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Article
Publication date: 22 March 2024

Muhammad Junaid, Kiane Goudarzi, Muhammad Faisal Rasheed and Gilles N’Goala

Contrary to want-based services, customer participation has got lesser attention in high-credence services like health care. Customer participation for patients with chronic…

Abstract

Purpose

Contrary to want-based services, customer participation has got lesser attention in high-credence services like health care. Customer participation for patients with chronic illnesses could be life-threatening and goes beyond the service organization’s physical environment. Realizing the importance of transformative service research in health-care services, this study aims to propose and validate the conceptualization of customer participation for patients with chronic illnesses.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses sequential exploratory research design with mixed method research. The first phase is a qualitative exploration of the nature and meaning of customer participation by synthesizing theory and insights from semi-structured interviews (N = 75) with doctors, patients and paramedical staff. Next, survey data (N = 690) of patients with chronic illnesses is used to validate the proposed conceptualization. Finally, nomological validity was also tested on an additional survey data set (N = 362) using SEM and FsQCA.

Findings

The findings reveal that health-care customer participation is a three-dimensional behavioral construct in which a customer can participate by sharing information, involving in decision-making and ensuring compliance. The study also demonstrates that customer participation is a critical driver of satisfaction with life and perceived control on illness.

Practical implications

The research provides policy guidelines for owners and operators of health-care organizations in developing frameworks for collecting participation data, which can be used in strategies for seeking customer participation.

Originality/value

The research conceptualizes and validates “customer participation” as a multidimensional higher-order construct for patients with chronic illnesses, rarely focused in services marketing and management research on health care.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2023

Todd Morgan, Wesley Friske, Marko Kohtamäki and Paul Mills

This paper aims to examine how customer participation in new service development (NSD) and customer relationship management (CRM) technology can improve the NSD performance of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how customer participation in new service development (NSD) and customer relationship management (CRM) technology can improve the NSD performance of manufacturing firms. Additionally, the paper examines CRM technology usage to understand how it impacts new service performance both individually and jointly with customer participation in NSD.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is a survey of 216 manufacturing managers who are overseeing the development of new services at their organizations. For the analysis, structural equation modeling is used with Amos 22.0. Measures of all latent variables in the analysis pass the traditional tests for reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity. Furthermore, the results of a common latent factor test for common method variance and Harman’s one-factor test indicate that common method bias is not a source of endogeneity in the model.

Findings

Customer participation has a positive effect on NSD performance. CRM technology usage also has a positive effect on NSD performance. The effect of customer participation on NSD performance is enhanced by CRM technology. The results of a post hoc analysis suggest that the usage of CRM technology has the most benefit for managing the technical aspects of customer participation.

Research limitations/implications

This study has methodological limitations that may impact the generalizability of results. For instance, it is based on cross-sectional self-reported survey data, which is more subjective than longitudinal secondary data. Survey research lacks the depth and nuance of qualitative research designs, which are commonly employed to study NSD. In addition, this study focuses on large US manufacturing firms. The authors do not include small firms or international organizations in the sample. Despite these limitations, they believe the findings can provide significant contributions to the NSD literature.

Practical implications

Although prior research has shown that customer participation and CRM technology can individually influence new product development (NPD) performance, the results indicate they are equally effective factors in the development of new services. Furthermore, the authors show that customer participation can be enhanced via the use of CRM technologies. The interaction is more pronounced within the technical aspects of NSD.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the NSD literature, and it also has implications for managers leading NSD efforts in traditional tangible-product industries. The findings provide additional evidence that customer participation is an effective NSD strategy for manufacturing firms (Morgan et al., 2019). Furthermore, CRM technology is integral to NSD performance. CRM technology not only has a direct effect on NSD performance, but the interaction term of customer participation by CRM technology also has a positive effect on NSD performance.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 September 2023

Yves Van Vaerenbergh, Annelies Costers and Anja Van den Broeck

The optimal level of customer participation is an important factor in service design. However, researchers know little about the impact of customer participation for their…

Abstract

Purpose

The optimal level of customer participation is an important factor in service design. However, researchers know little about the impact of customer participation for their willingness to pay and hence organizations’ financial outcomes. This paper examines the impact of customer participation in a pay-what-you-want (PWYW) pricing system, allowing customers to pay any price they want for a product or service.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports the results of three experiments, in which the authors manipulated the level of customer participation (Study 1: Low versus high, Study 2: Medium versus high, Study 3: Low versus medium versus high) and measured customers' PWYW payments (Studies 1–3), customer satisfaction (Studies 1–3), perceived equity (Study 3) and perceived enjoyment (Study 3). Studies 1 and 3 were scenario-based experiments, while study 2 was a field experiment. Study 3 was preregistered.

Findings

The results support a direct effect of customer participation in service production on customer PWYW payments, yet only when comparing low to high levels of customer participation. High levels of customer participation lead to a decrease in perceived equity and an increase in perceived enjoyment, which in turn spilled over to customer PWYW payments through customer satisfaction.

