Citation Download PDF

International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development
Volume 9, Issue 5, December 2023, Pages 16-27

---

Buyer / Seller Relationship in the Services Sector at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Commitment-Trust Theory Perspective

DOI: 10.18775/ijied.1849-7551-7020.2015.95.2002
URL: https://doi.org/10.18775/ijied.1849-7551-7020.2015.95.2002

Bianca Tjizumaue

Faculty of Commerce, Human Sciences and Education, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Namibia, Windhoek

Abstract: Drawing on the commitment-trust theory as the central approach, this paper aims to evaluate the importance of the commitment-trust theory in improving relationships between buyers and sellers in the service sector at the Bottom of the Pyramid. The paper further aims to investigate if the relationship formed between the buyers/sellers can impact the organization’s financial performance through customer satisfaction. From that, a conceptual framework is developed, which illustrates how the buyers’ and sellers’ relationships through commitment-trust theory are displayed as mediators in the conceptual framework, subsequently impacting the financial performance of the service providers. The study is a conceptual paper; therefore, it only concentrated on secondary data, which led to reviewing the literature of 190 articles focused on the conceptual evaluation of existing actors in relationship marketing and services marketing. The findings of this study illustrate that service providers should not only concentrate on high earners but also give attention to the bottom of the pyramid markets as those markets are also profitable. The findings also prove that service providers must adequately pay attention to the Bottom of the pyramid customers. The findings further revealed that well-served customers result in positive word of mouth, which subsequently increases loyalty and referrals, thus resulting in more outstanding market share. The study also showed that the customers at the Bottom of the Pyramid are not usually well acquainted with the benefits of the products and their rights as consumers; hence, some service providers take advantage of them.

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Financial Performance, Relationship Marketing, Bottom of the Pyramid, Service sector

1. Introduction

The services sector is vital, especially for economies with high levels of development. Most world economies have evolved from agricultural production, whereas the service sector is growing faster. There is quite a radical change that the world is currently experiencing, and the total output within the service sector has tremendously increased in most countries. This increase has transformed economic production, global trading, and employment. It is, however, essential to note that the characteristics of services cause the failure of most service providers as the benefits cannot be seen, tested, and evaluated by the buyers before they can purchase. These characteristics often only manifest during the use (Budianto, 2019).

The consumers at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) need more knowledge, and they need to have sufficient proficiency and boldness to make efficient decisions. Subsequently, this results in them needing to be fully aware of their consumer rights. These consumers’ awareness level generally significantly impacts the consumer experience, influencing their buying behavior (Kaur and Bhatia, 2018). Conceptual support was made to the commitment-trust theory. Literature on the theory within the service sector provided insights into the importance of commitment and trust. The link between trust and customer satisfaction and how companies can improve satisfaction through trust was identified. Furthermore, the potential outcome of customer satisfaction was discussed, specifically on financial performance.

1.1 Problem Statement

The consumers in the BOP market have been neglected, and they have been receiving low-quality products; they are not always well-informed and are usually not offered goods that meet their needs (Campos, de Rezende, do Nascimento, Marques and Grutzmann, 2020). Ineffective relationship marketing, trust, and commitment must exist to create a successful relationship between the buyer and seller (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Put, “Commitment and trust lead directly to cooperative behaviors that are conducive to relationship marketing success” (Morgan and Hunt, 1994: 22). When customers are kept informed of rapid developments within the organization, this usually results in building trust in the customers. Efforts geared towards relationship marketing can benefit the organization as the customers are more likely to repurchase from them. A thorough consideration of the commitment-trust theory might help the service sector companies improve the relationships between the two parties. This will also assist the service providers in offering satisfying services that can lead to positive financial performance.

1.2 Aim of the Study

The present study draws on customer satisfaction with essential variables such as service quality and retention. Taking into consideration this background, the present study aims to evaluate how the commitment and trust theory in the service sector, especially when serving the customers at the bottom of the pyramid, can impact the relationship between buyers and sellers and how their relationships are affected when there is a lack in commitment and trust. The study aims to develop a framework that addresses this relationship using the theory as the mediator and conceptual guide. Based on the reviewed literature, this paper seeks to make several significant contributions to the service sector marketing literature.

