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Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions, concepts and measures for the service industry

Philipp E. Boksberger
Institute for Tourism and Leisure Research, University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur, Chur, Switzerland, and

Lisa Melsen
School of Management, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia
Abstract Purpose The aim of this paper is to provide a literature review of the state-of-the-art and up to date concepts and measures undertaken in the research on perceived value. The purpose especially is to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of the research on perceived value. Design/methodology/approach The common perceived value denitions, conceptual and measurement approaches and its close relationship with important and highly researched service industry components such as service quality and customer satisfaction are discussed. Findings This paper demonstrates underlying and foundational theories, systematises the research streams and addresses the unsolved concerns of perceived value. The paper concludes with recommendations for the future research and application of perceived value as being relevant to the service industry. Originality/value The contribution of the paper lies in achieving a more profound understanding of the nature of perceived value for, equally, academics and industry. Keywords Consumption, Value-in-use pricing, Customers Paper type General review

An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.

1. Introduction
Service marketing literature began to appear in the early 1980s in the form of anecdotal service research that dened, described, extended and replicated existing marketing concepts. With the explosive growth of the service sector in recent times, increasing emphasis has been placed on the continued development of knowledge related to services marketing and thousands of articles have been written. Despite this growing abundance of published research, the consensus is to follow Kotler (2003) by viewing service marketing as a managerial process concerned with the facilitation and consummation of relational exchanges (Eggert and Ulaga, 2002; Keith et al., 2004). By dening these relational exchanges as transactions between two parties in which each party gives up something of value in return for something of greater value (Holbrook, 1999), the concept of perceived value has emerged and been incorporated into this services marketing literature (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Since then, perceived value research has
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become an interdisciplinary area involving psychology, sociology, economic and business concepts. Perceived value was labelled the new marketing mania and the way to sell in the 1990s (Sinha and DeSarbo, 1998, p. 236) and has proven to be of continuing importance into the twenty-rst century (Sweeney and Soutar, 2001, p. 203). The notion of value creation reects upon the increased recognition of perceived value as one of the most important measures in gaining a competitive edge (Parasuraman, 1997) and a key factor in strategic management (LeBlanc and Nguyen, 2001; Burns and Woodruff, 1992). Although perceived value has attracted equally extensive attention in academia and industry in recent years (Heinonen, 2004), several issues of fundamental concern remain unresolved: 1 Despite the emerged research, there is little consensus in regards to the denition and the concept of perceived value. According to Khalifa (2004) perceived value has become one of the most misused concepts in social sciences and particularly in the service marketing literature. 2 The lack of agreement among scholars with respect to the denition and the concept of perceived value results in inconsistent and incommensurable empirical measures. Even though a number of approaches dominate the literature, all these scales and theories are the subject of profound criticism.
Received February 2009 Revised September 2009 Accepted October 2009

Journal of Services Marketing 25/3 (2011) 229 240 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045] [DOI 10.1108/08876041111129209]

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Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions Philipp E. Boksberger and Lisa Melsen

Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

For almost as long as perceived value has been studied its interdependence to other widely researched marketing concepts such as service quality and customer satisfaction has been discussed controversially.

between these concepts, but each with their own original denitions and foundations. 2.1 The utilitarian perspective of perceived value The utilitarian perspective of perceived value is derived from a psychological construct describing the common intuition that . . . any increase in wealth, no matter how signicant, will always result in an increase in utility which is inversely proportionate to the quantity of goods already possessed (Bernoulli, 1967, p. 25). In this context, utility of a service is measured and dened as an individuals subjective value of money under risk and uncertainty. Expected utility theory (von Neumann and Morgenstern, 2004) therefore states that price is the value of a service and therefore consumers spend their income so as to maximise the value they get from services. Consequently, the utilitarian perspective of perceived value is conceptualised as a trade-off between the utility from a service use and the disutility of obtaining and using the service (Sinden and Worrell, 1979; Ostrom and Iacobucci, 1995). However, assessing perceived value on price misses out the complexity and the multidimensional facets of price. As Monroe (2003, p. 102) states:
Research and anecdotal evidence indicate that the role of price is more complex than that of a simple indicator of purchase cost to buyers.

In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview to the concept of perceived value and its implications for the service industry. It is hoped that this will encourage a better understanding of the signicance of perceived value to service marketing and management while providing constructive directions for future research and application in both academic and industry settings.

