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Student’s research backs “consumer is always right” theory

June 30, 2005

fredy1.jpgA PhD student from The University of New England has won an international award for his research into customer complaints and companies’ reaction to these.
Chilean-born Fredy Valenzuela, 36, received Best Paper Award for the article he will deliver at the International Conference on Business and Information (BAI) to be held next month in Hong Kong.
A total of 218 manuscripts from 25 countries were submitted for the conference. The best of these – including Mr Valenzuela’s paper on “The Influence of Service Recovery as Evaluation on Customer Post-Complaint Behaviour” – will be published in the International Journal of Business and Information.
A second paper authored by Mr Valenzuela, “Consumer Complaining Behaviour: The Case of a South American Country, Chile”, and that will also be presented at this conference was already accepted for publication in the journal of Contemporary Management Research.
In addition Mr Valenzuela was invited to sit on the BAI board when it meets in Singapore next year.
“This is a great opportunity to show an international audience the importance of research into consumer behaviour and why it is important for companies to respond effectively,” Mr Valenzuela said.
He said whereas many Chileans preferred not to complain, due to embarrassment, Australians “had a different personality and are not shy to complain”, Mr Valenzuela said.

“Also, customers in Australia are more protected than in Chile by the law and know their rights.”
While his research is concentrated on Chile, Mr Valenzuela said there were important general conclusions to be drawn from both his papers. These include:
* Compensation and employee behaviour are directly related to a customer’s trust and indirectly to commitment and loyalty.
* Companies should concentrate on compensation to build consume trust and ensure the customer will use the company again. “The benefit of such an expense can outweigh its cost when customers gain trust
in the product and the company and, as a consequence, become committed and loyal customers.”
* Promptness in solving the problem is not important for customers as long as the problem is solved.
“My future research will look at refining the concept of compensation, exactly what it is and whether it always has to relate to money,” Mr Valenzuela said.
Mr Valenzuela’s PhD is on marketing and looking at service recovery.
More than 130 academics from around the world will take part in the BAI conference next month, presenting papers on an array of topics, from conflict management web technology.
For more information phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779 or
Fredy Valenzuela on 6773 3398

Posted by Lydia Roberts at June 30, 2005 09:51 AM