UNIVERSITY OF GHANA VALUE CREATION THROUGH CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE: A STUDY OF SELECTED CHURCHES IN GHANA BY MICHAEL NYAMEKYE THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF PHD MARKETING DEGREE JULY, 2015 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh i DECLARATION I do hereby declare that this work is the result of my own research and has not been presented by anyone for any academic award in this or any other university. All references used in the work have been fully acknowledged. I bear sole responsibility for any shortcomings. …………………………………...... …………………………….. MICHAEL NYAMEKYE DATE (10328194) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ii CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that this thesis was supervised in accordance with procedures laid down by the University. …………………………………...... …………………………….. DR. ADELAIDE KASTNER DATE (SUPERVISOR) …………………………………...... …………………………….. PROF. BEDMAN NARTEH DATE (CO-SUPERVISOR) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii ABSTRACT The creation of value has long been recognized as a central concept in marketing and has been suggested as the main purpose of organizations, a key to success via differential positioning, and a precursor to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Understanding what value is and how value is created and delivered to customers has become critical especially for service firms where there is less tangibility. The main aim of this study was to assess the value creation process of churches – a social institution – through the service experience created for the patrons of their services i.e. the church members and how personal factors affect the assessment of customer value. This study assumed that churches first create positive service experiences through the deployment of their service mix in order to create the needed value for their customers. However, the assessment of value created out of the service experience is moderated by personal idiosyncrasies of church members. Data was collected from four categories of churches in Ghana through a structured questionnaire. The analysis method included ANOVA, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling to test the hypothesized relationships. The study identified five elements of church service mix whose deployment influence the creation of church service experience. The study found no relationship between church service mix and customer value; but found a positive relationship between church service experience and customer value. It was also found that members’ personal goals negatively influence church service experience and customer value creation relationship; while members’ value for fellowship positively influence church service experience and customer value creation relationship. Thus study has contributed to the understanding of value creation and customer experience within churches, a dominant and non-profit making sector in the Ghanaian economy. The study has also made some major recommendations to guide future research and church management. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my beloved family; Lady Yaa Achia Boadi Nyamekye, Michael Boadi Nyamekye Jnr, Mitchell Boadi Nyamekye, Michelle Boadi Nyamekye and Miguel Boadi Nyamekye University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my profound appreciation to the following people who in diverse ways have helped me in the course of this PhD programme. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my supervisors Dr. Adelaide Kastner and Prof. Bedman Narteh; for the patience, the guidance in reading through the manuscript and making the necessary inputs into the work to get me to this level. I am also grateful to all lecturers and staff of the Departments of Marketing and Customer Entrepreneurship for their advice. Big thanks go all the churches and their head pastors for their willingness to be part of the study. Special thanks go all members and pastors of The Maker’s House Chapel International for their encouragement and support. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vi TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration i Certification ii Abstract iii Dedication iv Acknowledgement v Table of contents vi List of Tables xiii List of figures xv CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1 1.2 Statement of Problem and Research Gap 5 1.3 Research Objectives 9 1.4 Research questions 10 1.5Significance of the study 10 1.6 Organization of the Thesis 11 CHAPTER TWO - CONTEXT OF THE STUDY 2.1 Introduction 16 2.2 The Early Church 18 2.3 Reasons for the Spread of the Church 19 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vii 2.4 The Explosion of Christianity in Africa 20 2.5 The Church in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evangelization: 15th And 16th Centuries 23 2.6 A New Period of Evangelization 27 2.7 Christianity, Colonization and Ghana’s Identity 27 2.8 The Dominance of Orthodox Christianity in Ghana 30 2.9 Christianity beyond the Coastal Towns of Ghana 31 2.10 The Church in National Politics 36 2.11 The Role of the Church in the Development of Ghana 38 2.12 Economic and Social Benefits from the Church 41 2.13 Chapter Summary 48 CHAPTER THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW – VALUE CREATION 3.1 Introduction 49 3.2 Value 52 3.3 Aristotle’s View of Value 53 3.4 Value From The Economics Perspective 55 3.5 A Wider Interpretation Of Value 58 3.6 Value Creation 59 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh viii 3.6.1 How is Value Created? 60 3.7 Customer Value Creation 63 3.8 Customer Value Frameworks 65 3.9 Chapter Summary 72 CHAPTER FOUR: LITERATURE REVIEW - CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE 4.1 Introduction 73 4.2 Experience as a General Concept 74 4.3 What Is Customer Experience? 76 4.4 Customer Service Experience 80 4.5 Chapter Summary 87 CHAPTER FIVE: THEORETICAL MODELING 5.1 Introduction 88 5.2 Expectancy Value Theory 90 5.3 Means-Ends Theory 94 5.4 Chapter Summary 98 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ix CHAPTER SIX: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES FORMULATION 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 Conceptualization and Hypotheses Formulation 102 6.2.1 The Church Service Mix Deployment 103 6.2.2 Church Service Experience 107 6.2.3 Customer Value 110 6.2.4 Moderators 114 6.3 Chapter Summary 116 CHAPTER SEVEN: METHODOLOGY 7.1 Research Methods Overview 117 7.2 Research Paradigm 118 7.3 Ontology 118 7.3.1 Objectivism 119 7.3.2 Subjectivism 120 7.3.3 Ontological Considerations for the Study 120 7.4 Epistemology 121 7.4.1 Positivism 122 7.4.2 Realism 124 7.4.3 Interpretivism 125 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh x 7.4.4 Epistemological Considerations for the Study 129 7.5 Research Purpose 131 7.5.1 Stages of Research 131 7.6 Research Approach: Qualitative and Quantitative 133 7.7 Data Collection: Questionnaires 137 7.8 Sampling 139 7.9 Data Analysis 141 7.10 Method of Analysis 142 7.10.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 142 7.10.2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Chi-Square Tests 143 7.10.3 Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) 144 7.11 Quality Standards for Research: Validity And Reliability 146 7.11.1 Reliability 147 7.11.2 Validity 149 7.12 Measures 149 7.12.1 Main measures 149 7.12.2 Moderators 152 7.13 Chapter Summary 153 CHAPTER EIGHT: DATA ANALYSIS: Data Purification, Confirmatory and Validity Analyses 8.1 Introduction 154 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xi 8.2 Sample Characteristics 155 8.3 Descriptive Analysis 159 8.4 Exploratory Factor Analysis 162 8.5 Confirmatory Factor Analysis 170 8.6 Reliability and Validity Analysis 176 8.6.1 Reliability of Measures 176 8.6.2 Validity Analysis 177 CHAPTER NINE: STRUCTURAL PATH AND HYPOTHESES TESTING 9.1 Introduction 179 9.2 Demography and Church Service Experience 180 9.3 Demography and Customer Value 182 9.4 Church Service Mix and Church Service Experience Relationships 184 9.5 Church Service Mix and Customer Value Relationships 185 9.6 Church Service Experience and Customer Value Relationships 187 9.7 The Hypothesized Model – Structural Equation Modeling 188 9.7.1 The Structural Model 188 9.7.2 Assessing the Structural Model 189 9.8 Examining the Hypothesized Relationships 190 9.8.1 Baseline Structural Model 191 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xii 9.8.2 Moderating Role of Personal Idiosyncrasies 193 9.9 Discussions 197 9.10 Chapter Summary 205 CHAPTER TEN: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 10.1 Introduction 206 10.2 Summary 208 10.3 Major Findings 211 10.4 Conclusions 214 10.5 Reflections 218 10.6 Implications of the Study 221 10.6.1 Contribution to Theory 221 10.6.2 Implication for Practice 226 10.6.3 Implication for Future Research 229 Reference 231 Appendix: Church Value Creation Survey Questionnaire 256 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xiii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: The Explosion of Christianity in some African Countries 20 Table 2.2: Some African Countries and Percentage of Christian Population 21 Table 7.1: Differences between Positivism and Interpretivism 128 Table: 8.1: Respondents’ Demography 156 Table 8.2: Descriptive Statistics for Church Service Mix Items 160 Table 8.3: Descriptive Statistics for Church Service Experience 161 Table 8.4: Descriptive Statistics for Customer Value 162 Table 8.5: Internal Consistency and Reliability for Church Service Mix 165 Table 8.6: Internal Consistency and Reliability for Church Service Experience 167 Table 8.7: Internal Consistency and Reliability for Customer Value 169 Table 8.8: Final 13 Items for Church Service Mix 172 Table 8.9: Correlation Table for Church Service Mix Dimensions 173 Table 8.10: Final 9 Items for Church Service Experience 174 Table 8.11: Correlation Table for Service Experience Dimensions 174 Table 8.12: Final 12 Items for Customer Value 175 Table 8.13: Correlation Table for Customer Value Dimensions 176 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xiv Table 8.13: Correlation of Main Constructs 178 Table 9.1: Demographic Idiosyncrasies and Church Service Experience Association 181 Table 9.2: Demography and Customer Value Relationship 183 Table 9.3: Church Service Mix and Church Service Experience Relationships 184 Table 9.4: Church Service Mix and Customer Value Relationships 186 Table 9.5: Church Service Experience and Customer Value Relationships 187 Table 9.6: Structural Paths Analysis 190 Table 9.7: Findings as Against Hypothesized Relationships 197 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Diagrammatic Presentation of the Thesis 15 Figure 5.1: Expectancy Value Model 93 Figure 5.2: The Means-End Value Chain 95 Figure 6.1: Conceptual Framework for Value Creation through Church Service Experience 103 Figure 8.1: Sex Distribution of the Respondents 157 Figure 8.2: Age Distribution of Respondents 157 Figure 8.3: Educational Levels of Respondents 158 Figure 8.4: Income Distribution of Respondents 158 Figure 9.1: Effect of Personal Value on Service Experience and Customer Value 194 Figure 9.2: Effect of Personal Goals on Service Experience and Customer Value 196 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the study explains the rationale behind this thesis and gives justification for the study. The chapter presents the objectives of the thesis and the research questions it seeks to answer. The significance of the study is also explained in addition to how the entire thesis is structured. 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY The creation of value is the core purpose and central process of economic exchange. As a matter of fact, every business or entity irrespective of motive (be it profit or non-profit) exists to create value (Peteraf & Barney, 2003; 2’Cass & Ngo, 2010). Value is considered to be the strongest motivator of behavior of consumers of goods and services. As asserted by 6ok and 2’Cass 211 , the primary pursuit of any business is to understand what value customers are looking for in the marketplace and to create, offer and maintain that value for them (Sirmon et al., 2007). Patrons of goods and services engage in activities to achieve value, not only financial value, but also social, psychological, aesthetic, and moral values (Normann, 2001). Likewise, in social entities such as churches, patrons seek value in the form of social, psychological, moral, spiritual upliftment and emotional happiness. This study is therefore interested in how value is created for the church member and how the value created is adjudged to be an outcome of the church activities. The value creation process in such institutions has not received the needed attention in the current literature that therefore positions the study as making substantial contribution to the literature. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2 The creation of value has long been recognized as a central concept in marketing (Woodruff, 1997) and the fundamental basis for all marketing activities (Holbrook, 1994). It has been suggested as the purpose of organizations (Slater, 1997), a main key to success via differential positioning (Cooper, 2001), and a precursor to customer satisfaction and loyalty (Woodall, 2003). Understanding what value is and how value is created and offered to customers has become critical (Bowman & Ambrosini, 2000, 2009; Mittal & Sheth, 2001; DeSarbo et al., 2001; Payne & Frow, 2005; Anderson et al., 2006; Lepak et al., 2007; Sirmon et al., 2007) especially for service firms (Sok & 2’Cass, 2011). The notion of marketing as a facilitator and µstructurer’ of the mutual creation and enMoyment of value is gaining credence (Payne et al., 2007) as such value must be studied from different perspectives such as the nonprofit as well as the profit-oriented organizations. Business entities are searching for new and better ways to create value that leads to the differentiation of service offerings in order to attract and keep customers, as well as make a profit (Shaw & Ivins, 2002). Value has been argued not to be just economic benefit owned by a seller to be relinquished to the customer but a disposition or an experience (Haksever, Chaganti, and Cook, 2004). Especially in service setting, there is a strong advocacy that there is no real ownership in the exchange. Holbrook (1994) refers to value as preference or favorable disposition, general liking, positive affect, and judgment as being good which all come up to an experience created for the customer. Woodruff (1997) sees value as both desired and received experiences from actual use or contact with a service institution. Value is therefore a phenomenological disposition or experience. Holbrook (1994) succinctly defines value as an interactive relativistic preference experience. Value is therefore created through the experience the customer has with the service entity. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3 Woodruff and Flint (2006) state that something has value when a customer attaches preference to it. Value then is an outcome of a customer’s experience of interacting with some object (Holbrook, 1994). Vargo and Lusch (2004) assert that value plays an important role in the service-dominant economy by recommending that marketing pay more attention to value, which implicitly suggest the experience nature of value in the relational exchange. Leaders in marketing are moving towards a dynamic exchange relationship perspective that involves performing processes and exchanging skills and services in which value is co-created with the customer (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). Vargo and Lusch (2004a) in their new perspective of value indicated that value is realized when a service is used and users both create and judge the value. Consequently, how customers experience activities is crucial to their perception of value %itner, 12 . ³9alue is now centered in the experiences of consumers´ 3rahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004, p. 137), rather than embedded in goods and services. This therefore suggests that the value creation process in organizations can be better undertaken through the service experiences of customers and this is even more essential for service firms. Service experience is the internal and subjective response customers have to any contact (direct or indirect) with a particular service. Companies offering customer experience create a holistic offer that encompasses the exceptional pleasure enjoyed by customers with contact with every aspect of the organization’s offering =omerdiMk & Voss, 2009). Service experience is seen as a service process that creates customers’ cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses, resulting in a mental mark (Johnston & Clark, 2001; Svari et al., 2011). If the service experience is negative, customers frequently communicate their negative emotions to others and themselves become emotionally detached from the service University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4 provider (Barsky & Nash, 2002). Unfortunately, the possibility of failure in service encounters cannot be completely eliminated, due to the variety of factors that may impact on the process of service co-creation (Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2008), service consumption, and of the customers’ perceived values and expectations. Research that attempts to gain insight into service experience has been encouraged to help the management and delivery of service (Smith & Bolton, 2002; Svari, et al., 2011). Recent definitions of customer experience include that ³the customer experience originates from a set of interactions between a customer and a product, a company, or part of its organization, which provoke a reaction (Verhoef et al., 2009, p. 32). This experience is strictly personal and implies the customer’s involvement at different levels rational, emotional, sensorial, physical, and spiritual ´ Gentile, 6piller & Noci, 2007, p. 397). A second and related definition is that ³customer experience is the internal and subjective response customers have to any direct or indirect contact with a company. Direct contact generally occurs in the course of purchase, use, and service and is usually initiated by the customer. Indirect contact most often involves unplanned encounters with representatives of a company’s products, service or brands and takes the form of word-of-mouth recommendations or criticisms, advertising, news reports, reviews and so forth´ Meyer & Schwager, 2007, p. 118). The current study has the preoccupation of investigating the church value creation through the service experience delivered to its patrons. The study is interested in evaluating the value creation process of the church for its customer and how the customer of the church, who in this study is defined as the member of the church, experiences this value through the services provided. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5 Churches are social institutions which belong to the not-for-profit service sector with immense economic and social importance, however, the relevant application of marketing and managerial principles seem not be emphasized within these institutions. Social institutions are defined in this thesis as essentially private, that is, outside the institutional structures of government; that are not primarily commercial and do not exist primarily to distribute profits to their directors or ³owners´ that are self-governing; and that people are free to join or support voluntarily when it is necessary. The church has the main client to be the members that form the group called the church. Churches are private non-profit organizations without a financial objective, under private control, which aims to generate social and other benefits for a specific sector of society (Gonzalez et al., 2002) and it is this social and other benefits (termed as value in this thesis) that is under investigation. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND RESEARCH GAP The emerging customer value paradigm and theory of the firm (e.g., Hunt & Morgan, 1997; Slater, 1997; Hunt, 1999) suggests that firms exist to create value for others where it is neither efficient nor effective for buyers to attempt to satisfy their own needs. From this perspective, the objective of marketing is to achieve personal, organizational, and societal objectives by creating superior customer value for (exchange with) one or more market segments with a sustainable strategy (Hunt, 1999). The church as an entity exists to achieve societal and religious or spiritual objectives (Vidal, 2001). The church exists and professes to offer solutions to the challenging needs of all mankind (Ortberg, Gorsuch & Kim, 2001). It is in this quest that the church creates value for society and specifically for their members. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 Despite the centrality of customer value to marketing thought, customer value research is still nascent and in the early stages of conceptual development (Zhao, Wang & Fan 2015; Armstrong, Kotler, Harker & Brennan, 2012; Cheng, & Chen, 2009; Brodie, Whittome, & Brush, 2009; Palmatier, 2008; Woodruff & Flint, 2006). Although popular works have focused on normative customer value creation strategies (e.g., Treacy & Wiersama, 1993; Slywotzky 1996), preliminary academic work has focused on the importance of the customer value concept (e.g., Band, 1991; Gale, 1994) and definitions, conceptualizations and typologies of customer value (e.g., Woodruff, 1997; Ulaga, 2003; Woodall, 2003) and has not deeply engaged in how and the process of value creation. Woodruff and Flint (2006) describes the nature of customer value as dynamic and presents rich direction for research. They opine that research on customer value process, the kind of value created in the relational exchange and customer value chain are key areas that more research needs to be done if the service dominant logic is to become the marketing paradigm. The apparent confusion on how value is defined by different scholars lend to the fact that there is a real importance for a study in value creation. This study makes an attempt to fill this gap by investigating into the value creation process of a social institution (the church to be specific) and consumption of the value by the consumer (church member). The experience economy proponent assert that there is a paradigm shift from goods and service economies to experience economy (Schmitt & Zarantonello, 2013; Pine & Gilmore, 2011,1999), the service-dominant logic seems to place more emphasis on customer value which is similar to experience creation. This study uniquely makes an attempt to find out University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7 how social institutions can create a service experience that will result in value creation for their clientele. Many companies fail to meet customer expectations with respect to creating customer value (Cheng & Chen, 2009; Klingmann, 2007; van Riel & Lievens, 2004), probably because managers are not completely sure of what brings value to the customer, or how it is created. In the literature, concepts such as value (Lepak, Smith & Taylor, 2007) and experience (Verhoef, et al., 2009) are often only vaguely defined. To stress the importance of the relationship between service experience and value, the theoretical part of this thesis has made an attempt to provide answers, in accordance with the study’s standpoint, to the questions of how the service experience is conceptualized and how it is linked to value in service research. Another uniqueness of this study stems from the fact that it is situated in the non-profit sector that is under-researched compared to the profit sector (Stone & Cutcher- Gershenfeld, 2002; Herman & Renz, 2004). Though non-profit organizations such as churches play an important societal role in the economic development of nations especially in the sub-Saharan Africa, less is known about their value creation process and delivery. Considering the fact that NPOs (not-for-profit organizations) contribute substantially to GDP (Renshaw & Krishnaswamy, 2009, p. 457) and the fact that their social contribution to the generation of social value has risen in recent times (Salamon, 2007; Fagan 2006), it is important for empirical studies such as this to investigate this all important sector of the world’s economy. There appears to be an overconcentration of research in the for profit sectors while leaving the nascent nonprofit sector receiving less attention. Despite the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 8 sector’s immense importance in addressing problems in the nooks and crannies of society, it is seen sometimes as not having a significant impact on the overall output of society due to the lack of empirical research to prove otherwise. Though their missions are socially important, the management challenges they face are considered to be relatively mundane in comparison to the really hard problems that businesses (profit oriented) address routinely (Andreasen & Kotler, 2008). Dowie (2001) posits that massive changes are occurring in the nonprofit sector and their isolated events are touching the lives of virtually everyone. $ndreasen and .otler 28 categorized the world’s economy into three sectors i.e. the private profit oriented, the public government driven and the nonprofit; and that managers of these sectors need to understand marketing and how marketing is – and ought to be. It is in this light that this study becomes even more relevant in terms of it theorization and its empirical contribution. Although religion (church being central) is a common experience among humans, it remains largely unexplored within the developmental sciences and management literature (Kerestes & Youniss, 2002; Benson, Roehlkepartain & Rude, 2003). The paucity of research on a central element of human functioning within the developmental sciences is surprising, considering that youths and adults alike report high levels of religious beliefs and participation (Gallup & Bezilla, 1992; Gallup International Association, 2009). A Gallup International Association (2009) poll of 50,000 adults in 60 countries found that 87% of respondents reported being part of a religious denomination, 63% indicated that God was highly important in their lives, and 75% believed in either a personal God or ³some sort of spirit or life force.´ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 9 In Ghana, anecdotal evidence indicates that about a substantial portion of the population of adults spend a substantial amount of their active times whining the church. The weekend is normally reserved to church activities. However, the values these church members expect, how they are created and delivered have received a paucity of research. Although the field of the psychology of religion has produced a rich history of theoretical and empirical work, developmental and management issues remain relatively underexplored (Benson et al., 2003; King & Boyatzis, 2004). The small body of existing literature has often focused on the relationship between religiousness and various behavioral outcomes. For instance, these studies suggest that among adolescents, religion likely serves a dual role of promoting positive development as well as offering protection against risk behaviors (King & Boyatzis, 2004). Although interest has grown in the identification of the benefits of churches to human well-being and the application of business principles, many of the existing studies provide little theoretical explanation for these positive effects. 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The main aim of this study is to assess the value creation process of NPOs through the service experience created for the patrons of their services and other relevant groups who directly benefit from their social services. In specific terms, the study seeks: 1. To identify the elements of the church service mix; 2. To determine the effect of church service mix elements on church service experience. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 10 3. To establish the effect of church service experience on value derived by the patron; and 4. To evaluate the effect of idiosyncratic factors on church service experience and customer value relationship. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS To achieve the above objectives, the thesis seeks to find answers to the following questions: a. What are the components of the church service mix? b. What is the effect of church service mix elements on church service experience? c. What is the effect of the church service experience on the value experienced by the church member? d. :hat is the effect of church member’s personal factors on the service experience and customer value relationship? 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The significance of this study cannot be over emphasized. This study makes general contribution to the body of knowledge in terms of giving a different perspective to the value creation and service experience literature. The current study is situated in an arena (Not-for-profit: NPOs) that has not received enough attention over the years in terms of the sectors value creation process and consumption. The study specifically focuses on the church which is a very important social institution providing all kinds of value to the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 11 community and the people living in it. This research seeks to contribute to the knowledge gathering in this respect and develop the literature in the Ghanaian context. In terms of profit-oriented organizations, service marketing in Ghana has been widely explored by academics (e.g. Hinson, Owusu-Frimpong & Dasah, 2009; Narteh & Owusu- Frimpong, 2011), while the non-profit organization such as the church has not been given priority. The study in its uniqueness applies some elements usually used by the business sector. The current study tests how a social institution applies the service mix elements to create service experience that eventually create value for its members. As Christian denominations grow in their numbers within the society, there is the need for uniqueness and differentiation. Even though all preaches the simple message of salvation, every denomination would want to be seen as unique. This thesis brings to the fore how churches of different orientations create value for its members. 