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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the different dimensions of involvement and customer engagement (CE) and analyze the influence of CE on loyalty in an online retail context. The study also tests the mediation of CE between the facets of involvement and loyalty.

The study employed a survey for data collection from online retail website users and analyzed the data with partial least squares – structural equation modeling.

The results reveal that the dimensions of involvement drive engagement differently. The risk importance and risk probability do not influence CE whereas the sign, interest, and pleasure are positively associated with CE. Furthermore, CE mediates the link between sign, interest, and pleasure dimensions of involvement and loyalty.

This study provides insights for the managers that the perception of value from a brand starts at its product category level and values like sign, interest, and pleasure can be provided to the customers by not only brand consumption but also by engaging them with the brand.

This is among the first studies to have empirically tested the effect of dimensions of involvement on CE and explain the role of engagement as a means for the customers to achieve expected values. It also contributes to the extant CE literature by testing its mediating role between involvement dimensions and loyalty, thus augmenting the studies, which have explored the antecedents and consequences of CE.

The purpose of the paper is to examine bank customer involvement and the importance of risk when contemplating the purchase of financial products.

The paper is a discussion of the literature on customer involvement, risk and interaction forms the basis for a series of focus discussion groups and facilitates the design of a questionnaire. The questionnaire is used to collect information on bank customer involvement and confidence when purchasing a comprehensive range of financial products. The data is analysed using cluster analysis.

The paper finds that the clusters provide evidence to suggest that the market consist of a number of distinctive customer segments. Although the research suggests that the market might be changing and becoming more “active”, the majority of bank customers are still essentially “passive”.

The sample size means that it is not fully representative of the UK banking population. The findings also raise a number of issues, which require further research, such as, the possibility that customer involvement could be used as the basis for segmenting the customer base.

There appears to be an overwhelming customer need for more product information and more involvement with banks. This has major implications for the banks in formulating and implementing relationship management strategies.

The paper provides new insights into the importance of customer involvement when purchasing a range of financial products.

This paper aims to examine the quadratic relationship between customer involvement capability and performance, and innovation of small- and medium-scale service firms. The study answers the critical question of how SMEs make the most benefit from their involvement capability.

Data from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the service sector of an emerging economy in sub-Saharan Africa were used. A two-stage data analysis with a quadratic estimation was used to assess the hypothesized relationships.

The study found that the influence of involvement capability over SME performance differs in terms of financial and non-financial. And that, while increasing customer involvement will improve non-financial performance such as customer satisfaction and service quality, it is only at the intermediate level that financial performance is optimized.

The relationships (involvement, and performance and innovation) are not linear, and that at some levels, the relationship with financial or non-financial performance is more positive than other levels. The findings also suggest that involvement capability influences both process and product innovations most at intermediate levels than at low and high levels.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among suppliers’ trust and commitment, transaction-specific investment, switching cost, and customer involvement within the context of relational governance mechanism and the social exchange theory.

The authors use survey data from 214 Chinese manufacturing firms and employ the structural equation model to verify the conceptual model.

Relational governance benefits customer involvement. Transaction-specific investment mediates the relationship between trust and commitment of suppliers. Switching costs negatively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ trust and customer involvement, but positively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ commitment and customer involvement.

The authors focus on two key elements of relationship, namely, trust and commitment of suppliers, but neglect other relational factors, such as relational norms and interdependence.

These findings broaden the understanding and present new directions for the implementation of customer involvement from the perspective of relational governance and social exchange theory.

As global markets grow increasingly efficient, competition no longer takes place between individual businesses, but between entire supply chains. Collaboration can provide the competitive edge that enables all the business partners in a supply chain to prevail and grow. This paper presents a framework for customer‐supplier collaboration that facilitates effective and efficient supply chain operation. The paper reveals that the level of involvement of customers and suppliers differs across different supply chain processes and also across different sectors. While the involvement of customers is high in demand management and product development, the involvement of suppliers is high in transportation and inventory management processes. The paper also reveals that about 50 percent of the organizations surveyed indicate that suppliers and customers have little or virtually no role in the demand management, inventory management, and product development processes.

