Artificial Intelligence (AI) is adopted fast and wide across consumer industries and digital marketing. This new technology has the potential to enhance online customer experience and outcomes of customer experience. However, research relating to the impact of AI is still developing and empirical evidence sparse. Taking a consumercentred approach and by adopting Social Response Theory as theoretical lens, this research addresses an overall research question pertaining to the implications of online customer experience with AI on consumer behaviour. A quantitative research strategy with positivist approach is adopted to gather a large sample (n= 489) of online consumers who have previously interacted with AI-enabled technology. The collected data is analysed statistically utilising Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Empirical findings show strong positive effects of anthropomorphism of AI, para-social interaction with AI, and performance expectancy of AI on all three customer experience dimensions of informativeness, entertainment and social presence. Additionally, there is strong statistical support for the positive effect of informativeness and social presence on continued purchase intentions (β= .379 and β= .315), while the effects of entertainment are less strong. The mediating effects of customer experience have been assessed, highlighting social presence as most important mediator. This research contributes to knowledge by extending previous customer experience theory and quantifying the influence of online customer experience with AI on purchase intentions and eWOM. The theoretical insights also translate into direct implications for marketing practice relating to the design, integration, and implementation of more consumer- and outcome-oriented AI applications. / Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences studentship

This bachelor's degree thesis aims to increase the understanding of how chatbots affect the digital customer experience within Swedish banks. Furthermore, this study examines how bank chatbot's technical quality affects the digital customer experience. In this thesis, the authors have chosen to use a deductive approach and a quantitative research strategy. Moreover, the authors used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program to process the collected quantitative data from the questionnaires. The thesis empirical findings were analyzed and discussed in correlation to previous research to strengthen the research results. The thesis empirical findings demonstrate that 42.9% of the respondents agreed with the statement; My bank's chatbot technology quality improved my customer satisfaction. Moreover, the correlation analysis showed that customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction linked to technical quality had a strong positive correlation between the concepts. Swedish banks could use the information to develop further their chatbots' technical quality, which would reduce customer service costs and influence how customers visit the bank. The thesis research results can also be applied and used by other industries that want to improve or implement chatbots in their digital business.

The digital revolution is changing the banking industry, and how banks create value and deliver services to their customers. Customer experience becomes the main pillar of digitally transformed banks through self-service technologies (SSTs) and the use of artificial intelligence (AI); the research focus of this study is to explore the impact of those modern technologies when dealing with sensitive information and emotional encounters in the banking sector. A case study method has been used with an in-depth investigation consisting of both internal and external interviews for Valhalla Bank in Sweden. External interview results presented the debtor’s perspective by laying out the main challenges faced during the repayment process. The study concluded by answering the main research questions and suggesting practical implications for financial institutions. Banks should proactively seek both explicit and latent needs of different customer segments; any customer interaction data has the potential to become the source of optimizing call scheduling, script customization, or customer experience evaluation. Customers expect flexibility to choose between human interaction and self-service technologies. Sensitive topics can be dealt with digital tools when they can provide advanced functionality with maturity to establish trust and security. Lastly, even though the technology is perceived as cold with a lack of empathy, customers are ready to experiment as they are not comfortable nor satisfied with the current interactions. Regardless of the state of the digital journey of a financial institution, customers should be well-informed about technologies while banks prioritize ethical controls to provide transparent relationships in which any type of customer can feel valued. / Den digitala revolutionen förändrar banksektorn och hur banker skapar värde och levererar tjänster till sina kunder. Kundupplevelse blir huvudpelaren för digitalt transformerade banker genom självbetjäning tekniker (SST) och användningen av artificiell intelligens (AI). Forskningsfokus för denna studie är att undersöka effekterna av den moderna tekniken när man hanterar känslig information och känslomässiga möten inom banksektorn. En fallstudiemetod har använts med en djupgående undersökning bestående av både interna och externa intervjuer för Valhalla Bank i Sverige. Externa intervjuresultat presenterade gäldenärens perspektiv genom att redogöra för de största utmaningarna under återbetalning processen. E-bank kanaler och lösningar har dominerat kundernas preferenser med en hoppfull syn på att bygga upp förtroende för relativt ny teknik. Studien avslutades med att besvara de viktigaste forskningsfrågorna och föreslå praktiska konsekvenser för finansinstituten. Banker bör proaktivt söka både tydliga och latenta behov för olika kundsegment, samtidigt som deras mest värdefulla tillgång är kundernas digitala fotavtryck. Alla kundinteraktion data har potential att bli källan till att optimera samtals planering, anpassning av skript eller utvärdering av kundupplevelse. Kunder förväntar sig flexibilitet och frihet att välja mellan mänsklig interaktion och självbetjänings teknik. Känsliga ämnen kan hanteras med digitala verktyg när de kan ge avancerad funktionalitet med mognad för att skapa förtroende och säkerhet. Slutligen, även om tekniken upplevs som ”kall” med brist på empati och känslor, särskilt när det gäller komplexa och känsliga uppgifter som skuldfrågor, är kunderna redo att experimentera eftersom de inte är bekväma eller nöjda med de nuvarande mänskliga interaktionerna. Oavsett tillståndet för en finansiell instituts digitala resa bör kunderna vara välinformerade om ny teknik medan bankerna prioriterar etisk kontroll med detaljerade handlingsplaner för att ge en nära och transparent relation där alla typer av kunder kan känna sig värderade och förstådda.

