisfaction (adjusted R² = 0.002). These results suggest that while users value system integration and interaction flexibility, no single technical feature drives satisfaction independently. The study contributes to the growing field of intelligent human-centric service systems by contextualizing QoE and digital inclusion within emerging markets and by emphasizing the importance of perceptual factors in ICT-enabled environments. Full article

The study investigates how information asymmetry affects customer satisfaction in the tourism industry by examining trust and perceived value as mediating factors. The research implements an integrated model to test and prove information asymmetry’s direct and mediating effects on customer satisfaction by examining the literature gap. The research used a quantitative approach based on opinion polls distributed to 408 customers of hotels, tourism companies, and travel agencies who were in Egypt. SmartPLS 3 software implemented the data analysis process using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Previous studies have developed scales to measure information asymmetry and its related constructs, including customer trust, perceived value, and customer satisfaction. Multiple tests showed that the measurement tools possess both reliability and validity. Results strongly support all hypotheses: information asymmetry demonstrated significant direct negative effects on customer satisfaction (β = −0.187), trust (β = −0.520), and perceived value (β = −0.453). Conversely, customer satisfaction received significant positive direct effects from both trust (β = 0.273) and perceived value (β = 0.263). Importantly, trust (indirect effect β = −0.142) and perceived value (indirect effect β = −0.119) acted as powerful mediators, confirming that information asymmetry diminishes satisfaction largely by eroding these crucial factors. Crucially, the results demonstrate that the negative impact of information asymmetry on customer satisfaction is significantly mediated jointly through two parallel pathways: the erosion of customer trust and the impairment of perceived value. The research adds theoretical support to information asymmetry theory with its findings while also extending trust theory, perceived value theory, and expectancy disconfirmation theory in the field of e-commerce. E-commerce entities must establish clear communication to gain customer trust and create perceived value that helps compensate for information asymmetry to create enhanced customer loyalty and superior market position. Full article

Despite the popularity of AI-oriented e-commerce live-streaming, the service failures that can result from real-time interaction and instant transactions have not been taken seriously. This study aims to assess the failure of AI-oriented live-streaming e-commerce services and help retailers identify various risks. Based on expectancy disconfirmation theory and a stressor–strain–outcome framework, this study identified a comprehensive framework including information, functional, system, interaction, and aesthetic failures. The structural equation modeling (SEM) method is used to further examine its effect on consumers’ discontinuance behavior. Further research reveals the mediating role of consumer disappointment and emotional exhaustion, as well as the moderating role of the live-streaming platform type. These results shed light on the negative influence of AI-oriented live-streaming e-commerce service failures and contribute to the literature on live-streaming commerce, service failure, and virtual streamers. Full article

As firms increasingly engage in both corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSIR) activities, this study expands the traditional question “does it pay to do more CSR?” to explore the less-studied question “does it pay to do less CSIR?”. We employ stakeholder theory and expectancy disconfirmation theory to outline three sustainable strategies for firms to financially benefit (enlightened self-interest) from CSR/CSIR activities: proactive strategy (increasing CSR, or doing more good), rectification strategy (reducing CSIR, or doing less bad), and aggressive strategy (increasing CSR while reducing CSIR, or doing more good and less bad). Our research objective is to evaluate the financial viability of different CSR/CSIR strategies. We hypothesize that the rectification strategy will surpass the proactive approach, while anticipating that the aggressive strategy will emerge as the most financially advantageous. Our dataset consists of 12,567 firm-year observations (3422 firms) spanning 1994 to 2013, and we conduct rigorous analyses to evaluate these strategies. The findings reveal that the rectification strategy surpasses the proactive strategy, with the aggressive strategy emerging as the most advantageous. The study contributes theoretically and offers managerial insights into these results. Full article

Enterprises seeking to enhance their innovation capabilities are increasingly turning to open innovation communities (OICs), which allow them to leverage the collective knowledge and collaborative potential of external users, providing a powerful source of new and innovative ideas. Despite their potential for value co-creation, recent research suggests that value co-destruction can also occur within OICs. However, the mechanisms underlying value co-destruction in OICs have not yet been fully explored or empirically examined. To address this gap, this study employs expectancy disconfirmation theory and psychological contract theory to investigate the relationship between user expectancy disconfirmation and value co-destruction in OICs. Drawing upon data collected from a questionnaire survey of business analytics OICs, this study reveals that self-interest expectancy disconfirmation has a positive effect on value co-destruction, which is mediated by the transactional psychological contract breach. In addition, social interaction expectancy disconfirmation is found to have a positive impact on value co-destruction, which is mediated by the relational psychological contract breach. The study further reveals that self-worth expectancy disconfirmation of community users positively influences value co-destruction, which is mediated by the ideological psychological contract breach. Moreover, the study demonstrates the crucial role of perceived organizational status in moderating the ideological psychological contract breach resulting from self-worth expectancy disconfirmation. Collectively, these findings contribute valuable insights into the phenomenon of value co-destruction in OICs, and provide practical guidance for enterprises seeking to enhance the development and performance of these innovation paradigms. Full article

