NORTHERN TODAY 13 FALL 2021 ORTHERN STATE University’s Dr. Hannah Walters has won a Sanford Faculty Professional Development Award for her research project, “Boutique Customer Loyalty: An Assessment of Store and Service Satisfaction.” Walters, NSU Assistant Professor of Marketing, said her research studies the importance of store satisfaction compared to service satisfaction in local boutique businesses. Store satisfaction is related to the quality of retail merchandise, or the store itself, she said; service satisfaction represents the customer’s experience with the store personnel and the customer service experience. “The information I’m currently gathering will help local boutique retailers in Aberdeen better understand the effect of satisfaction on loyalty as it is an essential concern for managers and has a direct impact on profitability,” she said. Walters became interested in this topic after reading research conducted on discount retailer shoppers from Target and Wal-Mart by Powers, Jack and Choi in 2019. She wanted to extend that to local boutiques. “The impact of COVID-19 has been felt by all businesses, large and small,” she said. “But for small businesses, that impact has been crucial. I believe I can help these small businesses by studying customer loyalty and gaining insight on customer satisfaction.” Walters, who started at Northern in fall 2012, has been with the NSU School of Business for nine years. Her advice for others looking to get started in research, especially students: Be curious. “Ask questions. A lot of them. Talk to faculty. They may know of resources that could help you… like research grants! Ask them about their research and how they conduct research,” she said. “Talk to other students conducting research. Invite others to participate. Challenge existing research— maybe it works in one situation, but maybe it doesn’t work in another context. And it’s OK to fail. Even if the answer is ‘no’ in your research, that’s still an answer. You don’t have to be right in research!” Walters also wants students to know how empowering it feels to be able to answer your question with your own research. “It’s a huge sense of accomplishment and something that is a great resume builder,” she said. Employers in all fields want to hire employees who are critical thinkers. And research builds critical thinking skills. So, really it’s a win-win-win. Students, NSU and employers all benefit from students who do research.” Walters wins Sanford Faculty Professional Development Award for ‘Boutique Customer Loyalty: An Assessment of Store and Service Satisfaction’ N said. The label would publish their work, which will allow others to listen to it. A performance guide will also be available. ‘Don’t Give Up’ All of this started when Bultema and Miller were feeling helpless with the state of the world and wanted to do something about it. What they could do, they decided, was make music. “It’s how we can make a difference,” Miller said. “We can do something with our skillset. So we have to try.” For others looking to do the same, especially young women, they offer advice. “Stick to your guns,” Miller said. “Don’t give up.” That means practicing perseverance. Bultema and Miller did not get the Nora Staael award the first time they applied, but they kept trying and working toward their goal, and now they’ve been recognized internationally. “It’s not like we’re doing an incredible amount of work all the time in this project. Just little bits make up a big idea,” Miller said. “If you keep on doing the little bits, you will get somewhere. I want students to see that. If you only look at the big picture, you’re going to get so upset with yourself because it takes so long to get there. So, little bits.” Finding your passion is also important, Bultema added. “Obviously music is our passion, but we recognized this other part, that we wanted to say something,” she said. “We wanted our voices heard.” Said Miller, “We’re helping other people’s voices be heard, through wanting our voices to be heard.” “We’re helping other people’s voices be heard, through wanting our voices to be heard.” NORTHERN STATE UNIVERSI TY | News To learn more about Faculty Research at Northern, including the Sanford Faculty Professional Development Award, visit NSU Scholarly Faculty, northern.edu/scholarlyfaculty.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzkyNTY=