Waiting as a determinant of store image and customer satisfaction: a literature review

Abstract

Several studies have proposed multi-dimensional conceptualisations of service quality, store image and consumers’ satisfaction with service delivery in a retail context.  Although waiting time is included in a hierarchical conceptualisation of perceived service quality and is explicitly considered in the literature on service convenience, waiting as an antecedent of these constructs have received little attention in research. Most of the studies that have investigated consumers’ time perceptions were furthermore performed in laboratories. Despite its influence on consumers’ perceptions of a service provider, scholars fairly recently, referred to the waiting phenomenon as an underutilized measure of consumer behaviour. Several researchers have furthermore concluded that the effect of waiting and queuing on customers’ store patronage and return intentions should not be underestimated. Several theoretic perspectives could be used to understand the consequences of waiting for consumers as well as retail. Understandably personal factors and personality can not necessarily be accommodated to the same extent that situational factors and demographic characteristics could be addressed during efforts to augment retailers’ service offerings. Research findings can however contribute to an understanding of consumers’ frustration, overt behaviour, and customers’ complaints. In this literature review, extant literature is integrated to confirm the importance of the waiting construct from a consumer’s as well as a
marketing point of view and propositions as well as a conceptual framework are proposed to instigate future research – specifically in the context of developing countries.