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Serv Bus (2014) 8:239266
DOI 10.1007/s11628-013-0195-9
EMPIRICAL ARTICLE
Jeongwook Khang Yung-Mok Yu Hong-Hee Lee
Received: 22 April 2013 / Accepted: 24 June 2013 / Published online: 7 July 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Abstract As the signicance 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 t between service tangibilization and OP will also be discussed in the business context. Specically, 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 signicant relationship between service tangibilization and OP, with the mental t 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 t of mental tangibilization in order to effectively deploy service tangibilization and maximize their OP.
Keywords Service tangibilization Physical t Mental t
Tangible performance Intangible performance
J. Khang
Korea Gas Corporation, 171 Dolmaro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 463-754, South Koreae-mail: [email protected]
Y.-M. Yu (&)
College of Economics and Commerce, Dankook University, 119 Dandae-ro, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungnam 330-714, South Koreae-mail: [email protected]
H.-H. Lee
College of Business and Economics, Dankook University, 152 Jukjeon-ro, Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 448-701, South Koreae-mail: [email protected]
Moderating effects of the t between service tangibilization and organizational performance
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1 Introduction
1.1 Background
Both the economic share and the importance of the service industry have been on the rise in the recent decades (Chase and Apte 2007; Lyons et al. 2007). As the demand for service products increases, the new wave of service production has impacted the structure of the economy. Firms pursue the maximization of organizational performance (OP) in order to gain and sustain core competencies by combining services with nal goods (Baines et al. 2009).
Their differing degree of intangibility is regarded as a major distinction...