The study addresses the effect of product usage, satisfaction derived out of the same and the brand switching behaviour in several product categories while looking at the product involvement level in the Indian marketplace. A fair amount of work has been done in the area of customer satisfaction and loyalty and many customer satisfaction indexes are available in the market using different variables and characteristics. The study attempts to understand the brand switching behaviour of the customers and its relation not with just satisfaction derived out of the product but also connects to the usage pattern of the customers and product involvement. Five categories (vehicles, television, soap, hair oil, and ice cream), involving varying levels of involvement were chosen. Cluster analysis was used to understand the grouping of the characteristics across the categories and their effect on brand switching behaviour in correlation with satisfaction and involvement level. It was observed that product usage and related level of satisfaction fail to explain the brand switching behaviour. Product involvement was found to have moderate impact on readiness to switch. The study emphasises that marketers will have to keep a constant eye to understand the usage pattern associated with their products and the satisfaction derived out of it and also at how customers involve themselves with the product to lessen the brand switching behaviour among their customers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of online reviews on consumers’ intention to visit restaurants, with the moderating role of involvement.

The research framework was built on signaling theory, message appeals and involvement theory. To test the proposed framework, three experiments were conducted online with real customer samples. T-tests, ANOVA and SPSS PROCESS macro were used for data analysis.

The results revealed that online reviews with higher online ratings and emotional appeal led to higher restaurant visit intention. Review appeal significantly moderated the effect of online ratings on restaurant visit intention. Customers with low restaurant involvement were more impacted by emotional comments than by functional comments.

The present study extends our knowledge on the effects of online reviews moderated by levels of customer involvement. By combining signaling theory with involvement theory, it adds value to the literature on customer online behavior, especially in the foodservice context. The present study has limitations that might provide opportunities for future research. It used evaluations (TripAdvisor scores) and only positive reviews (texts), so customers’ intentions considering negative reviews could not be examined. The level of hedonism concerning consumption in restaurants and prior knowledge regarding restaurant reviews was not controlled for. It is possible that the level of hedonism perceived and prior review knowledge may moderate the customers’ intention to visit the restaurant.

The present study shows the importance of online comments for the promotion of restaurants that have low evaluation scores. It is essential that restaurant owners and managers encourage potential customers by using comments to elaborate on their marketing strategies and promotion. At the same time, they should invite customers to share their emotional experiences, and not just their views on service efficiency (a functional aspect). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the internet and mobile devices has become more prominent. Managers could therefore use emotional messages on the restaurant’s website or apps to attract customers with low restaurant involvement. Also, a system to identify the involvement of customers with restaurants could be implemented online or on mobile devices to present specific messages. The present study also recommends the use of online tools as virtual tours, photographs taken from different angles, smiling faces, floor plans and sittings and pre-determined emotional expressions. Also, the restaurant could promote lives on cooking different dishes to motive customer’s interaction and comments. These would help to increase customers’ visit intentions.

This study extends knowledge about the effect of restaurant online reviews (both ratings and appeals) moderated by the level of customer involvement. The present study also adds value to the customer online behavior literature showing that customers with low involvement are more sensitive to emotional content as they use the affective route to process information rather than the central route.

在线评论对餐厅到访意愿的影响：运用信号理论和参与理论

本研究旨在探索以顾客参与度作为调节变量, 关于在线评论对餐厅到访意愿的影响。

本文以信号理论, 信息诉求, 参与理论来建立研究框架。为测试提出的理论框架, 本研究进行了三个在线消费者实验。T-检验, 方差分析, 和SPSS PROCESS 来作为统计方法。

研究发现评论分值越高, 运用感情诉求往往导致更高度的到访意愿。评论的诉求形式显著调节了评分对到访意愿的影响。对于参与度较低的顾客, 情感诉求比功能性诉求更加能影响顾客意愿。

本研究对餐厅在线评论（评分和诉求种类）对顾客到访意愿影响, 以及如何被消费者参与度所调节贡献了新知识。本研究对消费者在线行为做出了贡献, 发现参与度较低的顾客对和情感有关的内容更敏感, 相对于中央路径, 由于此类顾客更倾向于情感路径来处理信息。

The aim is to propose a conceptual framework consisting of research propositions concerning the key strategies required for the successful involvement of customers in the co‐creation of new technology‐based services.

