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Groonroos (1990) notes that in the traditional literature on marketing the concept ‘marketing management’ is used to describe the practical applications of marketing and he suggests that this is perfectly appropriate in the case of consumer goods. However, he goes on to argue that in a service context the whole organisation has to be supportive to marketing and he concludes that marketing is an integral part of any theory of service management. One of the central themes in the rapidly growing services marketing and management literature (Berry and Parasuraman 1993) is the nature of the interactions and relationships between the service provider's personnel and the customer. Such a theme has been defined in a variety of ways. There has been considerable interest, for example, in the ‘Service Encounter’ or ‘Moment of Truth’ (Carlzon 1987) i.e., in the direct face‐to‐face contacts between the customer and the employers of the service firm whilst Solomon et.al., (1985) argue that this encounter has a major impact on service differentiation, quality control, delivery systems and customer satisfaction. Gronroos (1990) takes a longer term view in developing a relationship definition of marketing as being concerned “to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers … at a profit so that the objectives of the parties are met” (p.138). Bateson (1989) recognises the importance of the service encounter but also stresses that the non face‐to‐face interactions and the quality of the service environment must also be considered. This leads him to suggest that any conceptualisation of services marketing should include all kinds of possible interactions and that consideration should also be given to the ‘service experience’ rather than just to the service encounter.

An increasing number of customers are using customer-to-customer (C2C) platforms to buy and sell products and services. Despite this growth, little research has examined customer experiences with C2C e-commerce. This study examines how informational and emotional interactions affect customer patronage behaviors by increasing customer trust in both sellers and platforms.

A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 181 customers of C2C platforms in the United States. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

The results show that informational interactions affect customer trust both in sellers and platforms, resulting in customer loyalty. The findings also show that emotional interactions affect customer trust in sellers. Multi-group analyses suggest that the impacts of informational and emotional interactions on trust vary depending on customer demographics.

Theoretical implications in this study arise from (1) examination of customer experiences with C2C platforms using the stimulus-organism-response framework, (2) identification of the role of informational and emotional interactions in the formation of trust and (3) exploration of the ways in which customer gender, age and income affect the connection between experiences and consequences in C2C settings.

From a practical perspective, this study provides useful guidelines to help C2C business practitioners increase customer patronage behavior by means of interactions and trust.

This study provides practical and academic implications by examining how customer interactions affect customer trust in e-commerce C2C platforms.

The study explored the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion enterprises in the emerging markets. The moderating role of COVID-19 protocols implementations on buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction was further examined.

Buyer–seller interactions affecting customer satisfaction were divided into three constructs, namely, interactions relating to the overall customers shopping experience, smooth payment process and in-store interactions, and the COVID-19 protocols implementations were used as a moderator. A convenient sampling strategy was adopted to survey 450 customers of apparel fashion enterprises within the four regions in Ghana, of which 397 were validly used for the analysis. Existing questionnaires were adapted to collect data from the respondents. The data collected was therefore analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS programme to ascertain the nature of the relationships among the variables.

The study found that, in-store interactions, shopping experience and smooth payment processes directly influence customer satisfaction. However, the implementation of COVID-19 protocols failed to moderate the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction.

The limitations of the study involve its context-specific, focusing on the small apparel and fashion market. Also, future researchers can re-examine the model in other geographical jurisdictions, focusing on small apparel owners’ competencies and other variables that position buyer–seller interactions as precursors of customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion industry. The theoretical and managerial relevance of the findings are also discussed.

The paper extends the domain of buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction phenomena within the apparel fashion industry. Its examination of the impact of COVID-19 protocols’ implementation on customer satisfaction provides an insight into managers regarding how the applications can affect customers in a typical shopping environment.

Previous research has studied interactive value formation (IVF) using resource- or practice-based approaches but has neglected the role of emotions. This article aims to show how emotions are correlated in problematic social media interactions and explore their role in IVF.

By combining a text mining algorithm, nonparametric Spearman's rho and thematic qualitative analysis in an explanatory sequential mixed-method design, the authors (1) categorize customers' comments as positive, neutral or negative; (2) pinpoint peaks of negative comments; (3) classify problematic interactions as detrimental, contradictory or conflictual; (4) identify customers' main positive (joy, trust and surprise) and negative emotions (anger, dissatisfaction, disgust, fear and sadness) and (5) correlate these emotions.

Despite several problematic social interactions, the same pattern of emotions appears but with different intensities. Additionally, value co-creation, value no-creation and value co-destruction co-occur in a context of problematic social interactions (peak of negative comments).

This study provides new insights into the effect of customers' emotions during IVF by studying the links between positive and negative emotions and their effects on different sorts of problematic social interactions.

This study examines how customer loyalty among DiDi users in China is affected by two types of online social interaction (transactional and interpersonal) and how the online interaction–customer loyalty relationship is mediated by three kinds of perceived benefits (functional, social-hedonic and safety).

This study empirically examines research hypotheses based on a questionnaire survey of 428 DiDi consumers.

The results reveal that transactional interactions significantly enhance customer loyalty among DiDi users via the partial mediating effects of customers' perceived functional, social-hedonic and safety benefits. By contrast, interpersonal interactions do not directly influence customer loyalty, and only social-hedonic benefits fully mediate the positive influence of interpersonal interactions on loyalty.

