WHY do YOU care about me? The impact of retailers’ customer care activities on customer orientation perceptions and store patronage intentions

Abstract

The present research conceptualizes customer care activities as the process through which retailers satisfy consumers' needs by means of a set of interconnected services and address the role of warmth and competence perceptions, as well as consumers' inferred motives, in determining the downstream effects of care management activities on consumers' perceptions and intentions. The results from two experiments show that the number and framing of customer care activities affect customer orientation perceptions (Study 1) and that their fit with the overall retailer's image and the level of professionalism required to carry them out affects store patronage intentions (Study 2).