ServiceFriday: Sense of Humor – Humor’s Impact on Consumer Behavior

Rodney Dangerfield, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock all have one thing in common – other than being some of this author’s all-time favorite stand-up comedians – and that commonality is that people flock(ed) to them. But even more recent comedians such as Kevin Hart have also had droves of people come see them. In fact, Hart performed in-front of a sold out crowd at Lincoln Financial Field (home to the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles) which was staggering considering that show marked the first time a comedian ever headlined an NFL stadium.

ServiceFriday: Refrain from Referral? Behavior in Referral Rewards Programs

Referral reward programs (RRPs) are applied by firms to use existing customers to recommend a firm’s service to friends, family and potential new customers. Having become ubiquitous among the service industry, current research on RRPs is far from exhaustive as most studies on them focus on customers’ intention to refer instead of their actual referral behavior. RRPs are only effective when a referral is completed by an inductor and a new customer has purchased the service and subsequently become an inductee.

ServiceFriday: All About Preference: Non-Beneficiary Reactions to Discretionary Preferential Treatment

The green-eyed monster that the character Iago described in Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy is really a metaphor for the building jealousy of Iago’s “friend” Othello. That green-eyed monster has a close cousin (the blue-toed beast?) known as envy. A common way envy enters one’s life is by observing preferential treatment given to others, specifically like the discretionary preferential treatment (DPT) often found in the hospitality industry.

ServiceFriday: Not Slick Enough: How Customers Perceive Weight Discrimination

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, a little over 70% of the U.S. population is overweight and the World Health Organization noted that in 2018 the worldwide overweight population doubled between 1980 and now to a staggering 1.9 billion overweight adults. To put that number into perspective, the planet’s population is currently around 7.7 billion people. But with the overweight population growing, that doesn’t necessarily mean that discrimination has gone down.

ServiceFriday: Smart to Be Skeptical? Why Consumers Resist Smart Services

Shortly after arriving at ASU, I met one of my most quirkiest and hilarious friends who also happens to be Sparky. Obviously I cannot divulge the identity of our favorite Sun Devil, but I will let you know one thing about him: when he’s not sporting the stylish pitchfork, he wears an Apple watch. At first, I was a bit baffled by this because I was skeptical of the watch’s performance and the price tag that with came with it as I usually am with new smart devices.

ServiceFriday: We All Just Want to be Part of the In-Crowd

The need for social relationships and a feeling of belonging is at the heart of our most innate desires as human beings. Every act we perform in our daily lives is in some way affected by what has been determined to be our role in society and how we feel we must act to maintain that role and our relationships with others. However, little research has been conducted into how this desire affects consumer behavior. Does the fear of social exclusion cause us as consumers to spend our money a certain way? And if so, to what extent?

ServiceFriday: Eye of the Beholder – How Beauty Impacts Customer Behavior

Gone are the days of Carl’s Jr. producing commercials with scantily clad women pretending to eat their burgers by taking bites the size of which would make NFL offensive lineman Aaron Donald impressed. Carl’s Jr. may have been criticized for choosing to use the “beautiful is good” mantra as a focus for their advertisement strategy but plenty of service providers use it as well. But is there any empirical evidence to support this claim that more attractive service providers equate to more positive customer responses?

ServiceFriday: Who is Blamed in a Service Failure?

When a customer reacts negatively to a service failure, how harmful is it for another customer or outside observer to view this reaction? Will the customer on the outside of the interaction attribute the blame to the service provider or to the customer involved? And what factors determine how they choose to place their blame?

ServiceFriday: How Do Consumers Feel About Rebranding?

Over the years, certain well-known brand names have become synonymous with the product or service they deliver, such as Netflix, Kleenex, Q-Tips, and Scotch Tape. Consumers become attached and place feelings of loyalty to not only these products, but to the names. What happens to this loyalty and willingness to buy when a company chooses to change their brand name however? There can be many risks involved, so before rebranding, companies must determine how customer attitudes toward their service or product will change, and which factors will impact this change.

ServiceFriday: The Benefits of In-Store Sampling

We all love to shop at stores like Costco, where samples can be found throughout the aisles for us to enjoy while perusing. Many other grocery and retail stores have taken up this practice as well with the goal to increase customer sales and store loyalty. While this may be an effective strategy to convince customers to purchase a product in the immediate moment however, how effective is this in the long-run?