2. Theoretical Background And Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Background

The Commitment-Trust theory by Morgan and Hunt (1994) combines the commitment and trust concepts in the relationship marketing context. When the buyer and seller relationship is important enough to result in efforts to make it work, it is known as commitment. When the buyer and seller are confident that each will serve with integrity and reliability, trust exists between these two parties (Bhandari, Golden, Walker and Zhang, 2022). Faith is one of the most essential components in the purchasing process (Pandey and Kaushik, 2012).  There are long-term benefits for both the buyer and seller when trust is valued and considered in service delivery (Doney and Cannon, 1997). When customers trust the sellers, they are even more likely to tolerate price increases (Pandey, Tripathi, Jain and Roy, 2020). Generally, when buyers feel that the sellers are striving to protect their privacy, they are less likely to feel vulnerable. Still, when buyers are unsure if the sellers are acting in their best interest with great efforts to protect their privacy, they become less confident in cooperative behavior (Gerlach, Eling, Wessels and Buxmann, 2019). Therefore, service providers must build consumer trust to maintain high perceived service quality and allow customers to depend on them and their integrity confidently.

2.2 Literature Review

The study thoroughly reviewed a total of 190 articles from the perspective of the service sector. Within the service sector, four specific industries, namely Banking, Insurance, Health Care, and Tourism, were identified to have a substantial concentration of literature about the constructs and theories the researcher intended to gain insights on for this study. Services are intangible acts that service providers perform to the buyers without a shift in ownership of anything (Kotler and Keller, 2016). The surrounding environment where the product is offered, the infrastructural facilities, the customer service providers’ attitude, the employee’s professionalism, and how they promptly provide the services to the buyers has an impact on how the people perceive the image of the company’s services (Mahmood and Khan, 2014).

People with low purchasing power are at the bottom of the pyramid segment (Kolk et al., 2014). The BOP market is expanding; it is a large, underexplored market. Most markets at the top of the pyramid are saturated, leading to profits and growth appearing more at the bottom of the pyramid markets as they have many people. The “Bottom of the Pyramid” (BOP) market represents a large share of the world’s population. However, businesses organized to be addressed in this segment due to extreme poverty and the poor living standards of BOP customers (Dembek et al., 2020; Du et al., 2020). The BOP sector is the most neglected one, but researchers argue that it can become the most profitable market for companies to enter if they offer the right services to this market (Fisk et al., 2016). The idea of transforming the BOP market into a profitable opportunity for the companies and economy was first proposed in an article published in the Harvard Business Review (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002). There has also been an incredible shift in recent years as there has been considerably high economic growth and several government strategies to reduce poverty (Cooney and Shanks, 2010). Although not much attention was given to this market because of its low visibility and accessibility, it has, however, changed since the 1980s as this market started receiving attention due to continuous growth in the industrial areas, the development of the service sector, and the establishment of the local governance (Agrawal, 2018). Penetrating the BOP market has been noted as essential. Still, there are challenges such as poor connectivity, communication challenges, conservative beliefs, and even the stiff mindset of the people in those markets (Parida and Sahney, 2018).

There is generally a low literacy level and a need for more resources in the BOP markets; hence, the consumers in this segment commonly tend to be cautious at times (Joshi, Chauhan and Choudhary, 2021). Trust in this segment is an important phenomenon; when the service providers know the consumers by name and language, the more open and comfortable the consumers become in purchasing the service provider’s products (Oliveira, 2017). From a customer-centric perspective, it is of utmost importance for service providers to consider the 4 As of marketing in the BOP segment, as this allows for synthesizing the distinct values that the customers in this segment seek.  These 4 As are rather multiplicative than additive in the customers’ mental arithmetic. The service providers who serve the BOP segment and develop marketing programs that include these four factors are usually successful (Pelsa and Sheth, 2021). These 4 As are considered highly important in serving the BOP segments, and they are described as awareness, acceptability, accessibility, and affordability. Awareness is termed as the extent of the customers’ knowledge of the product and the brand. Acceptability is the extent to which the firm’s total product offering meets and exceeds customer expectations, especially on functional and psychological acceptability. Accessibility is considered to be the extent to which customers can readily acquire and use the product. Availability relates to the convenience of accessing the service at any particular time. Affordability is defined as the extent to which customers in the target market are willing and able to pay the price being asked for the product (Pelsa and Sheth, 2021). Ideally, service providers in this market should be guided to reflect on the 4 As when developing their strategies to increase buyer/seller relationships.

