Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters
Purpose – This paper aims to explore the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the impact of service outcome and perceived cultural distance, respectively, on interaction comfort and perceived service quality in intercultural service encounters. Design/methodol...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Emerald Group Publishing
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16102 |
| _version_ | 1848749076744503296 |
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| author | Sharma, Piyush Wu, Z. |
| author_facet | Sharma, Piyush Wu, Z. |
| author_sort | Sharma, Piyush |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose – This paper aims to explore the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the impact of service outcome and perceived cultural distance, respectively, on interaction comfort and perceived service quality in intercultural service encounters. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 X 2 between-subjects experimental design with university students was used, using service encounter scenarios to manipulate service outcome (failure or success) and photos of service employees to manipulate perceived cultural distance (low vs high). Findings – As hypothesized, the impact of service outcome on interaction comfort and perceived service quality is moderated negatively by consumer ethnocentrism, whereas the impact of perceived cultural distance is moderated positively by intercultural competence. Research limitations/implications – An experimental design using imaginary service scenarios was used in a single service context (i.e. restaurant) with university students as participants, which may restrict the generalizability of our findings. Practical implications – Managers in service firms with multicultural customers should try to recruit service employees with high intercultural competence and low consumer ethnocentrism. They should also develop employee training programs that help minimize the adverse impact of these variables on interaction comfort and service quality in intercultural service encounters. Originality/value – This paper extends prior research by exploring the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the direct and indirect effects of service outcome and perceived cultural distance on interaction comfort, service quality and satisfaction. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:15:11Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-16102 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:15:11Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Emerald Group Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-161022020-07-22T03:57:45Z Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters Sharma, Piyush Wu, Z. Competence Intercultural Service quality Consumer ethnocentrism Service encounter Interaction comfort Purpose – This paper aims to explore the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the impact of service outcome and perceived cultural distance, respectively, on interaction comfort and perceived service quality in intercultural service encounters. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 X 2 between-subjects experimental design with university students was used, using service encounter scenarios to manipulate service outcome (failure or success) and photos of service employees to manipulate perceived cultural distance (low vs high). Findings – As hypothesized, the impact of service outcome on interaction comfort and perceived service quality is moderated negatively by consumer ethnocentrism, whereas the impact of perceived cultural distance is moderated positively by intercultural competence. Research limitations/implications – An experimental design using imaginary service scenarios was used in a single service context (i.e. restaurant) with university students as participants, which may restrict the generalizability of our findings. Practical implications – Managers in service firms with multicultural customers should try to recruit service employees with high intercultural competence and low consumer ethnocentrism. They should also develop employee training programs that help minimize the adverse impact of these variables on interaction comfort and service quality in intercultural service encounters. Originality/value – This paper extends prior research by exploring the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the direct and indirect effects of service outcome and perceived cultural distance on interaction comfort, service quality and satisfaction. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16102 10.1108/JSM-12-2013-0330 Emerald Group Publishing fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Competence Intercultural Service quality Consumer ethnocentrism Service encounter Interaction comfort Sharma, Piyush Wu, Z. Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters |
| title | Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters |
| title_full | Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters |
| title_fullStr | Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters |
| title_short | Consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters |
| title_sort | consumer ethnocentrism vs. intercultural competence as moderators in intercultural service encounters |
| topic | Competence Intercultural Service quality Consumer ethnocentrism Service encounter Interaction comfort |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16102 |