Online reviews have become increasingly important to both consumers and businesses and, as a result, have attracted considerable research attention. However, all reviews are not created equal as consumers may differ in their propensities to leave reviews, often as a function of their satisfaction. To ensure a more representative customer voice, companies often utilize different strategies to moderate the biases in online reviews. The strategies deployed by many hospitality firms differ dramatically in both how reviews are collected and where they are posted. This study investigates four review-collection strategies of major hospitality companies and analyzes how each strategy affects review ratings and length. We find that the effort required to post a review impacts review characteristics. We show that reviews collected through self-motivation methods tend to be lower rated and longer, whereas reviews solicited from companies through poststay emails tend to exhibit different characteristics.
{"title":"How Firm Strategies Affect Consumer Biases in Online Reviews","authors":"Frances Xinhua Wang, C. Anderson","doi":"10.1287/serv.2023.0316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2023.0316","url":null,"abstract":"Online reviews have become increasingly important to both consumers and businesses and, as a result, have attracted considerable research attention. However, all reviews are not created equal as consumers may differ in their propensities to leave reviews, often as a function of their satisfaction. To ensure a more representative customer voice, companies often utilize different strategies to moderate the biases in online reviews. The strategies deployed by many hospitality firms differ dramatically in both how reviews are collected and where they are posted. This study investigates four review-collection strategies of major hospitality companies and analyzes how each strategy affects review ratings and length. We find that the effort required to post a review impacts review characteristics. We show that reviews collected through self-motivation methods tend to be lower rated and longer, whereas reviews solicited from companies through poststay emails tend to exhibit different characteristics.","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78326015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Call for Papers: Service Science Special Issue: Navigating the Use of Technology in Service Marketing","authors":"Haitao (Tony) Cui, A. Xu, Ting Zhu","doi":"10.1287/serv.2023.0319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2023.0319","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73858356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study explores the nonlinear modeling of customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty for resource allocation strategies that promote efficient loyalty programs. We first introduce global models to reflect several important nonlinear characteristics, particularly (a) a saturation-attainable limit of effectiveness, (b) nonconstant marginal returns, and (c) asymmetric responses between satisfied and dissatisfied customers. In the proposed models, we put forth the joint use of two types of mixture models to deal with different levels of heterogeneity. Based on the model best supported among alternatives in the literature, we targeted customers using expected incremental loyalty, which is derived from the joint use of an estimated response curve of loyalty to satisfaction and an empirical distribution of CS scores. Then, we evaluate the efficiency of loyalty programs under the assumption of full and limited access to customers and subsequently derive managerial implications. For instance, through a counterfactual simulation of the models for the three industries, we find that improving the perceived quality in the mobile communication industry may have a greater effect on loyalty than in the hotel and convenience store industries because of its higher switching cost. Funding: N. Terui acknowledges funding by JSPS KAKENHI [Grants (A)17H01001 and (A)22H00056]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0313 .
{"title":"Modeling Customer Satisfaction’s Impact on Loyalty: Insights for Customer-Centric Resource Allocation","authors":"Yinxing Li, Aijing Xing, Nobuhiko Terui","doi":"10.1287/serv.2022.0313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0313","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores the nonlinear modeling of customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty for resource allocation strategies that promote efficient loyalty programs. We first introduce global models to reflect several important nonlinear characteristics, particularly (a) a saturation-attainable limit of effectiveness, (b) nonconstant marginal returns, and (c) asymmetric responses between satisfied and dissatisfied customers. In the proposed models, we put forth the joint use of two types of mixture models to deal with different levels of heterogeneity. Based on the model best supported among alternatives in the literature, we targeted customers using expected incremental loyalty, which is derived from the joint use of an estimated response curve of loyalty to satisfaction and an empirical distribution of CS scores. Then, we evaluate the efficiency of loyalty programs under the assumption of full and limited access to customers and subsequently derive managerial implications. For instance, through a counterfactual simulation of the models for the three industries, we find that improving the perceived quality in the mobile communication industry may have a greater effect on loyalty than in the hotel and convenience store industries because of its higher switching cost. Funding: N. Terui acknowledges funding by JSPS KAKENHI [Grants (A)17H01001 and (A)22H00056]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0313 .","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83669600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yiming Fan, Jingqi Wang, Jingui Xie, Yugang Yu, Liqing Cao
This paper studies the impact of bundled payment policy on healthcare cost, efficiency, quality, and shift of care. Using insurance claim data, we empirically offer a more nuanced understanding of the impact of bundled payment policy on hospital operations and provide new evidence from China. Our evidence suggests that transitioning from fee-for-service to bundled payment reimbursement resulted in declines in treatment costs and length of stay. Along with that decline, there was an increase in planned revisits to outpatient clinics, which indicates a shift of care from the inpatient to the outpatient setting, as well as a rise in unplanned revisits, indicating a decline in service quality. The increase in readmission rate to inpatient wards is very small and not statistically significant. In addition, we discuss the design and implementation of bundled payment. Our results imply that careful bundle design is vital to encouraging providers to implement the new program without sacrificing quality. Funding: This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72091215/72091210, 71921001], the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China [Grant HKU 17500217], and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant 2040000018].
