Purpose – We examine the meanings of objects that have indexical (or direct first-hand) connections to celebrities. In so doing, we distinguish between the meanings of proximal indexicality versus contagious indexicality. We reveal how these disparate meanings are linked to how consumers use a...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider whether consumers can recover from a service failure by utilizing internal and external energy resources that are available to them at the time of an online complaint. Based on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this research...

Purpose: Institutional arrangements for collaborative purposes have gained increasing attention within research on service ecosystems. For collaborations to be effective, actors need to undertake institutional work that will result in new institutional arrangements. When institutional work...

Purpose: Scholars have proposed that the negative effects of service failures can be countered by developing and maintaining high quality customer-company relationships or by providing excellent service recovery to customers. While both strategies have been proposed as ways to overcome the...

Purpose – While service brands are conceptualised as being both the company’s presented brand and the customer’s relationship experience, most research to date has supported the central role of the latter over the former in creating customer value and developing loyalty. Studies supporting...