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS The thesis is organized into ten chapters. The first chapter of the thesis is an introduction to the entire study that looks at the background, problem statement, research objectives, questions and the significance. Chapter Two concentrates on the context of the study which discusses a brief history of the church from its time of inception to the present day and shows how the church spread throughout the world and later concentrates on the existence of the church in Africa. Chapter Two also gives a detail account of how the church started in Ghana, i.e. the geographic context of the study and its spread to other parts of the country amidst hindrances. The chapter gives account of how the church has impacted on University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 12 the socio-economic and political landscape in Ghana and how its influence continues to be felt by all. It concludes by showing how the church over the years has created value in every facet of the economy in every community that it establishes in. Chapter Three begins the literature review chapters and discusses the important literature related to value and its origins as well as the different perspectives from which other scholars have viewed the subject. The chapter also discusses the value creation process for the firm and the various frameworks that explain the dimensionalities of value. In the next chapter, review of literature is done on service experience and customer service experience. The chapter gives different perspectives as shared by different scholars in terms of the forms of customer service experience. Discussions are also done on what customer service experience is and how the firm can go beyond satisfaction to creating customer experiences at all fronts. Chapter Five has discussed the conceptualizations done in the study and has also established the possible relationships that exist among the construct. The chapter has conceptualized that the church service mix will influence both the church service experience and the customer value. It has also established that, although the study expects church service experience to influence customer value, there are some personal factors that may moderate this relationship. The chapter has also hypothesized the various relationships accordingly, which has paved the way for empirical examination. The theoretical chapter follows and discusses the theoretical foundations for this thesis. The chapter explains that two complementary behavioral theories were adopted to explain how people orient themselves to enjoy value and how they perform or associate themselves to setting courses as a means to an end. The chapter shows that the combination of the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 13 expectancy value theory and the means end theory has explained the consequence of service experience which Sheth et al. (1991) call consumption value. The methodological chapter dealt with all the philosophical and methodological issues that are related to the current study. The chapter first discussed the ontological and epistemological stance chosen for the study and later presented the research approach and the purpose of the current study. The methods of qualitative and quantitative research are also discussed and a justification given in line with the philosophical and research approach underpinning this study for choosing quantitative methods. Data collection methods and the instruments used in the data collection as well as method of analysis and quality criteria are discussed. Sampling issues were dealt with in this chapter and concluded by explaining the construct measures used in the study. Chapter Eight begins the chapters that present the data analysis and discussions of the study’s data. The data were collected from the church members from four categories of churches in Ghana, namely The Catholic, Protestants, Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. This chapter in particular presents the sample characteristics of the respondents who took part in the study in terms of their demographic peculiarities such as age, sex, income, nationality, educational level, marital status and employment status. Descriptive statistics of the scales used in measuring the constructs are presented. The chapter also deals with the data purification and validity checks through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 14 In the ninth chapter, discussions are had on the relationships that exist between the demographic factors (sex, age, education and income) of church members and their service experience and customer value evaluations. The objective of this assessment is to determine whether a person’s demographic characteristic relates to how he/she perceive the kind of service experience or customer value obtained from the church. The second part of this chapter also conducts a two-way relationship analysis of service mix and service experience, service mix and customer value and service experience and customer value. The objective is to assess which factors within the three constructs influence what. This enabled the study to give recommendations in terms of which aspects of the church activities must be emphasized to increase customer value and service experience. This chapter also focused on analyzing the hypothesized model proposed in Chapter Six. This final chapter of the thesis concludes the study by recapping all the relevant matters discussed in the thesis. The chapter also offers a summary of the key findings based on the objectives of the study. The chapter discusses the implications of the findings of the study by suggesting strategic options and policies that churches can adopt to increase their propensity to create relevant value for their members and the entire society at large. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 15 Figure 1.1: DIAGRAMMATIC PRESENTATION OF THE THESIS INTRODUCTION Background Problem Statement Objectives CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE VALUE CREATION CONTEXT OF THE STUDY CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK METHODOLOGY DATA ANALYSIS DISCUSSIONS OF FINDINGS SUMMARY, REFLECTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS THEORETICAL MODELING University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 16 CHAPTER TWO CONTEXT OF THE STUDY In this chapter, attention is paid to the context within which this study is being conducted. The chapter gives a brief history of the church from its time of inception to the present day. It shows how the church spread throughout the world and later concentrates on the existence of the church in Africa. The chapter also gives a detail account of how the church started in Ghana, i.e. the geographic context of the study and its spread to other parts of the country amidst hindrances. The chapter gives account of how the church has impacted on the socio-economic and political landscape in Ghana and how its influence continues to be felt by all. It concludes by showing how the church over the years has created value in every facet of the economy in every community that it establishes in. 2.1 INTRODUCTION Christianity developed out of Judaism in the 1st century C.E. (LeMarquand, 2000). It is founded on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and those who follow him are called "Christians". Christianity has many different branches and forms with accompanying variety in beliefs and practices. The three major branches of Christianity are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, with numerous subcategories within each of these branches (Stark, 2006). Until the latter part of the 20th century, most adherents of Christianity were in the West, though it has spread to every continent and is now the largest religion in the world (Stark, 2006). Traditional Christian beliefs include the belief in the one and only true God, who is one being and exists as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the belief that Jesus is the divine and human Messiah sent to save the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 world. Christianity is also noted for its emphasis on faith in Christ as the primary component of religion. The sacred text of Christianity is the Bible, including both the Hebrew Scriptures (also known as the Old Testament) and the New Testament. Central to Christian practice is the gathering at churches for worship, fellowship, and study, and engagement with the world through evangelism and social action. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1993) adequately provides the history of Christianity. Christianity emerged in the Levant (now Palestine and Israel) in the mid-1st century AD. Christianity spread initially from Jerusalem throughout the Near East, into places such as Syria, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Jordan and Egypt. In the 4th century it was successively adopted as the state religion by Armenia in 301, Georgia in 319, the Aksumite Empire in 325 (Munro-Hay, n.d), and the Roman Empire in 380. After the Council of Ephesus in 431 the Nestorian Schism created the Church of the East (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913). The Council of Chalcedon in 451 further divided Christianity into Oriental Orthodoxy and Chalcedonian Christianity. Chalcedonian Christianity divided into the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church in the Great Schism of 1054 (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913). The Protestant Reformation created new Christian communities that separated from the Roman Catholic Church and have evolved into many different denominations. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity spread to all of Europe in the Middle Ages. Christianity expanded throughout the world during Europe's Age of Exploration from the Renaissance onwards, becoming the world's largest religion (adherents.com). During its early history, Christianity grew from a 1st-century Jewish following to a religion that existed across the entire Greco-Roman world and beyond. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 18 2.2 THE EARLY CHURCH The early church is mostly referred to as the Apostolic Church which was the community led by the apostles, and to some degree, Jesus' relatives (Gerberding & Cruz, 2004). In his "Great Commission", the resurrected Jesus commanded that His teachings be spread to the entire world. While critics dispute the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles, the Acts of the Apostles is the major primary source of information for this period. Acts gives a history of the Church from this commission in Acts 1:3–11 to the spread of the religion among the gentiles (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913) and the eastern Mediterranean by Paul and others. The first Christians were essentially all ethnically Jewish or Jewish Proselytes. In other words, Jesus preached to the Jewish people and called from them his first disciples; see for example Matthew 10. However, the Great Commission is specifically directed at "all nations," and an early difficulty arose concerning the matter of Gentile (non-Jewish) converts as to whether they had to "become Jewish" (usually referring to circumcision and adherence to dietary law), as part of becoming Christian. Greeks in particular considered circumcision repulsive and Hellenists (Frederick, 2001) while circumcision advocates were labelled Judaisers. The actions of Peter, at the conversion of Cornelius the Centurion, seemed to indicate that circumcision and food laws did not apply to gentiles, and this was agreed to at the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem. The doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities. This eventually led to their expulsion from the synagogues, according University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 19 to one theory of the Council of Jamnia. Acts records the martyrdom of the Christian leaders, Stephen and James of Zebedee. Thus, Christianity acquired an identity distinct from Rabbinic Judaism, but this distinction was not recognized all at once by the Roman Empire. The name "Christian" was first applied to the disciples in Antioch, as recorded in Acts 11:26. Some contend that the term "Christian" was first coined as a derogatory term, meaning "little Christs", and was meant as a mockery, a term of derision for those that followed the teachings of Jesus. 2.3 REASONS FOR THE SPREAD OF THE CHURCH In spite of being at-times intense persecutions, the Christian religion continued its spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin (Whitby et al., 2006). There is no agreement on an explanation of how Christianity managed to spread so successfully prior to the Edict of Milan and the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. For some Christians, the success was simply the natural consequence of the truth of the religion and the hand of Providence. However, similar explanations can be claimed for the spread of Islam and Buddhism. In The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark argues that Christianity triumphed over paganism chiefly because it improved the lives of its adherents in various ways (Stark, 1996). Another factor was the way in which Christianity combined its promise of a general resurrection of the dead with the traditional Greek belief that true immortality depended on the survival of the body, with Christianity adding practical explanations of how this was going to actually happen at the end of the world (Øistein Endsjø, 2009). For Mosheim University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 (1999) the rapid progression of Christianity was explained by two factors: translations of the New Testament and the Apologies composed in defense of Christianity. 2.4 THE EXPLOSION OF CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA According to Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) (2008), in the twentieth century, the Christian population in Africa exploded from an estimated eight or nine million in 1900 8 to  to some  million in 2  , marking a shift in the ³center of gravity of Christianity´ from the :est to /atin $merica, parts of Asia and Africa. At the turn of the 20th century, Christianity was virtually nonexistent in many parts of Africa but is now the faith of the majority, as the following figures demonstrate: Table 2.1: The Explosion of Christianity in some African Countries Country % Christians in 1900 % Christians in 2000 Congo-Zaire 1.4% 95.4% Angola 0.6% 94.1% Swaziland 1.0% 86.9% Zambia 0.3% 82.4% Kenya 0.2% 79.3% Malawi 1.8% 76.8% Source: christianity.com In addition, as of early 2000s, there were a number of African countries with a significant population of Christians. Details are shown in Table 2.2. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 Table 2.2: Some African Countries and Percentage of Christian Population Countries % of Christian population Seychelles 96.9% Sao Tomé & Principe 95.8% Cape Verde Islands 95.1% Namibia 92.3% Burundi 91.7% Congo-Brazzaville 91.2% Lesotho 91% Gabon 90.6% Uganda 88.7% South Africa 83.1% Rwanda 82.7% Equatorial Guinea 76.6% Ghana 69% (Ghana Statistical Service, 2000 Census) Central African Republic 67.8% Zimbabwe 67.5% Botswana 59.9% Ethiopia 57.7% Cameroon 54.2% Eritrea 50.5% Tanzania 50.4% Madagascar 49.5% Nigeria 45.9% Togo 42.6% Source: christianity.com The figures above show the growth and dominance of Christianity on the African continent. The spread of the faith in Africa represents perhaps the most dramatic advance in all Christian history, and yet the names and stories of persons chiefly responsible are largely unknown. According to Sigg (2008) of The Dictionary of African Christian Biography (DACB) (dacb.com), the church has been continuously present on the African continent since the days of Christ. While the history of African Christianity is multifaceted in its regional development, it is, nevertheless, possible to discern four general phases in the planting and maturing of the African Church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 22 In the phase one, Africa was a major center of Christian thought and activity during the first three centuries after Christ. Origen was from Alexandria in Egypt, while Tertullian and Augustine were from North Africa. By the end of the third century, Christians in the eastern Magrib were in the majority. Sadly, Christianity in much of North Africa virtually disappeared as Islam advanced in the following centuries. In Egypt and in Ethiopia, however, it had taken deep root, and was thus able to survive the Islamic juggernaut and continues to this day. In the phase two, there was a continuation by The European Contribution of the Sub- Saharan Church. While the Portuguese introduced a Catholic form of Christianity to the Kongo Kingdom (central Africa) between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, there were few, if any, lasting results. Only at the end of the eighteenth century did the Evangelical Revival begin to bring to Africa an influx of missionaries whose labors would produce the first fruits of an enduring Christian presence in Sub-Sahara Africa. Two great British champions from the nineteenth century were Thomas Fowell Buxton and Henry Venn, neither of who ever set foot on African soil. While Buxton sought to fully eradicate the slave trade by encouraging local commercial and agricultural initiatives in its place, 9enn is responsible for laying down the principles of the ³indigenous church´ whereby the nascent African church began to come of age. The phase three was dubbed ³passing the Mantle, the )irst $frican /eadership´. For the next two hundred years, African Christians had to struggle against racism and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 23 Western spiritual imperialism. But, as Venn (1909) had written, if the African church were to mature and establish itself, missionaries had to move on once the seed was sown, leaving indigenous leaders to build the church. Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first African to be appointed bishop by the Anglican Church. In phase four which is dubbed "Pentecost", the African Church sought its own language. Western missionaries had planted the seeds of the Sub-Saharan church. Now, as the Gospel spread throughout the nooks and crannies of the continent, African Christianity began to define itself on its own cultural terms. Reformers within the missionary churches as well as independent church leaders called for change in the institutionalized church. This led to both reform, on the one hand, and to the birth of thousands of "African Initiated Churches" (AICs) on the other. 2.5 THE CHURCH IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: EVANGELIZATION: 15TH AND 16TH CENTURIES The exploration of the African coast by the Portuguese in the 15th century was soon accompanied by evangelization. As early as 1462, Pope Pius II entrusted the evangelization of the Guinea Coast to the Franciscans led by Alfonso de Bolano. By 1486, Dominicans and others were active in West Africa, notably among the Wolof in Senegambia. The Guinea mission depended upon that of Cape Verde where a bishopric was eventually created in 1553 (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, adherents.com). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 24 At the request of the King of Benin, who had come into contact with the Portuguese in 1485, the Church was planted in that kingdom. However, no great results were achieved. The mission in Benin, which served only intermittently from Sao Tome and was made a bishopric in 1534 by Pope Paul II, simply vegetated. In the Congo, systematic evangelization began in 1490, conducted by Franciscans, Canons Secular of St. John the Evangelist, and secular priests. From the start, its success was remarkable. Nzinga was baptized under the name Dom Jodo (1491). A church was built in his capital, which was named Sao Salvador. A truly Christian kingdom, closely modeled on that of Portugal, arose on the left bank of the river. During the reign of King Alfonso (1506-43) Christianity spread widely. Missionaries arrived regularly from Portugal; and young Congolese were sent to Portugal for instruction. Dom Hernique, son of the King, was elected (1518) and consecrated (1521) bishop of Utica (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, adherents.com). In Angola evangelization began in the second half of the 16th century. Francis Borgia had undertaken to establish a mission there for the Society of Jesus. The Angolan mission was not initially as successful as that in the Congo. It was only established when the bishops of Sao Salvador took up residence at Loanda in 1626. It is to the credit of the early Portuguese missionaries in Zaire and Angola that they displayed remarkable missionary farsightedness by setting up a seminary for the formation of indigenous priests. On the East African Coast, particularly in Mozambique, evangelization began during the first half of the 16th century. Saint Francis Xavier stopped over in Mozambique on his way to the East. In 1561 the Emperor of Monomatapa was baptized, thereby arousing a strong University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25 movement towards the Catholic Church. These hopes were to be destroyed by Muslim intrigue and influence. By 1591 the mission in Mozambique counted 20,000 Catholics. During the 17th century the Dominicans again undertook new evangelizing efforts in Monomatapa. A college and a seminary were erected. However, in the course of the 18th century, decline and decadence set in among the Christian communities and among the missionaries, and by the middle of the 19th century, the Portuguese mission in Eastern Africa was practically extinct. A very crucial and decisive achievement of Portuguese Catholic missions in East Africa was the rolling back and weakening of Islam beyond Mombasa. They succeeded in holding down Islam in the south (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, adherents.com). Early missionary work in Madagascar by Portuguese Franciscans and Dominicans during the 16th century did not enjoy much success. Jesuits started a mission there in 1613. They were followed by the Discalced Carmelites (1647), and the Vincentians; (1648), all without significant impact. Small-scale attempts were undertaken intermittently, but the French Revolution brought an end to all missionary work on the island (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, adherents.com). In spite of the heroic evangelizing efforts of the 15th and 16th centuries, Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa had completely disappeared by the beginning of the 19th century. Among the many reasons for that extinction, the following should perhaps be mentioned here. The missions in Sub-Saharan Africa were entrusted to Portugal that claimed the privileges of patronage (patroado) earlier granted to it by the Popes. Insistence by Portugal University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 on its patroado privileges practically nullified the efforts of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide to exercise effective control and to direct evangelization in those territories. Certain religious orders also managed to obtain privileges which enabled them to circumvent or obstruct Propaganda's missionary policies and approaches. While insisting on its patronage privileges, which enabled it to exclude missionaries of other nationalities from Sub-Saharan Africa, Portugal became increasingly unable to supply enough missionaries for the region. This even led to prolonged vacancies in the bishoprics in Africa, which in turn, resulted in the decline and decay of what had been laboriously built up. While insisting on its exclusive right to direct evangelization in Africa, the Portuguese government tended to prefer its commercial interests to the spread of the Faith. There was no effort made to penetrate beyond a coastal strip to the interior. The Portuguese Catholic missions thrived only in areas that were effectively under Portuguese power, and consequently they acquired the character of ecclesiastical colonies. With the exception of the Italian Capuchins in the Congo and in Angola, the early Portuguese missions did not face up to the need for inculturation. A deep and accurate knowledge of the African languages and of the customs and mentality of the people was lacking. The tropical climate often killed the missionaries within a short time after their arrival. This is one reason why the mission in the Kingdoms of Loango and Kakongo (1766-1776) had to be abandoned (adherents.com). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 27 2.6 A NEW PERIOD OF EVANGELIZATION Towards the middle of the 19th century the evangelization of Africa was resumed, thanks to the heroic dedication of many missionary institutes of men and women. During the 19th century, Spanish and Portuguese influence had waned and the system of patroado had weakened and declined, thus leaving room for the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide to get a firm and untrammeled hold on missionary policy and strategy in Africa. Today, the Catholic Church is present everywhere in Africa, the result of barely one century of apostolic activity. The resumption of the evangelization of Africa in the last century took place during an era in which most African countries were dependent territories. The colonial period in Africa has now come to an end. Therefore, the context in which evangelization has to be carried out is a new one, that of independent African countries. During the colonial period, the agents of the evangelization of Africa were exclusively missionaries from abroad, members of the various missionary institutes. Today that situation has changed as indigenous and expatriate clergy and religious hands work hand in hand in the task of evangelizing Africa. 2.7 &+5,67,$1,7<&2/21,=$7,21$1'*+$1$¶6,'(17,7< Christianity entered the land in the form of Catholicism in the latter part of the 15th century. Whereas this brand of Christianity thrived around Elmina and Cape Coast, it disappeared mysteriously after about 50 years. Then came the second wave of Christianity in the 19th century. This time it was a very fragmented and confrontational Christianity that we had to contend with. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 To begin with, it is sometimes said that the same Christians who brought to the Africans the faith from Europe were the same people who colonized the continents. Brandishing the cross in one hand, they held fast to the pistol in the other. It is true that the colonizers were not evangelizers and, in many instances, did not even believe in Christianity; yet, their origin and coincidence of their appearance in Ghana identified them as one. They were, therefore, entangled in the supreme contradiction of preaching the freedom of all the children of God, while at the same time they imposed heavy burdens such as the slave trade on the Africans. What is worse, they preached forms of Christianity that had caught on in their various countries in Europe and which often invariably, at least externally, clashed with one another. Religion and colonial secular interests locked horns with each other, the colonialists bringing along with them the brand of Christianity found in their countries. Calvinist Danes who in turn had to give way to Reformed Dutch who vacated their position to Anglican and Methodist British ousted the catholic Portuguese. This was otherwise a military, political or economic colonial situation created an inevitable sectarian conflict among different Christian churches. Christian denominations were caught up in the struggle for conversions, which made one denomination the enemy or, at least, the rival of another. The different denominations established strongholds in different parts of Ghana. The Methodists were strong in Western and Central Regions, the Presbyterians in the Eastern Region, Anglicans in the urban areas University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 29 and Catholics spread thinly over the whole land. Greater Accra Region was mainly Presbyterian and Methodist. The different Christian denominations, by their rivalry, ended up dividing Ghanaians, in contradiction to the principle of unity that all nations seek and the cardinal virtue of being one, according to the /ord -esus Christ’s own words. The mid-20th century saw the upsurge of new religious movements: Pentecostal, charismatic, healing, spiritual and independent African churches, to mention a few. These new Christian churches were either introduced from outside Africa, especially the United States, or from other African countries such as Nigeria. They came at different times and settled but many of them too sprang from Ghanaian roots. Some of these were splinter groups from mainline mother Churches while many others were churches that have sprung up on their own merit. The thrust of their ministry seems to be insistence on evangelism, man’s sinfulness, repentance, healing, provision to answer problems of practical life, literary interpretation of scriptural texts, lively and participatory liturgies, and the use of African mentality in dealing with the faithful. The Orthodox Christian churches led the evangelization crusade in Ghana in the 19th century onwards. Europeans led these religious denominations and the impact of these Christians institutions cannot be over emphasized. The late 1970s witnessed a second wave of religious crusade led by Ghanaians. These Charismatic churches for the past four decades have been making headlines with their healing and deliverance services. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 30 2.8 THE DOMINANCE OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY IN GHANA By the mention of Orthodox Christian Churches in Ghana, one refers to the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Basel (now Presbyterian), Bremen or North German (now Evangelical Presbyterian) and Wesleyan Methodist Missions (Ahiable-Addo 2001:1). Since the advent of these churches in Ghana at various times, these Christian institutions have contributed in varying dimensions to the cultural, economic, moral, social, spiritual and political transformation of the people of Ghana. The Catholic Church is one of the mainstream Christian religious missions in Ghana. In fact, it is the premier Christian religious society in the country, for it is the first mission that was established by Europeans on the Ghanaian soil. This was done at Elmina (El Mina-the gold mines) in 1482 by some Catholic priests who accompanied the Portuguese immigrants who arrived in the Gold Coast in January 1482 to build Fort St.George (Sao Jaogo), the present day Elmina Castle. However, in 1642, the Calvinist Dutch proscribed the Catholic Church. This action was necessitated by the capture of all Portuguese possessions throughout the West Coast of Ghana between 1637 and 1642. The presence of the Dutch (1637-1872) in Ghana forced Catholicism into recession for two hundred and thirty eight years. The Catholic Church re-emerged in Ghana in May 1880 thus becoming the last of the major Christian denominations of the 19th century to be established in Ghana. The Rev. Frs. Auguste Moreau (33) and Eugene Murat (31), both French national and from the Society of the African Mission (S.M.A) are credited with the re-establishment of the Catholic Church in Ghana. After establishing a mission station at Elmina by 31st March, 1882, the S.M.A missionaries decided to extend the Catholic faith to Kumasi, the capital of the Asante state. They would, in due course spread the Catholic faith to other communities (Ahiable-Addo, 2001:2). However, this University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 31 intention was not possible and it took the Catholic missionaries twenty eighty years to found a formal church in Asante. Before the re-entry of the Catholic Church into the evangelization field, other religious denominations had already established their bases along the coastal regions of Ghana. One such religious mission was the Wesleyan Methodist, presently the Methodist Church of Ghana. In terms of membership strength and geographical reach, the Methodist Church is the second largest church in Ghana. Rev. Mr. Joseph Rhodes Dunwell established the Methodist Church in Cape Coast in 1835. On March 26, 1835, he issued to fifty adherents, the first Methodist Church membership cards ever given in Ghana. This act marked the formal establishment of the Methodist Church in Ghana (ibid: in TJCT Vol. VI, No.2, July, 1996, p.5). 2.9 CHRISTIANITY BEYOND THE COASTAL TOWNS OF GHANA The Christian Missions immediately after establishing their bases at Elmina (Catholic) and Cape Coast (Methodist) respectively, decided to extend their faiths to Asante. The coastal towns, perhaps because of their early contact with Europeans accepted Christianity without any major recorded squabbles. Were the Asante also ready to accept a foreign religion? In November 1838 when the Methodist Church was only forty-four months old in Ghana, it members and Circuit Minister, the Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman resolved to extend the church to Asante in the forest zone of Ghana. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 32 The Asante by their religious thoughts and practices were animists and polytheists. In the second half of the 1830s when Methodism was the Christian way of life at the Fante and Ga coasts, $sante’s religion was fetishism or paganism. $nd if there were to be progress in Asante, fetishism must be replaced with Christianity (ibid: Vol.III, Nos: 1 & 2, July, 1997, p.29). The Methodist missionaries therefore resolved that Methodism must be planted at Kumasi at any cost to save the people not only from paganism, but also Islam as well as the vices endemic in their society. The Asante did not only resist the introduction of a foreign religion into their Kingdom, but they viewed every move by the missionaries with great suspicion and consternation. Hence all early attempts at proselytizing the Asante to Christianity were thwarted. The Methodist Church made the first attempt when the Rev. Freeman led a team from Cape Coast in February 1839 to visit the Asante Kingdom. The Rev. Freeman and his party traveled to Kwisa in Fomena (Adansi District of Asante). At Kwisa the troubles of the mission started. 2n the party’s entry into the town, a fetish priest, who sighted it went clairvoyant and immediately instructed that the party be restrained from further advance. On the next day, Rev. Freeman and his party were summoned to a meeting with the fetish priest in attendance. The fetish priest proclaimed that the town stood the danger of being ravaged by fire on account of the Rev. )reeman’s entry and that the calamity could only be averted by propitiating the gods (Wolfson 1965). The ordeals at Kwisa and Fomena did not end the mission’s trauma on the remainder of its Mourney to .umasi. $t )omena the paramount chief, Nana Kwantwi detained the party for two weeks. Upon their release from detention, the party continued it journey to Kumasi. However, the mission was to witness University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 33 more distressing things on its way to Kumasi. The path to Kumasi that the mission took was strewn with ritual sacrifices containing boiled eggs, beads and plantains among other items (ibid). On the outskirts of Kumasi, they had yet another excruciating experience. The Manhyia guards, who came to lead them into the town, took the party through two towering domes of fresh earth on either side of the narrow path. On enquiry, they were informed that the heaps were graves of two persons ritually buried alive on the instructions of the Asante court to avert any calamity that might emanate from their visit (Claridge, 1964:433, cited in Ahiable-Addo, 1997). These experiences among many others were enough to daunt the Rev. )reeman’s determination to drop his agenda and return to Cape Coast, but these pioneers of the Methodist Church in Asante pressed on. They were determined to proselytize the Asante at any cost. The assumption was that once the µblood thirsty’ $sante were converted to Christianity, they would desist from heinous crimes (Ahiable-Addo 1997, p.33). It took several weeks before the Asantehene Kwaku Dua I (1838-1867) eventually granted the Methodist mission audience. He allowed Rev. Freeman to visit the royal mausoleum, preach in the streets of Kumasi and conduct two Sunday services (Bartels 1986:39). Spurred on by these developments, Rev. Freeman asked the Asantehene for permission to formally establish a church and a school. This request was turn down by the Court. However, Rev. Freeman was asked to return at a later date if he so desired. Clearly, this first attempt to proselytize the Asante was a failure. With the first attempt at evangelizing the Asante being a failure, the Methodist missionaries worked hard to make University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 34 their second visit a success. And just like most 19th century European adventurers, the Rev. Freeman lavished a lot of gifts on his host (the Asantehene) on this second visit. And to demonstrate that Methodism was welcome in the Kingdom, the Asante court allocated to the missionaries a piece of disused military cemetery in 1842, located at Krobo, presently an integral part of Asante New Town (Ahiable-Addo 1997, p.36). As a result of the positive change in attitude by the Asante court to Christianity, the Rev. Freeman accomplished the establishment of Methodism in Kumasi in 1842. Through the spread of the gospel in and around Kumasi by the Methodist missionaries, some converts were made to Methodism. Occasionally, even the Asantehene, his elders and palace officials attended divine services conducted at the mission station (Bartels, 1986:53). With these early developments, the missionaries proposed the establishment of schools in Kumasi in which $sante’s children could enroll for formal education (op.cit, 37). The court blatantly rebuffed the request. The Asante did not take kindly to the idea of having formal education in the .ingdom. $nd in emphasizing his subMects’ aversion to western education, the Asantehene, Kwaku Dua I himself, swanked to the missionaries; Asante’s children have better work to do than to sit down (in school) all day long idly, to learn hoy! hoy! hoy!; they have to fan their parents and do their (house)work which is better (Kimble,1965:75 & Agyeman,1986:56-57, cited in Ahiable-Addo,1997). Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! refers to Holy! Holy! Holy! This resurgence of negative response from the $sante court did not dim the church’s desire to introduce formal education into the Kingdom. The missionaries persisted in talking to the Asantehene and his elders about the benefits of formal education. Manhyia finally endorsed, in 1842, the establishment of the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 Kumasi Wesleyan Methodist Junior School, the first of its kind in Asante. Whereas the Asantehene Kwaku Dua I and his elders did not see the need to have western education established in the Asante Kingdom, in 1952, the Asantehene Nana Sir Osei Agyemang Prempeh II (1931-1970), asked the Catholic Church to build more schools in Asante. Efforts to start the Catholic Church in Asante dated to April 1, 1882 when Rev. Frs Moreau and Jean-Marie Michon resolved to that effect. Unlike the Methodist missionaries of the 1830s, the Catholic delegation to Kumasi was warmly received. The Asantehene Mensa Bonsu (1874-1883) granted them an exclusive audience. And during the interview, the Rev. Fr. Moreau requested that they be allowed to open missions in the Asante Kingdom; this done, they would be able to help the King and his subjects to praise God, teach their children to be equal to Europeans in skills and knowledge, as well as look after the sick (Graham, 1976:61). This maiden effort to open a Catholic mission in Kumasi was not successful. The Catholic Church was formally established in the Asante Kingdom in 1910. The Rev. Fr. Simeon Albeniz celebrated a Holy Mass on Christmas Day, December 25, 1910, thus marking the formal introduction of the Catholic Church in Kumasi. The Catholic Church is very important in northern Ghana and is contrary to the popular perception held by many southerners that northerners are all Moslem. In fact Tamale is an Archdiocese and has a major seminary. The White Fathers planted Catholicism in northern Ghana; it was their robe, originally based on the white garments of the Arabs that gave them the name. Unlike in Asante where Manhyia was the standing block in the way of the Methodist and Catholic missionaries, in northern Ghana it was the British colonial University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 36 authorities and their local agents (the chiefs) who thwarted efforts at proselytizing the people of the North to Christianity. Until 1929, the British colonial authorities would not permit any Christian mission to establish a presence in the North-West (presently the Upper West Region). The first Catholic mission station in the North was opened in Navrongo in 1906 in the North-East and another station was opened in Jirapa in the North- West in 1929. Here, the Jirapa Naa allotted the missionaries a barren piece of land allegedly haunted by evil spirits, and waited to see whether they would drive out the White Fathers or the White Fathers would drive them out (McCoy, 1988:48-9). It was from these humble beginnings that the churches spread to all corners of Ghana. 2.10 THE CHURCH IN NATIONAL POLITICS The Church in Ghana has generally been apolitical but has not hesitated to take a stand against evil in the political process in Ghana (Oquaye, 2004:347-8). The nation since independence has had Christian leaders from various denominations. The woman who had the greatest influence on Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Madam Elizabeth Nyaniba, his mother was a Roman Catholic and through her Nkrumah too became a Roman Catholic; he took the Christian name Francis but seldom used it. Nkrumah went through Roman Catholic institutions including the St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic seminary at Aminsano near Cape Coast (Pobee, 1988:10-11). Despite his Catholic upbringing, Nkrumah later described himself as a non-denominational Christian (Nkrumah, 17:1 . The Convention 3eople’s Party (CPP) had a few clashes with the Christian Council of Ghana. Immediately after independence the Christian Council of Ghana clashed with the politicians, first over the pouring of libation to welcome the Duchess of Kent and over a statue of Nkrumah. In 1958 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 37 1krumah’s statue, which stood twenty feet high, was erected in front of Parliament House. On its pedestal was inscribed the words: Seek ye first the political kingdom and all others things shall be added to you. This is an adaptation of Mathew 6:33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all things shall be added unto you (Pobee, 1988:118). The Christian Council of Ghana campaigned to have the words removed from the statue. This protest was to no avail. Further, the Christian Council condemned the introduction of the Preventive Detention Act (PDA). Another Ghanaian leader who came in for criticism by the Christian denominations was General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong (1972-78). General Acheampong was also born into the Roman Catholic Church. The mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy by the Supreme Military Council members resulted in organized labour embarking on strikes. When the crisis of May to August 1977 erupted, General Acheampong, declared a Week of National Repentance to run from the 27th June to 3rd July, 1977. The official reason given by the soldiers for subjecting all Ghanaians into repentance was that the ills of the nation, political and economic, were due to the sinfulness of the nation (Pobee, 1992:6). Most of the main streams churches ignored the General’s call for repentance and rather the leadership of SMC was criticized for it mismanagement of the country. The churches did keep up a steady barrage of criticism until the General was toppled in a palace coup. The government that bore the greatest criticism from the Church was the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC 1981-1992) of Flight-Lieutenant J J Rawlings. The church in its publication through the Catholic Standard, The Christian Messenger University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 38 persistently protested against the PNDC until they were shut down. The Churches also condemned the extra-judicial killings generally and particularly the murder of the three high court judges and the retired army officer. From 1990 onwards, the churches became forceful exponents of a return to multi-party politics. In January 1991, for example, the Christian Council of Ghana issued a statement calling for the release of all political prisoners, the establishment of a constituent assembly and a return to democracy by the end of 1992 (Nugent, 1996:189). 2.11 THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA The role played by the church in the socio-economic development of Ghana cannot be overemphasized. The Christian missions established several socio-economic institutions in Ghana as a medium of evangelization and conversion of the people to Christianity. These institutions were educational facilities at the basic and second cycle levels, health-care delivery units and industrial or economic institutions. These activities of the Christian missions had a tremendous impact on the people on Ghana both positively or negatively. However, the positive influences outweighed the negative ones. The Christian missions starting from the coastal towns of Ghana established many educational institutions. The central region is referred to as the ³citadel of education´ because of the many schools in the region. The region boasts of schools such as St. $ugustine’s College, :esley Girls’ High, and Adisadel College among others. Asante and the Northern regions remained largely illiterate up to the end of the 19th century. It was University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 39 $sante’s intransigence that denied it citizens’ western education and the historian, S.K. Odamtten, commented this on: During the nineteenth century when the coastal and near-coastal peoples of Ghana embraced Christianity and western education, with the recipients gaining employment in European commerce, industry, teaching, security services and the churches, the Asante refused to be touched by those modernizing social forces; they were still drumming and dancing Kete in the forest. When the Asante finally embraced western education by the close of the 19th century, they demanded for more educational institutions to be established in the Asante Kingdom. In the case of Northern Ghana, it was basically the racist policies of the British colonial authorities that denied northerners western education. But thanks to the introduction of Christianity, many northerners were able to access education. In 1937, the Catholic mission opened its first primary school for boys in the Upper West region. Other prominent schools such as St. Francis of Assisi (girls), St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary (boys) in the Upper West region, St. Charles secondary school (Tamale) and Notre Dame secondary school (Navrongo) were all established by the catholic mission. Many Ghanaians became formally educated through the work of the Christian missions. Almost all churches have schools at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education in the country. Consistently, over 95 percent of the country's top second cycle institutions are all mission schools. Notable amongst them are:  Adisadel College - Anglican - Cape Coast  Mfantsipim School - Methodist - Cape Coast University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 40  Wesley Girls High School - Methodist - Cape Coast  St. Augustine's College - Catholic- Cape Coast  Holy Child School - Catholic - Cape Coast  Prempeh College - Methodist/Presbyterian - Kumasi  Opoku Ware School - Catholic - Kumasi  St. Peter's Boys Senior Secondary School - Catholic - Nkwatia Kwahu  Pope John's Secondary School - Catholic - Effiduase Koforidua  St. Rose’s Girls Secondary School - Catholic - Akwatia  Aburi Girls Secondary School - Presbyterian- Aburi  St. Louis Secondary School - Catholic - Kumasi  Arch Bishop Potter Girls Secondary School - Catholic - Takoradi  Presbyterian Boys Secondary School - Presbyterian - Accra Many acquired skills that they used to acquire decent means of livelihood as they contributed to local, regional and national development at various levels. Again by embracing Christianity many Ghanaians societies abandoned several obnoxious traditional customs. Further, the Christian missions led the way in health-care provision. They provided western health facilities for the people of Ghana especially the rural folk. The bookshops and printing presses opened throughout Ghana promoted education or literacy in general. Agriculture also received great attention from the Christian missions. The various Christian denominations have grown from their humble beginning in the 19th century into the mega-institutions that they are in the twenty first century Ghana. In keeping with the missions’ philosophy of saving souls, education and performing acts of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 charity, the various Christian denominations have established congregations in various parts of the country. The impact of this is that many Ghanaians have become notoriously religious. Above all, the churches built schools and colleges, (and now university colleges) which have turned out educated Ghanaians who have contributed immensely to the development of Ghana in the past five decades. Of equally important contribution to the development of Ghana is the churches health-care delivery system in which various Christian denominations constructed hospitals, clinics and health posts in various communities throughout Ghana to serve the health needs of Ghanaians throughout the past five decades. /astly the role of the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana %ishop’s Conference of the Roman Catholic Church and the National Catholic Secretariat in conflict resolution should be commended. These institutions were the credible reconciler of the warring factions in the crisis that engulf the Acheampong regime. They have established themselves as the voice of the voiceless, fighting the cause of the poor in society. 2.12 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BENEFITS FROM THE CHURCH In any society, social development ranks high in the list of national priorities. This is most seen in the process of establishing human dynamisms and activities at higher levels to achieve greater results in the areas of health, food, shelter and security. These fundamentals are at the core of social development in the most simplistic terms. Commonly the church is assumed to have a role in helping development of community (Vidal, 2001). The church plays a vital role in the cognitive, spiritual, economic and social development of the community. The church over the years has designed programmes to contribute to the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 42 individual’s self-improvement, creative learning as well as meeting spiritual, economic, emotional and community needs (Sutcliffe, 2003). The church has helped develop almost all the human rights that we now take for granted. The right to healthcare, an education, the right to vote, workers rights, women’s rights, the right of children to be children – all of this is the legacy of the church together with ending the slave trade and slavery, opening schools, universities, hospitals – the list goes on and on. In the late 20th century, great Christian leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for civil rights in America and Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela fought to end apartheid in South Africa. Churches, have contributed to the success of economies by encouraging virtue, but social science research has also shown that churches provide direct and indirect economic and social benefits to communities (Tirrito & Cascio, 2003). Churches provide valuable contributions to communities in the areas of direct economic contributions, social services and community volunteering, education and civic skills training, and reduced levels of deviance. These benefits positively improve communities in both direct and indirect manners, and they enhance political stability and the long-term health of communities. The presence of churches in the community brings direct economic benefits to the local area. Church organizations provide jobs for the community, and churches support a variety of local businesses. Churches bring individuals from surrounding areas to the community where the church is located, and these individuals provide economic support to local establishments. Thus, churches aid in bringing additional revenue to communities. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 Churches are also an attractive component to local communities. Much like strong school systems, many families and individuals consider the presence of local religious organizations when making decisions about moving to communities and purchasing property. The presence of churches aids in families choosing to establish residence in a local community. This, in turn, helps support local businesses and contributes to property tax payments. Therefore, churches provide direct economic benefits to the community. Churches encourage community growth, job creation, and overall economic vitality. Beyond direct economic benefits, churches also provide social benefits that have economic value. Several researchers have identified the social benefits that churches bring to communities, including: providing help to poor and vulnerable individuals in the community; improving marriage relationships; increasing moral community obligations; and promoting charitable contributions and volunteering. Social scientists consider it irrational to participate in moral and volunteer projects, because they have such a low personal benefit. However, being a member of a religious community increases one’s duty to serve others in the community, countering the ³free rider´ problem. Churches help communities complete vitally important social projects, which the government would need to fund if churches did not provide such support. In Ghana, there are several evidence of churches providing good drinking water and healthcare for deprived communities. A comprehensive study of religious congregations in six metropolitan communities found that 91 percent of religious congregations provided at least one social service (Cnaan et al.. 1999); similarly, 87 percent of the congregations in a Philadelphia survey provided at least University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 44 one social service to the community (Boddie et al., 2001). The researchers in the Philadelphia study found that churches do much more community aiding work, including helping the poor and making positive social inroads in the community, than previously realized by scholars. The authors declare, ³If it were not for the impressive collective effort of some 2,120 local religious congregations, life in Philadelphia would have become extremely harsh´ Cnaan et al., 2006; p. 291). The presence of churches in the community also increases the religiosity of locals, and increased religiosity results in positive social contributions for the community. For example, religiosity influences individuals’ obligations to perform non-religious moral acts. Individuals who are religious have been shown to have an increased propensity to participate in community building, and moral projects such as giving blood (Ortberg, Goruch & Kim, 2001). For example, the International Central Gospel Church – Christ Temple on an annual basis organizes blood donation exercise to shore up the Korle-Bu Hospital Blood Bank. Additionally, church affiliation and religiosity increase community volunteering as well as intra-church volunteering (Park & Smith, 2000). Cnaan valued that churches in large metropolitan communities provide support equal to one full-time social service employee (Cnaan, 1999), and it is clear that by building up and sending out volunteers to the community, churches provide significant economic and social benefits, helping improve communities. Most church groups on the various university campuses in Ghana, embark on annual missionary service in rural areas where they, for instance, teach in schools, provide clothing and help local businesses where possible. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 45 Along with creating social programs and serving as a foundation for community volunteers, churches also improve the educational success of students and provide training and skills that promote civic engagement. For students, religious involvement is positively correlated with higher math and reading scores and greater educational aspirations (Regnerus, 2000; 2001). Students who frequently attend church have an improved ability to allocate time and achieve goals (Freeman, 1985), and religiously connected students are five times less likely than their peers to skip school (Sloane & Potvin, 18 . 3arents’ involvement in churches also improves their children’s educational capacities and achievements. Parents with higher levels of religiosity raise children who more consistently complete homework, attend class, and complete degree programs (Muller & Ellison, 2001). Churches provide educational, psychological, and moral training and resources, which result in positive present and future educational outcomes for students. Several cross-national and community based studies also show that churches help members obtain civic skills, such as public speaking, networking, organizing, and participating in politics (Schwadel, 2002). The church environment provides a training ground for individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds, affording individuals the skills to succeed in industry, business, education, and politics. The presence of churches in our communities also decreases the occurrence of crime and deviance in communities and among local youth. Reduced levels of crime and deviance make communities more safe, stable, and productive; and safe and stable communities encourage economic growth, through business expansion and attracting new residents. Church attendance has also been associated with decreased levels of assault, burglary, and larceny (Bainbridge, 1989), and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 46 religiosity promotes decreased levels of violent crime both at the individual and the state level (Lester 1987; Hummer et al., 1999). Increased levels of religiosity also directly decrease deviant behavior, such as drug use, violence, and delinquency among at risk youth (Fagan, 2006). Churches also promote a variety of health benefits for the community, improving the vitality of the community and decreasing government expenditures. Studies have consistently shown that religiosity is related to increased longevity (Johnson et al., 2002; Fagan, 2006). There is strong research that supports that the average religious individual lives seven years longer than the average non-religious individual (Hummer et al., 1999; Fagan, 2006). Research by Johns Hopkins scholars shows that non-religious individuals have increased risks of dying from cirrhosis of the liver, emphysema, arteriosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, and suicide (Comstock & Patridge, 1972; Fagan, 2006). Religious attendance has been shown to decrease stress, increase self-esteem, and give individuals hope and a greater sense of life purpose (Fagan, 2006; Johnson et al., 2002). Increased religious practice also is associated with decreased levels of depression and suicide (Johnson et al., 2002; Ellison, 1995). In sum, church involvement has been shown to improve mental health, and having strong mental health makes individuals more productive and less at risk for committing crimes. Churches provide mental health benefits to individuals, and improved mental health directly aids communities. Currently in Ghana, health establishments belonging to various Christian bodies in the country cater for 2 of all the nation’s health care needs. The umbrella organization of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 47 which the various mission hospitals, clinics and facilities are members of is known as the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG). Some of these facilities are in deprived areas of the country. CHAG serves as a link between Government and its Development Partners and CHAG Member Institutions and provides support to its members through capacity strengthening, coordination of activities, lobbying and advocacy, public relations and translation of government policies. The goal of CHAG is to improve the health status of people living in Ghana, especially the marginalized and the impoverished, in fulfillment of Christ's healing ministry. CH$G’s 18 Member Institutions are therefore predominantly located in the rural (underserved) areas. CHAG plays a complementary role to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and is the second largest provider of health services in the country. Community contributions such as volunteerism, mental and physical health, reduced deviance, increased education and civic awareness, and social networks are all components of social capital²a concept numerous social science researchers have identified as having a significant impact on successful communities and societies (Putnam, 2000). Social capital is the outcome of trust, social networks, and social health, and it encourages economic and social opportunities for communities. Scholars have frequently referenced the role of religion in creating social capital and developing the positive societal impacts of social capital (Fukuyama, 2001). Social capital, which churches promote, has been shown to increase economic growth (Zak & Knack, 2001), and it also improves government performance, according to an evaluation of the fifty states (Knack, 2002). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 48 In total, Churches have diverse positive impacts on communities, ranging from increased trust, improved mental and physical health, decreased crime, and enhanced levels of volunteering and community outreach. These attributes build norms and values that encourage political stability and economic performance. Churches contribute to vitally important components of successful societies, and their presence in communities provides many benefits that cannot be measured solely by direct revenue. 2.13. CHAPTER SUMMARY The chapter has paid extensive attention to the context within which this study is being conducted. A brief history of the church from its time of inception to the present day has been given and has also shown how the church spread throughout the world and later concentrates on the existence of the church in Africa. The chapter has also given a detail account of how the church started in Ghana, i.e. the geographic context of the study and its spread to other parts of the country amidst hindrances. How the church has impacted on the socio-economic and political landscape of Ghana and how the church over the years has created value in every sphere of life concluded the chapter. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 49 CHAPTER THREE LITERATURE REVIEW – VALUE CREATION The major aim of the thesis is to understand the value creation process and typologies and customer experience in churches. As a result, two major concepts are reviewed: value creation and customer experience. This chapter will focus on the literature on value creation. 3.1 INTRODUCTION Value creation is a central concept in the management and organization literature for both micro level (individual, group) and macro level (organization theory, strategic management) research. The primary pursuit of any business is to understand what value customers are looking for De6arbo et al., 21 2’Cass & Ngo, 2010) in the marketplace and to create, offer and maintain that value for them (Conner, 1991; Sirmon et al., 2007). Yet there is little consensus on what value creation is or on how it can be achieved (Lepak, Smith & Taylor, 2007). Understanding what value is and how value is created and offered to customers has become critical (Bowman & Ambrosini, 2000, 2009; Mittal & Sheth, 2001; DeSarbo et al., 2001; Payne & Frow, 2005; Anderson et al., 2006; Lepak et al., 2007; Sirmon et al., 2007) especially for service firms. Currently, there is little consensus on what value creation is and how it can be achieved /epak et al., 27 2’Cass & Ngo, 2010). First, the multidisciplinary nature of the field of management introduces significant variance in the parties or targets for which new value is created and in the potential sources or creators of value. To illustrate, scholars in strategic management, strategic human University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 50 resource management, marketing, or entrepreneurship, for example, may emphasize the creation of value for business owners (Porter, 1985; Sirmon, Hitt & Ireland, 2007), stakeholders (Post, Preston & Sachs, 2002), or customers (Kang, Morris & Snell, 2007; Priem, 2007). Conversely, researchers emphasizing organizational behavior may emphasize value creation that targets individual employees, employee groups or teams, and organizations (March & Simon, 1958). Scholars from sociological or economic disciplines may focus on value creation in terms of society (Lee, Peng & Barney, 2007) or nations (Porter, 1990). While not exhaustive, this list does highlight the differences in targets or users for whom value can be created. 6imilarly, researchers’ formative discipline causes them to focus on different sources of value creation. For example, psychology, organizational behavior, and many HR scholars focus on the behavior of individuals or groups. In contrast, organizational theorists, strategic management researchers, strategic HRM scholars, and entrepreneurship scholars often emphasize the organization level; further, some economists, organizational theorists, and sociologists examine the industry or societal level of analysis. Overall, the existence of this plurality in both the targets and sources of value creation introduces a host of challenges to scholars, including the development of a common definition for the term (Bowman & Ambrosini, 2000; Lepak, Smith & Taylor, 2007). A second source of difficulty regarding value creation is that value creation refers both to the content and process of new value creation. On the content side, questions regarding what is value/valuable, who values what, and where value resides highlight the complexity University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 51 of understanding value creation (Lepak, Smith & Taylor, 27 2’Cass & Ngo, 2010). The fact that value creation is used just as frequently to refer to the underlying process of creation, how value is generated, and the role, if any, of management in this process underscores this confusion. Finally, the process of value creation is often confused or confounded with the process of value capture or value retention. However, Lepak et al. (2007) argue that value creation and value capture should be viewed as distinct processes, since the source that creates a value increment may or may not be able to capture or retain the value in the long run. Rather, value created by one source or at one level of analysis may be captured at another²a process called, ³value slippage´ /epak, 6mith & Taylor, 2007). For example, although an individual may create value by developing a new way to perform a particular task in the workplace, other parties, such as organizations or even societies, may benefit more from the value that is created than does the individual creator. Similarly, value created by organizations, possibly through the introduction of a new product or process, may not be wholly captured by them but, instead, may spill over into society as a whole. Thus, it can be argued that the tendency for scholars to combine value creation and capture into discussions of value creation has, to some extent, also contributed to the level of disagreement and confusion surrounding the term value creation. It is important at this juncture to address issues of what value is and its creation as it has been discussed in the extant literature. The rest of this chapter deals with what is value, its University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 52 creation, sources of value creation and what is termed as customer value creation that is the kind of value this study focuses on. 3.2 VALUE Value is a concept discussed in several literature streams and has a wide range of meanings (Ramirez, 1999). It has been used in various disciplines such as economics, accounting, finance, strategy and operations management (Gale, 1997). The concept appears frequently and commonly in the economics, management and marketing literature and the definitions and descriptions thereof is numerous as well as diverse (Woodruff, 1997; LaPierre, 1997; Oliver, 1999). Value has been claimed to be an elusive concept (Helfert, 1966) and the elusiveness of the value concept fascinatingly enough seems to be a characteristic that does not change despite of the keen research interest. In spite of the ambiguity surrounding the concept, its creation and delivery to customers is a concern for all businesses today, both in the private and public sectors. In an attempt to explaining the concept, some scholars define value as a trade-off between the benefits and sacrifices perceived by the customers in the offering of a supplier (Zeithaml et al., 1990; Monroe, 1991; Woodruff & Gardial, 1996). Many have defined value in different ways from different perspectives. From the resources based view of the firm, resources are considered valuable when they enable a firm to conceive of or implement strategies that improve its efficiency or effectiveness or when they exploit ʊopportunities andor neutralize threats in a firm’s environment (Barney, 11 . %ased on the economic ³advantage-value-return´ and ³value-price-cost´ frameworks, the resource-based view focuses primarily on how firms are able to generate University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 53 rents and profits (Bowman & Ambrosini, 2000; Peteraf & Barney, 2003). Resources are valuable when they enable firms to realize this. Further evidence on the use value and exchange value is provided in the next section from the perspective of Aristotle. 3.3 ARISTOTLE¶6 VIEW OF VALUE The controversy over the definition of value dates back to the time of Aristotle, who first distinguished between two meanings: µµuse-value’’ and µµexchange value’’ $ristotle th century B.C. in Vargo, Maglio & Akaka, 2008). This division came about through $ristotle’s efforts to address the differences between things e.g., automobile in modern) and their attributes, which included the qualities (e.g., red, fast, sporty), quantities (e.g., one car), and relations (e.g., lease, ownership) of such things (Fleetwood, 1997). Use-value was recognized as a collection of substances or things and the qualities associated with these collections. For example, an automobile is a collection of qualities, both specific (e.g., red and fast) and overarching (e.g., transportation and status). The qualities related to use-value mean different things to different people and thus, are inherently differentiated and heterogeneous. Alternatively, exchange-value was considered as the quantity of a substance that could be a commensurable value of all things. Whereas Aristotle was able to explain use-value, he had difficulty specifically identifying exchange- value. Exchange-values are more complex. When one writes 1 hamster = 20 pencils, it is not obvious what the commensurable dimension is. Such an equation is meaningless until one University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 54 knows by which property they can be rendered commensurable (Vargo et al., 2008). There is only one common substance that renders incommensurable commodities commensurable – although Aristotle did not know what it is. Whatever it turns out to be, one refers to this substance as value. The measure of this substance is exchange value (Fleetwood, 1997, pp. 732–733). In his attempt to understand exchange value, Aristotle deliberated over two things he believed could be considered commensurable in exchange, money and need, and eventually rejected both. He decided that money could not be a measure of value because for money to measure a substance, the substance itself must already be commensurable. In addition, Aristotle believed that µµneed’’ was what held the process of exchange together, but a person’s need lacked a unit of measurement. When he attempted to reconcile the two, using money as the measurement of need, Aristotle deduced that, although something holds parties of exchange together, it does not hold the same value as the substance exchanged. In the end, Aristotle was never able to clearly identify a commensurable measure for exchange-value (Fleetwood, 1997). Although Aristotle was the first to distinguish between use value and exchange-value (Fleetwood, 1997), the Medieval Schoolmen are recognized for emphasizing use-value in economic exchange and arguing that the basis of exchange was found in the needs of consumers (Dixon, 1990). Prior to the formal development of economics, those who recognized the role of satisfaction and fulfillment in value regularly acknowledged use- value. Galiani 171, p.  noted, µµit is certain that nothing has a price among men except pleasure, and that only satisfactions are purchased’’ see Dixon, 1, for history of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 55 use-value). The definition of use-value was widely accepted among early schoolmen and philosophers, and there was little debate about it at the time. However, the controversy over a commensurable metric of exchange value remained as it was embedded in the development of economic thought, largely by 6mith’s 177) early distinction of real value, labor, nominal value and money. In this (neo) classical economic view, value is assumed to be an objective characteristic of resources and it is seen as an input variable that needs to be considered rather than one that needs to be explained. An exposition on value is given in the next section from the economic perspective. 3.4 VALUE FROM THE ECONOMICS PERSPECTIVE From the economics point of view, the concept of value is used in the neoclassical and Marxist’s perspectives differently. In the neoclassical, use value is purely subjective. Utility is the satisfaction or pleasure derived by an economic agent (a person or a firm) from consuming a good. Utility is the measure of value. This stems from a subjective valuation of the worth of the good by an economic agent. Thus the value placed on any good can, and often does, vary from person to person. Two people can derive completely different utilities from a good that costs them the same price. (Lepak et al., 2007) Also, utility can influence the price of a commodity. Exchange value on the other hand from the neoclassical perspective is the price that a good or service commands in the marketplace, although the price can also be affected by supply and demand. The utility of the good (and the individual subjective valuation of that good) can directly influence the price, particularly when aesthetic judgments are involved. In University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 56 modern microeconomic analysis, price theory is the study of how prices are determined in individual markets. In neoclassical economics, there are two main factors affecting the price of a good: the demand side and the supply side. The demand side is essentially consumer behavior involving individuals maximizing utility. The number of individuals who place a subjective value on a particular good can cause demand, and, along with supply, this influences the price of the good (Lepak et al., 2007). The Marxist economics perspective sees Use-Value as the objective usefulness of a good and it depends on the way in which the buyer uses the good. Exchange Value is the power that something has in obtaining other goods in exchange, and it is completely independent of the use value. In what follows, one may accept the general neoclassical definitions of value, and reject the Marxist ones. Modern neoclassical economics has largely dispensed with ³value theory.´ As I. A. Kerr has pointed out, more recently, the attitude of neoclassical economists to the value/price distinction has been one of indifference, rather than hostility … value theory is virtually synonymous with price theory and many economists would be hard pressed to explain the difference between the two. In fact, the two terms are widely conflated by neoclassical economists (Kerr, 1999). In the post Keynesians perspective, the focus have not been concerned much with the general concept of ³use value´ in the subMective sense either, although Post Keynesian economics does have strong criticisms of the diminishing marginal utility theory (Keen, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 57 2001). Post Keynesianism departs from neoclassical theory in adopting a synthetic theory of prices that combines both the classical cost of producing ideas and neoclassical price theory (Kerr, 1999). Thus Post Keynesian price theory is an essentially empirical discipline, and seeks to find the causes of price in analysis of modern economies and production. If we are talking about ³use value,´ then the idea that the value placed on a commodity is fundamentally subjective seems reasonable. If value is subjective, then it does not always come from one specific or more objective and consistent sources (e.g. labor). The idea that a person can in some cases subjectively value labor when buying a commodity is coherent and convincing. This may be unquestionable. However, the idea that all value judgments made by consumers when purchasing commodities are simply derived from a subjective valuation of labor does not follow. One can also note that the very definition of value used above is not properly defined. Is it ³use value´ or ³exchange value´" note that ³use value´ is not the ³price´ of a commodity . If one assumes that it is ³use value,´ then ³use value´ is the subMective worth of a commodity to an agent. The worth is measured by utility. The ³utility´ is the satisfaction or pleasure and the degree to which we are satisfied by the commodity. The source of how and to what extent we are satisfied by a commodity could come from one, two or multiple causes. A subjective theory of value commits you to the view that there is no universal objective source of ³worth´ or the way in which we measure worth. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 58 3.5 A WIDER INTERPRETATION OF VALUE Shewhart (1939) had a wider interpretation of value including use, cost, esteem, and exchange. It is in accordance with this view, that Ulaga and Chacour (2001) see value as a trade-off between benefits and sacrifices from the perspective of the customer as offered by the supplier. Perceived benefits are often described as a combination of physical attributes, service attributes and technical support available in relation to the particular use situation. Perceived sacrifices are sometimes described in monetary terms, but other definitions describe sacrifices more generally (Monroe, 1991). The traditional view of value is connected to a product (Shewhart, 1939). However, due to the increased importance of the service sector (Shugan, 1994; Schneider & White, 2004) and the characteristics of a service as being produced and consumed at the same time, a more process-oriented perspective has been proposed (Flint et al., 2002). In service production, resources can act on or in tandem with other resources to provide benefits and create value. Some other scholars have shared views on the notion of value. These definitions include: ³9alue is the way in which an individual actor’s actions take on meaning, for the actor herself, by being incorporated into a larger social whole´ Graeber, 2 p.7 ³9alue…is the way people represent the importance of their own actions to themselves. By representing this importance they have a guide to their action. Value however does not spring out of individuals isolated from the rest of society. Any action, or process, only becomes meaningful…by being integrated into some larger system of action´ De $ngelis, 2 p. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 59 ³9alue is the capacity of a good, service, or activity to satisfy a need or provide a benefit to a person or legal entity´ Haksever, Chaganti & Cook, 2004 p.292) Kraaijenbrink (2011) posits that definitions of value mostly imply a meaning of a larger ³system´ which can be de uced from the above definitions. He asserts that these systems can be a customer who values a product or service, a firm that values a resources or a society that values productive labor. In that effect, Graeber, 2005 explains that valuation is a matter of relating parts (e.g., things, people, or activities) to a larger whole in which they have meaning. Kraaijenbrink (2011) upon scrutinizing a lot of value definition comes up with a definition that see value as the capacity of a good, activity, or relationship to satisfy a need or provide a benefit to a person or a legal entity. In this thesis, the definition of Kraaijenbrink (2011) is adopted as it positions value to be an end enjoyed by an entity based on the entity’s association with a particular course that has capacity. It is important now to understand what value creation is, and this is what the next section deals with. 3.6 VALUE CREATION What do we mean by value creation? For the customer, it entails providing products/services that customers find consistently useful. In today’s economy, such value creation is based typically on innovation and on understanding unique customer needs with ever increasing speed and precision (Lin & Lin, 2006). Firms therefore create value through their superior ability to organize and coordinate activities. They are able to produce products and services that are valued by society and hard to produce otherwise. Economists and sociologists have acknowledged and theorized this role of firms for more than two centuries (Weber, 1947; Parsons, 1956; Say, 1971/1803; Smith, 1991/1776) and also in University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 60 todayµs strategy and organization theory, discussions on value creation abound e.g., 3riem & Butler, 2001; Holcomb, Holmes Jr. & Connelly, 2009; Pies, Beckmann & Hielscher, 2010). 3.6.1 How is Value Created? According to Lepak, Smith and Taylor (2007), there are at least two possible ways to conceptualize the process of value creation: (1) a single universal conceptualization; and (2) a contingency perspective that explicates how value is created from the vantage point or perspective of a particular source. The endorsement of the contingency perspective means a proposal to answer the question of how value is created which requires one to define the source and targets of value creation and the level of analysis. 2’Cass and 1go (2010) posit that when the individual is the unit of analysis, the focal process is the creative acts displayed by individuals and a select set of individual attributes, such as ability, motivation, and intelligence, and their interactions with the environment. On the other hand when the organization is the source of value creation, issues regarding innovation, knowledge creation, invention, and management gain prominence (Sok & 2’Cass, 211 . $t this point the study tries to explain sources of value creation by dwelling on the organization as the source as the study seeks to assess how religious organizations create value for its patrons. Porter (1985) contends that new value is created when firms develop/invent new ways of doing things using new methods, new technologies, and/or new forms of raw material. Thus, when the organization is the unit of analysis, innovation and invention of activities impact the value creation process. Damanpour (1996) suggests that innovative University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 61 organizations introduce new products or services or new management practices related to the products or services. The new products, services, or practices arise from the innovation process which Van de Ven, Polley, Garud, and Venkataraman (1999) argue consists of: an intentional effort to develop a novel idea, involving significant market, technical, and organizational ambiguity; regarding a commitment of collective effort over an extended period of time; and requiring more resources than are currently held by the parties involved. Further, the literature suggests that firms are more likely to innovate when they face uncertain environments (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997); enjoy slack resources (Van de Ven, Venkataraman, Polley & Garud, 1989); are managed by entrepreneurial managers (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997); have large social networks (Smith, Collins & Clark, 2005); and have the organizational capacity to combine and exchange knowledge into new knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998; Smith et al., 2005). Here, the focus is on how the target user benefits from the new product or service. From this perspective, Priem (2007) suggests that value creation involves innovation that establishes or increases the consumer’s valuation on the benefits of consumption increases use value . 6imilarly, other scholars 2’Cass & Ngo, 2010; Lepak, Smith & Taylor, 2007) argue that at the organization level, the value creation process includes any activity that provides a greater level of novel and appropriate benefits than target users or customers currently possess, and that they are willing to pay for. In the field of strategic management²dynamic capabilities²also has examined how organizations create value by focusing on how firms can create new advantages as existing University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 62 ones are worn away by environmental changes (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997). At the organizational-level literature, attention is paid to the process through which new organizational knowledge is generated and, hence, value created. Presumably, such new knowledge can lead to greater value for target users. In particular, Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) suggest that the social connections of individuals within the firm and outside of it will provide greater information and knowledge that can be used by organizational members to combine and exchange this information in a way that produces new organizational knowledge. Smith et al. (2005) found that social networks of organizational members were positively related to the knowledge creation capability and that this capability itself was an organizational level concept that was positively related to firm innovation and value creation. Thus, it may be that social networks that are externally directed to detect the needs of customers and product/service users have greater potential for novel and appropriate product/service innovations to create (Sok & 2’Cass, 2011). To this point, the discussion has implied that the target or user of value is almost exclusively an external customer of the organization. Yet it would be in appropriate if the impression is created that the customer is the exclusive target or user of value creation. Rather, many potential targets for value creation exist at the organizational level. In their book on stakeholder analysis, Post et al. (2002) suggest that the purpose of the organization is to create value in many different ways for many different targets, including earnings for owners, pay for employees, benefits for customers, and taxes for society. However, as it has been explained earlier, the mainstay of this study is to understand how value is created University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 63 for the customer that therefore limits our discussion to value in use (i.e. value created for the customer). 3.7 CUSTOMER VALUE CREATION Understanding what buyers value within a given offering, creating value for them, and then managing it over time have long been recognized as essential elements of every market- oriented firm’s core business strategy Drucker, 1985; Porter, 1985, Slater and Narver, 1998). The success of a firm hinges on its ability to offer new and superior customer value in existing markets and/or to create new markets through quantum leaps in customer value (Kang, Morris & Snell, 2007). Determining what the customer wants in a product or service also helps a firm formulate a clear statement of its ³value proposition,´ i.e., the communication of the unique benefits and utility obtainable only from the focal product or service in contrast to those from its competitors. The term customer value has many meanings (Woodall, 2003), but two dominate²value for the customer (customer perceived value or customer received value) and value for the firm (value of the customer, now more commonly referred to as customer lifetime value). Gupta and Lehman (2005) have also observed and agreed that there are two sides to value creation, namely, value created for the customer and value created for the firm. The focus of this study is the former (value created for the customer). Woodruff (1997, p. 141), defines customer value as ³a customer’s perceived preference for, and evaluation of, those product attributes, attribute performances, and consequences University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 64 arising from use that facilitates or blocks achieving the customer’s goals and purposes in use situations´ which can be evaluated pre- or post-product use. This broad conceptualization incorporating multiple contexts (pre- and post-use), multiple cognitive tasks (preference for and evaluation of), and multiple assessment criteria (attributes, performances, and consequences) poses significant measurement issues and may not be operationalizable (Parasuraman, 1997). Slater and Narver (2000) assert that customer value is created when the benefits to the customer associated with a product or a service exceed the offering’s life-cycle costs to the customer. Consumers are therefore ³the arbiters of value´ 3riem, 27 pp. 21 . Holbrook defines customer value as an ³interactive, relativistic preference and experience´ 2, p. 46), which is also a bit difficult to understand and apply, but is seemingly intended to capture some of the key characteristics of customer value. These include: (i) it is perceived uniquely by individual customers; it is conditional or contextual (depending on the individual, situation, or product); (ii) it is relative (in comparison to known or imagined alternatives); and (iii) it is dynamic (changing within individuals over time) (Ulaga 2003). Simpler definitions (e.g., Gale 1994; Zeithaml 1988) see customer value as being what customers get (benefits, quality, worth, utility) from the purchase and/or use of a product versus what they pay (price, costs, sacrifices), resulting in an attitude toward, or an emotional bond with the product (Butz & Goodstein, 1996). Customer value is therefore the beneficial outcome derived from the interaction of a customer and a supplier. The value creation process signifies the dialogue and activities University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 65 taking place between customer and service provider. In a strict economic sense, value has been defined in relation to pricing as the difference between the customer’s perceptions of benefits received and sacrifices incurred (Leszinski & Marn, 17 . Customers’ benefits include tangible and intangible attributes of the product/service offering (Monroe, 1990; Gale, 1994). The sacrifice component includes monetary and non-monetary factors such as time and effort needed to acquire and use the product/service (e.g. Butz & Goodstein, 1996; Khalifa, 2004). Considering the various definitions given above, it appears there is no single definition for the concept. Parasuraman puts it clearly by suggesting that it is still not clear whether customer value is a summative (benefits less sacrifices) or ratio (benefits divided by sacrifices) based evaluation or whether it is made with compensatory or non-compensatory decision rules (Parasuraman 1997). These however, are empirical issues best left to investigation in customer value research. Given the complexity of the customer value construct, it may not be possible to accurately measure how a particular customer assesses the value of a product (the value proposition) at a particular point in time, although some progress has been made in this area (e.g., Sinha & DeSarbo 1998). It is possible, however, to understand the categories or dimensions on which such assessments are made and to create a customer value framework that captures the domain of the construct. 