2. The general nature of perceived value


In the literature perceived value is often delimited ambiguously, particularly to the terms value (singular) and values (plural) as well as the research object (see Table I). It is apparent that the notion of values and value must be distinguished (Agle and Caldwell, 1999; de Chernatony et al., 2000; Solomon, 1999; Woo, 1992). While the term value refers to a preferential judgement of either a single transaction or an ultimate end-state, values are the determinants of any social behaviour including attitude, ideology, beliefs and justications (see for example Rokeachs (1973) value survey, Kahles (1983) list of values, Mitchells (1983) values and lifestyles methodology, or Schwartzs (1992) value survey). In other words, values respectively standards, rules, criteria, norms or ideals serve as a basis for any preferential judgement. The second source of the nebulous differentiation of perceived value drives from its simultaneous use in consumer behaviour research and service management and marketing research. However, a clear distinction needs to be made between the demand and supply perspective. Table I shows the general nature of perceived value by providing a classication scheme together with illustrative service marketing and management concepts. The forthcoming discussion addresses the dominant evolvement of transaction-specic values from an individual customers point-of-view. However, beginning from societal values, and end-state values to the service delivery, Table I shows that many other marketing concepts have a relationship with perceived value. Ultimately, consumption values, service quality and customer satisfaction, have strong inuences on perceived value, hence creating a strong interdependence Table I The general nature of perceived value
Societal values

An indication of the complexity that is inherent in price studies can be found by Jacoby and Olson (1977) who stated that any price has both objective external properties and subjective internal representations that are derived from an individual consumers perception of price. Monroe (2003) further argues that perceived value is the result of consumers comparisons among different price structures including advertised selling price, advertised reference price and internal reference price. Chang and Wildt (1994) tested actual and reference price as predictors of perceived price and found a positive relationship between objective and perceived price and a negative relationship between reference and perceived price. In line with this research, Naylor and Frank (2001) examine the effects of price bundling on perceived value and state that providing an all-inclusive price package, even if actual monetary outlay is higher, will signicantly increase perceptions of value for rst time consumers. Another example of the nebulous nature of the price and perceived value relationship is given by Thaler (1985) who

Transaction-specic value Service excellence Service recovery Value creation Pricing

End-state value Service prot chain Relationship marketing Customer lifetime value

Service industry Business ethics Social corporate responsibility Rules Norms Individual customer Attitude Desired values Comparison standards Expectation

Service quality Customer satisfaction Consumption values Perceived value Benets Sacrices

Quality of life Wellbeing

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Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

sees it as a combination of acquisition costs and transaction costs. Similarly, Zeithaml (1988) proposes that monetary costs can be further divided into transactional costs (perceived monetary price for purchase) and relational costs (perceived monetary price for maintenance, repair or replacement). Finally, price information can be used either as a clarier to decide which service is best value for money, or it can be used as a simplier, for example when consumers always buy a high or low priced service (Mitchell and McGoldrick, 1996). An overview of the literature reveals that the utilitarian perspective of perceived value has been tested, modied and expanded over time (Martn Ruiz et al., 2008). Starting from Monroes (2003) pioneering conceptualisation it has nally been transformed into a model of perceived value with four components (Parasuraman and Grewal, 2000): 1 acquisition value is the benet (relative to monetary costs) consumers believe they are getting by acquiring a service; 2 transaction value is the pleasure obtained from taking advantage of a good price deal; 3 in-use value is the utility derived from using or consuming the service; and 4 redemption value is the residual benet at the time of trade-in or termination. Dening perceived value solely on perceived price is an important but insufcient conceptualisation because price is highly interrelated and frequently used with the concepts of benets and sacrice. Thus, perceived value is commonly dened as a ratio or trade-off of total benets received to total sacrices (Patterson and Spreng, 1997, p. 416) or as Zeithaml (1988, p. 14) states:
Value is the customers overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given.

