Abstract

Keywords

۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ Literature review

۳٫ Method

۴٫ Analysis and results

۵٫ Discussion

۶٫ Implications

Funding

References

Abstract

Drawing on service encounters and experiential marketing theories, this study examined the relationship between geriatric service, memorable experience, emotional intelligence, and senior customers’ attitudinal and behavioural responses. The research was conducted at geriatric hotels in Portugal. The results showed that, compared to impersonal encounters, employee service has a significantly greater effect on customer satisfaction, memorable experience, and customer loyalty. In addition, customers’ memorable experiences mediated the relationship between different service encounters and organisational outcomes. However, customers’ emotional intelligence had minimal effects on these relationships. The discussion and implications of these findings are offered to researchers and practitioners.

۱٫ Introduction

An increase in the ageing population drives the demand for retirement accommodations of senior citizens, which generally include retirement villages/homes and aged care homes (Cheek et al., 2007). While being different in terms of care options (self-care vs nursing care) (Yeung et al., 2017), facilities, and funding (self-funding vs government subsidised), retirement villages and aged care homes are often integrated with facilities catering to all senior citizens, who can opt for short- and/or long-term stay in some countries (e.g., Portugal). This integrated entity or accommodation is referred to as a geriatric hotel for this study. Recently, more geriatric hotels have sprung along with the increase in the aged population, which provides more options for senior citizens; simultaneously, it has driven competition among the hotels. Like in any other business, the key strategy to gain competitive advantage for a service provider or organisation is to attain customer satisfaction and loyalty (Prentice, 2014), which has become a performance metric for most service organisations and is referred to as organisational service performance (see Prentice, 2019a).

The antecedents of customer satisfaction and loyalty have been extensively discussed across industries and contexts in the relevant literature. From the perspective of service organisation, providing quality service is one of the most effective initiatives used to satisfy customers and generate customer loyalty and retention. Numerous studies have provided empirical evidence of a chain relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty (e.g., Olorunniwo et al., 2006; Prentice, 2013a, 2014; Shi et al., 2014). However, service quality is not necessarily directly related to customer satisfaction, as the level of overall quality service is expected unless some service elements (tangible or intangible) exceed customer expectations and are transferred into memorable experiences (Prentice, 2013a, 2014). Consumers opt to purchase and consume the service to acquire such experiences (Sandstrom ¨ et al., 2008). These memorable events that occur during service encounters affect their attitudes (e.g., satisfaction) and behaviours (e.g., purchase, loyalty behaviours) toward the service provider (Williams et al., 2020). Therefore, customers’ memorable experiences likely play a role in the relationship chain of service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.