The impact of involvement on key service relationships

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to report a study that focuses on the moderating role of involvement in the relationships between customer contact employees' customer orientation and service quality perceptions and satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 869 consumers is drawn from four different service providers, scale measures are validated via confirmatory factor analysis and a conceptual model is tested using non‐monotonic moderated regression analysis.FindingsHigher levels of involvement lead to greater levels of consumer loyalty and a lower need for scarce marketing resources. Hence, involvement does play a significant moderating role; in most cases the relationships are stronger for consumers with higher involvement.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are generalizable only to the four industries investigated.Practical implicationsRelative to customers with low levels of involvement, managers must be sure to motivate their employees to work with customers to help solve their problems and thus enhance the level of involvement. Conversely, for highly involved customers, contact employees must be aware that they may not play as significant a role in the overall purchase experience as the consumer feels they (the consumer) are an “expert” relative to the products offered. In such cases, customer‐oriented employees' role is to be willing to play a supporting and less important role in a customer's purchase decision.Originality/valueWhile many studies have investigated service quality and satisfaction, the research represents the first effort to determine whether the relationship between these two variables differs based on a consumer characteristic; in this case, involvement.