relation to consumers perception of value (Dodds et al., 1991; Teas and Agarwal, 2000). Therefore, it can be argued that symbolic responses (the reputation of the service rendered for status-seeking) inuence consumers perception of value. Furthermore, various researchers have analysed hedonistic responses (received emotions such as joy, jealousy, fear, rage and rapture) in terms of their relationship with perceived value (Grewal et al., 1998, Sweeney et al., 1998). To conclude, it can be stated that perceived benets include both cognitive and affective elements, and that affective responses are an important part of thoroughly measuring the service experience (Richins, 1997). Perceived sacrices include monetary and non-monetary costs of a service experience. While the negative relation between perceived monetary costs and perceived value has been well established in the literature (see discussion above), the inuence of non-monetary costs is more controversial. While Zeithaml (1988) and Petrick (2002) identify time, effort, search costs, brand image, convenience and psychic costs as non-monetary costs; it is argued that these sacrices inuence perceived value indirectly (Leclerc and Schmitt, 1999). Dodds et al. (1991) were among the rst to measure the effects of non-monetary costs such as brand and store information. Similarly, Cronin et al. (1997) measured sacrice including both monetary and non-monetary costs such as price, time, effort and different risk factors. It is a combination of perceived monetary as well as non-monetary costs that equate to consumers perceived sacrice, which, in turn, affects their perception of service value. 2.2 The behavioural perspective of perceived value The behavioural perspective of perceived value treats the construct more comprehensively and attempts to explain it more in depth than utilitarian benets and sacrices. Based on the social exchange theory (Emerson, 1976; Thibaut and Kelley, 1959), the key tenet of the behavioural perspective of perceived value is in essence reciprocal exchange transactions or, more specically, a social interaction. Arguably, social interaction contains an exchange ratio of (tangible or intangible) activities and rewards/costs on the grounds that consumers always explain their conduct by means of its benets and sacrices to them (Homans, 1961). Using means-end theory Zeithaml (1988) identied four dimensions of perceived value: value as low price, value as whatever the consumer wants in a product, value as the quality obtained for the price paid, and value as what the consumer gets for what he or she gives. In a similar vein Woodruff and Gardial (1998) and Woodruff (1997) developed a value hierarchy introducing a judgement of desired values and received values rooted in the expectancy disconrmation paradigm. While this value judgement is based on the common theme that pre-performance expectations have an impact on consumers post-performance service evaluation, it is relative in relation to the consumers (personal), their stated preferences (comparative) and the specic context (situational). Accordingly, Woodruff (1997, p. 142) denes perceived value as:
Customers perceived preference for and evaluation of those product attributes, attribute performances, and consequences arising from use that facilitate (or block) achieving the customers goals and purposes in use situations.

The underlying equity ratio (i.e. the input-outcome ratio) its rooted in the equity theory which emphasises consumers perceptions of justice and fairness of the service delivery (Adams, 1963; Martins and Monroe, 1994). Expectedly, Bolton and Drew (1991) identied a positive relationship between benets and perceived value, whereas sacrice is negatively related to perceived value. They conclude that the perceived value can be considered as a trade-off between consumers evaluation of the benets of using a service and the sacrice made to use the service. With respect to what consumers receive, past research has identied service quality and affective responses as positively related to perceived benets (Dodds et al., 1991; Grewal et al., 1998; Petrick, 2002; Sweeney et al., 1998; Zeithaml, 1988). While service quality has been mostly recognised as a cognitive response, where expectations are compared with perceived performance, affective responses surrounding the consumption of services can be differentiated in symbolic and hedonistic responses. Symbolic responses reect the consumption of services to satisfy consumers symbolic needs (self-enhancement, role position, group membership or ego identication), whereas hedonistic responses are multisensory, fantasy and emotive aspects of consumers service experience (Hirschmann and Holbrook, 1982; Leigh and Gabel, 1992; Sirgy, 1982). The rst considerable investigation of affective responses in consumption was given by Hirschmann and Holbrook (1982). More recently, research ndings suggest that brand name, store name and country name have a positive effect on perceived quality in 231

Elaborating on the behavioural-driven conceptualisation Hartman (1967) distinguished three realms of perceived

Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions Philipp E. Boksberger and Lisa Melsen

Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

value: extrinsic value, intrinsic value and systematic value. In adopting this axiology Mattson (1991) denes three generic perceived value dimensions: emotional value, practical value and logical value. Subsequent research adopted the idea of multidimensional conceptualisation and proposed typologies of perceived value. In these typologies, perceived value typically refers to the evaluation of some concept (e.g. a service experience) by some subject (usually a consumer). Hence, it can be stated that, in line with this denition, these values are interactive and preferential. Analysing consumer choice to buy or not to buy, to choose between two products and to select one brand or another Sheth et al. (1991) proposed a theory of consumption value: 1 Functional value. The perceived utility through the possession of salient functional, utilitarian or physical attributes. 2 Social value. The perceived utility through the association with positively or negatively stereotyped demographic, socioeconomic and cultural-ethic groups. 3 Emotional value. The perceived utility through the creation or perpetuation of feelings or affective states. 4 Epistemic value. The perceived utility through the arousal of curiosity, the provision of novelty and/or the satisfaction of a desire for knowledge. 5 Conditional value. The perceived utility through the presence of antecedent physical or social contingencies in a specic situation. Subsequently various studies applied these consumption values in a number of different contexts. In particular, Sweeney and Soutar (2001) developed a multiple item scale based on the broader framework of Sheth et al.s (1991) consumption values. Their PERVAL instrument is a multiple item measure, that can be used to assess consumers perceptions of the value of tangible products at brand level (Sweeney and Soutar, 2001). PERVAL was tested in the pre-purchase and post-purchase situation and found to be both reliable and valid in each context. In order to operationalise an adequate measurement for the perceived value of services as opposed to products, Petrick (2002) developed a multiple item instrument (SERV-PERVAL) which was found to be reliable, and has convergent and discriminant validity in the post-purchase context. Recent arguments however, stated that the PERVAL and SERVPERVAL measurement instruments, although methodologically sound, reliable and valid measurement tools, need to be broadened because they dominantly capture the post-purchase evaluation of a product and service and not the perceived overall value of a purchase or experience (Gallarza and Gil Saura, 2006; Sanchez et al., 2006; Petrick, 2003). Perceived value is widely documented as occurring at different stages of the purchase and/or consumption process, including the pre-purchase stage, at the moment of purchase, at the time of use and nally after use (Sanchez et al., 2006). This derives a need to consider all of these stages and measure perceived value holistically. Considering this, Sanchez et al. (2006) developed GLOVAL a multiple item measure which covers the three underlying categories of perceived value which have remained constant throughout it research: functional value, emotional value and social value. Reecting on the behavioural nature of perceived value Holbrook (1994, p. 22) dened perceived value as an 232

interactive relativistic preference experience and therefore proposed a typology of perceived value that shares some points with the research approaches mentioned above. Based on three dichotomies (self-oriented vs other-oriented, active vs reactive and extrinsic vs. intrinsic) this value typology consists of eight types of value (Holbrook, 1994, 1999): 1 Efciency (output/input ratio or convenience). The perceived value from an active transformation of means in pursuit of a self-oriented end. 2 Excellence (quality). The perceived value associated with a distanced apprehension or receptive admiration. 3 Politics (success). The perceived value of ones own consumption experience as a mean to achieve a favourable response from someone else. 4 Esteem (reputation). The perceived value from the reactive contemplation of ones own status as reected in the approbative opinion of others. 5 Play (fun). The perceived value of an active self-oriented experience enjoyed for its own sake. 6 Aesthetics (beauty). The perceived value of an essentially reactive appreciation and as an end itself. 7 Morality (virtue). The perceived value from an ethical action favouring others. 8 Spirituality (faith or ecstasy). The perceived value of a devotional experience. Whilst some authors consider Holbrooks (1994, 1999) typology the most comprehensive and detailed explanation of perceived value (Sanchez-Fernandez and Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007), the literature review reveals the lack of its critical reection. There is only Mathwick et al. (2001) as well as Sanchez-Fernandez et al. (2009) who adopted the framework to analyse perceived value in the internet shopping environment and a vegetarian restaurant respectively.

3. The operationalisation of perceived value


Providing a state-of-the-art review on the nature of perceived value raises the questions of the (in)dependence and weighting of the benets, sacrices and types of value as well as questions of whether to apply a multiplicative or additive function in perceived value measurement. In each of the above conceptualisations of perceived value, benets have been identied as the salient gets characteristic, while the sacrices made to acquire or consume these gets has been identied as the relevant gives components. While a majority of authors consider these components to be distinct and independent, Zeithaml (1988), Sweeney et al. (1999), and Teas and Agarwal (2000) argue that price is directly related to benets and sacrices since it serves as an extrinsic indicator. Opinions also vary upon the weighting of these components. While utility theory suggests a balanced weighting of utility and costs, consumer behaviour research assumes that individuals tend to weigh losses such as price signicantly more heavily than gains such as quality (Varki and Colgate, 2001; Lai, 1995). However, no theoretical or empirical evidence can be found in the literature that provides the weights to be allocated to these various components. Finally, the operationalisation of perceived value is either a multiplicative or an additive function of benets and sacrices (Cronin et al., 1997). In the former, perceived value has been seen as a ratio of benets (numerator) to sacrices (denominator). This multiplicative function is widely

Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions Philipp E. Boksberger and Lisa Melsen

Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

accepted among scholars (Zeithaml, 1988) and represents the dominant view in the literature. However, there has been criticism of the apparent reliance on a multiplicative function arguing that the multiplicative based specication is inconsistent with sociological research that suggests cognitive processes are conceived in a linear additive form. The additive function recognises the integrative nature of benets and sacrices, and species the compensatory tradeoff between give and get components. In addition, the superiority of an additive function is given by ndings of Cronin et al. (1997), DeSarbo et al. (2001) and Grewal et al. (1998). Both qualitative and quantitative as well as uni-dimensional and multi-dimensional methods have been used to measure perceived value. Early efforts to measure perceived value by using a uni-dimensional scale have been criticised for lacking validity (Woodruff and Gardial, 1998). Generally, measuring perceived value as a trade-off between price as the sacrice and quality as the benet is too simplistic since consumers may be able to identify fty or more different attributes that shape their perceptions of value prior to, during and after consumption (Gale, 1994). Therefore perceived value has been dominantly operationalised using multiple item scales for better measurement. Table II provides an overview of selected empirical studies to highlight the numerous measures and methods applied in various contexts. Although a variety of approaches have been taken by different authors, and many of the studies are evolvements of previous studies, it is evidenced in Table II that as mentioned previously; functional, emotional and social value appear to be at the forefront of the most recent research. While consensus exists that service quality, customer satisfaction and perceived value predict behavioural intentions (Petrick, 2004), conicting arguments have been made as to their differences, similarities, linkages, temporal order and overall relationship (Bolton and Drew, 1991; Caruana et al., 2000; Huber et al., 2007; Kashyap and Bojanic, 2000; Oliver, 1999; Spreng et al., 1993). Just as there is much controversy in the denitions and measurement of perceived value, the discussion about the terminology of service quality and customer satisfaction is equally debateable (Bitner and Hubbert, 1994; Cronin and Taylor, 1994; Spreng and Singh, 1993). Thus, a selection of empirical studies that have attempted to model the antecedent, mediating and consequent relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value and behavioural intentions is presented in Table III. Despite this continuous debate no consistent evidence is given for the operationalisation of perceived value and its interdependence to other marketing concepts as specied in Table III (Gallarza and Gil Saura, 2006).

4. Conclusion and recommendations


This paper has attempted to extend the knowledge of perceived value by critically examining the denitions, concepts and measures of perceived value as relevant for the service industry. The review of literature reveals that the scope of the traditional conceptualisation of the value construct focused on intangible products and involved general extensions of quality scales. Unlike the majority of the analysed studies, the latest research on perceived value is entirely based upon the characteristics of services in that they 233

