“Going the extra mile”: an integrative model of customer delight

Soyeon Kim · Mi‐Ran Kim · Laee Choi

20 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Customer Service Quality and Loyalty Digital Marketing and Social Media Service and Product Innovation

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to develop and test an integrative model that examines the effects of customization and perceived employee authenticity on customer delight, which in turn influences customers’ willingness to recommend (WTR) and willingness to pay a premium (WTPP) as outcomes in a hotel context. The moderating role of online review valence in this process is also examined. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a 2 (customization: low vs high) × 2 (perceived employee authenticity: low vs high) × 2 (online review valence: negative vs positive) experimental design. A total of 409 US consumers were recruited and randomly assigned to a hotel check-in scenario. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings Findings confirmed the role of customer delight in mediating customization and employee authenticity on WTR and WTPP. In addition, perceived employee authenticity was a stronger driver of customer delight for consumers exposed to negative online reviews than for those exposed to positive reviews. Practical implications The findings provide useful guidance in designing efficient service strategies for generating a delightful customer experience. Hotel practitioners should provide customized services and manage employees in a way that helps them deliver authentic services that achieve customer delight. Understanding that customer expectations formed through online reviews play a significant role in service evaluations, hotel managers make an extra effort to monitor online reviews and manage customer expectations. Originality/value Although existing research suggests that customer delight plays an important role in positive consumer outcomes, there is still potential space to explore the theoretical mediational mechanisms underlying this effect and the moderating effect on this relationship between customer delight and consumer responses. This study contributes by testing the moderating impact of online review valence and the mediating impact of customer delight.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 20 citations exist upstream.

References

1981Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error 2018When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM 2004Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: What motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the Internet?2009Using PLS Path Modeling for Assessing Hierarchical Construct Models: Guidelines and Empirical Illustration1 2003WHEN "THE SHOW MUST GO ON": SURFACE ACTING AND DEEP ACTING AS DETERMINANTS OF EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION AND PEER-RATED SERVICE DELIVERY.1997Customer delight: Foundations, findings, and managerial insight 1998Impulse buying: Modeling its precursors 2003Developing and validating measures of facets of customer-based brand equity

Cited by

2024A methodological exploration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) for efficient qualitative analysis on hotel guests’ delightful experiences 2024How do customers react to preferential treatment? An affective events theory and time-lagged survey

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.