COPYRIGHT 0 1992 PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, INC.

No abstract

Purpose Historically, firms have dedicated an abundance of resources in the pursuit of customer satisfaction and its corresponding favorable consequences. However, research indicates that customer satisfaction may not necessarily result in the outcomes pursued. This paper aims to focus on the concept of customer delight and explore antecedents and consequences of interest to the service firm. More specifically, the proposed model explores the linkages of employee effort, employee expertise and the firm’s tangibles to customer surprise and joy which in turn lead to customer delight and per cent of budget spent. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a grocery store. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings Results from this study yield new insights into the dual pathways leading to customer delight through joy and surprise. That is, joy and tangibles lead to both joy and surprise, whereas expertise leads to joy alone. Both joy and surprise are completely mediated through delight to per cent of budget spent. Interestingly, higher frequency customers experience a stronger relationship from joy to delight. Research limitations/implications The findings have implications for the ongoing debate on the viability of customer delight and extending the theoretical understanding of why customer delight represents such a powerful force in the service environment. Practical implications By providing specific variables that impact both joy and surprise, management can develop tactics to develop delight initiatives. Originality/value This is the first study proposing multiple paths to customer delight. Further, this is the first study to link needs based and disconfirmation into a single model.

Accelerating the process by which new products are introduced to the marketplace has become a strategic imperative in many markets. An emerging precondition for new‐product development success is the integration of information technology with innovative management practices. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the integration of Internet and Intranet applications with the stage‐gate process can support and accelerate new product development. This research provides insight into the key role Internet technology can play in facilitating information dissemination, process improvements, reductions in time and costs, and improved project management.