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1 – 10 of over 3000Xinxue Zhou, Jian Tang and Tianmei Wang
Customers' co-design behavior is an important source of knowledge for product innovation. Firms can regulate the focus of information interaction with customers to set goals and…
Abstract
Purpose
Customers' co-design behavior is an important source of knowledge for product innovation. Firms can regulate the focus of information interaction with customers to set goals and motivate their co-design behavior. Drawing on regulatory fit theory and construal level theory, the authors build a research model to study whether the fit between the regulatory focus of firms' task invitations (promotion focus vs prevention focus) and their feedback focus (self-focused vs other-focused) can enhance co-design behavior by improving customers' experiences (perceived meaning, active discovery and perceived empowerment).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two online between-subjects experiments to validate the proposed research model.
Findings
The two online experiments reveal that customers' experiences are enhanced when the feedback focus is congruent with the regulatory focus of the firm's task invitations. Specifically, self-focused feedback has a stronger positive effect on customers' experiences in the prevention focus context. Other-focused feedback has a stronger positive effect on customers' experiences in the promotion focus context. Moreover, customers' experience significantly and positively affects co-design behavior (i.e. co-design effort and knowledge contribution).
Originality/value
This work provides theoretical and practical implications for firms to improve the effectiveness of information interaction with their customers and eventually ensure the sustainability of co-design.
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Nuria Sánchez-Iglesias, Jesús García-Madariaga and Miguel Jerez
When customers make their purchase decisions, they use all the available information from all the initiatives and behaviors that companies carry out with their stakeholders. This…
Abstract
Purpose
When customers make their purchase decisions, they use all the available information from all the initiatives and behaviors that companies carry out with their stakeholders. This research aims to identify whether a company's financial performance and reputation determine the customer's perception of the company, which affects their engagement. This study is based on the theories of engagement, stakeholder and signalling. Are customers engaged solely based on their feeling of satisfaction, or do employees and brand value play a role in this engagement?
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data was collected from 14 automotive companies and empirically tested through a longitudinal study over the period 2010–2018. For panel data analysis this study used weighted least squares.
Findings
The variables proposed in this research, firm value and corporate reputation, were significant for the analysed panel sample. Furthermore, employee satisfaction influences customer engagement as an independent and moderating variable, just like brand value.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the emerging stream of customer engagement research by combining insight as a company-initiated resource, with the sheer transaction, integrating data obtained from employees and customers in an international context.
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Andreawan Honora, Kai-Yu Wang and Wen-Hai Chih
This research investigates the role of customer forgiveness as the result of online service recovery transparency in predicting customer engagement. It also examines the…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates the role of customer forgiveness as the result of online service recovery transparency in predicting customer engagement. It also examines the moderating roles of timeliness and personalization in this proposed model.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey study using retrospective experience sampling and a scenario-based experimental study were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
Customer forgiveness positively influences customer engagement and plays a mediating role in the relationship between service recovery transparency and customer engagement. Additionally, timeliness and personalization moderate the positive influence of service recovery transparency on customer forgiveness. The positive influence of service recovery transparency on customer forgiveness is more apparent when levels of timeliness and personalization decrease.
Practical implications
To retain focal customers' engagement after a service failure, firms must obtain their forgiveness. One of the firm's online complaint handling strategies to increase the forgiveness level of focal customers is to provide a high level of service recovery transparency (i.e. responding to their complaints in a public channel), especially when the firm is unable to respond to online complaints quickly or provide highly personalized responses.
Originality/value
This research provides new insights into the underlying mechanism of customer engagement by applying the concept of customer forgiveness. It also contributes to the social influence theory by applying the essence of the theory to explain how other customers' virtual presence during the online complaint handling influences the forgiveness of focal customers in order to gain their engagement. Additionally, it provides insight into the conditions under which the role of service recovery transparency can be very effective in dealing with online complaints.
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Sıddık Bozkurt, David Gligor, Linda D. Hollebeek and Cameron Sumlin
This article explores how firms' unresponsiveness to Black customer feedback influences Black (vs. White) customers' perceived firm-based discrimination and brand engagement.
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores how firms' unresponsiveness to Black customer feedback influences Black (vs. White) customers' perceived firm-based discrimination and brand engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Two experimental studies (Study 1(N1) = 254) and Study 1(N2) = 484) are conducted to test the modeled relationships. The data are analyzed using ANOVA, PROCESS Model 4 and PROCESS Model 7.
Findings
The findings suggest that though perceived discrimination remains modest in all conditions, Black (vs. White) respondents report higher perceived discrimination when the firm fails to respond to a Black customer's negative or neutral (but not positive) brand-related feedback on social media. The results also indicate that Black (vs. White) customers exhibit lower engagement through perceived discrimination in the case of the firm's unresponsiveness to a Black customer's negative and neutral (but not positive) brand-related feedback regardless of the manager's race.
