In recent years, it is not hard to tell that in the retail market of flaming competition in Taiwan, and quality of service is worth of being paid attention. The study tries to investigate the relationships between buyer reactions to ethical behaviors of salespeople and customer-company identification. Several hypotheses are developed and tested to find out whether interactions with salespeople generates customers¡¦ ethical perceptions and impacts on customer-company identification. Moreover, the study intends to explore the consequences of customer-company identification (extra- or in- role behaviors). The study adopts structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the path estimates among constructs. The study adopts convenience sample and the valid return of survey is 296. Results indicate that the significant and positive effects of both moral equity and relativism on customer-company identification and repurchase intention and positive word-of-mouth followed up. At last, the managerial implications of this study may help retailers with professional ethics of salespeople and create loyal customers.

Die vier Artikel dieser Dissertation betrachten die Relevanz von Zufriedenheit und Identifikation für Kundenbeziehungen. Artikel 1 untersucht den nichtlinearen Zusammenhang von Zufriedenheit und Loyalität. Artikel 2 analysiert den Einfluss kritischer Ereignisse auf die Zufriedenheit und das Vertrauen von Kunden. Artikel 3 geht der Frage nach, ob mit einem Unternehmen identifizierte Kunden eine stärkere Bindung an das Unternehmen haben und zeigt, dass die Identifikation indirekt diverse Verhaltensweisen fördert, die mitunter nicht über eine Steigerung der Zufriedenheit erreicht werden können. Artikel 4 zeigt zudem, dass die Identifikation des Kunden mit dem Unternehmen sein Kaufverhalten begünstigt und vom Unternehmen gefördert werden kann. / This dissertation consists of four articles which analyze the relevance of satisfaction and customer-company identification for customer relationships. Article 1 investigates the nonlinear effects of satisfaction on loyalty. Article 2 examines the influence of critical incidents on building customer trust and satisfaction. Article 3 demonstrates that customer-company identification leads to higher commitment which in turn fosters distinct supportive behaviors towards the company that are sometimes not attainable by increasing satisfaction. Article 4 shows that customers’ purchase behavior is positively influenced by customer-company identification and demonstrates that companies can increase their customers’ level of identification.

La thèse vise principalement à démontrer la pertinence du marketing d'entreprises aux consommateurs. A travers deux articles, nous explorons le concept de marketing de l'entreprise dans les domaines qui constituent un intérêt considérable dans la communauté académique telle que les émotions et les relations des consommateurs avec l'entreprise. Le premier article traite des implications des marques d'entreprises vis-à-vis des expériences émotionnelles de consommateurs. L'étude démontre que les différences au niveau conceptuel entre des marques d'entreprises et des marques de produits donnent lieu à des différences significatives et importantes sur les réactions émotionnelles et comportementales des clients. Dans le second article, nous nous concentrons sur la relation de l'identification du consommateur avec les entreprises (ICE). Cette recherche élabore les mécanismes d'engagement basés sur l'identité et leur effet sur les réponses des consommateurs à de nouvelles initiatives de la société.Le troisième article aborde d'une autre question de recherche. Etant donné que les études empiriques faisant l'objet des deux premiers articles font appel à des étudiants comme participants, notre troisième article se concentre sur le fait d'utiliser un échantillon d'étudiants dans les recherches en marketing. / The thesis primarily aims to demonstrate the relevance of corporate marketing framework to consumers. Therefore, across two different articles we explore the concept of corporate marketing in areas which hold considerable interest among academicians i.e. consumer emotions and consumer relationships. The first article, deals with the implications of corporate brands on consumer's emotional experiences. The study demonstrates that conceptual differences between corporate and product brands have important and meaningful differences on consumer's emotional and behavioral reactions. In the second article, we focus on consumer's identification relationship with companies. This research elaborates the mechanisms of identity-based commitment and its effect on consumer responses to new company initiatives. The proposed two-tiered, identification-based commitment model explains both positive and negative consumer reactions, an insight missing from prior studies.Finally, the thesis includes a 3rd article which discusses a rather different issue. As the empirical studies in the first two articles use “students” as participants therefore, our third article focuses on the usage of student sample in marketing research. This article explores the underlying argument on the usage of student sample; problems associated with such studies, and identify best practices in French marketing research.