Uncertainty Avoidance as a Moderator of the Relationship between Perceived Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
研究调查了西班牙、德国和瑞典303家企业客户，发现来自高不确定性规避文化的客户在服务缺陷导致期望未满足时，满意度低于低不确定性规避文化的客户，提示企业需根据文化差异调整服务策略。
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.