{"title":"The Impact of Bundled Payment on Hospital Operations","authors":"Yiming Fan, Jingqi Wang, Jingui Xie, Yugang Yu, Liqing Cao","doi":"10.1287/serv.2022.0314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0314","url":null,"abstract":"This paper studies the impact of bundled payment policy on healthcare cost, efficiency, quality, and shift of care. Using insurance claim data, we empirically offer a more nuanced understanding of the impact of bundled payment policy on hospital operations and provide new evidence from China. Our evidence suggests that transitioning from fee-for-service to bundled payment reimbursement resulted in declines in treatment costs and length of stay. Along with that decline, there was an increase in planned revisits to outpatient clinics, which indicates a shift of care from the inpatient to the outpatient setting, as well as a rise in unplanned revisits, indicating a decline in service quality. The increase in readmission rate to inpatient wards is very small and not statistically significant. In addition, we discuss the design and implementation of bundled payment. Our results imply that careful bundle design is vital to encouraging providers to implement the new program without sacrificing quality. Funding: This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72091215/72091210, 71921001], the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China [Grant HKU 17500217], and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant 2040000018].","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89338363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A specific service type is applied by most one-way carsharing operators, either station-based or free-floating, which depends on whether users are required to pick up and return vehicles in fixed parking lots. However, both of them have inherent limitations. The station-based carsharing system encounters the weakness of low parking-space utilization, whereas the free-floating system needs to face high parking and relocation costs. To overcome the limitations of single-type carsharing systems, this paper proposes an integrated system to apply the two types in different parts of the service area. A mixed-integer linear-programming model is established to maximize the operator profit, considering both strategic decisions of service type and operational decisions of relocation and trip selection. Despite the fact that the model can be solved by the CPLEX solver, it is limited by excessive memory usage and too long solving time in large-scale cases. To enhance the solving feasibility of the proposed model, a heuristic algorithm is proposed to effectively iterate feasible strategic options and solve the operational subproblem. The numerical results of the case study show that the proposed algorithm can achieve comparable objectives with the CPLEX solver in a much shorter computational time. Through system comparison, the integrated system achieves a larger profit and higher demand-fulfillment rate, compared with the single station-based or free-floating system. History: This paper has been accepted for the Service Science Special Issue on Innovation in Transportation-Enabled Urban Services.
{"title":"Station-Based or Free-Floating? An Integrated Carsharing System with Dual Service Types","authors":"Hua Ke, Yutong Mo","doi":"10.1287/serv.2022.0312","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0312","url":null,"abstract":"A specific service type is applied by most one-way carsharing operators, either station-based or free-floating, which depends on whether users are required to pick up and return vehicles in fixed parking lots. However, both of them have inherent limitations. The station-based carsharing system encounters the weakness of low parking-space utilization, whereas the free-floating system needs to face high parking and relocation costs. To overcome the limitations of single-type carsharing systems, this paper proposes an integrated system to apply the two types in different parts of the service area. A mixed-integer linear-programming model is established to maximize the operator profit, considering both strategic decisions of service type and operational decisions of relocation and trip selection. Despite the fact that the model can be solved by the CPLEX solver, it is limited by excessive memory usage and too long solving time in large-scale cases. To enhance the solving feasibility of the proposed model, a heuristic algorithm is proposed to effectively iterate feasible strategic options and solve the operational subproblem. The numerical results of the case study show that the proposed algorithm can achieve comparable objectives with the CPLEX solver in a much shorter computational time. Through system comparison, the integrated system achieves a larger profit and higher demand-fulfillment rate, compared with the single station-based or free-floating system. History: This paper has been accepted for the Service Science Special Issue on Innovation in Transportation-Enabled Urban Services.","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80873474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the logistics operations of instant grocery delivery services. Therefore, we introduce the instant delivery problem (IDP) to replicate and examine two widely adopted strategies in the rapid delivery market: the personal shopper system (PSS) and the inventory owned delivery (IOD) system. In the PSS, couriers visit affiliated brick-and-mortar stores in the delivery area to pick up and purchase ordered products and then deliver them to customers. In the IOD system, couriers collect products from a single distribution center, or so-called dark store, in which the platform manages the inventory. Even though a PSS strategy is asset light because of the utilization of existing retailers in the area, maintaining a good level of on-time instant deliveries with the PSS is more complex than with IOD. This is because the PSS requires deciding which store to purchase ordered goods from, and picking and shopping at stores needs to be considered in the real-time decision process. We propose a tailored rolling horizon framework that utilizes column generation to browse updated delivery plans for arriving customer orders. Computational studies both in real life–inspired settings and in case studies on selected urban areas show that the PSS is a highly competitive strategy compared with IOD, particularly when dealing with small-sized customer orders. We observe that the performance of the PSS is robust when varying the delivery service time frame. The case studies also suggest that the PSS becomes even more competitive in areas where the retail store density is high. History: Special Issue—Innovation in Transportation-Enabled Urban Services. Funding: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72150410444] to J.P. van der Gaast. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0310 .