The methodology involves a single case study from which data are derived and analyzed using the grounded theory methodology of “constant comparative analysis.” User‐generated ideas for future mobile phone services are collected from four user involvement projects and analyzed at several workshops attended by senior managers from telecommunications firms.

Seven key strategies are identified as being essential for successful user involvement in new product development. Each strategy is described and illustrated in relation to existing theory and presented as a research proposition.

The exploratory nature of the research means that the findings are tentative and need to be confirmed in other settings by other researchers, including quantitative large‐scale studies.

The results of the study provide management with guidelines for organizing successful user involvement projects with a market‐oriented approach.

Despite the increasing popularity of user involvement, little research has examined the conditions required for successful user involvement in new product development. This study makes an original contribution by proposing strategies critical for a successful outcome.

The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer involvement with a popular US-based coffee-shop brand consumer-generated advertising (CGA) and its effect on brand loyalty and trust, to test the influence of antecedents: organizational transparency and brand authenticity on CGA involvement, and to analyze differences among customers and non-customers of the brand.

Grounded in the service-dominant logic and signaling theory, a scenario-based survey describing a contest to co-create a video commercial, as CGA, for a prominent US-based coffee-shop brand, yielded 492 responses from recent restaurant patrons. Structural equation modeling was used to test the effects of involvement in CGA on loyalty and trust. Multi-group comparison examined the differences between customers and non-customers of the brand.

Involvement in CGA had positive effects on loyalty and trust for both brand customers and non-customers. Transparency builds perceptions of brand authenticity; both authenticity and transparency significantly and positively affected trust, but only authenticity influenced loyalty. There was a stronger impact of involvement with CGA on loyalty for non-customers than brand customers. Non-customer perceptions of the brand’s authenticity influenced brand trust more significantly than customer perceptions.

Coffee-shop brand marketers should leverage online and physical brand exposure to involve both customers and non-customers in company-driven CGA, as a relationship management and marketing tool. Marketers should enhance transparency, which builds perceptions of brand authenticity, leading to greater CGA involvement.

This study contributes to hospitality research and literature, revealing that non-customers can be converted to brand customers through authenticity and indirect involvement with CGA, leading to long-term relational outcomes. The results identified consumers’ perception of organizational transparency is an antecedent of brand authenticity and established CGA contests as a relational marketing tool for hospitality brands.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customer involvement in product development creates an emotional connection, satisfaction, and subsequent loyalty toward fast-fashion retailers across high vs low fashion-conscious consumers.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gain understandings of the impacts of customer involvement. To explore customers’ general perceptions of fast-fashion retailers, a focus group interview with 11 US students was conducted. Data for a hypothesis test were obtained from 306 US female consumers and analyzed through structural equational modeling.

The findings underscored the relational benefits of involving customers in product development and the substantial moderating impact of female customers’ fashion consciousness.

The study’s findings support that the customer-brand relationship can be solidified by proactively involving customers in product development. This is beyond benefits derived from leveraging customers’ operant resources in product innovation. Thus, apparel retailers should take such interactive opportunities to build relationships with customers. Also, involving customers in product development can be a critical way for fast-fashion retailers to establish an emotional bond with and loyalty from consumers with a low level of fashion consciousness. Thus, any digital opinion platform designed to foster customer involvement should be managed with the customer-brand relationship in mind.

This study contributes to the emerging body of literature on customer involvement in product development in fast-paced retailing by elucidating the psychological process through which their participation strengthens the customer-brand relationship manifested in emotional, evaluative, and behavioral responses to the brand, and by identifying a consumer attribute that fortifies this process.