This paper examines to what extent firms in the competitive hospitality industry know their customers. In a study of manager assessments and customer self-reports on customer satisfaction with a product/service, it was found that a firm's knowledge about their customers is modest, indicating that market knowledge does not come easily. The study also shows that market oriented firms hold more accurate perceptions of their customers' satisfaction than their less market oriented counterparts. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of the empirical findings.
BowenJ.T.ChenS.-L. (2001), ‘The relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol 13, No 5, pp 213–217.
3.
Campos-SoriaJ.A.GarciaL.G.GarciaM.A.R. (2005), ‘Service quality and competitiveness in the hospitality sector’, Tourism Economics, Vol 11, No 1, pp 85–102.
4.
CohenW.M.LevinthalD. (1990), ‘Absorbing capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol 35, pp 128–152.
5.
CorfmanK.K. (1991), ‘Perceptions of relative influence: Formation and measurement’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 28, May, pp 125–136.
6.
CrechD.CritchfieldR.S.LawsonD. (1974), Elements of Psychology, 3rd edition, Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
7.
DayG.S. (1994), ‘Continuous learning about markets’, California Management Review, Vol 36, Summer, pp 9–31.
8.
DicksonP.R. (1992), ‘Toward a general theory of competitive rationality’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 56, January, pp 69–83.
9.
FiskeS.T.TaylorS.F. (1991), Social Cognition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
10.
FornellC.JohnsonM.D.AndersonE.W.ChaJ.BryantB.E. (1996), ‘The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, purpose, and findings’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 60, October, pp 7–18.
11.
GrønhaugK.HaukedalW. (1997), ‘The cumbersome route from research data to knowledge use’, Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol 6, September, pp 151–160.
12.
GustafssonA.JohnsonM.D.RoosI. (2005), ‘The effects of customer satisfaction, relationship commitment dimensions, and triggers on customer retention’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 69, October, pp 210–218.
13.
HooleyG.J.GreenleyG.E.CadoganJ.W.FahyJ. (2005), ‘The performance impact of marketing resources’, Journal of Business Research, Vol 58, pp 18–27.
14.
HughesL.C.PreskiS. (1997), ‘Using key informant methods in organizational survey research: Assessing for informant bias’, Research in Nursing & Health, Vol 20, pp 81–92.
15.
JaworskiB.J.KohliA.K. (1993), ‘Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 57, July, pp 53–70.
16.
JohnsonM.D.NaderG.FornellC. (1996), ‘Expectations, perceived performance, and customer satisfaction for a complex service’, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol 17, pp 163–182.
17.
KeltnerB.FinegoldD.MasonG.WagnerK. (1999), ‘Market segmentation strategies and service sector productivity’, California Management Review, Vol 41, No 4, pp 84–102.
18.
KieslerS.SproullL. (1982), ‘Managerial response to changing environments: Perspectives from social cognition’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol 27, pp 548–570.
19.
KircaA.H.JayachandranS.BeardenW.O. (2005), ‘Market orientation: A meta review and assessment of its antecedents and impact on performance’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 69, April, pp 24–42.
20.
KohliA.K.JaworskiB.J. (1990), ‘Market orientation. The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 54, April, pp 1–18.
LockyerT. (2002), ‘Business guests’ accommodation selection: The view from both sides', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol 14, No 6, pp 294–300.
23.
LukS.T.-K.LaytonR. (2004), ‘Managing both outcome and process quality is critical to quality of hotel service’, Total Quality Management, Vol 15, No 3, pp 259–278.
24.
MahajanJ. (1992), ‘The overconfidence effect in marketing management predictions’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 29, August, pp 329–342.
25.
MenonG.BickartB.SudmanS.BlairJ. (1995), ‘How well do you know your partner? Strategies for formulated proxy-reports and their effects on convergence to self-reports’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 32, February, pp 75–84.
26.
MooreJ.C. (1988), ‘Self/proxy response status and survey response quality’, Journal of Official Statistics, Vol 4, No 2, pp 155–172.
27.
NarverJ.C.SlaterS.F. (1990), ‘The effect of a market orientation on business profitability’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 54, October, pp 20–35.
28.
NunnallyJ.C.BernsteinI.H. (1994), Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York.
29.
OliverR.L. (1996), Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, Free Press, New York.
30.
PhillipsL.W. (1981), ‘Assessing measurement error in key informant reports: A methodological note on organizational analysis in marketing’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 18, November, pp 395–415.
31.
PoracJ.F.ThomasH. (1990), ‘Taxonomic mental models in competitor definition’, Academy of Management Research, Vol 20, pp 224–240.
32.
ReichheldF.F.SasserW.E. (1990), ‘Zero defections: Quality comes to services’, Harvard Business Review, Vol 68, September/October, pp 105–111.
33.
RoschE. (1978), ‘Principles of categorization’, in RoschE.LloydsB., eds, Cognition and Categorization, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
34.
RushmoreS. (1997), ‘The broker vs. the appraiser: How to value a hotel’, Real Estate Financial Journal, Vol 12, No 4, pp 15–23.
35.
SandovalJ. (1995), ‘Teaching in subject matter areas: Science’, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol 46, pp 335–374.
36.
SandvikI.SandvikK. (2003), ‘The impact of market orientation on product innovativeness and business performance’, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol 20, pp 355–376.
SimonH.A. (1957), Administrative Behavior, 2nd edition, Free Press, New York.
39.
SinkulaJ.M. (1994), ‘Market information processing and organizational learning’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 58, January, pp 35–45.
40.
SkalpeO.SandvikK. (2002), ‘The economics of quality’, Tourism Economics, Vol 8, No 4, pp 361–376.
41.
SlaterS.F.NarverJ.C. (1994), ‘Does competitive environment moderate the market orientation–performance relationship?’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 58, pp 46–55.
42.
SlaterS.F.NarverJ.C. (1995), ‘Market orientation and the learning organization’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 59, pp 63–74.
43.
TroyeS.V.OgaardT.HenjesandI.J. (1995), ‘The triple importance of service: An alternative model of service and product quality’, in BergadaàM., ed, Marketing Today and for the 21st Century, ESSEC, Paris, pp 1135–1154.
44.
Van BruggenG.H.LilienG.L.KackerM. (2002), ‘Informants in organizational marketing research: Why use multiple informants and how to aggregate responses’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 34, November, pp 469–478.
45.
van DierdonckR. (1998), ‘Capacity management’, in van LooyB.Van DierdonckR.GemmelP., eds, Services Management: An Integrated Approach, Pitman Publishing, London, pp 259–298.
46.
WatsonD. (1982), ‘The actor and the observer: How are their perceptions of causality divergent?’, Psychological Bulletin, Vol 92, No 3, pp 682–700.
47.
WeekleyJ.A.GierJ.A. (1989), ‘Ceilings in the reliability and validity of performance ratings: The case of expert raters’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 32, No 1, pp 213–222.
48.
YuklG.A. (1989), Leadership in Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
49.
ZajacE.J.BazermanM.H. (1991), ‘Blind spots in industry and competitor analysis: Implications of interfirm (mis)perceptions for strategic decisions’, Academy of Management Review, Vol 16, No 1, pp 37–56.
50.
ZeithamlV.A.BerryL.L.ParasuramanA. (1996), ‘The behavioral consequences of service quality’, Journal of Marketing, Vol 60, April, pp 31–46.
51.
ZellerR.A.CarminesE.G. (1980), Measurement in the Social Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
