Abstract

Focusing on positive service encounters, this study examined the relationships among employee behaviors, customers' positive emotions, and subsequent customer behaviors. A comprehensive framework of positive service encounters and ten hypotheses were developed based on an in-depth literature review and an application of the theory of cognitive appraisal and the theory of positive emotions. The dissertation employed a survey design with measurements from previous research and collected data with Amazon Mechanical Turk. The target sample (N=299) was individuals that had a positive interaction with an employee at hotels over the last six months. The Structural Equation Modeling results suggested that employees' mutual understanding affects customer gratitude and employees' unsolicited behaviors and competence influence customer delight. Subsequently, customer gratitude has a positive relationship with customers' repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth. In addition, customer delight has a positive relationship with customer' repurchase intentions and positive word-of-mouth. However, the results of the study did not support that customer delight can be triggered by employees' authenticity and customer gratitude can be evoked by employees' customized service. In addition, the relationship between customer gratitude and customers' providing feedback was not established. This study provides valuable implications for the industry regarding generating favorable customer behaviors in positive service encounters. This research also offers a theoretical explanation of systematic relationships among five dimensions of employee behaviors, two customers' discrete emotions, and three customer behavioral intentions in positive service encounters.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2016

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Ro, Heejung

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

Rosen College of Hospitality Management

Degree Program

Hospitality Management

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006124

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006124

Language

English

Release Date

5-15-2017

Length of Campus-only Access

1 year

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Location

Rosen College of Hospitality Management

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