Accessible web design is crucial for creating equal access to the internet for everyone. While numerous guidelines and standards exist to promote accessibility, it is often of low priority among professionals and unfortunately many websites remain inaccessible to people with disabilities. Accessible web design is often seen as a checkbox task, believed to decrease usability for people without disabilities, to result in less attractive designs, and be economically challenging to justify. Previous research has disproved some of these beliefs by demonstrating that accessible design enhances usability for all users. However, there remains a gap in research regarding the economic incentives associated with accessible design.  Therefore, this thesis aimed to investigate the impact of accessible web design on purchase intentions and customer experience. This was done by evaluating and redesigning an existing website for accessibility and subsequently conducting comparative testing between the two versions of the website.  The comparative testing consisted of A/B and user testing. Purchase intention was measured using statements derived from prior studies, alongside statements measuring concepts related to purchase intention. Furthermore, the customer experience was assessed using the After Scenario Questionnaire (ASQ), the System Usability Scale (SUS), and conducting user interviews.  The results show that accessible redesign positively influences purchase intentions and indicate that one possible primary contributor to this is an increase in information quality on the website. The customer experience showed no significant differences between the two versions, although user interviews revealed a small rise in user preference for the more accessible version.  In conclusion, this study shows that a redesign with a focus on accessibility increases user intentions to purchase while at the same time not decreasing the customer experience on the website. Hopefully, these results can contribute to creating a more accessible web for all users.

Titel - En gallerias kommersiella miljö: Besökarens individuella upplevelse Ämne - Företagsekonomi, kandidatuppsats på C-nivå Författare - Hilda Gustafsson, My Kristiansson & Camilla Romberg Handledare - Dan Halvarsson Frågeställningar - Hur är den individuella besöksupplevelsen i en gallerias kommersiella miljöer, utifrån människans fem sinnen och dess multisensoriska sinnesupplevelse? Vad påverkar den individuella besöksupplevelsen i en gallerias kommersiella miljöer, utifrån människans fem sinnen och dess multisensoriska sinnesupplevelse? Syfte - Syftet med denna studie är att studera och skapa förståelse för hur besökaren uppmärksammar en gallerias kommersiella miljö, samt hur denna miljö påverkar besökarens individuella upplevelse utifrån sinnesmarkandsföring. Detta då få studier inom ämnet i sinnesmarkandsföring har genomförts. Metod - Studien innefattar ett induktivt synsätt och en kvalitativ metod. Studien har fokuserat på två torg som finns i gallerian Emporia i Malmö. Där har det utförts semistrukturerade intervjuer vid insamling av empirisk data. Analys - Utgångspunkten i studien är sinnesmarknadsföring, som handlar om hur olika sinnen enskilt samt i kombination har stimulerat besökare och påverkat deras upplevelse i en galleria. Empirin har sedan sammankopplats med teorier inom sinnesmarknadsföring. Slutsats - Båda torgen väckte stor uppmärksamhet hos intervjupersonerna. Generellt upplevdes det Gröna torget som positivt för intervjupersonerna medan det Blå torget upplevdes som både positivt och negativt. / Title - The servicescape in a shopping mall: The visitors’ individual experience Subject - Business Economics, bachelor thesis Authors - Hilda Gustafsson, My Kristiansson & Camilla Romberg Tutor - Dan Halvarsson Presentation of the questions - How is the visitors’ individual experience in a shopping mall, on the basis of the human five senses and multisensory? What affects the visitors’ individual experience in a shopping malls servicescape, on the basis of the human five senses and multisensory? Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to study and create an understanding of how the visitor recognizes the shopping mall produced servicescapes, and how this servicescapes affects the visitor's individual experience based on sensory marketing. This is because few studies are conducted on the subject sensory marketing. Method - The study includes an inductive approach and a qualitative method. The study have been focused on two servicescapes that are in the shopping mall Emporia in Malmö, where there were used semi-structured interviews to gather empirical data. Analyse - The starting point was based on sensory marketing. It was about how different senses individually and combined had stimulated visitors and affected their experience in a shopping mall. The empirical data has then been linked with theories of sensory marketing. Conclusions - Both of the servicescapes attracted attention from the interviewed people. The interviewed people at the Green servicescape had a positive experience and at the Blue servicescape, did they have both positive and negative experience.