Originality/value
Prior research on intercultural service encounters and ethnic differences in consumer engagement on social media are combined to examine the relationship between customer race and perceived discrimination based on the firm's unresponsiveness to customers' social media posts.
Research limitations/implications
Manipulations were created based on a fictitious e-tailer. Thus, it is recommend that future researchers examine the extent to which the findings hold for existing (r)etailers. In addition, future studies using secondary data could provide additional evidence for the findings.
Practical implications
Managerial attention is accentuated among customer feedback responsiveness, engagement and perceived firm discrimination. Managers are encouraged to adopt communication strategies that complement the firm's strategy and social media presence.
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Shahriar Akter, Mujahid Mohiuddin Babu, Tasnim M. Taufique Hossain, Bidit Lal Dey, Hongfei Liu and Pallavi Singh
The main purpose of this study is to fill the research gap on how B2B global service firms integrate dynamic capabilities within their omnichannel management to influence positive…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study is to fill the research gap on how B2B global service firms integrate dynamic capabilities within their omnichannel management to influence positive word of mouth (WOM), customer engagement (CE) and customer equity.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the dynamic capability and WOM theories, a model has been developed that defines the subjects of the empirical test. The paper reports on data collected from 312 service-oriented global firms in Australia, through a cross-sectional survey. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings suggest that content management (i.e. information consistency, source trustworthiness and endorsement) and concerns management (i.e. privacy, security and recovery) capabilities are the two significant antecedents of positive WOM within a B2B omnichannel setting in international marketing. The findings also confirm the key mediating role of CE between positive WOM and customer equity.
Originality/value
The findings extend dynamic capability theory in the context of international marketing by linking WOM, CE and customer equity. The findings add further theoretical rigor by establishing the nomological chain between positive WOM and customer equity, in which CE plays a key mediating role.
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Tiina Kemppainen and Tiina Elina Paananen
This study examines the dualities of digital services – that is, how customers’ favorite everyday digital services can positively and negatively contribute to their well-being…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the dualities of digital services – that is, how customers’ favorite everyday digital services can positively and negatively contribute to their well-being. Thus, the study describes the meanings of favorite digital services as part of customers’ everyday lives and the types of well-being to which such services can contribute.
Design/methodology/approach
We used a qualitative research approach through semi-structured interviews conducted in 2021 to collect data from 14 young adults (22–31 years old) who actively used digital services in their daily lives.
Findings
Our findings revealed that customers’ favorite everyday digital services can contribute to their mental well-being, social well-being, and intellectual well-being. Within these three dimensions of well-being, we identified nine dualities of digital services that describe their positive and negative contributions: (1) digital escapism versus digital disruption, (2) digital relaxation versus digital stress, (3) digital empowerment versus digital subjugation, (4) digital augmentation versus digital emptiness, (5) digital socialization versus digital isolation, (6) digital togetherness versus digital exclusion, (7) digital self-expression versus digital pressure, (8) digital learning versus digital dependence, and (9) digital inspiration versus digital stagnation.
Practical implications
These findings suggest that everyday digital services have the potential to contribute to customer well-being in various aspects – both positively and negatively – accentuating the need for service providers to decipher the impacts of their offerings on well-being. Indeed, understanding the relationship between digital services and customer well-being can help companies tailor their services to customers’ needs. Companies that prioritize customer well-being not only benefit their customers but also create sustainable growth opportunities in the long run. Further, companies can use the derived information in service design to develop marketing strategies that emphasize the positive impacts of their digital services on customer well-being.
Originality/value
Although prior transformative service studies have investigated the well-being of multiple stakeholders, such studies have focused on services related to the physical and healthcare domains. Consequently, the role of everyday digital services as contributors to customer well-being is an under-researched topic. In addition, the concept of well-being and its various dimensions has received limited attention in previous service research. By investigating everyday digital services and their multidimensional contribution to customer well-being, this study broadens the perspective on well-being within TSR and aids in refining a more precise conceptualization.
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Min Qin, Wei Zhu, Jinxia Pan, Shuqin Li and Shanshan Qiu
Enterprises build online product community to expect users to contribute: opinion sharing (content contribution) and product consumption (product contribution). Previous…
Abstract
Purpose
Enterprises build online product community to expect users to contribute: opinion sharing (content contribution) and product consumption (product contribution). Previous literature rarely focused on both. The purpose of this paper is to explain user contribution mechanism by identifying content contribution and product contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
This research chose Xiaomi-hosted online product community (bbs.xiaomi.cn) and Huawei-hosted online product community (club.huawei.com) where users can freely share ideas and buy products at the same time. Data were crawled from 109,665 community users to construct dependent variable measurement, and 611 questionnaires were used to verify research hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that both cognitive needs and personal integration needs have a significant positive impact on browse behavior; social integration needs and hedonic needs have a significant positive impact on content contribution behavior. Browse behavior not only directly affects but also indirectly influences product contribution through content contribution behavior.