The present study views the personal main page on social media as a psychological home in cyberspace, since they have identical characteristics. Many young people share their lives on social media. However, a backlash is triggered among young people when parents start to use social media and attempt to participate in their children’s online activities, causing young users to migrate social media platforms. This study introduced two concepts of psychological home, self-disclosure and psychological ownership, and the research purpose aims to investigate the relationships between self-disclosure, psychological ownership, and migration intention based on the expectation-disconfirmation theory. A survey research method was used in the study. A total of 561 samples were collected through online questionnaires, and SmartPLS 4.0 was applied for analysis. The results reveal that (1) parental involvement in social media has a positive relationship with dissatisfaction; (2) disconfirmation of psychological ownership and disconfirmation of self-disclosure have a negative relationship with dissatisfaction; (3) the greater the users’ dissatisfaction with social media is, the greater the intention to migrate social medias. Full article

The success of small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) is especially important for increasing employment and economic growth that is sustainable in developing nations. SMMEs are reported to be more successful if they use particular business management strategies compared with those that do not implement such strategies. Service-learning projects (S-LPs), in the form of student-led advertising agencies (SLAAs), can assist SMME clients (community partners) with customer research, knowledge transfer and skills training, advertising, and marketing and business services, as well as provide students with practical experience. However, most research is directed at the student benefits, and few empirical studies investigate the advantages for the clients. Therefore, the main objective of this inquiry was to examine SMMEs’ satisfaction in terms of the perceived influence of a SLAA S-LP on lasting impact and business performance. A total of 107 SMME clients were surveyed via a structured questionnaire. The findings indicated that the SLAA S-LP had a significant positive influence on the lasting impact, and business efficiency, brand awareness, competitive advantage, employee motivation, customer loyalty, new customers, and sales of the participating SMMEs. Therefore, the SLAAs provided the SMMEs with low-cost marketing and advertising options that improved the performance of their businesses. Full article

Adopting expectancy–disconfirmation theory and the cycle of satisfaction, this study examined the dynamic nature of the satisfaction cycle and identified the moderating roles of satisfaction and adjusted expectations in the context of sustaining educational donations. Using a three-time-lag survey, we showed that the sequential shifts from prior expectations (T1) to satisfaction (T2) to adjusted expectations (T3) were consistent with the expectance–disconfirmation mechanism. We found that the carryover effect between prior and adjusted expectations is significantly powerful. In addition, we found that the two mediators—satisfaction and adjusted expectations—absorb the effect of prior expectations and then transfer that effect to behavioral intentions over time. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical account of the link between prior expectations–satisfaction–behavioral intentions and prior expectations–adjusted expectations–behavioral intentions during donation activities. Full article

The purpose of this study is to examine artificial intelligence (AI) dynamism and its impact on sustainability of firms, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In addition, this study investigates the moderating effects of technological and leadership support for AI technology deployment and sustainability for manufacturing and production firms. We developed a theoretical model through the lenses of expectation disconfirmation theory (EDT), technology–trust–fit (TTF) theory, contingency theory, and the knowledge contained in the existing literature. We tested the proposed theoretical model using factor-based PLS-SEM technique by analyzing data from 343 managers of SMEs. The findings of this study demonstrate that organizational characteristics, situational characteristics, technological characteristics, and individual characteristics all impacted SMEs’ deployment of AI technologies for the purpose of achieving sustainability, with technological and leadership support acting as moderators. Full article

The underlying factors of the purchase decision process of bottled mineral water have been a less studied area. The typically related attributes of consumer judgement in the case of low involvement can vary widely, ranging from price sensitivity to habits. However, assessing the role of brand reputation and trust from a sensory perception perspective is not a common approach. This paper examines the impact of trust on consumer value judgements for a frequently consumed beverage such as mineral water. Combining trust and sensory attributes with the Expectation–Disconfirmation Theory (EDT) framework provides insights into the weight of taste, trust and reputation in product evaluation. A tasting experiment was carried out using a representative systematic random sampling method. A mixed method was applied; EDT was used to analyze quantitative data and grounded theory methodology was performed in the case of qualitative data. Results indicate complete assimilation for the most preferred brand and negative contrast for less well-known brands. It can be stated that the applied methodology is suitable as a certain kind of trust measurement and also can function particularly well as a reinforcement and complement to other methodologies (e.g., neuromarketing methods). This study suggests that brand names positively influence value judgment. Origin bounded brands compared to imported brands can help companies mitigate trust issues in developing countries as they convey a particular reputation, which helps reinforce trust. Full article