本文探讨了食品杂货即时配送服务的物流运作。因此，我们引入即时配送问题(IDP)来复制和检验快速配送市场中两种广泛采用的策略:个人购物者系统(PSS)和库存自有配送系统(IOD)。在PSS中，快递员访问配送区域的附属实体店，提取和购买订购的产品，然后将其交付给客户。在IOD系统中，快递员从一个配送中心或所谓的暗店收集产品，平台在暗店管理库存。尽管由于利用了该地区现有的零售商，PSS策略是轻资产策略，但使用PSS保持良好的准时即时交付水平比使用IOD要复杂得多。这是因为PSS需要决定从哪个商店购买订购的商品，并且在实时决策过程中需要考虑在商店中挑选和购物。我们提出了一个定制的滚动地平线框架，该框架利用列生成来浏览到达客户订单的更新交付计划。在现实生活环境和选定城市地区的案例研究中进行的计算研究表明，与IOD相比，PSS是一种极具竞争力的策略，特别是在处理小额客户订单时。我们观察到PSS在改变交付服务时间框架时的性能是鲁棒的。案例研究还表明，PSS在零售商店密度高的地区更具竞争力。历史:特刊——交通驱动型城市服务的创新。基金资助:国家自然科学基金项目[Grant 72150410444]资助对象:J.P. van der Gaast。补充材料:电子伴侣可在https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0310上获得。
{"title":"Personal Shopper Systems in Last-Mile Logistics","authors":"Jelmer P. van der Gaast, Alp Muzaffer Arslan","doi":"10.1287/serv.2022.0310","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0310","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the logistics operations of instant grocery delivery services. Therefore, we introduce the instant delivery problem (IDP) to replicate and examine two widely adopted strategies in the rapid delivery market: the personal shopper system (PSS) and the inventory owned delivery (IOD) system. In the PSS, couriers visit affiliated brick-and-mortar stores in the delivery area to pick up and purchase ordered products and then deliver them to customers. In the IOD system, couriers collect products from a single distribution center, or so-called dark store, in which the platform manages the inventory. Even though a PSS strategy is asset light because of the utilization of existing retailers in the area, maintaining a good level of on-time instant deliveries with the PSS is more complex than with IOD. This is because the PSS requires deciding which store to purchase ordered goods from, and picking and shopping at stores needs to be considered in the real-time decision process. We propose a tailored rolling horizon framework that utilizes column generation to browse updated delivery plans for arriving customer orders. Computational studies both in real life–inspired settings and in case studies on selected urban areas show that the PSS is a highly competitive strategy compared with IOD, particularly when dealing with small-sized customer orders. We observe that the performance of the PSS is robust when varying the delivery service time frame. The case studies also suggest that the PSS becomes even more competitive in areas where the retail store density is high. History: Special Issue—Innovation in Transportation-Enabled Urban Services. Funding: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72150410444] to J.P. van der Gaast. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0310 .","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76747934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christopher S. Tang, Onesun Steve Yoo, Yufei Huang
Several industries that provide services to customers (e.g., public utility and transportation) charge higher prices during peak hours to smooth demand. With technologies (e.g., electronic shelf labels) enabling retailers to change prices easily within each day, should supermarkets use peak-hour pricing? To examine this question formally, we introduce a stylized duopoly model in the presence of “negative externality,” where firms compete for congestion-averse customers. We characterize how customers endogenously segment themselves regarding when and where to shop, and then use the equilibrium outcomes to examine whether the firms should implement peak-hour pricing for varying types of customer flexibility and competitive asymmetry. Our analysis shows that, if customers are not flexible in their store choice, then both firms would always use peak-hour pricing. However, if store choice flexibility is present, then firms’ decisions depend on the competitive asymmetry as follows. If one firm has a clear competitive advantage (in terms of value or price) over the other firm, then the dominant firm will use peak-hour pricing, whereas the other firm will not. Otherwise, both firms will use peak-hour pricing if they engage in symmetric competition (in terms of similar value and price), or neither firm will use it if they engage in differentiated competition (high value versus low cost). Through our analysis of different extensions, we find that a firm’s ability to set its regular price would dampen the effect of peak-period pricing. Also, we obtain consistent results when there is heterogeneity in customer valuation and customer congestion aversion level.
