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Abstract
As the significance of service industry grows, its relationship to overall economic growth and organizational performance (OP) has also become an issue of prominence. Tangibilization is widely known as one of the means of overcoming the weaknesses of service intangibility and improving OP. This research explores the relationship between service tangibilization and OP. Furthermore, the moderating effect of the fit between service tangibilization and OP will also be discussed in the business context. Specifically, the Korean natural gas industry is selected to test the developed hypotheses. The managers who have experience with managing a service business in either the wholesale or retail sector of this industry were surveyed. The results imply that there exists a significant relationship between service tangibilization and OP, with the mental fit positively strengthening some of the relationships between these two constructs. It can be inferred from this that it is important for companies in the natural gas industry to attain the right fit of mental tangibilization in order to effectively deploy service tangibilization and maximize their OP.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]