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Interpersonal Relationship, Service Quality, Seller Expertise: How Important Are They to Adolescent Consumers?
Author(s) -
Wan Wendy W. N.,
Luk ChungLeung,
Fam KimShyan,
Wu Peiguan,
Chow Cheris W. C.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20527
Subject(s) - psychology , service quality , argument (complex analysis) , quality (philosophy) , interpersonal communication , service (business) , social capital , marketing , psychosocial , servqual , resource (disambiguation) , social psychology , business , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , philosophy , computer network , epistemology , psychiatry , sociology , computer science
Drawing upon social capital theory and psychosocial development theory, this paper argues that a true buyer–seller relationship is a key determinant of favorable consumer behaviors for adolescent consumers of hairstylist services. Other important determinants include quality of the service delivery process (i.e., service quality as measured by the five SERVQUAL factors) and quality of the core service (in this case, the hairstylist's expertise). A survey of 350 adolescent consumers confirms these predictions. It shows that a true interpersonal relationship negatively moderates the positive effects of service quality on consumer satisfaction with, and overall assessment of the hairstylist. This negative moderating effect is labeled resource substitution benefit and the argument made that this is the fourth social capital benefit. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.