Purpose – While several studies suggest that firms should reorient their traditionally goods-based offerings into service-based offerings, only a few contributions have empirically investigated the impacts of this shift on customer’s attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this stream of studies, by exploring whether positioning a product concept as service-based (instead of product-based) has a positive effect on customers’ perceived benefits and on their purchase intentions. Design/Methodology/approach – The study is based on an experiment. The stimulus, consisting in the verbal description of a hearing aid product concept, was manipulated to create a service-based and a goods-based offering. Customer perceived value was measured through the PERVAL scale (which includes the following four dimensions: quality value, emotional value, price value and social value). Data were analyzed through several techniques (confirmatory factor analysis, t-tests, structural equation modeling) to highlight differences in the perceived value and purchase intentions between the two offerings. Findings – The results show that customer perceived value is higher when the product concept is positioned as service-based. In addition, quality emerges as a significant driver of the purchase intention for the goods-based hearing aid but not for the service-based hearing aid. Research limitations/implications – The research design (i.e., an experiment, based on one product category) suggests caution in generalizing the results from this study. Practical implications – The results suggest that positioning the product concept as service-based has the potential of enhancing customers’ perceived value and purchase intentions. In addition, for a service-based product the strategy of emphasizing product quality does not have a positive impact on purchase intentions. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research that evaluates the effects on customer perceived value and purchase intention of positioning a product concept as service-based for a product which has been traditionally positioned as good-based.
Does a service-based positioning of the offering enhance customer perceived value?
CASSIA, FABIO;UGOLINI, Marta Maria;COBELLI, Nicola;Gill, Liz
2015-01-01
Abstract
Purpose – While several studies suggest that firms should reorient their traditionally goods-based offerings into service-based offerings, only a few contributions have empirically investigated the impacts of this shift on customer’s attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this stream of studies, by exploring whether positioning a product concept as service-based (instead of product-based) has a positive effect on customers’ perceived benefits and on their purchase intentions. Design/Methodology/approach – The study is based on an experiment. The stimulus, consisting in the verbal description of a hearing aid product concept, was manipulated to create a service-based and a goods-based offering. Customer perceived value was measured through the PERVAL scale (which includes the following four dimensions: quality value, emotional value, price value and social value). Data were analyzed through several techniques (confirmatory factor analysis, t-tests, structural equation modeling) to highlight differences in the perceived value and purchase intentions between the two offerings. Findings – The results show that customer perceived value is higher when the product concept is positioned as service-based. In addition, quality emerges as a significant driver of the purchase intention for the goods-based hearing aid but not for the service-based hearing aid. Research limitations/implications – The research design (i.e., an experiment, based on one product category) suggests caution in generalizing the results from this study. Practical implications – The results suggest that positioning the product concept as service-based has the potential of enhancing customers’ perceived value and purchase intentions. In addition, for a service-based product the strategy of emphasizing product quality does not have a positive impact on purchase intentions. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research that evaluates the effects on customer perceived value and purchase intention of positioning a product concept as service-based for a product which has been traditionally positioned as good-based.
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