engleski

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SERVICE VALUE ON THE MARKET OF RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: INFLUENCE ON PURCHASE INTENTIONS

An objective of this research is to conceptualize service value as a value dimension, empirically test a new construct tailored for a market of research, development and innovation (RDI) products and services, and explore its influence on purchase intentions of customers/buyers of RDI products and services. The challenge addressed in this paper is the fact that the service value is created in the distribution system and is not embedded in the product or service, whereas on RDI markets, performance and price values are expected to dominantly influence purchase intentions. Based on the literature research, service value is in this paper theoretically conceptualized as a four attributes value dimension, consisting of providing the service, education of employees and product display, providing after-sales support, maintenance and repairs, and interpersonal relationship. The conceptualization is empirically tested of the sample of 135 buyers of RDI products and services. Exploratory factor analysis extracted three factors. Components education of employees and product display and providing aftersales support, maintenance and repairs converged into a single factor which now reflects both prepurchase and postpurchase related interactions. The first item of service providing converged to factor interpersonal relationship. The service value is now a two-factor higher order construct. The factor purchase intentions remained unchanged. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted by means of PLS-SEM. It confirmed internal reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the three factors on both first-order and second-order level of the model. Based on these results, hypotheses were developed to test the influence of the higher order construct service value and its components on purchase intentions. The support has been found for direct positive influence of service value on purchase intentions, while the direct positive influence of prepurchase and postpurchase interactions and interpersonal relationship on purchase intentions is not statistically significant.

service value, prepurchase and postpurchase interactions, interpersonal relationship, purchase intentions

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