Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World?

Offshore outsourcing is a fast-growing trend in the world economy today, and it is changing the way business is done across national boundaries. Specifically, customers are increasingly interacting with service employees located in other countries resulting in many instances of customer backlash due...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sharma, Piyush
Format: Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: IGI Global 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75131
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author Sharma, Piyush
author_facet Sharma, Piyush
author_sort Sharma, Piyush
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description Offshore outsourcing is a fast-growing trend in the world economy today, and it is changing the way business is done across national boundaries. Specifically, customers are increasingly interacting with service employees located in other countries resulting in many instances of customer backlash due to poor perceived service quality and dissatisfaction. Prior research argues that service firms with strong brands may be less vulnerable to such negative reaction from customers. However, recent studies show that consumer ethnocentrism and unfavorable attitudes towards offshore outsourcing may adversely impact perceived service quality, satisfaction, complaint behavior, brand image, brand loyalty, and repeat purchase intentions. This chapter summarizes these diverse findings and highlights the importance of customer education and employee training to prevent the erosion of brand image and loyalty on one hand, and improve perceived service quality and customer satisfaction on the other, for companies using offshore outsourcing of customer services.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-751312019-03-27T04:50:44Z Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World? Sharma, Piyush Offshore outsourcing is a fast-growing trend in the world economy today, and it is changing the way business is done across national boundaries. Specifically, customers are increasingly interacting with service employees located in other countries resulting in many instances of customer backlash due to poor perceived service quality and dissatisfaction. Prior research argues that service firms with strong brands may be less vulnerable to such negative reaction from customers. However, recent studies show that consumer ethnocentrism and unfavorable attitudes towards offshore outsourcing may adversely impact perceived service quality, satisfaction, complaint behavior, brand image, brand loyalty, and repeat purchase intentions. This chapter summarizes these diverse findings and highlights the importance of customer education and employee training to prevent the erosion of brand image and loyalty on one hand, and improve perceived service quality and customer satisfaction on the other, for companies using offshore outsourcing of customer services. 2012 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75131 10.4018/978-1-61350-171-9.ch002 English IGI Global restricted
spellingShingle Sharma, Piyush
Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World?
title Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World?
title_full Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World?
title_fullStr Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World?
title_full_unstemmed Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World?
title_short Are Strong Brands a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Virtual World?
title_sort are strong brands a source of competitive advantage in the virtual world?
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75131