The Influence of Emotions Displayed and Personal Selling on Customer Behaviour Intention
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention. Specifically it is aimed attaining the following objectives:
- To examine types of emotion displayed by employees during marketing
- To investigate if personal selling and emotions displayed can affect consumer behaviour intention.
- To examine some negative emotions that can hinder a customer from patronizing a product
- To proffer affective etiquette during personal selling which can positively affect consumer behavior intention
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEWED OF RELATED LITERATURE
Definition of emotion
Studying what was said, the importance of the variable of emotion and the need to study it becomes almost clear; but what is the emotion? In other words, which modes or reactions of individuals is the purpose of the emotion? To answer this question, we should provide a comprehensive and precise definition of the emotion at first. Martin et al. (2008) mentions the problems of defining the emotion and states that before we can measure the variable of emotion, we should be able to determine the features and characteristics of the emotion and separate it from other similar concepts. To define and identify the emotion, we should notice that in many previous studies, the emotion was frequently deemed the same with concepts such as affection and mood. Therefore, in this study, the distinction of this concept from other similar concepts should be identified. Chamberlain and Broderick (2007) believe that despite the similarity between these concepts (emotion, affection, mood) but the emotion has a distinct concept and almost all writers and researchers agree that the emotion means the emotional responses which are mainly short and physical and are manifested through physiological processes.About how to define and study the variable of emotion, there are plenty of debates among the researchers of management and marketing majors. In such conditions that there is no single and general definition for the emotion, many experts suggested that for using the emotion in management and marketing, we can express its descriptive characteristics rather than looking for the essential nature of the emotion. Accordingly, Clore, Ortony, and Foss (1987) reported that the emotion means the size (amount) of affective responses to the perceptions that the person have from the situation. Kapoor and Kulshrestha (2009) stated the emotion as a rapid response towards an experience and Morris (1992) expressed the emotion as the assessment of the condition of the external environment. Namkung and Jang (2010) state the emotions as the people’s reactions to the events or stimulants and know it inherently as a social phenomenon. Lin and Liang (2011) also believe that the customer’s emotion is a vital factor in perceiving the customers’ perceptions of trade of services that they received. When the consumers leave behind a new experience and use a product, this activity will often effect on their emotional state.
Types of emotion
Svari and Olsen (2012) believe that it should be noted that the range of emotions is very wide. Park, Kim, and Forney (2006) stated that emotions can be divided into two main classes of positive and negative in a general division. Most theories related to the emotion which study the cognitive causes of the occurrence of the emotion, stated that when a person achieves his purpose or he/she achieves a progress on track to achieve the goal, the positive emotions obtain and the negative emotions achieve as a result of failure and fiasco to achieve to the goal or lack of progress on track to obtain the goal. Kapoor and Kulshrestha (2009) believe that emotions are achieved from the experience of various events that this experience might have a negative emotion or a positive emotion. Several studies have shown that positive emotions have an effect on satisfaction, doing positive word of mouth advertisement, repurchasing intention and loyalty of the customers; but there isn’t several researches about the effect of negative emotions on the after purchasing behavior and the effect of this variable on the customers’ post-purchase behavior (especially in the services marketing) haven’t been studied well. A variety of researchers have presented other categories in addition to the categories of emotions to the positive and negative. For example, Bagozzi, Gopinath, and Nyer (1999) believe that there are three types of the emotion. In their opinion, the types of emotion are classified in the following three categories:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention.. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the a the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention.
Summary
This study was on the influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention. Three objectives were raised which included: To examine types of emotion displayed by employees during marketing, to investigate if personal selling and emotions displayed can affect consumer behaviour intention, to examine some negative emotions that can hinder a customer from patronizing a product and to proffer affective etiquette during personal selling which can positively affect consumer behavior intention. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from supermarket in Ikorodu, in Lagos State. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
Despite these limitations, we believe that the present study provides meaningful insights into service industries. Retaining consumers is becoming more important in an increasingly competitive service business environment and contributes to the service literature theoretically, managerially, and methodologically. Managerial implications enable marketing and service managers to be more effective in designing frontline employee’s behavioural rules, and may assist human resource developers to develop service encounter skills for service business success. The current study suggests that differences in service business may affect the focus of frontline employees in selecting, training, and motivating aspects of displayed positive emotions and personal selling behaviour. To guide frontline employee’s activities, a deeper understanding of the effect of employee performance should make marketers more aware of consumer behavioural intention and behaviour outcomes, thereby enabling them to take advantage of this insight.
Recommendation
Therefore, the future researchers are recommended while covering the limitations of this research, to take into account the nature of positive and negative emotion and try to examine the model using other research methods (e.g., experimental or qualitative methods).
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