The analysis of the concept of customer experience, the types and peculiarities of customer experience, the concepts of experience and experiential marketing, the meaning and differences between these two concepts, the main aspects and peculiarities of these concepts are presented in the theoretical part of the thesis. This part of the paper also focuses on the explanation of the concept of hospitality and the composition of the sector of hospitality services. The peculiarities of hospitality customers, their experiences and application of experience marketing in the sector of hospitality are also explained in the theoretical section. The theoretical modelling of the effect of hospitality customers on customer satisfaction and intentions was made after the analysis of all the concepts mentioned. In order to reason the methodology of future research, the second part of the paper presents the empirical studies performed by other scientists. The methodological reasoning of research, instruments, logical structure of research and description of research process are described in the second part of the thesis. The third part of the paper presents research results and their interpretations regarding the effect of customer experience on satisfaction and intentions of hospitality customers based on experience marketing. Research results permits to confirm the hypotheses of the research and show the strength and relationships between variables researched. Having considered research... [to full text] / Teorinėje disertacijos darbo dalyje išnagrinėta vartotojų patirties sąvoka, išanalizuoti vartotojų patirties tipai, pateikiant jų sampratas ir ypatumus, pateikta patirties ir patyriminio marketingo sąvokos, išsiaiškinta šių sąvokų prasmė ir skirtumai, bei pateikiami pagrindiniai šios koncepcijos aspektai ir ypatumai. Išanalizuota svetingumo samprata bei apibrėžta svetingumo paslaugų sektoriaus sudėtis. Pateikti svetingumo paslaugų vartotojų ir jų patirčių bei patirties marketingo taikymo ypatumai šiame sektoriuje. Atlikus šių koncepcijų analizę, atliktas svetingumo paslaugų vartotojų patirties poveikio vartotojų pasitenkinimui ir ketinimams teorinis modeliavimas. Antrojoje darbo dalyje, norint pagrįsti būsimo tyrimo metodologiją, aptarti kitų mokslininkų atlikti empiriniai tyrimai. Pateikiamas metodologinis tyrimo pagrindimas, instrumentarijai, loginė tyrimo struktūra ir tyrimo proceso aprašymas. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje yra pateikiami vartotojų patirties poveikio svetingumo paslaugų vartotojų pasitenkinimui ir ketinimams patirties marketingo pagrindu tyrimo rezultatai ir jų interpretacijos. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė darbe keliamų hipotezių patvirtinimą bei stiprumą ir ryšius tarp tiriamų kintamųjų. Gavus tyrimo rezultatus, atskiriems svetingumo paslaugų sektoriams yra pateikiamos rekomendacijos, kaip vertinti ir valdyti skirtingas vartotojų patirtis.

Background: Organizations are continuously challenged to create differentiated customer value and experience to increase profitability and gain competitive advantage. At the same time, the fast-paced advancement of technologies provides the opportunity to the organizations to create a differentiated customer value by offering innovative products and services. Internet of things (IoTs) is one such emerging technology that brings within itself opportunities and challenges to be addressed. However, so far research has not sufficiently followed how the utilization of IoTs can enhance customer value and experience. Purpose: The purpose of conducting this study is to explore how the utilization of IoTs enhance customer value and experience in an equipment manufacturers context and what are the associated opportunities and challenges. The study also aims to contribute to gap identified in the literature about how organizations can utilize IoTs to enhance customer value and experience. Method: The qualitative study utilized a single instrumental case study to explore the research questions. The data is collected by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews. Conclusion: The study reveals that the utilization of IoTs can significantly improve customer value and experience in many ways. This may involve enabling user to monitor, control and optimally use the equipment, sharing useful information, allowing value co-creation and synergistic values and finally by providing autonomous equipment’s or solutions. However, the study also reveals that the utilization of IoTs also pose certain challenges along with the opportunities which must be carefully evaluated.