Luhmann (2018) defines trust as the belief that parties engaging with each other will keep the expected commitment. In essence, trust is the hope that parties have that the other party’s actions will result in positive outcomes. Customer trust is further described as honesty, commitment, integrity, and principled behavior displayed by service providers. Furthermore, continuousity, solidarity, repetition, and faithfulness are also aspects of loyalty; hence, service providers should ensure customer satisfaction (Sitorus and Yustisia, 2020). Trust is built gradually through continued interactions, influencing customers’ trust in the company (Schoorman et al., 2007). Difficulties arise in understanding and predicting the customers’ wants, often leading to extreme complexity. One way to reduce this complexity is to build customer trust. Customers are significant in the success of the business. Therefore, the critical thing to do is to provide them with quality services, resulting in trust and loyalty. Customers experiencing long-term satisfaction usually develop trust in the service providers. Thus, customer satisfaction is described as an antecedent of trust (Han and Hyun, 2015). It is, therefore, critical to note that when trust decreases, customer loyalty will also decrease, as it is apparent that trust does impact customer loyalty through customer satisfaction.

Maintaining good customer relationships and attracting new ones has become imperative if the company wants to retain a competitive advantage and sustain excellent business performance (Liao, 2016). It is, therefore, crucial that the right employees are appointed, well trained, well rewarded, well managed, and retained by the service providers, as this will be central to achieving the strategic marketing objectives that are in place (Giannakisa, Harker and Baum, 2015). Based on the literature, it could be crucial for some companies to host the HRM function within the department responsible for marketing, as the commitment concept supported by the internal marketing approach may stimulate structural empowerment.

3. Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework for this study is as follows:

Figure 1: Conceptual framework developed by the researcher

3.1 Buyer

Based on a study by Yannacopoulos, Manolitzas, Matsatsinis, and Grigoroudis (2014), customer satisfaction and perception, especially in online banking services, are influenced by demographic characteristics such as education, income, age, and gender. It is found that women generally enjoy shopping. Thus, they usually take the leading role in shopping for the household, and they also prefer traditional stores instead of shopping for products online (Ganesan-Lim et al., 2008). It has also been found that customers with higher levels of education are usually more likely to quickly change from service providers as they are typically open to doing a proper search for information before purchasing a product. Consequently, their level of loyalty is lower than that of those with a high school education (Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Chauhan et al., 2016; Kamboj and Singh, 2018; Olasina, 2015). Factors such as age, income, education, gender, and literacy are considered consumer demographics (Bhatt and Bhatt, 2016). Demographics impact satisfaction and loyalty, especially within the banking industry (Shaikh and Karjaluoto, 2015). The age factor plays a considerable role in consumer purchase behavior as younger consumers usually consider different brands, whereas older consumers remain loyal to the same brand (Bhatt and Bhatt, 2016). Chikazhe et al. (2021) postulate that younger consumers are more energetic. Therefore, they consider various brand options before making their purchase.

In contrast, older consumers are likely to select a more well-established brand instead of considering newly established brands, as a new brand will require them to research before purchasing. Unlike younger consumers, older consumers only have a little time to search for information. The authors emphasize a strong connection between customer satisfaction and loyalty in the older consumers compared to the younger consumers. It was further found that word-of-mouth intention and customer loyalty are more potent in women than men and stronger in older than younger consumers as well as in lower-income earners compared to those who earn high incomes (Gonçalves and Sampaio, 2012).

Based on the literature, there is a link between customer buying behavior, customer experience, and the demographics of the buyers. Marketers are responsible for understanding the demographic factors that apply to the services they offer and coming up with comedies that will align with these demographic factor/s.

