Self-Service Operations at Retail Stores: The Role of Inter-Customer Interactions

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Li, Mei; Choi, Thomas Y.; Rabinovich, Elliot; Crawford, Aaron
• 署名单位: Lehigh University; Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe; Korea University; Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe
• 刊物名称: PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1059-1478
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1937-5956.2012.01321.x
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 888-914
• 关键词: inter-customer interactions; self-service terminals; service quality; repurchase intention; ATTRIBUTION THEORY

摘要

Inter-customer interactions are important to the operation of self-services in retail settings. More specifically, when self-service terminals are used as part of customers' checkout processes in retail operations without the explicit involvement of retailers as the direct service providers, inter-customer interactions become a significant managerial issue. In this article, we examine the impact of inter-customer interactions at retail self-service terminals on customers' service quality perceptions and repeat purchase intentions at retail stores. We conduct a scenario-based experimental design (N=674) using a 2x2 factorial design in which inter-customer interactions are divided into positive vs. negative and occur during the waiting or during the actual transaction stages of self-services at a retail store. We use attribution theory to develop the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that, through their interactions, fellow customers can exert influences on a focal customer's quality perceptions and repeat purchasing intentions toward a retail store. Furthermore, these influences were impacted by how customers attribute blame or assign responsibility toward the retail store. Service operations managers should leverage these interactions by designing into self-service settings the capacities and interfaces that are best suited for customers' co-production of their self-service experiences.