TY - JOUR
T1 - Students, Patients, Citizens, and Believersas "Customers"
T2 - A Cross-National Exploratory Study
AU - Hutton, James G.
AU - Leung, Vivienne S Y
AU - Mak, Angela K Y
AU - Varey, Richard J.
AU - Watjatrakul, Boonlert
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2011/1
Y1 - 2011/1
N2 - Even after 40 years of philosophical discussions about whether "customer" terminology is appropriate in the context of education, health care, religion, government, and other social institutions, virtually no research has been conducted to identify actual public attitudes on the subject. Thus, a large-scale, five-country study was conducted to examine the question: Should patients, students, news media readers/viewers/listeners, political constituents, and members of religious organizations be treated as "customers"? In addition to collecting and analyzing quantitative responses, the study explored the reasoning behind respondents' attitudes, provided benchmark data for future research, and highlighted critical implications for both public and private policy.
AB - Even after 40 years of philosophical discussions about whether "customer" terminology is appropriate in the context of education, health care, religion, government, and other social institutions, virtually no research has been conducted to identify actual public attitudes on the subject. Thus, a large-scale, five-country study was conducted to examine the question: Should patients, students, news media readers/viewers/listeners, political constituents, and members of religious organizations be treated as "customers"? In addition to collecting and analyzing quantitative responses, the study explored the reasoning behind respondents' attitudes, provided benchmark data for future research, and highlighted critical implications for both public and private policy.
KW - Consumer behavior
KW - Marketing
KW - Nonprofit organizations
KW - Public policy
KW - Social institutions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79951890729&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10495142.2011.548758
DO - 10.1080/10495142.2011.548758
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:79951890729
SN - 1049-5142
VL - 23
SP - 41
EP - 70
JO - Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing
JF - Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing
IS - 1
ER -