3.2 Sellers

Hairuzzaman (2019) postulates that based on the service-profit chain, there is an indirect relationship between employee satisfaction and financial performance. Employees working in healthy organizations take longer to move to other companies because they receive a fair income and function in good facilities. These employees usually want to retain work for companies that offer an excellent working atmosphere and great morale, as they might not necessarily find that type of experience in other companies (Hairuzzaman, 2019). Hairuzzaman further found that when the employees are satisfied with their work, it positively and significantly impacts the company’s financial performance. This finding is similar to that of Heskett et al. (1994), who found that customer satisfaction is a function of the value created by customers through the quality of services provided by the employees and the company. Other studies, however, found that there is no direct relationship between the work satisfaction of employees within the organization and the financial performance of an organization (Matzler and Renzl, 2007; Pritchard and Silvestro, 2005; Silvestro, 2002; Keiningham, 2006).

3.3 Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is one of the critical determinants of relationship marketing, and it is a prevalent discussion in consumer and marketing research. Customer satisfaction has always been a significant factor in customer retention (Bricci, Fragata and Antunes, 2016).

According to Kotler and Keller (2016), customer satisfaction is critical in ensuring business success and the company’s positive performance. The dimension of customer satisfaction is the service quality and the price component (Akbar and Parvez, 2009). According to Suchánek, Richter, and Králová (2015), perceived and technical quality are crucial for customers. Therefore, service providers research to understand better the level of customer satisfaction their customers are experiencing and, thus, develop innovative products to increase customer satisfaction further.

Two main theoretical trends are popular in operationalizing the concept of service quality: the SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1988) and the SERVPERF theory (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). However, The SERVPERF theory is considered a better measure than the SERVEQUAL (Duggal and Verma, 2013). SERVQUAL and SERVPERF theories are significant in the service sectors, and they are vital to the service providers as these theories help companies find ways to provide excellent quality service, subsequently leading to customer satisfaction.

3.4 Financial Performance

Customer satisfaction has been positively linked to sales. Still, the association of customer satisfaction with profits might be harmful as it will depend on the cost of satisfying the customers (Frennea and Mittal, 2017). In a study done in the banking sector, it was found that various variables of market performance were seen to be significant. These variables are customer care, ensuring retention of customers, constantly meeting customer expectations, efficient service delivery, increased in customer patronage, distribution of the various branches should be strategic and access to the customer, quality financial services, and profitable performance (Ndubisi and Nwankwo, 2019; Kombo, 2015). Economic performance is usually easier to measure than non-financial performance, as financial performance can easily be reflected in the financial statements. In contrast, nonfinancial aspects cannot accurately measure intangible assets and intellectual property (Hairuzzaman, 2019).

3.5 Commitment and Trust

Commitment is when individuals are bonded to a course of action relevant to one or more targets. It is further defined in organizations based on three component models such as affective, instrumental, or normative, whereas affective commitment is referred to as an enhancement of desire based on the organization (Herscovitch and Meyer, 2002; Meyer and Allen, 1997).

Kim and Choi (2016) postulate that in the hotel industry when customers trust the service providers, they start assisting other customers with their purchases at no cost. They also share relevant information with other customers, showing interest in the service provider’s offers and recommending places to enhance services. This is usually known as customer citizenship behavior (Tung, Chen and Schukert, 2017). The trust developed between individuals and in terms of organizations results in work being done efficiently. Furthermore, trust also results in lower transactional costs and long-term relationships between the parties (Bricci, Fragata, and Antunes, 2016).

Usually, customers need more experience with their service providers when they purchase a product for the first time. Still, after gaining experience, they assess how much they have spent on obtaining the product and the benefits resulting from the relationship with the service provider. Therefore, this forms an economy-based trust, and when the economy-based trust is high, the level of engagement also increases since high economic benefits are obtained (Hsu, Ju, Yen and Chang, 2007). Companies, therefore, need to capitalize on the trust issue and ensure that they develop trust with their customers as a way to foster their relationships with their customers, which subsequently would lead to loyalty and improved financial performance

4. Discussion and Recommendations

The conceptualized interpretation of the study and its findings can assist the service sector and its customers in understanding the importance of building trust and ensuring commitment, as this will consequently have an impact on the satisfaction of the customers as well as the satisfaction of the service providers through the positive financial performance of the organization. This section provides recommendations for the actors within the structure: customers (buyers), companies (sellers), and employees.