3.8 CUSTOMER VALUE FRAMEWORKS Judging from the above, the lack of commonly accepted definition of customer value has led to no definitive conceptualization, framework, or typology of customer value. Some University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 66 attempts have been made; and while each has its merits, none are particularly well suited as aids for developing measures of customer value (Smith & Colgate, 2007). Park, Jawarski and MacInnis (1986) in an earlier conceptualization describe three basic consumer needs that reflect value dimensions²functional needs, symbolic needs, and experiential needs. Functional needs are those that motivate the search for products that solve consumption-related problems. Symbolic needs are desires for products that fulfill internally generated needs for self-enhancement, role position, group membership, or ego- identification. Experiential needs are desires for products that provide sensory pleasure, variety, or cognitive stimulation. Consumer needs, wants, and preferences underlie value perceptions. Consequently, three basic types of value are implicitly suggested by Park, Jawarski and MacInnis (1986) ²functional value, symbolic value, and experiential value. This typology, however, does not capture the cost/sacrifice aspect of customer value suggested by the simple definition, nor does it suggest sub-dimensions of the higher-order constructs. Heard (1993–94) offers a different perspective and conceptualizes customer value in terms of three factors; product characteristics, delivered orders, and transaction experiences²that are linked to basic value-chain activities or processes (design, production, marketing) which reflect where value is created within organizations. Customers along four value dimensions²being correct, timely, appropriate, and economical, evaluate these factors, or sources of value. The specification of three value sources (product characteristics, delivered orders, and transaction experiences) is parsimonious, but other processes within University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 67 organizations create other sources of value. For example, product and corporate information and, in particular, the ability to understand the features, functions, benefits, and use of a product enhance the perceived value of a product during its purchase and consumption. The physical environment in which a product is purchased or consumed is also an important source of value, particularly in the retail and service industries. Finally, transaction experiences are created through customer interactions with salespeople, other staff, and transaction systems or processes. The source of this value is the customer– employee–organization interaction. Later conceptualization focused on customer value in specific contexts. Ulaga (2003), for example, identifies eight categories of value in business relationships²product quality, delivery, time to market, direct product costs (price), process costs, personal interaction, supplier know-how, and service support. For each category, Ulaga identifies three or four specific benefits that are reflective of the category. This framework is quite comprehensive in delineating relationship value, but there are other types of customer perceived or received value in a business-to-business context. As part of the later conceptualization schools, Woodall (2003) identifies five primary typologies of value for the customer (VC)²net VC (balance of benefits and sacrifices); derived VC (use/experience outcomes); marketing VC (perceived product attributes); sale VC (value as a reduction in sacrifice or cost); and rational VC (assessment of fairness in the benefit–sacrifice relative comparison . :ith the benefit of hindsight, :oodall’s typology is considered the most comprehensive by Smith and Colgate, (2007). There is, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 68 however, considerable overlap in the categories in the sense that the same benefits appear under multiple headings. In addition, the benefits and sacrifices identified do not fully capture the domain of the higher-order value dimension and Woodall does not identify the sub-dimensions of customer value of which the specific benefits and sacrifices might be illustrative examples. These limitations make the framework difficult to use either for developing marketing strategy recommendations, or as a basis for developing measures of key dimensions of customer value. Similar limitations apply to Holbrook’s 1 2) customer value typology (axiology) that considers the source of motivation behind a value assessment (intrinsic or extrinsic); the orientation of the value assessment (self or other oriented); and the nature of the value assessment (active or reactive). Holbrook identifies eight types of value²efficiency, excellence, status, esteem, play, aesthetics, ethics, and spirituality. Smith and Colgate (2007) opine that the type of value created is usually experiential, but interactions could provide functional/instrumental value (such as taking a correct order in a restaurant), symbolic/ expressive value (such as being upgraded to first class on an airline flight), or even value concerned with the cost/ sacrifice aspect of value (such as being served quickly or in a stress-reducing manner). They further suggests that understanding what customers value in different contexts, and what customer value creation strategies are more (less) appropriate in particular contexts, is central to marketing strategy and marketing thought. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 69 Smith and Colgate (2007) offer a more strategic oriented framework by drawing on previous conceptual foundations and propose a framework that builds on the strengths of previous ones and mitigates their key weaknesses. They identified four major types of value that can be created by organizations²functional/instrumental value, experiential/hedonic value, symbolic/expressive value, and cost/sacrifice value with five major sources of value²information, products, interactions, environment, and ownership²that are associated with central value-chain processes. The current stay adapts Sheth, Newman and Gross (1991) customer framework which describes five types of value that drive consumer choice. They considered functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional values as the typologies. Functional value represents the perceived utility of an alternative resulting from its inherent attribute or characteristic-based ability to perform its functional, utilitarian, or physical purposes. Social value represents the perceived utility of an alternative resulting from its image and symbolism in association or disassociation with demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural- ethnic referent groups. Emotional value represents the perceived utility acquired by an alternative as a result of its ability to arouse or perpetuate feelings or affective states, such as comfort, security, excitement, romance, passion, fear, or guilt. Epistemic value is the perceived utility resulting from an alternative’s ability to arouse curiosity, provide novelty, or satisfy desire for knowledge. Finally, conditional value is the perceived utility acquired by an alternative as a result of the specific situation or the physical or social context faced by the decision maker. The choice of this customer value framework for this study is considered appropriate as relates to the higher-order constructs suggested by Park, Jawarski University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 70 and MacInnis (1986). The Sheth’s framework as a higher-order construct has the ability to capture all the necessary value elements that others have discussed in the extent literature and also tap into all the needs and wants that customer expect to be satisfied. Through a synthesis of the literature, the current study adapts the following typology of customer value; Functional Value: Functional value concerns the utilitarian functions and services that a product can offer. The value is often manifested through a product's composite attributes such as qualities or features that can deliver impressions of utilitarian performance (Tzeng, 2011). According to Sheth et al. (1991), functional value pertains to the ability of product to perform its functional, utilitarian, or physical purpose and while it may be based on any salient physical attribute, sometimes price is the most salient functional value. Social Value: 6ocial value 69 has been defined as the ³perceived utility acTuired from an alternative’s association with one or more specific social groups´ 6heth et al., 11). Choices involving highly visible products (e.g. clothing, jewelry) and goods or services shared with others (e.g. gifts, products used in entertaining) are often driven by social value (Sheth et al., 1991). Hence, social value relates to social approval and the enhancement of self-image among other individuals (Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). The motive of buying and using products depends on how a consumer wants to be seen by others and/or how he wants to see himself (Sheth et al., 1991a; Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). The purchase and use of products is a means by which an individual can express self-image socially to others. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 71 Emotional Value: Emotional value (EMV) is a social-psychological dimension that is dependent on a product’s ability to arouse feelings or affective states (Sheth et al., 1991). A product acquires emotional value when associated with specific feelings or when precipitating or perpetuating those feelings. Play or fun gained by using a product/service for its own sake is related also to emotional value (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). It has been argued that emotional components, such as enjoyment and playfulness, could promote the use of information systems, respectively (Tseng, 2011; Verkasalo, López-Nicolás, Molina-Castillo, & Bouwman, 2010). Epistemic Value: Epistemic value (EPV) is created when a product/service arouses curiosity, provides novelty and/or satisfies a desire for knowledge (Sheth et al., 1991). In some contexts, it could refer to novelty value and the value from learning new ways of doing things. It entails curiosity for new content and knowledge gained through testing new services (Pihlstrom & Brush, 2008). Conditional Value: Sheth et al. (1991) described conditional value (CV) as the perceived utility acquired by an alternative as the result of the specific situation or set of circumstances facing the choice maker. Furthermore, Holbrook (1994) presumes that conditional value depends on the context in which the value judgment occurs and exits only within a specific context. Thus, conditional value applies to products or services whose value is strongly tied to use in a specific context. It might be derived from temporary functional or social value (Sheth et al., 1991), hence it arises when the circumstances create a need. Thus, conditional value could be described as a specific case of other types of value (Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 72 3.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter has discussed the important literature related to value and its origins as well as the different perspectives from which other scholars have viewed the subject. The value creation process for the firm has also been discussed with the various frameworks that explain the dimensionalities of value. In the next chapter, the focus will be on service experience and how firms, especially service firms, can create a customer service experience in order to create the needed value for both the customer and the firm. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 73 CHAPTER FOUR LITERATURE REVIEW - CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE The thesis is concerned with capturing the experiences of church members. Therefore, this chapter reviews literature on service experience and customer service experience. The chapter gives different perspectives as shared by different scholars in terms of the forms of customer service experience. Discussions are also done on what customer service experience is and how the firm can go beyond satisfaction to creating customer experiences on all fronts. 4.1 INTRODUCTION The creation of a superior customer experience appears to be one of the central objectives of businesses today as it is believed to be the main driver for performance (Verhoef, Lemon, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros and Schlesinger, 2009). It is believed that in both goods and services, the value derived by the customer or user is formed through the experiences of the encounter with the brand. Although few companies have zeroed in on customer experience, many scholars and practitioners alike have been keen on measuring customer satisfaction and have plenty of data as a result (Verhoef et al., 2009). Firms have had a fixation on customer satisfaction and the problem with this stance is that measuring it does not tell us how to achieve it. Customer satisfaction is essentially the culmination of a series of customer experiences, thus the net result of the good ones minus the bad ones. It only occurs when the gap between customers’ expectations and their subseTuent experiences have been closed. Therefore, to understand how to achieve satisfaction, firms must deconstruct it into its component experiences to help better manage their customers. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 74 The customer experience has therefore become critical to business success and must be monitored and probed. Such attention to customers’ experience will lead to better delivery of offering that creates customer value. Customer experience encompasses every aspect of a company’s offering²the quality of customer care, of course, but also advertising, packaging, product and service features, ease of use, and reliability. Yet few of the people responsible for those things have given sustained thought to how their separate decisions shape customer experience (Meyer and Schwager, 2007). This part of the literature review seeks to interrogate the issue of experience from different perspectives to help build a framework to guide this study. 4.2 EXPERIENCE AS A GENERAL CONCEPT (nglish dictionaries 2xford Dictionary of (nglish, 2 :ebster’s Dictionary, 21 use various words to characterize the term ³experience´ – including an ³event´, a ³process´, a ³phenomenon´, or a ³change´. The subMect of such an experience can be an individual, a community, a nation, or even humankind as a whole. Moreover, the experience can be ³real´ and physical, or ³virtual´ and observed, or perhaps a holistic phenom n that combines both ³real´ and ³virtual´ elements. It can also be a single event or a process of events. The wide variation that is apparent in these dictionary characterizations indicates that the notion of ³experience´, at least in the (nglish language, may vary in accordance with different contexts and circumstances (Helkkula, 2011). A diversity of dictionary definitions of experience present a barrier to clear understanding and adoption by marketers, because of marketers’ confusion of experience as a verb with experience as a University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 75 noun. Collins (nglish Dictionary describes experience as ³the accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from direct participation in events or activities´ and ³. . . the content of direct observation or participation in an event´ Collins, 27 . These are essentially cognitive definitions of experience as an outcome. A more affective and process based definitions is provided by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 2 , which defines experience as ³the feeling of emotions and sensations as opposed to thinking´ and ³. . . involvement in what is happening rather than abstract reflection on an event´. In academia, experience has been looked at from different angles. Discussion of experience in a marketing context for instance has a long history. Abbott (1955), cited in Holbrook (2006, p. 40) noted that: [. . .] What people really desire are not products, but satisfying experiences. Experiences are attained through activities. In order that activities may be carried out, physical objects for the services of human beings are usually needed. Here lies the connecting link between men’s inner world and the outer world of economic (and perhaps social) activity. People want products because they want the experience that they hope the products will render. Dewey (1963) added an additional dimension of uniqueness by stating that experience involves progression over time, anticipation, emotional involvement, and a ³uniTueness that makes an activity stand out from the ordinary´ emphasis added . This was later followed by Pine and Gilmore (1998, p, 12), who described successful experiences as being those that ³a customer finds uniTue, memorable and sustainable over time´. The range of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 76 definitions presented here began with experience being essentially about the accumulation of knowledge and wisdom, such that an individual could be expected to respond to stimuli with a learned response. However, the later definitions emphasize experience as a unique event, and therefore, by implication, learning from previous experience is of little value in attempts to understand consumers’ response cognitive, affective or behavioral). The literature indicates a drift in time away from $bbot’s essentially utilitarian view of experience, towards definitions based more on the hedonistic properties of a product. Thus, 6chmitt 1, p. 2 stated that experiences ³. . . provide sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioural and relational values that replace functional values´. $ more all-embracing definition of experience is provided by Gupta and 9aMic 2, p.  who state that ³. . . an experience occurs when a customer has any sensation or knowledge acquisition resulting from some level of interaction with different elements of a context created by the service provider .´ Other authors have sought to broaden the concept of experience, sometimes with seemingly circular definitions; for example, ³total experience emphasizes the importance of all contacts that a consumer has with an organisation and the consumer’s holistic experience´ Harris et al., 2 . However, such broad definitions take us back to $bbott’s understanding of experience as being the transformation of products into value as perceived by the consumer. The next section deals with what constitutes customer experience. 4.3 WHAT IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE? The term ³customer experience´ has received increasing attention from consultants and some puzzlement by academics, uncertain whether the concepts of ³customer experience´, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 77 ³customer experience management´ and ³total customer experience´ are merely consultants’ hype, representing nothing new, or an important conceptual framework for understanding marketing more generally (Palmer, 2010). Increasing use of the vocabulary of ³customer experience´ by firms would appear to be a substitute for the language of ³customer relationships´. )urthermore, many academics and practitioners have argued that customer relationship management has not created the expected levels of value for customers and profitability for organisations. Customer experience management may be an integrating framework that overcomes the theoretical and practical limitations of customer relationship management. Pine and Gilmore, (1998) assert that academics have not significantly added rigorous academic value to the comments of practitioners and consultants who have talked about an ³experience economy.´ Definitions are often circular in nature, and little guidance has emerged that is likely to be useful to practitioners (Pullman & Gross, 2 . The term ³customer experience´ has been so widely used, and abused, that a potentially important construct is in danger of being dismissed because of the ambiguous manner in which it has been applied. Pine and Gilmore (1998, p. 12) opine, ³experiences are events that engage individuals in a personal way´. 6chmitt 1, p. 2 argues that experiences ³provide sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and relational values that replace functional values´, which have been at the heart of traditional features-and-benefits marketing. He claims that traditional marketing has been replaced by experiential marketing, which focuses on consumer experiences, treats consumption as a holistic experience and recognizes both the rational and emotional drivers of consumption. Furthermore, there has been an upsurge in research University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 78 that explores how contemporary consumers define their own experiences; specifically on how ³consumers in postmodernity seek to construct experiences that carry symbolic meaning´ Manolis et al., 2001, p. 232). This strand of research continues to demonstrate how consumers seek service experiences for reasons that bear little relationship with the service/product being sold (Arnould & Price, 1993; Aubert-Gamet & Cova, 1999; Penaloza, 1999). In parallel, business strategists and consultants are embracing the concept of the ³total customer experience´ as a strategic initiative. Here, there is an emphasis on the importance of every single contact the customer has with the organisation, and on the customer’s holistic experience. There is obvious growth of interest in experience in business and the model by Christopher et al. (1991) appears to offer insight into this phenomenon. The focus for competitive differentiation between companies has evolved over time. Christopher et al. (1991) argued for a model by which the dominant basis for marketing-based competitive advantage has evolved, noting that during the 1950s and 1960s, firms in manufacturing-dominated economies used tangible product qualities to gain competitive advantage. As development of tangible bases for differentiation reached a plateau from the 1970s, the focus for differentiation moved to services. In turn, services, which began as a differentiator eventually became generic and from the 1980s, the quality of ongoing relationships became a new differentiator (Christopher, Payne, & Ballantyne, 1991). The authors illustrate this evolution with reference to the car industry where services such as finance, warranties and insurance were used to differentiate otherwise increasingly generic tangible offerings from the 1970s. In turn, services became generic, leading to the development of relationship University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 79 marketing strategies. But what happens if relationships themselves become generic, and all companies operating in a product area and targeting similar groups of customers have similar patterns of relationship development activities" %y extension of Christopher et al.’s model, experience may be a differentiator in markets where relationships have ceased to be a point of competitive differential advantage. A further argument for paradigm displacement is that like many new ideas within the domain of marketing, relationship based marketing emerged as a ³new´ paradigm, only to attract increased critical attention as its assumptions were challenged. There should be little surprise at this process of emergence and criticism, reflecting Gladwell’s 2 model of how new ideas emerge and are subsequently challenged by a new emerging orthodoxy. If a sequential model of paradigm displacement is accepted, an explanation for progression from relationship focus to experience focus may be based on intellectual and practical shortcomings of what has become known as ³relationship marketing´. Relationship marketing remains challenged by evidence that customers who are satisfied with their relationship may nevertheless not return to a service provider (Brady & Cronin, 2001; Gerpott et al., 2001). At an operational level, buyer-seller relationships in business-to- consumer markets have generally failed in their attempts to emulate the interpersonal relationships characterized by 3epper and Rogers’ 1 ³Mom and 3op´ store, with a suggestion that quantitative, rules-based approaches to developing a relationship between one company and millions of customers belongs to a different paradigm 2’Malley & Prothero, 2004), Academic study of relationship marketing has been criticized because of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 80 the lack of attention given to consumers’ emotional state and the effect of emotions on the strength and longevity of a relationship. A growing body of literature now points to the role of positive and negative emotions consumers associate with a service encounter, or sequence of encounters, in determining future behavioral intention (Allen et al., 1992; Oliver, 1993; Richins, 1997; Barsky & Nash, 2002). 4.4 CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE The concept of ³customer service experience´ has been described as the core of the service offering and service design (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2010); as such, it is a key concept in the emerging paradigm of service-dominant logic (S-D logic), which regards the service experience as the basis of all business (Lusch & Vargo, 2006; Schembri, 2006; Vargo & Lusch, 2008). The literature on marketing management and service management historically has not considered customer service experience as a separate construct. Instead, researchers have focused on measuring customer satisfaction and service quality (e.g., Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry 1988; Verhoef, Langerak & Donkers 2007). However, it is not that customer experience has never been considered. Most notably, Holbrook and Hirschmann (1982) theorized that consumption has experiential aspects (see also Babin et al., 1994). Schmitt (1999) has explored how companies create experiential marketing by having customers’ sense, feel, think, act and relate to a company and its brands. Berry, Carbone and Haeckel (2002) on the other hand suggest that, in order for organizations to compete by providing customers with satisfactory experience, they must orchestrate all the ³clues´ that people detect in the buying process. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 81 Customer experience has been taught to originate from a set of interactions between a customer and a product, a company, or part of its organization, which provoke a reaction (Hume et al., 2006; Verhoef et al., 2009 . This experience is ³strictly personal and implies the customer’s involvement at different levels rational, emotional, sensorial, physical, and spiritual ´ Gentile, 6piller and 1oci, 2007, p. 397). Other thoughts on the subject have been that customer experience is the internal and subjective response customers have to any direct or indirect contact with a company (Verhoef et al., 2009). The direct contact is said to be generally occurring in the course of purchase, use, and service and it is usually initiated by the customer while the indirect often involves unplanned encounters with representatives of a company’s products, service or brands and takes the form of word-of- mouth recommendations or criticisms, advertising, news reports, reviews and so forth (Meyer & Schwager, 2007). In services, the concept has been described as the core of the service offering and service design (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2010); as such, it is a key concept in the emerging paradigm of service-dominant logic, which regards the service experience as the basis of all business (Lusch & Vargo, 2006; Schembri, 2006; Vargo & Lusch, 2008). Holbrook and Hirschman’s 182, p. 12 pioneering article on the service experience characterized the concept in experiential and phenomenological terms, which was in accordance with the authors’ view of consumption as: ³. . . primarily >a@ subMective state of consciousness with a variety of symbolic meanings, hedonic responses, and aesthetic criteria´. Twenty years later, Caru and Cova (2003) observed that the concept of service experience has subsequently been characterized, often somewhat loosely, in a wide variety of ways – University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 82 although most authors continued to restrict the use of the term to specific kinds of service experience, such as hedonic consumption. Previous research into the service experience has been inconclusive (Verhoef et al., 2009). The focus has mainly been on the functional qualities of products or services, but the emotional parts have largely been neglected (Wong, 2004). Furthermore, Cho and Lee (2005) stress that one of the most important issues in modern industry is to satisfy consumers’ emotional demands. 