are intangible, inseparable, heterogeneous and perishable. The theoretical implications of the perceived value of services as identied in the measurement of perceived value appear to be twofold. First, the ndings show that a multi-dimensional scale does indeed explain the perceived value of services better, both statistically and qualitatively, than does a single item value for money scale. Second, perceived value is neither a simple trade-off between quality and price nor merely an outcome of any other single factor. It can be stated that the perceived value of services is a combined assessment of consumers perception of benets and sacrices, including quality and price, for a variety of perceived value dimensions with original behavioural intentions and customer satisfaction playing a role in overall evaluation. The ndings from this literature review suggest a number of useful research directions that are recommended for exploration. As a starting point, future research should concentrate on developing a clearer articulation of the constructs used in the various study designs. This can in turn result in better measures, after which the interrelationship between perceived value, service quality, price, benets, sacrices, customer satisfaction and ultimately behavioural intentions can be better understood. Thus, future research should be directed toward investigating the interaction of perceived value with other core marketing constructs. By not testing for other determinants, the inuence of risk, trust, involvement, etc. on perceived value may be inated. Moreover, by capturing other determinants that contribute to perceived value, a much broader understanding of the value construct can be ascertained (Groth, 1995; Jensen, 2001). There may also be determinants which are context and consumer specic. It seems likely that pleasure, arousal or dominance play an important role in determining perceived value in some service settings. The notion that mediators are relevant in customers perceived value of services also begs for additional research. Most importantly, future research into which measures of perceived value are most valid for the service industry, marketers and management is warranted. This will ensure consistency and provide the answer to the key service industry question what are the dimensions of value that customers care about (Sinha and DeSarbo, 1998, p. 237). As illustrated by discussion so far, it is evident that the theory of perceived value has a number of different concepts and theories that make up its foundations. The cognitive and affective components of perceived value theory as well as the relationship with concepts including value, service quality, price, benets, sacrices and customer satisfaction highlight the diversity of perceived value in that it covers and is closely linked with a number of different areas and aspects. As noted, various authors indicate that perceptions of value may be formed at the pre-purchase phase, post-purchase phase or, both (Patterson and Spreng, 1997; Dodds et al., 1991; Parasuraman and Grewal, 2000) which can also result in the development of different outlooks on perceived value. This complexity makes a single perceived value denition somewhat difcult in that it covers a number of different areas depending on the situation. However, the distinction between the different types of perceived value is particularly important for service organisations, marketers and managers to understand especially when considering the impact of perceived value on customers willingness to buy, seek information, compare alternatives and evaluate (Al-Sabbahy

Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions Philipp E. Boksberger and Lisa Melsen

Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

Table II Measurement of perceived value


Author(s) and year Sanchez-Fernandez et al. (2009) Construct(s) and item(s) Efciency: 5 items Quality: 4 items Social value: 3 items Play: 4 items Aesthetics: 4 items Altruistic value: 4 items Risk components: 1 item Logical components: 1 item Practical components: 1 item Emotional components: 1 item GLOVAL Functional value establishment: 4 items Functional value person: 4 items Functional value product: 4 items Functional value price: 3 items Emotional value: 5 items Social value: 4 items Utilitarian value: 6 items Social value: 6 items Hedonic value: 6 items Technical value: more/same/ fewer Functional value: more/same/ less Temporal value: more/same/less Spatial value: more/same/less Functional value: 4 items Social value: 3 items Emotional value: 5 items Perceived sacrices: 6 items SERV-PERVAL Quality: 4 items Emotional response: 5 items Monetary price: 6 items Behavioural price: 5 items Reputation: 5 items Perceived quality: 5 items Perceived sacrice: 2 items Performance risk: 2 items Financial risk: 3 items Perceived value: 5 items PERVAL Functional value (quality): 6 items Emotional value: 5 items Functional value (price): 4 items Social value: 4 items Sacrice: 3 items Service quality performance: 10 items Overall service quality: 3 items Service value: 2 items Study design Interviews No. Research context Vegetarian restaurants

306 Surveys (six service episodes) Customers of car dealers

Huber et al. (2007)

100 Interviews Tourism packages

Sanchez et al. (2006)

402 Survey 364 Interviews Online banking Shopping

Rintamaki et al. (2006)

Heinonen (2004)

37 Mail survey Security service

Wang et al. (2004)

320 Mail survey Cruising

Petrick (2002)

792 Experiment Hand-held business calculators, wrist-watches

Agarwal and Teas (2001)

530 Mail survey Furniture, car stereo

Sweeney and Soutar (2001)

635 Interview Health care, fast food, entertainment

Cronin et al. (2000)

1,944

(continued)

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Table II Author(s) and year Sweeney et al. (1999)

Construct(s) and item(s) Functional service quality: 5 items Technical service quality: 2 items Product quality: 4 items Relative price: 2 items Performance/nancial risk: 2 items Perception of value for money: 3 items Advertised selling price: 2 price levels Internal reference price: 2 items Perceived quality: 3 items Perceived transaction value: 3 items Perceived acquisition value: 9 items Relative quality: 5 items Relative price: 3 items Overall service value: 1 item Service quality: 10 items Overall service quality: 5 items Sacrice: 9 items Outcomes: 2 items Method: 3 items service: 4 items Relationship: 2 items Global: 1 item Problem identication: 2 items Value: 1 item Price utilities: high or low Quality utilities: high or low Friendliness utilities: more or less Customisation utilities: more or less Perceived quality: 4 items Perceived price: 2 items Perceived value: 1 item Perceived service quality: n.a. Perceived service value: n.a. Sacrice: n.a. Customer characteristics: n.a. Perceived sacrice: 5 price levels Perceived quality: 5 items Perceived value: 5 items Functional value: 6 items Conditional value: 4 items Social value: 2 items Emotional value: 7 items Epistemic value: 3 items Perceived quality: n.a. Perceived price: n.a. Perceived value: n.a.

