Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

7-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Business Administration

First Advisor

Dr. Chiquan Guo

Second Advisor

Dr. Michael S. Minor

Third Advisor

Dr. Pramod Iyer

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the effects of enforcement and/or unenforcement of “Fine Print” on consumers’ reactions. “Fine Print” is defined as both the explicit and implicit conditions under which the product/service contract waives firm responsibility and accountability toward unsuccessful product/service experience, and outcome or lack of customer satisfaction with the same. Study 1 examined the interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Company Size” on trust, satisfaction, repurchase intention, switching intentions, and word-of-mouth in a retailer context. The results revealed significant interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Company Size” for satisfaction and repurchase intention, where satisfaction and repurchase intention are higher in case of the large and national company when “Fine Print” is unenforced, compared to when “Fine Print” is enforced. Conversely, satisfaction and repurchase intention are higher in case of small and local company when “Fine Print” is enforced, compared to when “Fine Print” is unenforced.

Study 2 replicated the experimental design of Study 1 to examine the effect of delight as a mediator in a retailer context and found significant indirect effects of delight when fine print is enforced/unenforced.

Study 3 examined the interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Company Size” in an airline context. Significant two-way interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Frontline Employee Explanation” were observed for negative word-of-mouth, where negative word-of-mouth was higher when fine print was enforced, and also when frontline employee did not explain the terms and conditions to consumers. Whereas, negative word-of-mouth was higher when fine print was unenforced, and also when frontline employee explained the terms and conditions to consumers.

Study 4 examined the interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Company Size” on trust, satisfaction, repurchase intention, switching intentions, and word-of-mouth, as well as examined the role of delight as a mediator in a banking context. Significant two-way interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Frontline Employee Competency” and between “Frontline Employee Sympathy” and “Frontline Employee Competency” were observed for switching intentions and word-of-mouth respectively. The mediating effects of delight were also significant for “Fine Print” and “Frontline Employee Sympathy”.

Comments

Copyright 2020 Sudipto Sarkar. All Rights Reserved.

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