4.1 Recommendations for Customers (buyers)

The more privacy-aware customers are those with higher educational levels and earn higher incomes. However, taking advantage of customers’ personal information might prevent companies from building long-term relationships with their customers and might, unfortunately, also miss the benefits of having loyal customers (Lauer and Deng, 2007). The customers should educate and familiarise themselves with the services they are to purchase. They should do proper research before buying a product. They should also know their rights and learn where to submit their complaints when the service providers are not assisting them properly. Customers should also ensure that the products they purchase are the most affordable to them before they make the purchase, although, at the same time, they must ensure that what they are buying is of utmost value to them.

4.2 Recommendations for Companies (seller)

Customers tend to trust and view employees positively, who are knowledgeable about the services they are offering and have a comprehensive understanding of the industry in which they operate. Service providers are encouraged to appoint the right people, train their employees continuously, and ensure that their employees receive decent remuneration to ensure that trust is built with their customers and quality services are provided (Srinivasan, Srivastava and Iyerc, 2020). Service providers must ensure that their employees receive the necessary training on their services. Training on customer service and emotional intelligence.

Furthermore, employees must be well remunerated since this will keep them motivated, as clearly presented in the Service Profit Chain in services marketing. Overall, the service providers should adopt a more proactive approach to increasing customer trust, and they need to demonstrate trustworthy behavior and encourage the employees dealing with the customers to demonstrate trustworthy behavior consistently. The service providers should, however, carefully select employees who will be negotiating with the customers and train them to demonstrate trustworthy behavior. Appropriate rules, procedures, incentives, and sanctioning mechanisms should be in place, and organizational norms and values should also reflect trustworthiness.

The most common reason known for companies not penetrating the BOP segments is the issue of limited purchasing power and low per capita income, which is more likely to affect the company’s profitability (Gupte, 2013). The BOP segment is, however, in constant growth, and it is, therefore, becoming relevant to the economy, Henceforth, the necessity for the service sector to improve on innovation and come up with ideas/services that will satisfy the needs of these segments (Oliveira, 2017). Constant awareness campaigns are critical in this segment through traditional and contemporary digital channels and the above and below-line promotion. Furthermore, local consumers sharing testimonies is usually a compelling market technique in rural areas (Joshi, Chauhan and Choudhary, 2021). Although this market may be unable to afford the services offered, service providers can still consider this segment once a needs analysis has been done because the BOP segment could be profitable. What is, however, necessary is that the prices should be affordable as the segment is usually susceptible to prices.

Some service providers collaborate to enhance trust in their respective sectors, as trust issues can be related to and attached to specific industries (Isaeva, Gruenewald and Saunders, 2020). The service providers, therefore, should be in constant communication with the regulators and sometimes also engage with other service providers serving in the same sector, as they need to know what regulatory changes have been introduced and what improvements can be made to the services they provide based on the discussions within the particular sector. They should also attend governmental conferences related to their industry to be up-to-date with what is happening in the sector.

4.3 Recommendations for Employees

Employees should be friendly, respectful, and empathetic towards the customers as they are the face of the company, and their contact with the customers will significantly impact whether the customers will come for a repeat purchase or not. They should be able to handle complaints and inquiries swiftly and efficiently.

Most salespeople are known to generally give more attention to the top-of-the-pyramid customers and ignore the bottom-of-the-pyramid customers as they have a perception that the affluent customers contribute more to the success of the companies compared to the customers at the bottom-of-the-py Furthermore, salespeople also feel that because of these customers’ illiteracy, it is usually complicated and more time-consuming to guide them into a purchase. It also takes more work to serve the consumers at the BOP. This abandonment from the salespeople often leads to the consumers at the BOP depending more on their relatives in purchasing decisions (Sharma and Gupta, 2021). The employees should, therefore, ensure that they provide the correct information to the customers and give this segment proper attention as they are also found to be profitable. Riding on the services and benefits provided will be critical to enable them to share truthful information. The employees should also ensure that they find a way to effectively communicate with people who are illiterate and discover ways to ensure that they understand what they are purchasing. Morgan and Hunt (1994), Hazra (2013), and Nauroozi and Moghadam (2015) opine that customer trust and commitment are significant ingredients that have an impact on the customer’s repurchase behavior. Therefore, employees should ensure that they deal with the customers with utmost honesty, as this helps increase trust and commitment. Lastly, the employees should always strive to find customer solutions, display empathy, and commit themselves to after-sales services, which can benefit the company in the long run.