Study design Mail survey

No.

Research context Electrical appliance

1,068 Experimental survey Bicycle

Grewal et al. (1998)

328 Experimental survey 95 Interviews Health care, fast food, entertainment 1,944 Mail survey Consulting service Cars

Sinha and DeSarbo (1998) Cronin et al. (1997)

Patterson and Spreng (1997)

128 Experiment Four experience services, four credence services

Ostrom and Iacobucci (1995)

98 Laboratory experiment 823 Mail survey Telephone service Apartments, personal computers

Chang and Wildt (1994)

Bolton and Drew (1991)

1,408 Experiment 585 Mail survey Cigarette smoking (users/nonusers) Calculator, stereo headset player

Dodds et al. (1991)

Sheth et al. (1991)

145 In-depth Interviews 30 Beverages

Zeithaml (1988)

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Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

Table III Studied interdependences among perceived value


Concept Dependent variable S V S

Author(s) and year Chi et al. (2008)

Mediator BI Study design and method(s)

No.

Independent variable Research context Mobile value-added services

X1
Chen (2008)

Y11 X3 Y3 Y12 X3 Y 3 Z3

Shamdasani et al. (2008)

Y12 X1 X2 X3 Y3 Y12
Moliner et al. (2007) Gallarza and Gil Saura (2006)

X1
Caruana and Fenech (2005)

X3 Y 3 Y11 X3 Y3 Y12 X2 X3 Y 3

Spiteri and Dion (2004) Tam (2004)

X1
Petrick (2004)

X3 Y 3 Y1 X3 Y 3

Z11 Z31

X1
Eggert and Ulaga (2002)

Y11 Y12 Z11 Z12 X3 Y 3

Brady and Cronin (2001)

X1
Cronin et al. (2000)

Y11 Y12 Z11 Y11

McDougall and Levesque (2000) Caruana et al. (2000)

X1 X2 X3 Y 3 Y1 X1 X3 Y 3
X1

Y12 Y2

Y1

Z1

Oh (1999)

X1
Sweeney et al. (1999)

Y11 Y12 Z11 Y1 Y11 X3 Y3 Y12 X2 X3 Y 3

X1
Andreasson and Lindestad (1998)

X1
Patterson and Spreng (1997) Fornell et al. (1996)

X1 X2
Chang and Wildt (1994)

Y1 Y1

Z1

X1

Z1 Computer network survey Z3 Conrmatory factor analysis Survey Z3 Structural equation modelling Mail survey Z1 Structural equation modelling Z2 Z3 Interviews Z3 Structural equation modelling Z1 Mail survey Z3 Structural equation modelling Z2 Mail survey Z3 Regression analysis Panel survey Z3 Structural equation modelling Z12 Mail survey Z32 Structural equation modelling Mail survey Z13 Conrmatory factor analysis Phone survey Z3 Structural equation modelling Interviews Z12 Conrmatory factor analysis Interviews Z1 Structural equation modelling Z2 Z3 Z1 Mail survey Z3 Structural equation modelling Interviews Regression analysis Survey Z12 Structural equation modelling Mail survey Z1 Structural equation modelling Z1 Phone survey Z3 Structural equation modelling Z2 Mail survey Z3 Conrmatory factor analysis Phone survey Z2 Structural equation modelling Laboratory experiment Z1 Regression analysis

207 International airline passengers 245 Internet banking

224 Travel agencies, tile sales 804 establishments University students travel behaviour 274 Dental patients 122 American veterinary clinics 220 Chinese restaurant 209 Cruising 792 Retail (purchasing managers) 301 Auto lubrication centres, video rental 649 stores, amusement parks Health care, fast food, entertainment

1,944 Dentist, hair stylist, auto repair, 448 restaurant Audit services 80 Luxury hotels 545 Electrical appliances 1,068 Package (charter) tour 600 Consulting service 128 Seven major economic sectors of USA 44,994 Apartments, personal computers 823

Notes: Q Service quality; S Customer satisfaction; V Perceived value; BI Behavioural intentions

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Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

et al., 2004; Walker et al., 2006). Without such an understanding service providers may end up providing the opposite of what constitutes perceived value in the eyes of their customers.

