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Abstract
In today s highly competitive business environment, client perceived value has become
increasingly important to practitioners and business researchers as it is believed to be central to
client decision-making, satisfaction and client retention. However, there are few insights as to
what constitutes client perceived value and what are its antecedents, especially in the context of
international, professional business-to-business (B2B) services. This study thus addressed two
key questions: (i) what are the antecedents of client perceived value in an international,
professional B2B service setting?; and (ii) how do these determinants influence client perceived
performance and value under different contingency conditions (e.g., perceptions of country-of-origin
(COO) and client experience)?
The research was undertaken in two phases: Phase 1 included a literature review covering
services marketing, international marketing, resource-based theory, contingency theory as well as
an exploratory research amongst eight dyadic case studies. The objectives were to identify the
key variables that contribute to client perceived performance and value; to fine tune the key
constructs adopted from the literature; and to verify the linkage between the resource-based view
(RBV) of a firm and client perceived value. By drawing on the theories mentioned above, and the
results from the exploratory research, a conceptual model and a series of hypotheses were
developed. The data used to test the model in Phase 2 was collected from 218 client firms in both
Malaysia and Thailand. The data was collected through a mail survey with a net response rate of
32.9%, and was analysed via structural equation modelling, regression analysis and subgroup
analysis. The results show that the key antecedents of perceived performance which in turn drives
client value, included technical skills, customer orientation, innovation and firm reputation. The
findings also suggest that COO moderates the relationships between these antecedents and
perceived performance, while client experience moderates the association between perceived
performance and value.
The results provide a better understanding of value perceived by the B2B clients in an
international setting. The academic contributions of this thesis are: the linkage of RBV and the
services paradigm in an international context; the understanding of client perceived value and its antecedents; and the establishment of metric equivalence of measures employed across two
countries (Malaysia and Thailand). Finally, the managerial contributions include guidance for
exporting firms in terms of resource allocation to achieve competitive advantage; utilising the
COO effect in promotion; and managing client value perceptions in international markets.