Uncertainty avoidance as a moderator of the relationship between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction

Reimann, Martin; Lünemann, Ulrich F.; Chase, Richard B.

doi:10.1177/1094670508319093

Cited by 192Customer Service Quality and LoyaltyCultural Differences and ValuesService and Product Innovation

Uncertainty avoidance as a moderator of the relationship between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction

Reimann, Martin, Lünemann, Ulrich F., Chase, Richard B.·2008·Journal of Service Research

DOI 10.1177/1094670508319093

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Abstract

The extent to which members of different cultures vary in their reactions to uncertainty can have a major impact on how perceived service quality affects customer satisfaction. This article addresses the issue of cultural differences in the context of business-to-business relationships. A study involving 303 Spanish, German, and Swedish business-to-business customers reveals that clients from cultures with a high degree of uncertainty avoidance were less satisfied than low-uncertainty avoidant clients when, as a result of a service defect, their service expectations were not met. In light of the tolerance zone concept, the finding suggests a narrower range of acceptable outcomes for high-uncertainty avoidance cultures. Important management implications of this study relate to service quality efforts, which should be explicitly designed to reflect intercultural differences in operations planning and training of service personnel.

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Empirical studies have identified relationships between uncertainty avoidance and satisfaction.
“Empirical studies have identified the relationships between uncertainty avoidance and satisfaction [100].”
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“Uncertainty among service teams and B2B customers, poses evaluation challenges to establish contractual compliance, and is reduced and avoided through frequent communication among partners to establish and maintain ‘tolerance zones’ (de Jong et al., 2001; Reimann et al., 2008).”
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Risk Aversion, Entrepreneurial Attitudes, Intention and Entry Among Young People in Uganda and Germany: A Gendered Analysis
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“Germany tends to be high on uncertainty and risk avoidance (Reimann et al., 2008), suggesting a high level of risk aversion.”
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“The extent to which members of different cultures vary in their reactions to uncertainty may have a major impact on CS and perceived service quality (Reimann, Lunemann, & Chase, 2008 ).”
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Uncertainty avoidance as a moderator for influences on foreign resident dining out behaviors
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“Although the level of uncertainty avoidance is known to differ across individuals and across different cultures (Reimann et al. 2008), consumers tend to prefer certain rather than uncertain outcomes (Fox and Tversky 1995).”
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“In a study with 303 participants from Spain, Germany, and Sweden [63], it was noted that customers who came from high uncertainty avoidance cultures were less satisfied with service defect situations than those from low uncertainty avoidance cultures.”
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Improving the service quality of cross-border e-commerce: How to understand online consumer reviews from a cultural differences perspective
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“The higher the degree of uncertainty, the less satisfied customers are with service defects (Reimann et al., 2008; Huang and Crotts, 2019), which results in negative online evaluations (Mariani and Predvoditeleva, 2019).”
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Autonomy, Locus of Control, and Entrepreneurial Orientation of Lebanese Expatriates Worldwide
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“Reimann et al. (2008) demonstrate that uncertainty avoidance has a negative impact on satisfaction.”
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Emergency medicine patient wait time multivariable prediction models: a multicentre derivation and validation study
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“These are cultures that typically have more rules and regulations in comparison with those cultures that are more accepting and inquisitive of the unknown and the future.(27) The countries with the highest Uncertainty avoidance scores in the Hofstede database were Greece, Portugal, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Russia, and…”
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“The basic recommendation is to use tangibilization strategies differently across cultures (Albers-Miller and Stafford, 1999a; Bang and Moon, 2002; Bang et al., 2005; Zhang et al., 2008) because of the cultural influences on customers’ service expectations (Furrer et al., 2000; Reimann et al., 2008).”
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“…a number of recent studies examine various correlates and consequences of customers’ cultural characteristics in service exchanges and relationships (Reimann et al., 2008; Reynolds and Smith, 2010; Schoefer, 2010), none has explicitly examined how a consumer’s culture influences his/her EDP…”
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Authors: Reimann, M., Lünemann, U. F., & Chase, R. B.
Affiliations: Stanford University (US)
California State University, Sacramento (US)
University of Southern California (US)
ORCID: Reimann, Martin
Chase, Richard B.
Venue: Journal of Service Research
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2008-06-16
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Pages: 63-73
ISSN: 1094-6705 (ISSN-L)
1552-7379
DOI: 10.1177/1094670508319093
OpenAlex: W2106722268
Cited by: 191
References: 51
Citations by year: 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 12
FWCI: 15.64
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Journal of Service Research (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Service and Product Innovation
Keywords: uncertainty avoidance, perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, business-to-business customers, cultural differences, tolerance zone, service defects, service expectations, cross-cultural management, service quality management

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Uncertainty avoidance as a moderator of the relationship between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction

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