Impact of shared history on customers’ service evaluations

Abstract

This paper investigates how shared history affects customers' cultural and personal values and impacts their perception of services’ responsiveness and satisfaction in a high-contact service setting (retail banking) from two countries with a shared history (France & Lebanon). Data were collected from 171 French and 141 Lebanese bank customers. Findings reveal that both cultural and personal values moderate the relationship between responsiveness and satisfaction, and that their impact is independent of each other. Further, findings show that in countries with a shared history, existing cultural models in literature may not be detailed enough to explain cross-cultural differences and similarities.