5. Conclusion

This study investigated the importance of the commitment-trust theory in building relationships between buyers and sellers at the bottom of the service sector pyramid. The research was drawn from various constructs such as relationship marketing, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. Two main conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, there are great benefits for service providers in building relationships with their customers irrespective of their social status. Customers labeled at the bottom of the pyramid also benefit the service providers financially. Service providers, however, need to ensure that they also deal with their customers honestly to build trust with them. Trust has been found to impact the customers’ purchase intentions, which subsequently leads to customer loyalty. Henceforth, companies must consider the commitment-trust theory when developing various strategies. Secondly, the organization’s employees are entrusted with ensuring that the customers trust the company. They are also tasked with building good relationships with the customers. Still, for the employees to be able to commit as such, the companies need to take care of the employees by offering them the necessary financial and non-financial benefits. This usually results in the employees ensuring that quality services are provided to the customers. The companies gain financially through increased revenue and market share expansions.

5.1 Limitations and Future Research 

The study was based on secondary research only and is primarily conceptual. As such, an empirical analysis can be done to look at the study from a more statistical point of view, especially in understanding the magnitude of relationships between commitment-trust and financial performance, customer satisfaction, and other variables in the BOP context.

The study concentrated on the service sector. Hence, considerations of other sectors, such as retail stores, could bring forth different suggestions to assist companies that sell tangible products. Due to theoretical limitations, despite efforts to review the literature on relevant topics, interpretation, and conceptualization could limit the study’s generalization as most of the literature is based on the service sector. Hence, it will be imperative to explore other sectors.

Although the commitment-trust theory is the central theory of this paper, this focus might overshadow other relevant theories or models that could equally apply to the Bottom of the Pyramid market dynamics. Therefore, future research should elaborate on different theories and give a comprehensive context of these theories from a service sector perspective.

Furthermore, a rather broad geographical literature review was considered; therefore, future research should instead have a more narrow geographic literature consideration, which will help a particular geographical area have findings that will be more market-specific.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to her mentor as a Fulbright Vising Scholar at the University of New Mexico, Prof Dimitri Kapelianis, for his support and guidance and to Prof Catherine Roster, who has been instrumental in completing this study efficiently.