{"title":"Peak-Hour Pricing Under Negative Externality: Impact of Customer Flexibility and Competitive Asymmetry","authors":"Christopher S. Tang, Onesun Steve Yoo, Yufei Huang","doi":"10.1287/serv.2022.0309","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0309","url":null,"abstract":"Several industries that provide services to customers (e.g., public utility and transportation) charge higher prices during peak hours to smooth demand. With technologies (e.g., electronic shelf labels) enabling retailers to change prices easily within each day, should supermarkets use peak-hour pricing? To examine this question formally, we introduce a stylized duopoly model in the presence of “negative externality,” where firms compete for congestion-averse customers. We characterize how customers endogenously segment themselves regarding when and where to shop, and then use the equilibrium outcomes to examine whether the firms should implement peak-hour pricing for varying types of customer flexibility and competitive asymmetry. Our analysis shows that, if customers are not flexible in their store choice, then both firms would always use peak-hour pricing. However, if store choice flexibility is present, then firms’ decisions depend on the competitive asymmetry as follows. If one firm has a clear competitive advantage (in terms of value or price) over the other firm, then the dominant firm will use peak-hour pricing, whereas the other firm will not. Otherwise, both firms will use peak-hour pricing if they engage in symmetric competition (in terms of similar value and price), or neither firm will use it if they engage in differentiated competition (high value versus low cost). Through our analysis of different extensions, we find that a firm’s ability to set its regular price would dampen the effect of peak-period pricing. Also, we obtain consistent results when there is heterogeneity in customer valuation and customer congestion aversion level.","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81383489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite the increasing attention being given to cross-channel integration services, an understanding of the impact of cross-channel integration on customer experience is still lacking. This study fills this gap. With a focus on retail brand experience, this study demonstrates that cross-channel integration impacts customer experience and further results in changes in perception and behavioral intention. A conceptual model that illustrates the customers’ psychological mechanism responding to cross-channel integration was developed. To test the model, a scenario-based online experiment was conducted. The results show that perceived channel integration impacts retail brand experience, which in turn impacts perceived service convenience, satisfaction, and patronage intention. Creating a better experience is a key challenge for retailers to ensure customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Our results show that cross-channel integration services can play a pivotal role in the shaping of retail brand experience in today’s competitive retail environment that continuously evolves, owing to digital technology. The findings of this study add valuable new knowledge to the growing omnichannel retailing literature and provide practical insights to develop omnichannel retail services.
{"title":"Cross-Channel Integration and Customer Experience in Omnichannel Retail Services","authors":"Kyunghwan Chung, Kyung Wha Oh, Minjeong Kim","doi":"10.1287/serv.2022.0308","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0308","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the increasing attention being given to cross-channel integration services, an understanding of the impact of cross-channel integration on customer experience is still lacking. This study fills this gap. With a focus on retail brand experience, this study demonstrates that cross-channel integration impacts customer experience and further results in changes in perception and behavioral intention. A conceptual model that illustrates the customers’ psychological mechanism responding to cross-channel integration was developed. To test the model, a scenario-based online experiment was conducted. The results show that perceived channel integration impacts retail brand experience, which in turn impacts perceived service convenience, satisfaction, and patronage intention. Creating a better experience is a key challenge for retailers to ensure customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Our results show that cross-channel integration services can play a pivotal role in the shaping of retail brand experience in today’s competitive retail environment that continuously evolves, owing to digital technology. The findings of this study add valuable new knowledge to the growing omnichannel retailing literature and provide practical insights to develop omnichannel retail services.","PeriodicalId":46249,"journal":{"name":"Service Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87503137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：