Based on expectation disconfirmation theory, this study analyzes how attitudes (satisfaction and loyalty) influence interaction intention (sWOM) and, consequently, active and passive sWOM behavior. It does so by assessing the mediating role of social presence on sWOM intention and behavior. The empirical results provide several contributions. First, knowing how to increase active sWOM contributes to bridging the gap regarding how to enhance interactions between users. Second, fostering active sWOM on social commerce websites will provide companies with more positive user-generated content, since this active sWOM comes from satisfied and loyal users, and it is assumed that they will rate the product positively and report a good experience. Third, companies can benefit more from users if users interact with other users by sharing their experiences. This study sheds light on how social presence can mediate the relationship between intention and behavior, particularly when it comes to increasing active participation and brand promotion. Full article

We studied the determinants of consumer satisfaction with mobile phones on the basis of their perceived product attribute performance, and the disconfirmation of product attribute expectations. Disconfirmation refers to the discrepancy between the prior expectation about the performance of a product’s attributes, and its perceives realizations after purchase. Evaluability theory assumes that the perceived attribute performance has a larger effect on consumer satisfaction for easy-to-evaluate than for difficult-to-evaluate attributes, after product acquisition. Furthermore, we used predictions of the asymmetric evaluations of gains (product performs better than expected) and losses (product performs worse than expected) from prospect theory, in combination with evaluability theory. We studied how evaluability influences the effects of the asymmetric evaluations of both positive and negative disconfirmation of product attribute expectations on consumer satisfaction. Our empirical study included 3099 participants of Amazon Mechanical Turk. We found that negative attribute disconfirmation had a larger effect on satisfaction than positive attribute disconfirmation, which is in line with loss aversion theory. Although the perceived product attribute performance positively influenced satisfaction, we found little support for the effects of perceived attribute performance being influenced by attribute evaluability. However, our findings indicated that negative attribute disconfirmation influenced satisfaction to a greater extent for relatively difficult-to-evaluate attributes than for relatively easy-to-evaluate attributes. We discuss both theoretical and managerial implications of our findings. Full article

Drawing on expectation disconfirmation theory, this study explores the dyadic nature of omni-channel consistency on customer experience. Specifically, we propose a conceptual model that focuses on a brand’s offline channel customer experience relative to that of its online channel, and test the influences of customer experience (in)consistency on customer satisfaction, which then improves repurchase intention and word-of-mouth. The results of polynomial regressions on 265 survey respondents indicate that given omni-channel customer experience inconsistency, customers prefer consistent online and offline experiences. For omni-channel consistency at lower levels of customer experience quality, customers prefer consistency at higher levels of quality. For omni-channel inconsistency where offline customer experience quality is lower than that online, customers prefer omni-channel inconsistency, where offline customer experience quality is higher than that online. These findings produce not only theoretical contributions but also insightful suggestions for how customer experience can be taken into consideration in the promotion of a brand’s omni-channel service success. Full article

This study examined the formation of residents’ behavioral intentions to support the expansion of protected areas (PAs). A structural equation model combining the theory of planned behavior and an expectancy disconfirmation model were employed to test seven hypotheses on the influence of expectations, performance, satisfaction, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intention to support PA designation. The findings indicate that although the expectations of PA performance did not significantly influence the satisfaction from PAs, the perceived performance after the designation significantly contributed to building satisfaction, which in turn had a significant role in explaining attitudes. Furthermore, positive and significant associations of subjective norms and behavioral control with behavioral intention to support additional designation were identified. These results provide indications for PA managers and environmental agencies regarding aspects to consider when engaging in planning with local communities and appropriate ways to respond to their concerns. Full article

Ensuring access to quality social housing is a major challenge for developing countries. The problems of standardized mass housing are well-known. However, this type of provision is ubiquitously used for its advantages when addressing pressing shortages, often resulting in significant mismatches between the attributes of the housing and the requirements of the dwellers. This multidisciplinary study explores linkages between personalized development and residential satisfaction towards informing a mass personalization approach to social housing. In specific, it presents a model that formalizes this relationship using expectancy disconfirmation theory and field information. A housing survey was conducted in four estates located in Concepción, southern Chile, and complemented with environmental performance data generated with simulation software. The analysis of the results suggests that the relationship between occupants and providers (i.e., personalization as a service) can influence the build-up of expectations, while the capacity of the dwellings to meet the requirements of different households (i.e., personalization as a product) can have a significant impact on satisfaction. These outcomes are formalized with a model that acknowledges these links at different stages of occupancy and, therefore, can be used to inform the personalized development of mass social housing. Full article