References

• Agrawal, A. (2018). Effectiveness of impact-investing at the base of the pyramid: An empirical study from India. Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Business Models: The Case of India, 207-246.
• Akbar, M. M. & Parvez, N. (2009). Impact of service quality, trust, and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. ABAC Journal, 29(1).
• Bhandaria, A., Goldenb, J., Walkerc, K., & Zhangb, J.H. (2022). The relationship between stock repurchase completion rates, firm reputation and financial reporting quality: a commitment-trust theory perspective. Accounting & Finance, 62 (2022) 2687–2724
• Bhatt, A. & Bhatt, S. (2016). Factors affecting customer’s adoption of mobile banking services. Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, 21 (1). An open-access Internet journal (http://www.icommercecentral.com)
• Bricci, L., Fragata, A., & Antunes, J. (2016). The effects of trust, commitment and satisfaction on customer loyalty in the distribution sector. Journal of Economics, Business and Management,, 4(2), 173-177.
• Budianto, A. (2019). Customer Loyalty: Quality of Service. Journal of Management Review, 3(1), 299-305. doi: 10.25157/jmr.v3i1.1808
• Chikazhe, L., Makanyeza, C. & Chigunhah, B. (2021). Understanding mediators and moderators of the effect of customer satisfaction on loyalty. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1), 1922127, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2021.1922127
• Chauhan, J.S., Singh, B.B., & Gupta, S. (2016). Enhancing pulses production in India through improving seed and variety replacement rates. Indian Journal Genet, 76(4), 410-419.
• Cooney, K., & Williams Shanks, T. R. (2010). New approaches to old problems: Market-based strategies for poverty alleviation. Social Service Review, 84(1), 29-55.
• Doney, P. M., & Cannon, J. P. (1997). Trust in buyer-seller relationships. Journal of Marketing, 61, 35-51.
• Du, J., Dong, L. U., Wang, T., Yuan, C., Fu, R., Zhang, L., & Li, X. (2020). Psychological symptoms among frontline healthcare workers during COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. General hospital psychiatry, 67, 144.
• Duggal, E., & Verma, H. V. (2013). Service quality: Construct comprehension and evolution over time. Journal of Services Research, 13(1), 135–160.
• Fisk, R. P. P., Anderson, L., Bowen, D. E., Gruber, T., Ostrom, A., Patrício, L., … & Sebastiani, R. (2016). Billions of impoverished people deserve to be better served: A call to action for the service research community. Journal of Service Management, 27(1), 43-55.
• Frennea, C. M. & Mittal, V. (2017). Customer satisfaction, loyalty behaviors, and firm-financial performance: What 30 years of research tells us. Working Paper, Rice University, Houston, TX.
• Ganesan-Lim, C., Russell-Bennett, R., & Dagger, T. (2008). The impact of service contact type and demographic characteristics on service quality perceptions. Journal of Services Marketing, 22(7). doi:10.1108/08876040810909677
• Gerlach, J. P., Eling, N., Wessels, N., & Buxmann, P. (2019). Flamingos on a slackline: Companies’ challenges of balancing the competing demands of handling customer information and privacy. Information Systems Journal, 29(2), 548-575.
• Giannakisa, D., Harker, M.J., & Baum, T.(2015). Human resource management, services and relationship marketing: the potential for cross-fertilisation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 23 (6), 526–542, CrossRef
• Gonçalves, H. M., & Sampaio, P. (2012). The customer satisfaction‐customer loyalty relationship: Reassessing customer and relational characteristics moderating effects. Management Decision, 50(9), 1509-1526.
• Gupte, M. (2013). Reinterpreting the bottom of the pyramid. Business Standard.
• Hairuzzaman, H. (2019). Impact of Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction on Financial Performance with Customer Satisfaction as Moderation in BPD Kaltim Kaltara. European Journal of Business and Management, 120-129.
• Han, H., & Hyun, S. S. (2015). Customer retention in the medical tourism industry: Impact of quality, satisfaction, trust, and price reasonableness. Tourism Management, 46, 20-29.
• Hazra, S. G. (2013). An investigation into customer satisfaction, customer commitment and customer trust: A study in Indian the banking sector. International Refereed Research Journal, 1, 95–102.
• Herscovitch, J. & Meyer, P. (2002). Commitment Organization change: Extension of a three-component Model of Occupational Commitment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87 (3), 474- 487.
• Heskett, J. L., Jones, T. O., Loveman, G. W., Sasser, W. E., & Schlesinger, L. A. (1994). Putting the service-profit chain to work. Harvard business review, 72(2), 164-174.
• Hsu, M. H., Ju, T. L., Yen, C. H., & Chang, C. M. (2007). Knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities: The relationship between trust, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 65(2), 153–169.
• Isaeva, N., Gruenewald, K., & Saunders, M.K.N. (2020). Trust theory and customer services research: theoretical review and synthesis. The Service Industries Journal, 40 (15-16), 1031-1063, DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2020.1779225
• Joshi, R., Chauhan, V., & Choudhary, V. (2021). Marketing of life insurance to the Indian BOP segment: A literature review Using the 4A framework. IUP Journal of Marketing Management, 20(4), 208-226.
• Kamboj, N. & Singh, G. (2018). Customer satisfaction with digital banking in India: Exploring the mediating role of demographic factors. Indian Journal of Computer Science, 3 (2).
