Journal of Service Research | November 2010
quality, satisfaction, and future repurchase behavior. Recent research has found that such surveys have the potential to evoke
question-behavior effects (QBE) on participating customers and moreover suggests its impact on firm revenues is positive.
However, our findings indicate that the effects may not always be beneficial. The research the authors report is set in the
automotive quick lube industry and comprises two field experiments and a lab experiment. The authors find that customers
participating in firm-sponsored surveys delay immediate service repurchases, thus reducing cash flows, but also accelerate
subsequent ones in the following periods. Our results are explained by the inferences that customers make as they participate
in such surveys, which affect customer behavior in a complex manner, and provide an additional mechanism to understand the
operation of QBEs. One important caution emerging from this finding is that service firms conducting satisfaction surveys for
tracking purposes on an ongoing basis should be careful not to survey customers too often.
Siddharth Shekhar Singh is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He previously served as Senior Associate Dean (Admissions and Financial Aid), Associate Dean (Digital Transformation, eLearning, and Marketing; and RCI Outreach and Engagement), and was the first Director of the Doctoral Programme at ISB. He is a member of the Board of Directors of DLabs, a technology business incubator of ISB. He also serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Directors of Petronet LNG Limited and the International Schools of Business Management (ISBM—a UK-based charity). He holds a PhD in Marketing from the J. L. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (USA), an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), and a BTech in Electronics & Communications Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (India).
Professor Singh’s research broadly focuses on a firm’s ability to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. His work attempts to help firms identify the “right” customers for acquisition and retention, and more profitably manage relationships with them over time. He researches marketing initiatives such as customer engagement, customer loyalty programs, and online customer communities. He also works on issues related to the online training of salespersons, the development of financial metrics to evaluate marketing decisions (e.g., customer lifetime value), customer segmentation, purchases, returns, and marketing analytics.
Professor Singh has co-authored four textbooks for MBA students and business executives. The books—titled Managing Marketing: An Applied Approach, Managing Marketing: A Concise Approach, Essentials of Managing Marketing, and Digital Marketing: Strategy & Tactics—are published by Wiley India.
Because of his rare combination of academic rigour and real-world business experience, he is an in-demand columnist and speaker whose expert commentary has appeared in globally prestigious print and broadcast outlets, including CNN-News18, NDTV, CNN Money, Forbes India, Fortune India, The Economic Times, The Times of India, Business Today, The Hindu, Livemint, Businessworld, and others. He also publishes in distinguished academic journals such as Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, and the Journal of Service Research.
Professor Singh has a keen interest in new ventures. He has been teaching the New Product Development and Marketing course for the past 18 years in both India and the USA. He is a co-founder and strategic advisor at Bsharp Sales Enablers Pvt. Ltd. He advises numerous startups and regularly participates in various capacities (e.g., juror and speaker) at startup events.
Prior to his PhD, he worked for several years with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in product and sales management roles. Hired through J&J’s prestigious global leadership development program—the IRDP—his responsibilities included managing several product lines and launching new products for J&J hospital products group in India. His consulting experience includes firms in a variety of industries such as consumer products and services, healthcare, agriculture, media, high technology, and retail.