References
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Further reading
Babin, B.J., Darden, W.R. and Grifn, M. (1994), Work and/or fun? Measuring hedonic and utilitarian shopping value, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 644-56.

Corresponding author
Philipp E. Boksberger can be contacted at: philipp. boksberger@htwchur.ch

Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions Philipp E. Boksberger and Lisa Melsen

Journal of Services Marketing Volume 25 Number 3 2011 229 240

Executive summary and implications for managers and executives


This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benets of the material present. Despite an abundance of articles related to perceived value, a more profound understanding of the concept it describes is needed as there is little consensus about its denition. The distinction between the different types of perceived value is particularly important for service organizations, marketers and managers to understand especially when considering the impact of perceived value on customers willingness to buy, seek information, compare alternatives and evaluate. Without such an understanding service providers may end up providing the opposite of what constitutes perceived value in the eyes of their customers. In Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions, concepts and measures for the service industry Philipp E. Boksberger and Lisa Melsen offer a comprehensive overview of the concept and its implications for the service industry in order to encourage a better understanding of its signicance to service marketing and management. Their ndings show that a multi-dimensional scale better explains perceived value of services, both statistically and qualitatively, than does a single item value for money scale. Second, perceived value is neither a simple trade-off between quality and price nor merely an outcome of any other single factor. Perceived value of services is a combined assessment of consumers perception of benets and sacrices, including quality and price, for a variety of perceived value dimensions with original behavioural intentions and customer satisfaction playing a role in overall evaluation. Generally, measuring perceived value as a trade-off between price as the sacrice and quality as the benet is too simplistic since consumers may be able to identify 50 or more different attributes that shape their perceptions of value prior to, during and after consumption. Therefore perceived value has been dominantly operationalised using multiple item scales for better measurement. Numerous measures and methods have been applied in various contexts. Although a variety of approaches have been taken by different authors, and many of the studies are evolvements of previous studies, functional, emotional and social value appear to be at the forefront of the most recent research. While consensus exists that service quality, customer satisfaction and perceived value predict behavioural intentions, conicting arguments have been made as to their differences, similarities, linkages, temporal order and overall relationship. Just as there is much controversy in the denitions and measurement of perceived value, the

discussion about the terminology of service quality and customer satisfaction is equally debateable. Several empirical studies have attempted to model the antecedent, mediating and consequent relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value and behavioural intentions. Despite this continuous debate no consistent evidence is given for the operationalisation of perceived value and its interdependence to other marketing. Unlike the majority of the analysed studies, the latest research on perceived value is entirely based upon the characteristics of services in that they are intangible, inseparable, heterogeneous and perishable. It is recommended that future research should concentrate on developing a clearer articulation of the constructs used in the various study designs. This can in turn result in better measures, after which the interrelationship between perceived value, service quality, price, benets, sacrices, customer satisfaction and ultimately behavioural intentions can be better understood. It should be directed toward investigating the interaction of perceived value with other core marketing constructs. By not testing for other determinants, the inuence of risk, trust, involvement, etc. on perceived value may be inated. Moreover, by capturing other determinants that contribute to perceived value, a much broader understanding of the value construct can be ascertained. There may also be determinants that are context and consumer specic. It seems likely that pleasure, arousal or dominance play an important role in determining perceived value in some service settings. The notion that mediators are relevant in customers perceived value of services also begs for additional research. Most importantly, future research into which measures of perceived value are most valid for the service industry, marketers and management is warranted. This will ensure consistency and provide the answer to the key service industry question: what are the dimensions of value that customers care about? It is evident that the theory of perceived value has a number of different concepts and theories that make up its foundations. The cognitive and affective components of perceived value theory as well as the relationship with concepts including value, service quality, price, benets, sacrices and customer satisfaction highlight the diversity of perceived value in that it covers and is closely linked with a number of different areas and aspects. Various authors indicate that perceptions of value may be formed at the pre-purchase phase, post-purchase phase, or both, which can also result in the development of different outlooks on perceived value. This complexity makes a single perceived value denition somewhat difcult in that it covers a number of different areas depending on the situation. (A precis of the article Perceived value: a critical examination of denitions, concepts and measures for the service industry. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)

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