• Kaur, M., & Bhatia, A. (2018). The impact of consumer awareness on buying behavior of green products. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, 6(04), 250–255. CrossRef
• Keiningham et al. (2006). Reexamining the link between employee satisfaction and store performance in a retail environment. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 17(1), 51 – 57.
• Kim, Y., Park, Y. J., Choi, J., & Yeon, J. (2016). The adoption of mobile payment services for “Fintech”. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 11(2), 1058-1061
• Kolk, A., Rivera-Santos, M., & Rufín, C. (2014). Reviewing a decade of research on the “base/bottom of the pyramid”(BOP) concept. Business & Society, 53(3), 338-377.
• Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed.). New Delhi: Prentice – Hall of India Private Limited.
• Lauer, Thomas & Deng, Xiaodong. (2007). Building online trust through privacy practices. Int. J. Inf. Sec.. 6. 323-331. 10.1007/s10207-007-0028-8.
• Liao, K. (2016). Impact of traditional Chinese culture on business-to-business relationship marketing and service firm performance. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 23, 277–291.
• Luhmann, N. (2018). Trust and power. John Wiley & Sons.
• Matzler, K.., Renzl, B., (2007). Assessing asymmetric effects in the formation of employee satisfaction. Tourism Management, 28 (4), 1093–1103.
• Mittal, V., & Kamakura, W. A. (2001). Satisfaction, repurchase intent, and repurchase behavior: Investigating the moderating effect of customer characteristics. JMR, Journal of Marketing Research, 38(1), 131–142. doi:10.1509/jmkr.38.1.131.18832
• Morgan, R., & Hunt, S. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 58(3), 20. CrossRef
• Ndubisi, E.C., & Nwankwo, C.A. (2019). Customer satisfaction and organizational performance of the Nigerian Banking Sub-Sector. International Journal of Business and Management Invention (IJBMI).ISSN (Online): 2319 – 8028, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 801X ijbmi.org , 8 (3), 4, 79-87
• Olasina, G. (2015). Factors influencing the use of m-banking by academics: case study sms-based m-banking. The African Journal of Information Systems, 7(4), 4.
• Oliveira, G.M. (2017). Dynamic of innovation in services for consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. Brazilian Business Review. Published Online.
• Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., & Berry, L.L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multi-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64 (1), 12-40.
• Parida, R. R., & Sahney, S. (2018). Exploration of Indian rural markets and marketing. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 30(2), 297-308.
• Pandey, N.,Tripathi, A., Jain, D., & Roy, S. (2020) Does price tolerance depend upon the type of product in e-retailing? Role of customer satisfaction, trust, loyalty, and perceived value. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 28 (6), 522–541.
• Pels, J. & Sheth, J.N. (2021). Serving the invisible poor: Segmenting the market. Journal of Global Marketing, 34 (4), 270–281
• Prahalad, C. K., & Hammond, A. (2002). Serving the world’s poor, profitably. Harvard business review, 80(9), 48-59.
• Pritchard, M., & Silvestro, R. (2005). Applying the service profit chain to analyse retail performance: The case of the managerial strait-jacket?. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 16(4), 337 – 356.
• Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. (2007). An integrative model of organizational trust: Past, present, and future. Academy of Management Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510.
• Sharma, B. R. & Gupta, N. (2021). A qualitative investigation of shopping behavior of customers at bottom of the pyramid. Journal of Global Marketing, 34(4) 308–327.
• Shaikh, A.A., & Karjaluoto, H. (2015). Mobile banking adoption: A literature review. Journal of Telematics and Informatics, 32, (1), 129-142, ISSN 0736-5853, CrossRef
• Silvestro, R. (2002). Dispelling the modern myth: Employee satisfaction and loyalty drive service profitability. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 22(1), 30 – 49.
• Sitorus, T., & Yustisia, M. (2020). The Influence of service quality and customer trust toward customer loyalty: the role of customer satisfaction. International Journal for Quality Research 12(3) 639-654
• Srinivasan, M., Srivastava, P., & Karthik N. S. Iyer, K.N.S. (2020). An empirical model of salesperson competence, buyer-seller trust and collaboration: the moderating role of technological turbulence and product complexity. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 28 (4), 447–459.
• Suchánek, P., Richter, J., & Králová, M. (2015). Customer satisfaction, product quality, and performance of companies. Review of Economic Perspectives, 14 (4), 329-344, CrossRef
• Tung, V., Chen, P., & Schuckert, M. (2017). Managing customer citizenship behaviour: The moderating roles of employee responsiveness and organizational reassurance. Tourism Management, 59, 23-35. 10.1016/j.tourman.2016.07.010.
• Yannacopoulos, D., Manolitzas, P., Matsatsinis, N., & Grigoroudis, E. (2014). Customer satisfaction and the role of demographic characteristics in online banking. A volume in the Advances in Web, Technologies and Engineering (AWTE) Book Series, Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global).
• Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. (1988). Delivering quality service: Balancing customer perceptions and expectations. New York: The Free Press.