4uality has often been classified as a functional measurement of a product or a service (Zeithaml, 1988). However, purely focusing on functional strategies in customer experience management has some general disadvantages. For example, functional values can often be easily imitated. It is therefore important to view service experience as consisting of two parts: a functional as well as an emotional outcome. This implies that, in order to fully leverage experience as part of a value proposition, organizations must pay attention to both the functional and the emotional qualities of the service (Sherry, 1998; Cronin, 2003; Edvardsson et al., 2005). In a more specific case of churches, the service offering is even more of an emotional experience with functional embellishments. According to Roos et al. (2008), emotions have been studied for a long time, and issues related to customers’ perceptions and evaluations of service providers’ overall service, or of particular dimensions of it, have been addressed (e.g. Liljander and Strandvik, 1997; Stauss & Neuhaus, 1997; Bolton, 1998; Yu & Dean, 2001); other interactions between customers and personnel (Smith & Bolton, 2002; Bagozzi, 2006; Dallimore et al., 2007) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 83 have also been considered. These perceptions and evaluations predominantly concern (dis)satisfaction in customer episodes, which is commonly discussed in terms of the ³affective summary response´ towards the product or service consumed Giese & Cote, 2000; White & Yu, 2005), meaning that the factor could be cognitive or effective. Emotions are therefore important in the service context, as they are likely to influence the satisfaction of service experiences and responses to service recovery efforts (Smith & Bolton, 2002). Emotions are complex and arise from many sources (Palmer, 2010). Oliver (1993) argues that when considering emotional responses in consumption experiences, it is sensible to focus on the emotions that arise as a consequence of specific events. This perspective argues that specific emotions and their intensity are tied to an appraisal of the event eliciting those emotional responses (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985). Considering the fact that service experience in the case of churches may have many emotional sources, it is also fair to posit that the service experience created and savor by the patrons of the churches may come in varying forms. In an attempt to unravel the puzzling nature of customer service experience, Verhoef et al. (2009) offer a view by submitting that customer experience construct is holistic in nature and involves the customer’s cognitive, affective, emotional, social and physical responses to the provider’s offerings. Verhoef et al.’s (2009) submission seems even more profound as consumers are seeking an integrated bundling of products and services in a way that generates responses across a range of their intellectual, emotional and aesthetic senses. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 84 A definition of service suggests it to be ³a bundle of explicit and implicit attributes ´ perceived differently by customer segments (Driver & Johnston, 2001, p. 132). These attributes are perceived as either ³search qualities ,´ (i.e. verifiable attributes), ³experiential qualities ´that cannot be evaluated until experienced, or ³credence qualities ,´ those that the consumer finds difficult to evaluate due to limited expertise and understanding (Lovelock, Patterson, & Walker, 2001). Holding the above definition and characterization true, service experience creation must be such that it must touch on every aspect of the customer senses. Services provided by the church are seen to be high in experiential qualities and in some sense high in credence Tualities. Churches are therefore expected to provide a ³service experience´ that involves the total being of its patrons. Just like any service encounter, the service provided by the church is dyadic – it occurs between two parties (Shostack, 1987; Czepiel, 1990) and is bounded, it has a beginning and an end or outcome, and some form of exchange takes place (Dwyer et al., 1987). Most researchers would agree that the term ³service experience ´ relates to a number of contributory events and a number of transactions or interactions between a customer and a provider in the exchange of the service (Czepiel, 1990; Hume et al., 2006). The service experience as a stand-alone term lacks clarity. A service experience is not defined solely by any individual incident (Hume & McColl-Kennedy, 1999; Hume et al., 2006). It is the interpretation of the incidents and encounter points that defines the experience. According to Hume et al. (2006), the provider creates an offering through the design of a series of encounters and interactions. The consumer interprets these encounters to construct an overall experience. The service description is the verbalization of the service offering from University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 85 the provider by their design intent and from the consumer by experience. When describing and designing the overall service offering the church must consider the customers’ responses to the encounter in order to align the service offering with the service experience. In this thesis, ³customer service experience´ is defined as a totally positive, engaging, enduring, and socially fulfilling physical and emotional customer experience across all maMor levels of one’s consumption chain and one that is brought about by a distinct market offering that calls for active interaction between consumers and providers. This study synthesizes the various typologies discussed (Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Gentile et al., 2007; Brakus, 2001; Fornerinoet al., 2006; Schmitt, 1999, 2003) and present four types of experiences that better explain customer service experiences and they are explained below: Cognitive experience concerns with the act or process of knowing, perceiving. It also relate to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes. Cognitive experience is the perception in connection with the thinking or conscious mental processes derived from the offering of a product or service. Cognitive is a component of the customer service experience connected with thinking or conscious mental processes; an offering may engage customers in using their creativity or in situations of problem solving; furthermore a company can lead consumer to revise the usual idea of a product or some common mental assumptions Schmitt (1999) defined social experience as ³the relationship with others and society´. Schmitt (2003) argued that every social experience could create impacts toward individual in the socializing procedure through family, schooling, peer groups, and mass media. Each of these social impacts has the power to influence our thoughts, feelings and activities. For University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 86 example, the association with the peer group allows individuals to obtain useful experience in creating social connections on their own and creating a sense of themselves (Macionis and Plummer, 1997). Beside peer group, the mass media --- television, radio, and newspapers do create great impacts on individuals via the socialization process (Olsen, 1993). Therefore, Griffiths (2003) argued that social experience can form individual skill to recognize appropriate multiplying and shoaling partners as well as affect the individual conduct in a behaviour way. Social is a component of the customer service experience that involves the person and, beyond, his/her social context, his/her relationship with other people or also with his/her ideal self. An offering can leverage on such component by means of a product/service which encourages the use/consumption together with other people or which is the core of a common passion that may eventually lead to the creation of a community or still a tribe of fans; finally the product/service can be also a means of affirmation of a social identity, inducing a sense of belonging or of distinction from a social group; in this case the link with the lifestyle component is very relevant. Affective is a component of the customer service experience which involves one’s emotional system through the generation of moods, feelings, emotions; an offering can generate emotional experience in order to create an affective relation with the company, its brand or products Physical is a component of the customer service experience coming from the practical act of doing something; in this sense the physical component includes, but is not exhausted by, the concept of usability. In fact it does not only refer to the use of the product/service in the postpurchase stage, but it extends to all the product/service life-cycle stages. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 87 4.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter has reviewed literature on service experience, what it entails, the different perspective from which scholars have dealt with the construct and the forms it may take. Discussions were also had on what customer service experience is and how the firm can go beyond satisfaction to creating customer experiences at all fronts. The next chapter deals with the theoretical underpinnings of this study and how the theories adapted helps explains the issue of customer value creation through service experience. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 88 CHAPTER FIVE THEORETICAL MODELING In order to understand the customer service experience and value creation in the church, two behavioural theories have been selected to gain further insight into the issues. This chapter will first discuss the expectancy value theory and then the means-end theory which both explain how people generally orient themselves to receive some desirable outcomes. The chapter shows that the combination of the expectancy value theory and the means end theory has explained the consequence of service experience which Sheth et al. call consumption value. 5.1 INTRODUCTION Ajzen (1991) emphasizes that explaining human behavior in all its complexity is a difficult task. It can be approached at many levels, from concern with physiological process at one extreme to concentration on social institutions at the other. Ajzen (1991) states that social and personality psychologists have tended to focus on an intermediate level, the fully functioning individual whose processing of available information mediates the effect of biological and environmental factors on behavior. Various theoretical frameworks have been proposed to deal with the psychological processes of value assessment by an individual based on the biological and environmental factors at play. An example is the theory of subjective value from the economics perspective. The subjective theory of value, also known as the theory of subjective value, is an economic theory of value which identifies worth as being based on the wants and needs of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 89 the members of a society, as opposed to value being inherent to an object. It holds that to possess value an object must be useful, with the extent of that value dependent upon the ability of an object to satisfy the wants of any given individual. "Value", in this context, is separate from exchange value or price, except insofar as the latter is intended to help identify the former; the value of any good or service simply being whatever someone would trade for it in the present. This creates problems, as consumers tend to bid up prices if they are funding demand with credit. This tends to separate subjective values from stable values. The theory recognizes that one thing may be more useful in satisfying the wants of one person than another, or of no use to one person and of use to another (Menger, 1999). The theory contrasts with intrinsic theories of value that hold that there is an objectively correct value of an object that can be determined irrespective of individual value judgments, such as by analyzing the amount of labor incurred in producing the object. The subjective theory contrasts with intrinsic theories of value, such as the labor theory of value which holds that the economic value of a thing is contingent upon how much labor was - necessarily - exerted in producing it - under the condition, however, that this "thing" has a use value. For example David Ricardo said, "The value of a commodity, or the quantity of any other commodity for which it will exchange, depends on the relative quantity of labour which is necessary for its production, and not as the greater or less compensation which is paid for that labour" (Recardo, 1891 in Sraffa, 1951). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 90 There are two main theories underlining this thesis i.e. the expectancy value theory and the means-end theory which explains the value creation process for the customer, expected value of a behavior and the assumption that customers acquire and use products or services to accomplish favorable ends. The two theories complement each other in explaining the relationship between customer service experience and the customer value. This section first deals with the expectancy value theory. 5.2 EXPECTANCY VALUE THEORY Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral controls are shown to be related to appropriate sets of salient behavioral, normative and control beliefs about behavior, but the exact nature of these relations is considered uncertain (Ajzen, 1991). Ajzen (1991) states that the only theory that best explains the relations is the expectancy value theory. Expectancy-value theory was originally created in order to explain and predict individual's attitudes toward objects and actions. Martin Fishbein founded the theory in the 1970s and it states that attitudes are developed and modified based on assessments about beliefs and values. Primarily, the theory attempts to determine the mental calculations that take place in attitude development. According to the theorist, the theory has three basic components. First, individuals respond to novel information about an item or action by developing a belief about the item or action. If a belief already exists, it can and most likely will be modified by new information. Second, individuals assign a value to each attribute that a belief is based on. Third, an expectation is created or modified based on the result of a calculation based on beliefs and values. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 91 According to the expectancy-value theory, behavior is a function of the expectancies one has and the value of the goal toward which one is working. Such an approach predicts that, when more than one behavior is possible, the behavior chosen will be the one with the largest combination of expected success and value. Expectancy-value theory has proved useful in the explanation of social behaviors, achievement motivation, and work motivation. Examination of its use in achievement motivation can serve to represent the various types of expectancy-value motivations. Achievement values are "the incentives or purposes that individuals have for succeeding on a given task" (Wigfield, 1994, p. 102). According to the expectancy-value theory, the value that a person places on either the task or the outcome and his perceived probability of success determine the amount of effort that he will exert attempting to successfully complete the task. The motivating potential of anticipating outcomes is largely determined by the subjective value that the person places on the attainment (Bandura, 1997). Two people may hold the same belief that their behavior will result in a particular outcome, but they may evaluate the attractiveness of that outcome quite differently (Bandura, 1997). The person who values the outcome or finds the outcome more attractive will be more motivated to attain the outcome. Eccles and Wigfield, two leading researchers in the field of motivation, expanded Atkinson's expectancy value model to include a variety of achievement related influences that impact individuals' expectancies and values (Wigfield, 1994). In particular, they hypothesized that students' motivation to complete tasks stems from the attainment value, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 92 utility value, and intrinsic value associated with the task (Wigfield, 1994; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000), as well as with the costs associated with engaging in the task. Intrinsic value often results from the enjoyment an activity produces for the participant (Wigfield, 1994). When people enjoy tasks, they are intrinsically motivated to do well. Both interests and personal relevance produce intrinsic value for a person. Attainment value is the importance people attach to the task as it relates to their conception of their identity and ideals or their competence in a given domain (Wigfield, 1994). Utility value is how the task relates to future goals. While people may not enjoy an activity, they may value a later reward or outcome it produces (Wigfield, 1994). The activity must be integral to their vision of their future, or it must be instrumental to their pursuit of other goals. Because goals can play a key role in attaining later outcomes, educators and parents, for example, should help students see beyond the immediate activity to the long-term benefits it produces. Finally, Eccles and Wigfield stress the importance of "cost" in an individual's decision to engage in an activity. "Cost refers to how the decision to engage in one activity (e.g., doing schoolwork) limits access to other activities (e.g., calling friends), assessments of how much effort will be taken to accomplish the activity, and its emotional cost" (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). When the cost of an activity is too high, individuals may choose not to engage in that activity, even if they enjoy the activity or value the outcome of the activity. Conversely, the high cost of failure can also impel someone toward achievement. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 93 Expectancy value theory suggests, ³people orient themselves to the world according to their expectations beliefs and evaluations´. 8tilizing this approach, behavior, behavioral intentions, or attitudes are seen as a function of ³ 1 expectancy or belief – the perceived probability that an object possesses a particular attribute or that a behavior will have a particular consequence; and (2) evaluation – the degree of affect, positive or negative, toward an attribute or behavioral outcome´ 3almgreen, 18 . Figure 5.1: Expectancy Value Model (Palmgreen, 1984) The theory further asserts that behavior is a function of the expectancies one has and the value of the goal toward which one is working (Fishbein, 1967). Such an approach predicts that when more than one behavior is possible, the behavior chosen will be the one with the largest combination of expected success and value. Expectancy-value theories hold that people are goal-oriented beings. The behaviors they perform in response to their beliefs and values are undertaken to achieve some end. However, although expectancy-value theory can be used to explain central concepts in uses and gratifications research, there are other factors that influence the process. For example, the social and psychological origins of needs, which give rise to motives for behavior, may be guided by beliefs, values, and social University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 94 circumstances into seeking various gratifications through media consumption and other non-media behaviors. From the perspective of the church, this study sees the church members/customers as being goal oriented and that; they are guided by their expectations and belief that shapes their attitude and behavior towards a church brand. The end result sought by the customers of the church is the kind of experiences and benefits sought as a result of their belief and what they consider as valuable. The expected value by the church’s customers is seen by this study to be driven by social and psychological origins of needs that drive their behavior. Therefore through this theory, the study proposes that the churches can create value by understanding the expectations of the customer. This expectation of value comes in the personal values, mental images, or cognitive representations underlying customers’ needs and goals that are better explained by the mean-end theory. 5.3 MEANS-END THEORY Means-end models are based on the assumption that customers acquire and use products or services to accomplish favorable ends. This view is prevalent in consumer behavior literature, in particular, where value is defined in terms of personal values, mental images, or cognitive representations underlying customers’ needs and goals Rokeach, 17 Gutman, 1982; de Chernatony et al., 2000). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 95 Figure 5.2: The Means-End Value Chain (Gutman, 1982) The means-end theory has its roots in cognitive psychology seeking to explain how a consumer’s choice of a product or service enables him to achieve his desired end-states (Gutman, 1982, Laukkanen, 2007). The theory, according Huber et al., (2001), postulates that linkages between product attributes, consequences produced through consumption, and personal values of consumers underlie their decision-making processes (Gutman, 1991). Means are products or services, and ends are personal values considered important to consumers. The means-end theory seeks to explain how an individual’s choice of a product or service enables him or her to achieve his or her desired end states. Huber et al. (2001) assert that consumers obtain consequences (desirable or undesirable) from the consumption of products or services either directly from consuming or indirectly at a later point in time or from others’ reactions to one’s consumption behavior. They stress that consumers choose actions that produce the desired consequences and minimize undesired consequences (Peter & Olson, 1990; Olson & Reynolds, 1983). They believe that values provide the overall direction, consequences determine the selection of behavior, and attributes produce the consequences. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 96 /evitt 18, p. 8 argued that a productservice represents ³a complex cluster of value satisfactions´ to those whom it is being offered and therefore attach importance to the product/service according to its perceived ability to meet their needs (ends). According to Gutman (1982), individuals attach specific meanings to the objects they buy and use such meanings to reach personal goals. The process involves a cognitive structure organized as a means-end chain that starts from the attributes of a product or a service and establishes a sequence of links with the perceived benefits provided by those attributes until personal values are reached. These links are organized in a hierarchy: products or service attributes are stored as ³first level´ knowledge; consequences at a higher level; and values stand at the highest level of abstraction. Consequently, consumers learn to choose products and services that are instrumental to obtain desired consequences and values (Reynolds & Gutman, 1988). An important point made by Lanning (1998) is that the value that matters is the value in the customer’s experience and not the value in the product. He further suggests that his concept of value as the customer’s resulting experience from an action equates value with what the customer is willing to sacrifice. The question to ask in order to understand the customer’s resulting experience, is this: ³what would the customer perceive as the value of the end- result consequence of this event, compared to alternatives, if they could experience it?´ (Lanning, 1998, p. 46). This study in respect of the means end theory argues that customers evaluate service experiences in an organized manner with attributes and their links of attributes are stored at different levels of abstraction (Gutman, 1992). This abstraction may come from what is seen, felt, heard, touched or smelt by the customer and therefore use University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 97 that as the judgment criteria. In this sense, the study argues that the church service mix (i.e. product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) are what are seen, felt, heard, touched or smelt by the church member to produce a certain level of service experience which in turn creates value. The consumer judges service attributes based on their ability to produce certain consequences associated with consuming the service (Gardial et al., 1994). Therefore, customers are not only satisfied or dissatisfied with the presence of a number of determinant attributes of the service experience, but also with the consequences and values these attributes bring along. What the customer would value at the end-result consequence of the service experience is what Sheth et al. (1991) call the consumption values which are a series of related ³functional´, ³social´, ³emotional´, ³epistemic´ and ³conditional´ events leading to an end-r sult or a consequence. The current study therefore theorizes that the church value creation involves a cognitive structure organized as a means end chain which starts from the attributes of the church (church service mix) and establishes a consequence link with perceived benefits (produces certain service experience) provided by the attributes (the church service mix) until personal value are reached (customer value). This therefore suggests that church members will orient themselves to a church brand with the expectation of achieving a desired goal that is terms as customer value in this study. On the other hand, in their orientation to a church for an expected outcome, the church in turn creates experiences through its attributes that are explained by the church service mix in order to create the desired goal of the member i.e. the customer value. However, the expectancy value explains that expectation of value is shaped by some factors that are idiosyncratic to a person such as personal value, belief, goals and some mental images of what an actual value would look University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 98 like. In that respect, this study argues in line with other behavioural studies (see Wilkie, 1994; de Chernatony et al., 2000) and the neoclassical perspective of value which assert that value is subjective and that its evaluation is also subjective. Therefore, the study theorizes that the evaluation of value as a consequence of service experience is moderated by a person’s subMective judgment that is underlined by personal values, expectations and goals. 5.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter has discussed the theoretical foundations for this thesis. The study has adopted two complementary behavioral theories to explain how people orient themselves to enjoy value and how they perform or associate themselves to setting courses as a means to an end. The combination of the expectancy-value theory and the means-end theory has explained the consequence of service experience which Sheth et al. call consumption value. The next chapter provides details of the conceptual framework for the study and how the various elements in the study are linked. The next chapter also discusses the hypotheses to be tested based on the conceptual framework. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 99 CHAPTER SIX CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES FORMULATION In this chapter, a conceptual framework is proposed to explain the possible relationships that exist among the constructs guiding the study. The chapter proposes that the church service mix will influence both the church service experience and the customer value. It also establishes that, although the study expects church service experience to influence perceived customer value, there are some personal factors that may moderate this relationship. The chapter also hypothesizes these relationships accordingly, which paved the way for the empirical examination. 