Consumers’ expectations and importance attached to provider’s warmth and competence in luxury and non-luxury service settings

Purpose Building on research on the stereotype content model (SCM), this research tests consumers’ expectations and the importance attached to service providers’ warmth and competence in luxury versus non-luxury service settings. Furthermore, this study aims to examine how different combinations of warmth and competence interact with variables associated with the quality of the service and customer intentions in luxury versus non-luxury service settings. Design/methodology/approach Five studies were conducted. Studies 1a and 1b were online between-subject experiments, which examined consumers’ expectations and the importance attached to providers’ warmth and competence depending on the service setting (i.e. luxurious versus affordable hotels). Studies 2a and 2b were field surveys answered by customers staying in luxury (i.e. Study 2a) and non-luxury (i.e. Study 2b) hotels. Finally, Study 3 tested consumers’ willingness to stay in a luxury (versus non-luxury) hotel based on different combinations of providers’ warmth and competence. Findings Overall, consumers attach more importance to both providers’ warmth and competence in a luxury than in a non-luxury hotel. Differences regarding the primacy of one trait changes depending on the context: consumers attach more importance to providers’ competence in a luxury hotel and to providers’ warmth in an affordable hotel. Furthermore, consumers show a higher willingness to stay in a luxury hotel if providers rate high in competence and low in warmth (versus high-warmth/low-competence), while willingness to stay in a non-luxury hotel is higher if providers rate high in warmth and low in competence (versus high-competence/low-warmth). Originality/value The results provide answers about the primacy of one trait (warmth or competence) in luxury versus non-luxury service settings. The findings open new lines of research in service management, on how the service setting (luxurious versus non-luxurious) can explain consumers’ expectations and evaluations of providers, and how the right approach when presenting service providers in luxury and non-luxury service contexts can lead to more positive intentions.