Services Marketing 7e, Global Edition

Chapter 2:
Consumer Behavior
in a Services Context

Slide © 2010 by Lovelock & Wirtz Services Marketing 7/e Chapter 2 – Page 1
 Overview Of Chapter 2

Customer Decision Making: Pre-purchase Stage

The Three-Stage Model of
Service Consumption

Service Encounter Stage

Post-encounter Stage

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 Definition : Consumer Behavior

 Consumer Behavior :

Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or

organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, and
dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy
needs and the impacts that these processes have on the
consumer and society.

Slide © 2010 by Lovelock & Wirtz Services Marketing 7/e Chapter 2 – Page 3
 Pre-purchase Stage

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 Pre-purchase Stage - Overview

Pre-purchase Stage
 Customers seek solutions to
aroused needs
 Evaluating a service may be
difficult
 Uncertainty about outcomes
Increases perceived risk
Service Encounter  What risk reduction strategies can
Stage service suppliers develop?
 Understanding customers’ service
expectations
 Components of customer
expectations
Post-encounter Stage  Making a service purchase
decision

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 The pre- purchase process of
consumers in services

Evaluation of predicted
Need
Information quality performance Service Expectations
Arousal Search
Evaluation of alternatives

Knowledge

Internal External Purchase Decision

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 Need Arousal

Decision to buy or use a service is triggered (caused) by

need arousal

Consumers are then motivated to find a solution for their

need

Courtesy of Masterfile Corporation

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 Information Search

 Need arousal leads to attempts to find a solution

 Evoked(suggested) set – a set of products and brands that

a consumer considers during the decision-making process
– that is derived from past experiences or external sources

 Alternatives then need to be evaluated before a final

decision is made

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 Evaluating Alternatives –
Service Attributes

 High in Search Attributes(quality) help customers evaluate a

product before purchase
 E.g., type of food, location, type of restaurant and price

 High in Experience Attributes cannot be evaluated before

purchase
 The consumer will not know how much she/he will enjoy the food,
the service, and the atmosphere until the actual experience

 High in Credence Attributes are those that customers find

impossible to evaluate confidently even after purchase and
consumption
 E.g., hygiene(cleanliness) conditions of the kitchen and the
healthiness of the cooking ingredients (elements)
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 How Product Attributes Affect
Ease of Evaluation

Most Goods Most Services

Easy Difficult
To Evaluate To evaluate

Clothing Restaurant Meals Computer Repair

Chair Lawn Fertilizer Education

Motor Vehicle Haircut Legal Services

Foods Entertainment Complex Surgery

High In High In High In

Search Experience Credence
Attributes Attributes Attributes

Source: Adapted from Valarie A. Zeithaml , “How Consumer Evaluation Processes Differ Between Goods & Services,” in J.H. Donelly and W. R. George, Marketing of
Services (Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1981)
Slide © 2010 by Lovelock & Wirtz Services Marketing 7/e Chapter 2 – Page 10
 Components of Customer
Expectations

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 Purchase Decision

 Purchase Decision: Possible alternatives are compared and

evaluated, whereby the best option is selected
 Simple if perceived(suppose) risks are low and alternatives are
clear
 Complex when trade-offs increase

 Trade- offs are often involved: “A balance achieved between two desirable but
incompatible features”; a compromise.

 After making a decision, the consumer moves into the service encounter stage

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 Service Encounter Stage

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 Service Encounter Stage - Overview

Pre-purchase Stage ● Service encounters range from high-

to low-contact

● Understanding the servuction

system

Service Encounter ● Theater as a metaphor for service

Stage delivery: An integrative perspective

 Service facilities

 Personnel

Post-encounter Stage  Role and script theories

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 Service Encounter Stage

 Service encounter – a period of time during which a

customer interacts directly with the service provider
 Might be brief or extend over a period of time

 Models and frameworks:

1. “Moments of Truth” – importance of managing touchpoints
2. High/low contact model – extent and nature of contact points
3. Servuction model – variations of interactions
4. Theater metaphor (symbol) – “staging” service performances

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 Moments of Truth

“We could say that the perceived quality is realized at the moment of truth, when
the service provider and the service customer confront one another in the
arena(ground, stadium). At that moment they are very much on their own… It is
the skill, the motivation, and the tools employed by the firm’s representative and
the expectations and behavior of the client which together will create the service
delivery process.” Richard Normann

Web Define: A time when a person or thing is tested, a decision has to be

made, or a crisis has to be faced.

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 Moments of Truth :

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 Distinctions between High-Contact
and Low-Contact Services

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 Service Encounters Range from
High-Contact to Low-Contact

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 The Servuction System:
Service Production and Delivery

 Servuction System: visible front stage and invisible

backstage

 Service Operations
 Technical core where inputs are processed and service elements
created
 Contact people
 Inanimate environment

 Service Delivery
 Where “final assembly” of service elements takes place and service is
delivered
 Includes customer interactions with operations and other customers

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 The Servuction System

Source: Adapted and expanded from an original concept by Eric Langeard and Pierre Eiglier

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 Theater(Hall) as a Metaphor(symbol)
for Service Delivery

William Shakespeare
As You Like It

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 Theatrical Metaphor:
an Integrative Perspective

Good metaphor(symbol) as service delivery is a series of

events that customers experience as a performance

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 Implications(not expressed) of Customer Participation in
Service Delivery

 Greater need for information/training

 Help customers to perform well, get desired results

 Customers should be given a realistic service preview in

advance of service delivery
 This allows them to have a clear idea of their expected role and
their script in this whole experience
 Manages expectations and emotions

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 Post-Encounter Stage

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 Customer Satisfaction with
Service Experience

 Satisfaction: attitude-like judgment following a service

purchase or series of service interactions
 Whereby customers have expectations prior to consumption,
observe service performance, compare it to expectations

 Satisfaction judgments are based on the below comparison

 Positive disconfirmation: (if the service is better than expected)
 Confirmation : (if it is as expected)
 Negative disconfirmation : ( If it is worse than expectation)

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 Customer Delight(enjoyment):
Going Beyond Satisfaction

 Research shows that delight is a function of three

components
 Unexpectedly high levels of performance
 Arousal (e.g., surprise, excitement)
 Positive affect (e.g., pleasure, joy, or happiness)

 Strategic links exist between customer satisfaction and

corporate performance
 By creating more value for customers (increased satisfaction), the
firm creates more value for the owners

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 Customer Delight:
Going Beyond Satisfaction

 Best Practice in Action 2.1:

Turkish Delight: Back-Up
Company Offers Customers
Surprisingly Innovative
Solutions
 Provided excellent customer
service whatever the time
and wherever the place.

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 Summary

Pre-purchase
Stage

Service Encounter
Stage

Post-
encounterStage

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