6.1 INTRODUCTION The thesis is set up to understand value creation through service experience within the context of the church. The thesis also explores the role of personal factors in experiencing the value. The first part of the study has reviewed the background of the study, problem statement and the main objectives of the study. Subsequent to that, other chapters have reviewed the literature on customer value and service experience and the theoretical underpinnings of the study to provide insights into the value creation process and experience in churches. In this chapter, the conceptual framework is presented to explain the various constructs and the hypothesized relationships. This thesis agrees with 9argo and /usch’s 2 statement that value is something that is perceived and evaluated at the time of consumption. Customer value that is referred to as ³value in use´ in the service dominant logic and in this thesis is the evaluation of the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 100 service experience, i.e. the individual judgment of the sum total of all the functional and emotional experience outcomes. This is different from the goods-dominant logic where value is produced into a good and exchanged to a customer (value-in-exchange). Value cannot be predefined by the service provider, but is defined by the user of a service during the consumption process. When the service comes alive, the service experience is realized and made possible for the customer to evaluate in the form of value in use. Value in use is most often conceptualized as a cognitive assessment (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). As value evaluation is subjective, there might be an individual and situational filter also influencing the evaluation of value. It is the standpoint of this thesis that since the service experience does not exist until the user perceives it, the company will never be able to create the experience or offer predefined value, only the prerequisites for the service experience and the value for the user (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). It is therefore the contention of this thesis that service organizations such as the church only offer prerequisites for service experience through their marketing effort that are best described by the marketing mix. This study therefore offers a basic service experience-customer value conceptualization as follows; Church service experiences are influenced by a church’s deployment of the marketing mix elements. The church service experience in turn affect the customer value i.e. value in use albeit a moderation from some individual church member factors which shapes the value perceived and/or derived. The value that a customer University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 101 derives from consuming the service produced through the service mix is therefore mediated by the church service experience created as a result of deploying the church service mix. As the purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of value creation in social institutions, the above framework must reflect this purpose. Social institutions such as churches are not motivated by profit but immensely affect individuals, societies and nations. As the creation of value is the core purpose and central process of economic and social exchange, every entity irrespective of motive (be it profit or non-profit) exists to create value since value is the strongest motivator of behavior of consumers. Value is now centered in the experiences of consumers. In a more social setting such as churches, the value created is more experiential than in a profit service organization that therefore demands a more critical analysis and conceptualization. Customer service experience has been thought to originate from a set of interactions between a customer and a product, an organization, or part of the organization, which provoke a reaction (Hume et al., 2006; Verhoef et al., 2009). This experience is strictly personal and implies the customer’s involvement at different levels rational, emotional, sensorial, physical, and spiritual) (Gentile, Spiller & Noci, 2007, p. 397). Service experience is at the core of the service offering and service design (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2010) and a key concept in the emerging paradigm of service-dominant logic (Vargo & Lusch 2004). This study has defined customer service experience as a totally positive, engaging, enduring, and socially fulfilling physical and emotional customer experience University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 102 across all maMor levels of one’s consumption chain and one that is brought about by a distinct market offering that calls for active interaction between consumers and providers. From the above definition, the study contends that the experiences savored by patrons of church services are first stimulated by the marketing efforts of the churches to trigger different kinds of service experience to create value. The individual’s i.e. the patron evaluation of the service mix of the religious entity determines the service experience delivered which in turn influences the customer value. The expectancy value theory suggests that people orient themselves to the world according to their expectations (beliefs) and evaluations and therefore are goal oriented (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). The patrons of the church are goal oriented and they are guided by their expectations and belief that shapes their attitude and behavior towards a church brand. The end result sought by the customers of the church (i.e. the patrons) is the kind of service experience that results out of their belief and what they consider to be valuable. The expected value by the church’s customers is driven by social and psychological origins of needs (Laukkanen, 2007) that drive their behavior and that churches can create value by understanding the expectations of the customer. This expectation of value comes in the personal values, expectations and goals that are better explained by the mean-end theory. 6.2 CONCEPTUALIZATION AND HYPOTHESES FORMULATION The starting point of the conceptual framework is that the customer service experience and value creation in the church is as a result of the deployment of the marketing mix known in this thesis as the “church service mix”. This deployment influences the experience of the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 103 customer and subsequently the value that is created for the congregation. The model presented also assumes that the relationship between service experience and customer value derived by the church members are moderated by members’ personal idiosyncrasies. These building blocks of the model and their relationships are explained below: Figure 6.1: Conceptual Framework for Value Creation through Church Service Experience Source: Author’s own conceptualization 6.2.1 The Church Service Mix Deployment The church service mix consists of all activities performed by the church in their quest to create experiences and value for the patrons. The service mix represents fundamental service innovation development conduits and/or outputs as they present themselves as the basic tools, avenues, opportunities and capabilities for competitive advantage development. The marketing mix according Kotler and Armstrong (1989) are a set of controllable tactical Individual Idiosyncrasy (Moderators)  Personal values  Expectation  Goal CHURCH SERVICE MIX  Product  Price  Promotion  Place  Physical Evidence  Process  People CHURCH SERVICE EXPERIENCE  Cognitive  Social  Affective  Physical CUSTOMER VALUE  Functional  Social  Epistemic  Emotional  Conditional University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 104 marketing tools the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. They are normally referred to as the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, people and process). Product: Service products are the means by which the service firm seeks to satisfy consumer needs (Palmer, 2008). The church product represents the core benefit sought (Lovelock et al., 1999) by the church member. The service product assesses how the services provided by the church addresses the needs of members and how unique they are. It assesses the word of God being preached, how engaging the various events are and how church events directly address the needs of members. This is significant because it addresses the question why do people go to the church and what activities are performed at the church that provide core benefits to the church members? Price: According to Palmer (2008), price represents the cost incurred by the customer for accessing the service. The price component that can be termed as the cost element of the church service mix includes social, monetary and non-monetary factors such as time and effort needed to acquire and use the product/service. This assessed the sacrifices one has to make in terms of social, financial and time sacrifices (Borden, 1984). In the context of the church, patrons make financial sacrifices that can be termed as price in the form of collection, tithes and other donations that consumers often give to support the activities of the church. Though members may not see it as cost, it is a bunch of sacrifices that consumers must undertake to be able to address some of the needs of the church. The quantum and frequency of the price is normally dependent on the nature of the church and the main objective for which it was set up. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 105 Promotion (communication): Promotion concerns with the various activities which are geared towards using messages to communicate the benefits (Zeithaml et al. 2006) of a service product to a potential church members. 6ervice firms’ promotion must address both the internal and external customers by addressing issues of service promise and expectation management, customer education and internal communication. Palmer (2008) asserts that services promotion need to place particular emphasis on increasing the apparent tangibility of a service to help customers make a choice. Customers make choices base on the amount and quality of information they possess at any point in time. The promotion in church spans many media such as, direct marketing, television, radio, posters and other electronic means of delivering church services to patrons. For churches that aspire to be modern and trendy, the frequency and content of this communication tools may be amazing. For instance, some church leaders rely on miracles to communicate to the patrons and these are vividly recorded and shown live to the patrons. Place: This refers to the ease of access that potential church member have to the church service (Lovelock et al., 1999). The choices about distribution includes physical location decision for church service delivery (which in this case will mainly be the sermon), the use of intermediaries in making the service accessible to church members and other non- locational decisions (Bitner, 1990) that are used to make church service available to members and potential members. Place represents the mode of delivery assessed how and where the services were made available to the church members. This assessed the means through which core services are delivered to members at the branch level, media usage and other communications. Today, this has seen an explosion in the religious landscape as University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 106 various marketing actives are deployed in the churches to brand their activities and made them known to consumers. Physical evidence: Physical evidence represents the tangibles that are used as a cue to provide the members with an indication of the service offered, while it also impacts on the way in which the service is positioned and differentiated (Zeithaml et al. 2006). This component looks at the physicality associated with the church such as physical environment and ambiance. This assesses the architectural and aesthetic value of the building in terms of exterior, interior design, ambiance (Bitner, 1990) and how those draw people to the church. A lot of investment is made in modern buildings, communication equipment and the interior decorations and arrangements in order to present an appealing picture of the churches’ activities. 6ome church edifices have become national museums for tourist attractions. People: An important aspect of service delivery is the people (Palmer, 2008).The people reflected the human contact that members have with the church on every front be it permanent staff or non permanent staff in the church service delivery (Bitner, 1990). Standing at the apex is the leadership of the church who could be titled differently as Pastors, Reverends, Bishops, Overseers just to mention a few. The activities of these leaders may vary across the churches. For the Orthodox and the Pentecostal churches, the focus of the church appears to be the institution that is created. However, in the later days Charismatic churches, which is normally founded and owned by individuals, the emphasis is normally placed on the leader. All others play subordinate roles to the leader. The people element may also include a host of other church staff who work either permanently and or temporary to support the church. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 107 Process: Process is the systems used to assist the organization (the church) in delivering the service in all forms. Johne and Storey (1998) posit that unlike physical goods, services are dynamic, unfolding over a period of time through a sequence or constellation of events and steps. The process element assesses the procedural arrangements and requirements within the church in terms of becoming a member or attaining certain services or privileges (Lovelock et al., 1999; Palmer, 2008). This assesses how accessible pastors are and how easily it is for someone to get assistance when needed. It may also encompass the processes that are put in place to ensure that the church activities are properly coordinated. Such processes may vary from church to church, but generally, the process becomes a bit complex as the church grows. 6.2.2 Church Service Experience The second component of the model is the church service experience. It assumes that the deployment of the church service mix creates some experience for the patrons. Experiences are events that engage individuals in a personal way. Experiences are seen to provide sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and relational values for an individual. This experience is ³strictly personal and implies the customer’s involvement at different levels (cognitive, social, affective and physical). This thesis defines, ³customer service experience´ as a totally positive, engaging, enduring, and socially fulfilling physical and emotional customer experience across all maMor levels of one’s consumption chain and one that is brought about by a distinct market offering that calls for active interaction between consumers and providers. This study categorizes church service experience into cognitive, social, affective and physical. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 108 Cognitive is a component of the customer service experience connected with thinking or conscious mental processes; an offering may engage customers in using their creativity or in situations of problem solving; furthermore a company can lead consumer to revise the usual idea of a product or some common mental assumptions (Gentile et al., 2007; Schmitt, 1999). Churches sometimes challenge the congregants to reflect and address cognitive issues facing the church. Social is a component of the customer service experience that involves the person and, beyond, his/her social context, his/her relationship with other people or also with his/her ideal self (Schmit, 2003). An offering can leverage on such component by means of a product/service which encourages the use/consumption together with other people (Brakus, 2001) or which is the core of a common passion that may eventually lead to the creation of a community or still a tribe of fans; finally attending a church can be also a means of affirmation of a social identity, inducing a sense of belonging or of distinction from a social group (i.e. the church); in this case the link with the lifestyle component is very relevant. Affective is a component of the customer service experience which involves one’s emotional system through the generation of moods, feelings, emotions; an offering can generate emotional experience in order to create an affective relation with the company, its brand or products (Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Gentile et al., 2007). The activities of the church must have the capacity to influence the general moods and feelings of church members. These can be achieved through singing and dancing, worship and adoration of God, deliverance and Holy Spirit impartation services. Moods, feelings and emotions could also be influenced through the sermon preached and through personal encounter with the pastor or a church leader through counseling. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 109 Physical is a component of the customer service experience coming from the practical act of doing something; in this sense the physical component includes, but is not limited to, the concept of usability (Brakus, 2001; Fornerinoet al., 2006). In fact, it does not only refer to the use of the product/service in the post-purchase stage, but it extends to all the product/service life-cycle stages (Fornerinoet al., 2006). Physical experience within the church context could come about as a result of singing and dancing and through any activity that directly reTuire the church members’ active participation. This may include some social activities such as indoor and outdoor games, interaction with other members and singing and dancing. This experience created by the church is considered to have come as a result of the various activities performed by the church. The church service mix best explains the efforts of the church in creating a service experience for its patrons. The various programs and services held, the mode of delivery in terms of communication and distribution as well as the physical evidence explains in part how service experience is created for the church member. The processes and the cost (be it social, financial and other cost) incurred by a church member are considered to have a significant influence on the kind of service experience he or she may enjoy. This study contends that the antecedents of this service experience are the various marketing programs employed by the service firm. These marketing programs are what this study refers to as the church service mix. This study therefore hypothesizes that: H1: Church service mix positively influences service experience of members University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 110 6.2.3 Customer Value The third component of the model discusses the value that is created for the congregants. The study sees value as an outcome of different service experiences created as a result of the different activities performed by the church. This study is interested in the value in use that is the evaluation of the service experience i.e. the individual judgment of the sum total of all the functional and emotional experience outcomes. The study adapted Sheth, Newman, and Gross (1991) typology of value i.e. functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional values that are also captured by Smith and Colgate, (2007). Functional Value: Functional value concerns the utilitarian functions and services that a product can offer. The value is often manifested through a product's composite attributes such as qualities or features that can deliver impressions of utilitarian performance (Tzeng, 2011). According to Sheth et al. (1991), functional value pertains to the ability of product to perform its functional, utilitarian, or physical purpose and while it may be based on any salient physical attribute, sometimes price is the most salient functional value. Functional value from the church is derived from the gathering of church members to worship their maker and receive from their maker as well. The functional value however, could be subjective as any other value as the ability of the church to deliver impressions of utilitarian performance is individually assessed. :hen a church member’s core reason for attending a church is met – which can be in the form of spiritual, emotional or social – then functional value is derived. Social Value: 6ocial value 69 has been defined as the ³perceived utility acTuired from an alternative’s association with one or more specific social groups´ 6heth et al., 11). Choices involving highly visible products (e.g. clothing, jewelry) and goods or services University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 111 shared with others (e.g. gifts, products used in entertaining) are often driven by social value (Sheth et al., 1991). Hence, social value relates to social approval and the enhancement of self-image among other individuals (Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). The motive of buying and using products depends on how a consumer wants to be seen by others and/or how he wants to see himself (Sheth et al., 1991; Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). The purchase and use of products is a means by which an individual can express self-image socially to others. 6ocial value from the church’s perspective is the utility a member derives from associating him/herself with the social institution – the church. One could gain social acceptance from attending a church in societies such as Ghana where over 65% of the population are Christians. Ones association with the church can also increase social standing, give social approval and help form friendship with like-minded people. Emotional Value: Emotional value (EMV) is a social-psychological dimension that is dependent on a product’s ability to arouse feelings or affective states (Sheth et al., 1991). A product acquires emotional value when associated with specific feelings or when precipitating or perpetuating those feelings. Play or fun gained by using a product/service for its own sake is related also to emotional value (Smith & Colgate, 2007; Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). Ones relationship with a Deity or Supreme Being relates very much with emotion. In relation to churches, ones association with God arouses specific feelings or perpetuates specific feelings. (motional value in the church context reflects a members’ emotional connectedness with God and the fun that comes along with it. Epistemic Value: Epistemic value (EPV) is created when a product/service arouses curiosity, provides novelty and/or satisfies a desire for knowledge (Sheth et al., 1991a). In some contexts, it could refer to novelty value and the value from learning new ways of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 112 doing things. It entails curiosity for new content and knowledge gained through testing new services (Pihlstrom & Brush, 2008). Epistemic value in relation to church reflects members’ curiosity to know more about life and the life after death, to gain knowledge about God and to increase their faith in God. Conditional Value: Sheth et al. (1991) described conditional value (CV) as the perceived utility acquired by an alternative as the result of the specific situation or set of circumstances facing the choice maker. Furthermore, Holbrook (1994) presumes that conditional value depends on the context in which the value judgment occurs and exits only within a specific context. Thus, conditional value applies to products or services whose value is strongly tied to use in a specific context. It might be derived from temporary functional or social value (Sheth et al., 1991), hence it arises when the circumstances create a need. Conditional value in relation to church deals with the utility derived by a church member as a result of specific situation or set of circumstances facing the church member. Attending a church may open opportunities for church member that hitherto would not have been available. Church members may derive certain value from the church that may not be the real reason for going to church. Gupta and Lehman (2005) observe that there are two sides to value creation, namely, value created for the customer and value created for the firm. Value creation for the parties in a business engagement cannot be kept apart. Measuring mutual value creation as an indicator of business and marketing performance is in accordance with (ggert et al.’s 2 observation that performance indicators on the individual dyad level rather than aggregate measures such as market share and sales volumes are more frequently used than before. The metrics are illustrated by a case in a business-to-business context. This study is University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 113 restricted to value creation in dyads, not in larger networks. Since both parties should benefit from doing business with each other, the economic effects on the supplier’s business of supporting a customer’s value creation, i.e. the value created for the supplier from serving the customer, is taken into account simultaneously with the value created by the customer (mutual value creation). In the case of this study, value is seen as the creation of key benefits by the church for the patrons. The value creation by the church results in service experiences enjoyed by the patrons to satisfy the emotional, social and spiritual needs. Quality has often been classified as a functional measurement of a product or a service (Zeithaml, 1988). However, purely focusing on functional strategies has some general disadvantages. For example, as mentioned above, functional values can often be easily imitated. It is argued in this study that a service experience consists of two parts: a functional as well as an emotional outcome. This implies that, in order to fully leverage experience as part of a value proposition, organizations must pay attention to both the functional and the emotional qualities of the service (Cronin, 2003; Edvardsson et al., 2005; Sherry, 1998). In a more specific case of churches, the service offering is even more of an emotional experience that makes service experience study as a great determinant of value creation. In that respect, the following hypotheses are put forward: H2: Church service mix positively influences customer value derived by members H3: Service experience positively influences customer value derived by members H4: The relationship between church service mix and customer value is mediated by service experience University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 114 6.2.4 Moderators The moderators in this study are the personal church member factors that bring into play the subjective measurement of value by individuals. Relatively little attention has been paid to understanding the service experience and its influence on customer value 2’1eill Palmer, 2003). Although, there are some research studies that cover this subject McKnight and Sechrest (2003) in their study stressed that the service experience is a criterion for evaluating and understanding service performance. A study conducted by Orsingher and Marzocchi (2003) also regards the hierarchical structure of the service experience dimensions in relation to customer perceived value. The primary idea of this study is that satisfactory service experiences are organized in the customer’s mind in the form of hierarchical cognitive networks, with satisfaction elements being stored at different levels of abstraction. The various elements or dimensions of the service experience are thus linked to different consequences and values. As Vargo and /usch’s 2 posit, something has value if and when it is perceived and evaluated at the time of consumption by the customer (church member) and this is what is referred to as value in use. Value in use is the evaluation of the service experience, i.e. the individual judgment of the sum total of all the functional and emotional experience outcomes. Value cannot be predefined by the service provider, but is defined by the user of a service during the user consumption. Consequently, the individual characteristics and perceptions such as expectations, values and goals will influence the evaluation of the customer value. The University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 115 study therefore conceptualizes and puts forward the following hypotheses in respect of individual filters influencing the evaluation of value Personal values for relationship: Value is considered to be subjective in terms of assessment and that the premium on places on an item or incident will influence the evaluation of same (Wilkie, 1994; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). Personal value for relationship seeks to assess the premium a church member places on being a member of as the church. The importance placed by a member on being part of a fellowship is seen to influence the evaluation of the value derived from the service experience. When an individual attach high values as members of a church, they are likely to perceive high values from the church service experience that is created as a result of the church’s activities. H5: The relationship between service experience and customer value is positively and significantly affected by personal value for companionship Expectations: The expectancy value theory asserts that the evaluation of value is influenced by the evaluator’s expectations Wigfield & Eccles, 2000; Laukkanen, 2007). Expectation in the framework seeks to explore the social expectations of a church member and how such expectations can influence the assessment of the value produced through the service experience created by the church. Patrons with high expectations from their membership of a church will have high expectations of the values than those with low expectations. H6: The relationship between service experience and customer value is positively and significantly affected by personal goals University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 116 Goal: Wigfield (1994) explains that value is how task related to future a goal which therefore suggests that a person’s goal for engaging in an activity is influences the evaluation of the value derived. Bandura, 1997 also suggests that two people may hold the same belief that their behavior will result in a particular outcome, but they may evaluate the attractiveness of that outcome quite differently based on their goals and expectations. The framework assumes that individuals may have different goals in pursuing their church activities. Individuals with high premium on personal relationship with God will perceive high values from the church than those with low than those with low perceived values. H7: The relationship between service experience and customer value is positively and significantly affected by church members’ social expectation 6.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY The current chapter has discussed the conceptualizations formed in the study and has also established the possible relationships that exist among the construct. The chapter has conceptualized that the church service mix will influence both the church service experience and the customer value. It has also established that, although the study expects church service experience to influence customer value, there are some personal factors that may moderate this relationship. The chapter has also hypothesized the various relationships accordingly, which has paved the way for empirical examination. The next chapter deals with the methodological issues in terms of research approaches and data related issues. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 117 CHAPTER SEVEN METHODOLOGY In this chapter, discussions are presented on all the philosophical and methodological issues that are related to the current study. The chapter first discusses the ontological and epistemological stance chosen for the study and later presents the research approach and the research purpose of the current study. The methods of qualitative and quantitative research are also discussed and a justification given to support the choice of a quantitative approach was adopted for this study. Data collection methods and the instruments used in the data collection as well as method of analysis and quality criteria are discussed. Sampling issues are dealt with in this chapter and conclude by explaining the construct measures used in the study. 7.1 RESEARCH METHODS OVERVIEW This chapter enumerates the various methods used to answer the research questions suggested in Chapter One. The chapter is organized into sections. The first and second sections discuss the research paradigm and the approach. The next section deals with the overall research design which encompasses sampling techniques, unit of analysis, data analysis techniques, research strategy and approach. A description of data collection method that was employed in this study is provided. Here, methods used for the development of research questionnaire and administration are discussed. A presentation on the various measures used in this study is made. Data analysis was also discussed. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 118 7.2 RESEARCH PARADIGM According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007), research philosophy is an overarching term which relates to the development of knowledge and the nature of that knowledge. The research philosophy one adopts contains vital assumptions about the way in which one views the world and these assumptions underpin the research strategy and methods chosen. $ researcher’s view of the relationship between knowledge and the process of developing that knowledge determines the research philosophy to adopt. No research philosophy can be considered superior to another. Each research philosophy might be better suited for a particular research question(s) being investigated, though research questions hardly fall neatly into one particular research philosophy (Saunders et al., 2007). Guba and Lincoln (1994) argue that the importance of methods in a research project is secondary to the question of the type of research paradigm such as ontology or epistemology, applicable to a particular study. The study therefore discusses various research philosophies and indicates the research philosophy that best suits the study. The research philosophies, dominated mostly by ontology and epistiomoloy, are discussed in the next section. 7.3 ONTOLOGY Ontology as a research philosophy is concerned with the study of the nature of social being and reality (Sauders et al., 2007). Ontology explores the nature of social reality, and considers such questions as: what is existence and what does it mean to say that an object exists? Ontology concerns itself with understanding how a given social reality came to be constituted as it appears (Given, 2008). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 119 Ontology relates to questions such as whether an objective reality exists and it can be defined as the science of being (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Ontology also reflects the claims that a particular approach to social inquiry makes about the nature of social reality (i.e. nature of service research). It investigates the type of reality that exists, what that reality looks like, which entities exist within the reality, and how these entities interact. The service researcher’s view of reality establishes the cornerstone for all other assumptions these assumptions predicate other assumptions, and therefore, the researcher’s view of ontology effects his or her epistemological persuasion and influences the methodological approach chosen. Ontology is therefore concerned with the nature of what it is that the researcher seeks to learn. It is about the assumptions researchers hold about the way the world operates. Ontology can be described as objective or subjective. 7.3.1 Objectivism Objectivism holds that social entities exist in reality external to the social actors who are interested in their existence. The objectivist tend to view organisational culture as something the organisation ³has´ as opposed to ³is´, and so the organisation can manipulate or otherwise direct this culture, or as in this instance ³service experience ,´ in a certain manner to achieve desired goals (Smircich, 1983). For the objectivists therefore, service experience in the services sector would be a definite state that can be achieved through the manipulation of certain factors such as improving employee behavior or enhancing the service environment. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 120 7.3.2 Subjectivism Subjectivism on the other hand holds that social phenomenon is created from the perceptions and consequent actions of social actors. This is a continuous process as through the process of social interaction, the social phenomenon is in a constant state of revision (Sauders et al., 2007). A researcher may have to study ³the details of the situation to understand the reality or perhaps a reality working behind them´ Remenyi et al., 18: 35). Subjectivism is often associated with social constructionism which views reality as being socially constructed (Sauders et al., 2007). Subjectivism would suggest for example that one’s value derived from a product or service is as a result of the interacting with the brand. So at no time is there or would there be a definite state of service quality as it is constantly changing. )or the subMectivists, culture is something the organisation ³is´ through a process of continual creation and re-creation, and so cannot be isolated, understood and manipulated as such (Saunders et al., 2007). 7.3.3 Ontological Considerations for the Study The study adopted objectivism in its ontological considerations. Objectivism as a perspective of ontology holds that social entities exist in reality independent of social actors who are concerned about those social entities. The current study attempts to identify what influence service experience and customer to explain the value creation process of a social entity i.e. the church. The nature of the research problem and objectives therefore suggest that the actions being investigated exist external to the researcher. Customer value and service experience creation have a reality different from the entity and the personnel who provide them, the church members who perceive the said reality, and the researcher University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 121 interested in its existence. Consequently, objectivism as a category of ontology better suits this research project. 7.4 EPISTEMOLOGY The term epistemology which was introduced by James Frederick Ferrier, a Scottish philosopher (Encyclopaedia Britannica online, 2007) is derived from two Greek words that means the study of knowledge, and refers to the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and scope of knowledge. Epistemology therefore concerns itself with what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study, and attempts to determine how we know what we know. Epistemology is related to the assumption about the acquisition of knowledge (Schwandt, 2007). Epistemology addresses how we perceive the world and raises questions about both how we understand it and how we communicate this knowledge to others (Burrell & Morgan, 1979). The means to obtain knowledge about the world may vary with the social context and different phenomena; consequently, no single epistemology is right or wrong. Applied to service research, different epistemological approaches can be used to describe how to view the world and explain the activities and interactions that form the basis for the research processes. There are several strands of epistemology that variously conceptualizes what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study. The different conceptualization of epistemology discussed in this study includes positivism, realism and interpretivism. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 122 7.4.1 Positivism Positivism adopts the philosophical stance of the natural scientist, and considers reality to consist of discrete events that can be observed by human senses (Blaikie, 2010). Positivists believe in working with an observable social reality, the end result of which can be law-like generalizations similar to the physical sciences (Remenyi et al., 1998). These law-like generalizations are however not considered as causative (Blaikie, 2010). Adherents of positivism believe that research must be done in a value-free manner. Positivism assumes that the researcher is independent of the subject of research, and that the researcher is not affected by the subject of research, neither does he affect the subject under study (Remenyi et al., 1998). In fact, for the positivist researcher, value judgment must be excluded from scientific enquiry since their validity cannot be tested (Blaikie, 2010). This is however debatable since the very act of deciding to employ a particular philosophical research approach suggests the existence of a certain value position. Positivism predominates in science and assumes that science quantitatively measures independent facts about a single apprehensible reality (Healy & Perry, 2000). In other words, the data and its analysis are value-free and data do not change because they are being observed: that is, researchers view the world through a ³one-way mirror´ Healy Perry, 2000). In its broadest sense, positivism is a rejection of metaphysics. It is a position that holds that the goal of knowledge is simply to describe the phenomena that we experience. The University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 123 purpose of science is simply to stick to what we can observe and measure. Knowledge of anything beyond that, a positivist would hold, is impossible (Trochim, 2000). As such, positivists separate themselves from the world they study, while researchers within other paradigms acknowledge that they have to participate in real world life to some extent so as to better understand and express its emergent properties and features (Healy & Perry, 2000). According to the positivist epistemology, science is seen as the way to get at truth, to understand the world well enough so that it might be predicted and controlled. The world and the universe are deterministic; they operate by laws of cause and effect that are discernible if we apply the unique approach of the scientific method. Thus, science is largely a mechanistic or mechanical affair in positivism. The positivists believe in empiricism, the idea that observation and measurement are at the core of the scientific endeavor. The key approach of the scientific method is the experiment, the attempt to discern natural laws through direct manipulation and observation (Trochim, 2000). Numerous individuals have defined positivism over the years. Kolakowski (1972), for example, states that positivism embraces a four point doctrine: (1) the rule of phenomenalism, which asserts that there is only experience; all abstractions be they ³matter´ or ³spirit´ have to be reMected 2 the rule of nominalism – which asserts that words, generalizations, abstractions, etc. are linguistic phenomena and do not give new insight into the world; (3) the separation of facts from values; and (4) the unity of the scientific method. Burrell and Morgan (1979) define it as an epistemology "which seeks to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 124 explain and predict what happens in the social world by searching for regularities and causal relationships between its constituent elements". 7.4.2 Realism Realism, as a philosophical paradigm, has elements of both positivism and constructivism (Healy & Perry, 2000). Realism is also known as critical realism (Hunt, 1991), postpositivism (Denzin & Lincoln, 200) or neopostpositivism (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). While positivism concerns a single, concrete reality and interpretivism multiple realities, realism concerns multiple perceptions about a single, mind-independent reality (Healy & Perry, 2000). The concept of reality embodied within realism is thus one extending beyond the self or consciousness, but which is not wholly discoverable or knowable. Rather than being supposedly value-free, as in positive research, or value-laden as in interpretive research (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), realism is instead value cognizant; conscious of the values of human systems and of researchers. Realism recognizes that perceptions have certain plasticity (Churchland, 1979) and that there are differences between reality and people’s perceptions of reality %isman, 22 . $ccording to Bisman (2002), the critical realist agrees that our knowledge of reality is a result of social conditioning and, thus, cannot be understood independently of the social actors involved in the knowledge derivation process. However, it takes issue with the belief that the reality itself is a product of this knowledge derivation process. The critical realist asserts that "real objects are subject to value laden observation"; the reality and the value-laden observation of reality operating in two different dimensions, one intransitive and relatively enduring; the other transitive and changing. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 125 Within this framework, the discovery of observable and non-observable structures and mechanisms, independent of the events they generate, is the goal of realism (Tsoukas, 1989). In other words, researchers working from a realist perspective observe the empirical domain to discover by a ³mixture of theoretical reasoning and experimentation´ (Outhwaite, 1983, p. 332) knowledge of the real world, by naming and describing the generative mechanisms that operate in the world and result in the events that may be observed. This inherent complexity that exists within the world of the social scientist, thus posits a reality that may be considered ³real but fallible´ :ollin, 1, p. 8 . Within a critical realism framework, both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are seen as appropriate (Healy & Perry, 2000) for researching the underlying mechanisms that drive actions and events. Methods such as case studies and unstructured or semi-structured in-depth interviews are acceptable and appropriate within the paradigm, as are statistical analyses, such as those derived from structural equation modeling and other techniques (Bisman, 2002). With realism, the seeming dichotomy between quantitative and qualitative is therefore replaced by an approach that is considered appropriate given the research topic of interest and level of existing knowledge pertaining to it. 7.4.3 Interpretivism The position of interpretivism in relation to ontology and epistemology is that interpretivists believe the reality is multiple and relative (Hudson & Ozanne, 1988). Lincoln and Guba (1985) explain that these multiple realities also depend on other systems for meanings, which make it even more difficult to interpret in terms of fixed realities University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 126 (Neuman, 2000). The knowledge acquired in this discipline is socially constructed rather than objectively determined (Carson et al., 2001, p.5) and perceived (Hirschman, 1985; Berger & Luckman, 1967, p. 3: in Hudson and Ozanne, 1988). Interpretivism, also known as interpretivist involves researchers to interpret elements of the study, thus interpretivism integrates human interest into a study. $ccordingly, ³interpretive researchers assume that access to reality (given or socially constructed) is only through social constructions such as language, consciousness, shared meanings, and instruments´ (Myers, 2008, p.38). Development of interpretivist philosophy is based on the critique of positivism in social sciences. Interpretivists avoid rigid structural frameworks such as in positivist research and adopt a more personal and flexible research structures (Carson et al., 2001) which are receptive to capturing meanings in human interaction (Black, 2006) and make sense of what is perceived as reality (Carson et al., 2001). They believe the researcher and his informants are interdependent and mutually interactive (Hudson & Ozanne, 1988). The interpretivist researcher enters the field with some sort of prior insight of the research context but assumes that this is insufficient in developing a fixed research design due to the complex, multiple and unpredictable nature of what is perceived as reality (Hudson & Ozanne, 1988). The researcher remains open to new knowledge throughout the study and lets it develop with the help of informants. The use of such an emergent and collaborative approach is consistent with the interpretivist belief that humans have the ability to adapt, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 127 and that no one can gain prior knowledge of time and context bound social realities (Hudson & Ozanne, 1988). Therefore, the goal of interpretivist research is to understand and interpret the meanings in human behavior rather than to generalize and predict causes and effects (Hudson & Ozanne, 1988; Neuman, 2000). For an interpretivist researcher it is important to understand motives, meanings, reasons and other subjective experiences that are time and context bound (Hudson & Ozanne, 1988; Neuman, 2000). Interpretivism is ³associated with the philosophical position of idealism, and is used to group together diverse approaches, including social constructionism, phenomenology and hermeneutics; approaches that reject the objectivist view that meaning resides within the world independently of consciousness´ Collins, 21, p.8 . Moreover, interpretivism studies usually focus on meaning and may employ multiple methods in order to reflect different aspects of the issue. In general interpretivist approach is based on the following beliefs: 1. Relativist ontology. This approach perceives reality as intersubjectively that is based on meanings and understandings on social and experiential levels. 2. Transactional or subjectivist epistemology. According to this approach people cannot be separated from their knowledge, therefore there is a clear link between the researcher and research subject. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 128 The basic differences between positivism and interpretivism are illustrated by Pizam and Mansfeld (2009) in the following manner: Table 7.1: Differences between Positivism and Interpretivism Assumptions Positivism Interpretivism Nature of reality Objective, tangible, single Socially constructed, multiple Goal of research Explanation, strong prediction Understanding, weak prediction Focus of interest What is general, average and representative What is specific, unique, and deviant Knowledge generated Laws Absolute (time, context, and value free) Meanings Relative (time, context, culture, value bound) Subject/Researcher relationship Rigid separation Interactive, cooperative, participative Desired information How many people think and do a specific thing, or have a specific problem What some people think and do, what kind of problems they are confronted with, and how they deal with them Source: Pizam and Mansfeld (2009) Interviews and observations are the most popular primary data collection methods in interpretivism studies. Secondary data research is also popular with interpretivism philosophy. The use of interpretivism approach in business studies involves the following principles as suggested by Klein and Myers (1999): 1. The Fundamental Principle of the Hermeneutic Circle. 2. The Principle of Contextualization University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 129 3. The Principle of Interaction between the Researchers and the Subjects 4. The Principle of Abstraction and Generalization 5. The Principle of Dialogical Reasoning 6. The Principle of Multiple Interpretations 7. The Principle of Suspicion The main disadvantages associated with interpretivism relate to the subjective nature of this approach and the great room for bias on behalf of the researcher. Primary data generated in interpretivist studies cannot be generalized since data is heavily impacted by personal viewpoint and values. Therefore, reliability and representativeness of data is undermined to a certain extent as well. 7.4.4 Epistemological Considerations for the Study This study adopts the positivist stance that assumes resistance to qualitative research, and assumes that ³science Tuantitatively measures independent facts about a single apprehensible reality´ Healy 3erry 2 . $ccording to Tronvoll, %rown, Gremler and Edvardsson, (2011), service research is positivistic if it uses formal propositions, quantifiable measures of variables, hypotheses testing, and inferences about a phenomenon drawn from a representative sample of the stated population. Considering the fact that this study tests hypothesis and make inferences about value creation in the church context with a stated population, positivism is considered appropriate. Tronvoll et al. (2011) argue that positivistic studies tend to be driven by theory and assume that reality is objectively given and can offer guidelines for how companies, employees, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 130 and customers should act. The measurable constructs are independent of the researcher and his or her instruments. In positivistic studies, the phenomenon consists of predefined (a priori) relationships. Orlikowski et al. (1991, p. 5) state, ³such studies serve primarily to test theory in an attempt to increase predictive understanding of phenomena.´ This attempt is especially important for an applied scientific discipline, such as service research, where relevance and rigor are key criteria for the acceptance of positivistic conclusions (Tronvoll et al., 2011). The positivistic paradigm also combines static and a priori approaches, such that a researcher concentrates on understanding a stationary situation with a single transaction as the focus and time is not a relevant issue. In this sense, the researcher maintains a distance from the research object and emphasizes a theoretical perspective, such that the research purpose emanates from this researcher. The positivistic paradigm is well illustrated by Zeithaml et al.’s (1996) study of the behavioral consequences of service quality: they offer a model describing the impact of service quality on specific behaviors that signal whether customers will remain with or defect from a company. In the same vein, this study investigates the behavioral consequence of service experience in the context of churches. The situation under positivism paradigm captures a snapshot of customer behavior, which provides a description of how companies (i.e. churches) should act to increase customer value. The theory-driven research within the positivistic paradigm often requires a test of a model using questionnaires constructed without input from the respondents (Tronvoll et al., 2011) that is the case in this research. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 131 7.5 RESEARCH PURPOSE $s presented in )arhang 1 , ³To research i.e. re-search) is to search again, to take another more careful look, to find out more. Research, a combination of experience and reasoning, is universally accepted to be the generating power for the advancement and utilization of science in short it has been defined as the µparadigm of scientific inTuiry’´ (p. 39, with reference to Nachmias & Nachmias, 1981). According to Denzin and Lincoln (1994), the obtainment of knowledge for a postpositivist, ³accumulates by a process of accretion i.e. growth or enlargement , with each fact or probable fact) serving as a kind of building block that, when placed into its proper niche, adds to the growing µedifice of knowledge.’ :hen the facts take the form of generalizations or cause-effect linkages, they may be used most efficiently for prediction and control. Generalizations may then be made, with predictable confidence, to a population of settings´ pp. 11-114). However, such generalizations cannot be made without first exploring and discovering, which is supported in the next section covering the specific stages that research often follows. 7.5.1 Stages of Research Reynolds (1971) discusses what he refers to as the composite approach, versus the research-then-theory or the theory-then-research approaches. He states that the research- then-theory strategy has the disadvantage that a great deal of effort will go into collecting data that has no real purpose, but that at least some information could be useful for inventing theories. The theory-then-research strategy, on the other hand, has the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 132 disadvantage of the researcher possibly not having any initial information on which to base the first attempts at a theory, with the view that research is more efficient when one collects information related to a few important hypothesis. A composite of these two strategies could provide a more efficient overall procedure and, at the same time, a more accurate representation of the process that actually occurs in building up scientific knowledge. This composite approach divides research into three distinct stages, as presented by Reynolds (1971, pp. 154-55): Exploratory Stage: Here, research is designed to allow an investigator to Must ³look around´ with respect to some phenomenon, with the aim being to develop suggestive ideas. The research should be as flexible as possible and conducted in such a way as to provide guidance for procedures to be employed during the next stage. Descriptive Stage: The objective of this stage is to develop careful descriptions of patterns that were suspected in the exploratory research. The purpose may be to develop inter-subjective descriptions (i.e. empirical generalizations). Once such generalizations begin to emerge, they are thus worth explaining, which of course leads to theory development. Explanatory Stage: The goal here is to develop explicit theory that can be used to explain the empirical generalizations that evolved from the second stage. This provides a cycle then of: 1) Theory construction; 2) Theory testing (attempts to falsify with empirical research); 3) Theory reformulation (back to step one). The above presentation of the ³composite approach´ differs from the research then- theory approach in that the data collected in the exploratory stages is not thought of as the final answer, but is instead recognized as being exploratory in nature using a flexible research University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 133 design. According to Reynolds (1971), collecting data this way is often a procedure that uses hunches and insights, which of course have an effect on data collection. It differs from strict theory-then-research approaches in that it assumes that a useful theory is hard to invent without some acquaintance with the phenomenon. This acquaintance with the ³phenomenon´ under investigation thus takes place during the exploratory and descriptive stages of research. It is this composite approach that was utilized for this study. Based on the overall research problem (purpose) and the research questions involved, the overall purpose for this research project is to describe and possibly begin to explain the phenomena under investigation. However, the way in which one must go about investigating must be based on the research approach, which will be discussed next. 7.6 RESEARCH APPROACH: Qualitative and Quantitative The two main approaches to be discussed are the quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative approach is usually applied when the purpose is to verify existing theories or test hypotheses developed based on previous research. The main advantage of the quantitative paradigm is the possibility of gaining an objective and precise assessment of the social phenomenon or human behavior. It is, however, argued whether such a complex phenomenon as human behavior can be correctly described using numbers. Personal meanings and feelings ² an inherent subjective dimension of social research ² are difficult to capture in numbers or counts (Yin, 1994; Sullivan, 2001; Hair et al., 2003). Rudestam and Newton (1992), state that the current research done within the social sciences seems to be steeped in the empirical and quantitative traditions. They go on to add University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 134 that most social science research within the 20th Century has been quantitative in nature. They continue that there has been a recent expansion of qualitative research in the social sciences and they emphasize the further need and advantages of the qualitative approach. ³$ countervailing trend in social science research calls for side-stepping the artificiality and narrowness of experimental studies by promoting studies that allow researchers to be more spontaneous and flexible in exploring phenomena in their natural environment´ p. 29). For our purposes, the natural environment would mean collecting information at the churches being investigated. Whereas quantitative studies emphasize the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between variables, Denzin and Lincoln (1994) explain that qualitative research emphasizes processes and meanings that are not rigorously examined or even measured (in terms of quantity, intensity, amount, or frequency). Data are usually non- quantitative and are in the form of words versus numbers. Qualitative research, inductive in nature, allows the researcher to first collect the data, and then go on to possibly generate an hypothesis or propositions that can be tested (quantitatively). Gummesson (1988) writes that qualitative methodology ³provides powerful tools for research in management and business administration´ p.  . Gummesson continues to state that, too often, business schools oppose the use of qualitative methods of research and classify them as ³second rate.´ He argues that the limited use of qualitative research and its often-incorrect use, as well as an exaggerated reliance on quantitative techniques, is due to both tradition and ignorance in academia. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 135 According to Polkinghorne (1991), qualitative research methods are also very useful in the ´generation of categories for understanding human phenomena and the investigation of the interpretation and meaning that people give to events they experience´ p. 112 . )rom this statement it can be added that, in order to understand and characterize the marketing communication tools used in industrial markets, as well as the people using them and being affected by the current communication revolution, a qualitative approach may be best. As 6ilverman 1 states, ³Tualitative research can be used to familiarize oneself with a setting before the serious sampling and counting begins´ p. 2 .