Purpose -Employees have traditionally played a major role in the customer's service experience. Yet self-service technology (SST) replaces the customer-service employee experience with a customer-technology experience. This paper seeks to use a service-dominant logic lens to gain fresh insight into the consumer experience of SST. In particular, it aims to consider the resources that are integrated when consumers use SSTs, their coproduction role and what might constitute value. Design/methodology/approach -The paper presents findings from 24 semi-structured interviews that focus on the everyday experiences of consumers in using SST. Both genders and all socio-economic categories within all adult age groups from 18 to 65 þ were included. Findings -There is a danger that organizations embrace SST as an economic and efficient mechanism to "co-create" value with consumers when they are merely shifting responsibility for service production. The paper identifies risks when customers become partial employees and concludes that customers should perceive the value they gain from using SST to be at least commensurate with their co-production role.Research limitations/implications -The qualitative study was confined to the consumer perspective. Future research within organizations and among employees who support consumers using SST would extend understanding, as would research within the business-to-business (B2B) context. Quantitative studies could measure the frequency and extent of the phenomena the authors report and assist with market segmentation strategies. Practical implications -The application of service-dominant logic highlights potential risks and managerial challenges as self-service, and consequent value co-creation, relies on the operant resources of customers, who lack the tacit knowledge of employees and are less easy to manage. There is also the need to manage a new employee role: "self-service education, support and recovery". Originality/value -The paper draws attention to managerial challenges for organizations to ensure that SST adoption enhances and does not destroy value. Additionally, it highlights the importance of distinguishing between co-production and co-creation.

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The leisure product is often dependent on the person delivering the service. The research presented here sought to better understand how important the empathy component is in that personal delivery of a service. Health and fitness clubs, faced by high rates of customer attrition, traditionally promote themselves on the basis of either price or facilities, but are these two tools the only ones that the marketing of the clubs should be limited to? For this study, the impact of service provider empathy, as perceived by health and fitness club members, was examined in an attempt to better understand the impact of the concept on customer loyalty. The findings indicate that for those with a low level of selfresponsibility for getting the most out of the service experience, those without previous experience of gyms and those with heightened self-consciousness, empathy is an important factor impacting upon their anxiety levels as well as on their loyalty to a club.

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -There is little in the literature on branding that considers how a brand name may affect a brand and its global positioning. Similarly, there is little research on brand dissonance and the paradoxes that occur in a globalised world. This research aims to examine the impact of country of origin image on consumer perceptions of a successful tea brand dissonance between the country of origin and the brand name. Design/methodology/approach -A case study approach, using qualitative data collection, has been applied in this study. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 experienced tea distributors and managers of Ahmad Tea in the Confederation of Independent States. Findings -The findings show that a positive country of origin effect can have a positive impact on a global brand image transcending any negative connotations that a brand name may have. Practical implications -The findings of this study provide useful insights for academics and practitioners regarding the success factors of branding strategy in international markets. Originality/value -This paper attempts to respond to a call by Keller for more empirical research into the ways in which the images of country of origin change or supplement the image of a brand. In doing so, this paper shows that successful associations with positive country of origin images can overcome problems with a problematic brand name in a global context.