This study contributes to the theoretical development of interactive marketing management by examining how two types of online social interactions contribute to customer loyalty on sharing economy platforms by influencing the perception of benefits. It also provides useful managerial insights to help ride-sharing platforms design online social interaction functions that improve customer perceptions and loyalty.

The increasing popularity of immersive activities (e.g. immersive performing art (IPA) at tourism destinations calls for the need to understand customers’ immersive experiences and its impact on their attitudes and behavioral intentions. This study aims to conceptualize customers’ interactive experience in IPA and systematically examine how interaction in IPA experience shapes customers’ word-of-mouth (WOM) intention and thus generates business values for destination managers.

A two-step mixed-methods approach was used. The qualitative study was adopted to identify the salient dimensions of interaction in IPA experience and develop a context-specific measurement scale. Structural equation modeling approach was applied to test the theoretical model using partial least squares 3.3.0.

The results indicated that the three dimensions of interaction in IPA experience (i.e. parasocial interaction, narrative interaction and environmental interaction) are positively related to customers’ experiences of narrative transportation and self-expansion related to the IPA, which further influence their WOM intention.

This study considers IPA as an emerging form of immersive tourism activities and conceptualizes its interactive nature, and contributes to the understanding of how customers’ interactive experience helps them construct meanings through narrative transportation, and offers valuable guidance for IPA designers and destination management organizations.

Drawing on the self-determination theory, the assemblage theory and customer experience literature, this paper aims to develop a framework to understand motivational customer experiences with chatbots.

This paper uses a multimethod approach to examine the interaction between individuals and airlines’ chatbots. Three components of self-determined interaction with the chatbot (competence, autonomy and relatedness) and five components of the customer–chatbot experience (sensory, intellectual, affective, behavioral and social) are analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.

The findings confirm the direct influence of self-determined interaction on customer experience and the direct effects of these two constructs on participants’ attitudes toward and satisfaction with the chatbot. The model also supports the mediating roles of customer experience and attitude toward the chatbot.

This paper offers managers a broad understanding of individuals’ interactions with chatbots through three elements: motivation to use chatbots, experiential responses and individuals’ valuation of whether the interactions have amplified (or limited) the outcomes obtained from the experience.

This paper contributes to the hospitality and tourism literature with a hybrid approach that reflects on current theoretical developments regarding human- and interaction-centric interpretations of customer experience with chatbots.

Technological advances have made a significant impact on the banking sector in recent years, with a key development being the introduction of technological and remote channels of interaction. While some research has been undertaken to establish the level of acceptance by customers of these channels, most of this research has examined retail banking customers’ attitudes to, and adoption of, remote interaction channels. This paper reports the findings of a study which has investigated channel preferences amongst corporate customers of a leading retail and corporate bank in the UK. Specifically, it seeks to differentiate between smaller business customers and larger customers. The key findings are that all customers prefer personalised interaction and that smaller customers, who are generally less profitable for banks than large clients, show relatively less willingness to embrace technological means of communication and to insist on personal interaction with their bank.

Focuses on customer‐to‐customer interaction between strangers. It begins by reviewing the literature in the field and establishing a number of roles that customers may play while participating in this type of interaction. The study then goes on to measure the frequency of interaction and the propensity of 467 garden centre customers to adopt the roles identified by the literature (namely helpseeker and help providers). From analysis of their responses the authors are able to produce typical role scripts associated with each of the roles identified. These will help those interested in managing and facilitating these potentially valuable interactions and give some structure for future research in the area.

The unprecedented changes in the marketplace induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant accelerated corporate migration to virtual ecosystems have added several unique research opportunities and theoretical gaps, especially in business-to-business (B2B) small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) markets in the service sector. Particularly, customer interactions in B2B services that were once sustained by the “people mix” now demand a huge overhaul in light of the “new normal” restrictions. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore how B2B service firms can engender firm value through virtual customer interactions during and in the post-COVID-19 era from an SME’s perspective.

This study adopts an exploratory qualitative inquiry to contribute to this discourse by proposing a conceptual framework based on prior literature and relevant theoretical frameworks, as well as qualitative interviews with SME managers, CEOs and/or owner-managers.

The qualitative findings reveal organizational preparedness, empathy, digital content and trust as key enablers of effective B2B virtual interaction that enhances cocreated value, thereby augmenting firm value. This study offers a much-needed examination of virtual interaction in B2B contexts and proposes a business customer virtual interaction model.

The exploratory nature of this study is one limitation, and future studies with a bigger representative sample size that uses survey or experimental data drawn from large enterprises might add value to the current findings. Also, while this study is conducted in dynamic markets due to the COVID-19 crisis, future research must examine the customer/firm’s experiences in other forms of crises-led market ecosystems.

B2B service firms must be strongly inclined to continuously take steps to develop and maintain virtual interaction with customers. Proactive efforts to familiarize internal and external stakeholders with virtual interaction platforms are a crucial step for effective customer engagement. The effectiveness of B2B virtual interactions can be strengthened through digital content that elicits trust and exhibits empathy, especially in crises led-markets. Also, the value created for the firm must be redeployed strategically to sustain positive customer engagement behaviors that continue to deliver value to the firm and the customer.

This paper contributes to the increasing B2B customer engagement literature by exploring the ongoing dialogue on how B2B firms can strive and succeed in the post-COVID-19 era or related crises-led market ecosystems through enhanced virtual B2B customer interaction efforts.