Market Segmentation From a Behavioral Perspective

Abstract

This article shows how OBM research and practice can incorporate tools from IOP to achieve an effective and socially valid organizational improvement strategy. After a brief review of both fields, a project is described in a major domestic corporation illustrating a synthesis of OBM and IOP techniques. Value-added repair service was targeted for change in a major manufacturer of large home appliances. To accomplish these goals, a standard IOP job analysis was used to define the critical service behaviors related to the value-added dimension, and then both a selection system as well as a customer-directed behavioral assessment instrument to measure this service were developed and validated. Finally, an OBM intervention using task clarification, feedback, and praise was employed to improve the behaviors targeted by the behavioral assessment tool. A synopsis of the results is presented, along with some practical and theoretical implications of this rapprochement of IOP and OBM.