Research limitations/implications
Findings of this research provide community managers with useful insights into the relationship between content contribution and product contribution.
Originality/value
This study explains the formation mechanism of user product contribution and reveals the relationship between user content contribution and product contribution in online product community. This paper provides a different way of theorizing user contributions by incorporating uses and gratifications theory into the “Motivation-Behavior-Result” framework.
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Inma Rodríguez-Ardura, Antoni Meseguer-Artola, Doaa Herzallah and Qian Fu
There is an ongoing challenge to map the efficacy of e-retailing strategies in building both value co-creation opportunities for online customers and customer value for companies…
Abstract
Purpose
There is an ongoing challenge to map the efficacy of e-retailing strategies in building both value co-creation opportunities for online customers and customer value for companies. Based on the service-dominant (S-D) logic, an integrative model is provided that connects the impact of convenience and personalisation strategies (CPSs) on an e-retailer's performance – by offering co-creation opportunities and customer engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey instrument is validated and the model is tested with data from active online customers using a novel methodology that blends artificial neural network (ANN) analysis with partial least squares (PLS) in both the measurement model and the path analysis.
Findings
The findings robustly support the model and yield evidence of the contribution of CPSs in effective value propositions, the interface between the S-D logic and customer engagement, and the direct effect of customer engagement on tangible forms of value for companies.
Originality/value
This study is the first scholarly effort to provide a comprehensive understanding of how and why CPSs can maximise customer value for the e-retailer, while simultaneously testing the customer value/engagement interface with a new blended ANN-PLS method.
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K.R. Jayasimha, Himanshu Shekhar Srivastava, K. Sivakumar and Manoharan Sivaraman
This study aims to explore consumer motivations to mitigate the contagion effect in access-based consumption after instances of prior customer misbehavior. Reverse contagion…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore consumer motivations to mitigate the contagion effect in access-based consumption after instances of prior customer misbehavior. Reverse contagion, demonstrated through customer citizenship behavior, entails using both firm-provided and personal resources to cocreate value, even in the presence of norm violations by others. The research delves into the influence of empathy, narrative appeal and past misbehavior severity on customer behavior, specifically in the context of reverse contagion.
Design/methodology/approach
Two scenario-based studies and a field study were used within the context of scooter-sharing to assess the conceptual model. Study 1 (n = 156) and Study 2 (n = 97) were conducted through surveys. Study 3 (n = 54) was a field study.
Findings
The results emphasize the crucial role of empathy in breaking the cycle of misbehavior contagion. Specifically, the findings suggest that narrative appeals have the potential foster greater empathy, encouraging customers to counteract the contagion. However, the intensity of prior misbehavior lessens the efficacy of narrative appeals in triggering reverse contagion, thereby moderating the mediating effect of empathy.
Originality/value
This study investigates reverse contagion stemming from customer misbehavior in accessed-based consumption. It delves into the impact of empathy, narrative appeal and previous misbehavior on the dynamics of value codestruction and cocreation. This comprehensive examination of these factors within a unified framework represents a new contribution to the literature. The results illuminate this intricate phenomenon, offering valuable insights for managers to address adverse customer behavior and harness the positive aspects of reverse contagion.
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Oussama Saoula, Muhammad Farrukh Abid, Munawar Javed Ahmad, Amjad Shamim, Ataul Karim Patwary and Maha Mohammed Yusr
It is widely evident that trust and commitment are important pillars for strengthening the relationship between financial service firms and their customers. However, it has not…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely evident that trust and commitment are important pillars for strengthening the relationship between financial service firms and their customers. However, it has not been explored how the service quality, perceived cost and role of agents are important for financial service firms. To overcome this gap, this study aims to investigate the role of service quality, perceived cost and the role of agents as the commitment–trust factors in the financial insurance service (Takaful) in Malaysia, enhancing customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The study follows a quantitative design in which primary data was collected using a survey instrument. The measurement instrument was adapted from the previous research, and data were collected from 264 customers of the Takaful financial service organizations in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using variance-based structural equational modeling in Smart-PLS software.
Findings
This research has revealed several useful insights that demonstrate a significant impact on service quality, perceived cost and the agents’ role in forging close relationships with their customers. Corporate image has a moderating role in relationships and has significantly impacted takaful insurance companies. The results imply that regardless of the corporate image of the financial service organizations, customers are concerned about the prices and the quality of the agents’ services.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, only the predictors such as service quality, perceived costs and agents’ roles as trust–commitment factors were examined to determine customer satisfaction. Other investigations are highly recommended, such as value co-creation in takaful, takaful customer experience and takaful trust. This study offers insights to takaful insurance companies on how to keep up a positive corporate image, which will boost their trust–commitment factors and ultimately increase customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
By presenting commitment–trust factors and company image in an identifiable framework, the current study has expanded the discussion on takaful financial insurance services. The methodology is developed and rigorously tested to gauge customer satisfaction in takaful financial service organizations’ context.
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