In a fast-changing retail environment, including hard competition and demanding consumers, the customer experience of the purchasing service is crucial to gain a competitive advantage. Since consumers are to some extent moving from offline to online, and from desktop shopping to purchasing clothing in a mobile application, there is a need for investigating consumers expectations of their experience of a mobile application. The existing and performance of attributes and functions determines the satisfaction of the user experience, which is why it is reasonable to investigate expectations concerning attributes. The finding and classification of quality attributes in mobile applications in the fashion industry was the main goal of this thesis. Attributes were found using a qualitative study including 16 interviews, where respondents field tested already existing applications. The reasonability to further investigate these attributes was confirmed by a literature research. After finding 35 relevant attributes, these were investigated and analysed using the Theory of Attractive Quality and a 5-level Kano questionnaire. The analysis was conducted using the Theory of Attractive Quality, classifying attributes according to the Kano chart of evaluation. Further, each attribute was analysed using tools such as better/worse diagrams and self-stated importance values. The classification results from the questionnaire were that “Choose product size” was categorised as Must-Be, “Loading speed” as One-Dimensional, eight quality attributes were combinations of classifications, and 25 were classified as Indifferent. A number of 510 respondents answered the questionnaire. The classification of attributes implies that customers are rather indifferent to attributes during their shopping experience. However, further analysis concludes that even though many attributes are classified as Indifferent, many attributes need to be considered, according to the better/worse values and diagrams, which are useful regarding resource allocation. According to the classification and better/worse diagrams, one can distinguish a difference between genders: male respondents proved to be more indifferent to their shopping experience than females. Analysis of the data also shows a difference between age groups. The two youngest age groups including respondents born in 1990-1994 and 1995-2000, had higher better and worse values, implying that younger people expect more from their shopping user experience. Conclusively, this report resulted in an overview of consumers’ expectations regarding their experience when shopping in a fashion mobile application. The Theory of Attractive Quality is a useful method when measuring perceived and expected quality; however, each investigative occasion demands different method setup, adjusting for specific attribute types, as well as business. Some improvements can be made regarding the Theory of Attractive Quality, increasing the chances of a better result.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-09-21T15:03:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiano Mattana_.pdf: 3816938 bytes, checksum: e533a5d2119b0afeba12f4cbf525b176 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-21T15:03:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiano Mattana_.pdf: 3816938 bytes, checksum: e533a5d2119b0afeba12f4cbf525b176 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-11 / Nenhuma / Este estudo procurou atender ao objetivo geral de mensurar o nível de satisfação com o modelo de relacionamento digital dos clientes dos Escritórios de Negócios Exclusivos do Banco do Brasil situados no Rio Grande do Sul. O estudo de caso foi realizado em uma das maiores instituições financeiras brasileiras e mundiais. Conforme a estratégia corporativa do Banco do Brasil, a empresa realizou uma reestruturação no modelo de relacionamento com clientes, em implementação desde 2015, criando novas estruturas de atendimento específicas para determinados segmentos, dentre eles os escritórios exclusivos. A pesquisa teve uma etapa qualitativa, com uma análise documental interna da instituição e a realização de uma entrevista semiestruturada com os gestores dos escritórios, com o intuito de verificar a estratégia e as bases do modelo de negócios, bem como identificar as percepções e as dificuldades encontradas na implantação dessa nova estrutura. A etapa quantitativa foi realizada para mensurar o nível de satisfação dos clientes em relação à qualidade dos serviços prestados pelos escritórios, com aplicação de uma survey eletrônica utilizando como base a Escala Servqual, de Parasuraman, Zeithaml e Berry (1988), que mede a diferença entre as expectativas e a percepção dos clientes em cinco dimensões: tangibilidade, confiabilidade, compreensão, segurança e empatia. Os dados gerados foram tratados com a aplicação de análises estatísticas multivariadas. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que os clientes do Banco do Brasil estão satisfeitos com os serviços oferecidos através do modelo digital e a nova estrutura de negócios, no qual lhes é oferecido um atendimento humanizado agregado ao melhor da tecnologia. Percebeu-se, também, que o “mundo digital” provavelmente não substituirá o “mundo físico”, eles serão complementares, os escritórios digitais e as agências físicas irão coexistir e que o Banco do Brasil está aprimorando, assim, a entrega da proposta de valor e de uma melhor experiência aos clientes, permitindo rentabilizá-los, satisfazê-los e fidelizá-los. / This study sought to meet general measure goal of measuring the level of satisfaction with the digital relationship model customers of Banco do Brasil Exclusive Business Offices situated in Rio Grande do Sul. The case study was conducted in one of the largest Brazilian and global financial institutions. As the Banco do Brasil corporate strategy, the company conducted a restructuring relationship model with customers, in implementation since 2015, creating new specific service structures for certain segments, among them exclusive offices. Research had a qualitative step analyzing several documents of the institution and internal conducting a semi-structured interview with managers offices, in order to check the strategy and the foundations of business model, as well as identify perceptions and the difficulties encountered in implementing this new structure. Quantitative step was held to measure the level of customer satisfaction to the quality of services provided by offices, with applying an electronic survey using as a base the Servqual Scale of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988), which measures the difference between customers’ expectations and perception in five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, understanding, safety and empathy. The data generated were treated through with the application multivariate statistical analysis. The results show that Banco do Brasil customers are satisfied with the services offered through the digital model and the new business structure, in which they are offered a service humanized household with the best technology. It was noticed, also, that the “digital world” probably won’t replace the “physical world”, they are complementary, digital offices and physical agencies will coexist and that Banco do Brasil is improving, like this, value proposition delivery and customers better experience, allowing monetize them, satisfy them and loyalty them.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo de Tarso Barberio.pdf: 1628573 bytes, checksum: 1e556fde0f4352a86f3ad203fbbbef6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-19 / In the search for competitive advantage, companies in the service sector begin to look with greater attention to the need for innovation as vital to the survival or even to differentiate within the current business landscape. The ability or competence to innovate has become an essential ingredient of the current dynamics of the business segment. Innovation in services is a real phenomenon and is integrated into the services used in everyday people from using mobile internet to the hiring of distance learning. It is no different in medical diagnostic imaging services in Brazil, where companies seek to improve the perception of customers regarding services through new and innovative processes. In this context, the aim of the study was to investigate ways and alternatives for small and medium companies in the medical services diagnostic imaging industry create value from the perpective of customers, providing unique solutions and innovative services. The literature review included the historical evolution of diagnostic medicine, as well as the development of the medical equipment market. Regarding innovation, the study reviewed general aspects of the subject, and then the phenomenon of innovation in services, in particular, the main modes of innovation proposed by Gallouj and Weinstein (1997). The literature considered allows a better view of the possibilities of implementing innovative processes within organizations, as well as widen the debate about what can be considered innovation in services. Thus, the case study, in that it analyzes the entire process of implementing new services, it seems feasible as research into alternative implementation and understanding of the main obstacles commonly found for making changes in organizational culture / Na busca por vantagem competitiva, as empresas do segmento de serviços começam a olhar com maior atenção para a necessidade da inovação como elemento vital para a sobrevivência ou mesmo para se diferenciar dentro do atual panorama empresarial. A habilidade ou competência para inovar tornou-se um ingrediente fundamental da dinâmica atual dos negócios no segmento. A inovação em serviços é um fenômeno real e está integrada nos serviços utilizados no dia a dia das pessoas, desde a utilização de internet móvel até a contratação de ensino a distância. Não é diferente no segmento de serviços médicos de diagnóstico por imagem no Brasil, onde as empresas buscam melhoria na percepção dos clientes em relação aos serviços prestados através de novos e inovadores processos. Nesse contexto, o objetivo do estudo foi investigar alternativas para pequenas e médias empresas do setor de serviços médicos de diagnóstico por imagem criarem valor a partir da perpectiva dos clientes, oferecendo soluções diferenciadas e serviços inovadores. A revisão da literatura contemplou a evolução histórica da medicina diagnóstica, assim como o desenvolvimento do mercado de equipamentos médicos no país. No tocante a Inovação, o estudo revisou aspectos gerais sobre o tema e, posteriormente o fenômeno da inovação em serviços, em especial, os principais modos de inovação propostos por Gallouj e Weinstein (1997). A literatura considerada permite uma melhor visão das possibilidades de implementação de processos inovadores dentro das organizações, bem como amplia o debate sobre o que pode ser considerado inovação em serviços. Dessa forma, o estudo de caso, na medida em que analisa todo processo de implementação de novos serviços, se mostrou viável quanto a investigação de alternativas de implementação e no entendimento dos principais obstáculos comumente encontrados para realização de mudanças na cultura organizacional