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Adjusting the Warm-Glow Thermostat: How Incentivizing Participation in Voluntary Green Programs Moderates Their Impact on Service Satisfaction

Michael Giebelhausen1; HaeEun Helen Chun2; J. Joseph Cronin3; G. Tomas M. Hult4

1 Michael Giebelhausen is Assistant Professor of Marketing, School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University · 2 HaeEun Helen Chun is Assistant Professor of Marketing, School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University · 3 J. Joseph Cronin Jr. is John R. Kerr Eminent Scholar Chair in Marketing and Service Innovation, College of Business, Florida State University · 4 G. Tomas M. Hult is Byington Endowed Chair and Professor of Marketing, Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University

Journal of Marketing 2016

In Study 1, the authors find that people are more satisfied with a service experience when they choose to participate in the provider's voluntary green program (e.g., recycling)—an effect mediated by the “warm glow” of participation. The downside, however, is that this same mechanism decreases satisfaction among people who choose not to participate. In Study 2, analysis of data from the J.D. Power Guest Satisfaction Index suggests that incentivizing the program (i.e., compensating the program participants) paradoxically increases satisfaction for those who do not participate but decreases satisfaction among those who do. Studies 3 and 4 explore how manipulating incentive characteristics might enable managers to maximize satisfaction for both groups. Study 3 indicates that, compared with no incentive, an “other-benefiting” incentive increases warm glow and satisfaction for green program participants but decreases them among nonparticipants. Study 4, however, suggests that mixed incentive bundles (i.e., providing both self-benefiting and other-benefiting options) maximize warm glow and satisfaction for both groups—the ideal outcome for managers.

DOI
10.1509/jm.14.0497
Volume
80 (4)
Pages
56-71
Language
en
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