Originality/value

This research provides causal evidence at the individual level of analysis for the relationship between customer participation in service production and financial results. The paper also provides insights into its underlying mechanisms.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 July 2023

Marya Tabassum, Muhammad Mustafa Raziq, John Lewis Rice, Felipe Mendes Borini and Anees Wajid

Taking a co-creation perspective and integrating knowledge-based and resource-based perspectives, the authors examine the role of customer participation in organizational…

Abstract

Purpose

Taking a co-creation perspective and integrating knowledge-based and resource-based perspectives, the authors examine the role of customer participation in organizational performance and project success. The authors also investigate the mediating role of knowledge integration and the moderating role of requirement risk for these relationships in uncertain contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors undertook two studies. The first study was carried out in 2018 in which the authors drew on survey data from 150 information technology (IT) sector employees and examined the mediating role of knowledge integration in the relationship of customer participation with organizational performance and project success. In the second study undertaken in 2020, the authors drew on data from 92 IT and telecom sector employees and examined the moderating role of requirement risk in the relationship between customer participation and knowledge integration. Study 2 was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic when employees were largely working from home and were more sensitive to risks and uncertainty about the scope and system requirements. Both studies were survey-based, and analysis was carried out using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The authors’ two-study examination indicated that knowledge integration positively mediates the relationship of customer participation with organizational performance and project success during the co-creation process. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that when requirement risks are high, customer participation relationship with knowledge integration is weaker.

Originality/value

The authors show that integrating customer knowledge is critical to project success and organizational performance. By identifying risk uncertainties and environmental contingencies, the authors highlight the constraints of customer participation for knowledge integration, organizational performance and project success. The authors provide some key study findings based on survey data obtained from project teams during two periods (normal and pandemic).

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2018

Chia-Yi Chen

Previous studies offer two contradictory propositions for the influence of customer participation on service failure attribution. The purpose of this paper is to solve this…

1721

Abstract

Purpose

Previous studies offer two contradictory propositions for the influence of customer participation on service failure attribution. The purpose of this paper is to solve this theoretical inconsistency by incorporating the concept of self-efficacy into its theoretical framework.

Design/methodology/approach

Two 2 (customer participation: high vs low) by 2 (self-efficacy: high vs low) experimental designs were employed under scenarios relating to education and haircut services.

Findings

The results show that customers with high self-efficacy attribute more responsibility to the firms for a service failure as their participation in service increases. In contrast, customers with low self-efficacy are less likely to blame firms for service failures in the high-participation condition than in the low-participation condition.

Practical implications

This study suggests that understanding customers’ self-efficacy could help firms improve recovery performance according to customers’ individual differences if service failure occurs.

Originality/value

The findings help resolve conflicting results reported in the literature and show that the impact of customer participation on service failure attribution differs according to customers’ self-efficacy. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical contribution by enhancing the knowledge of how customer participation influences causal attribution and satisfaction after a service failure.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2017

Shampy Kamboj and Zillur Rahman

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale to measure customer social participation in brand communities, specifically e-travel companies’ communities.

1623

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale to measure customer social participation in brand communities, specifically e-travel companies’ communities.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative research has been undertaken to generate a pool of items. Based on Churchill’s (1979) scale development process, numerous reliability and validity tests have been conducted to confirm the scale structure. Data were collected through online and field surveys from the students and hotel guests who have either subscribed, liked or joined any e-travel service companies’ community brand page using any social networking site or have ever posted or considered reviews and ratings of any e-travel service companies via their official site or via a mobile app while planning their travel.

Findings

The findings depict nine items on a three-dimensional scale for measuring customer participation in travel brand communities created on social networking sites.

Research limitations/implications

The findings provide important implications for hotel and travel managers and are likely to encourage future studies in the field of social media and travel brand communities.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by providing refinement to the distinct operationalization and conceptualization of customer online participation, specifically in social media-based travel brand communities. This paper is the first to develop a multidimensional scale of customer social participation in e-travel companies’ communities. This is a new addition to existing literature, as the majority of empirical studies in this field are from participation other than customer social participation and contexts different from e-travel companies.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9880

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 November 2019

Shampy Kamboj

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how various gratifications obtained in the social media context affect customer participation, and its sequential effect on brand…

5704

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how various gratifications obtained in the social media context affect customer participation, and its sequential effect on brand trust, brand commitment and word of mouth (WOM) in social media brand communities.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 352 respondents who used social media using a survey method. The data were assessed using AMOS with structural equation modeling.

Findings

The findings depicted that among all gratifications obtained in the social media context, information seeking, incentive and brand likeability strongly affect customer participation, which sequentially affect brand trust, commitment and WOM in social media brand communities. In the context of social media brand communities, brand trust partially mediates the relationship between customer participation and its two outcome variables (brand commitment and WOM).

Originality/value

The present paper contributes that theory of uses and gratifications has particular significance and supposed to be provided further importance in the field of social media. It also presents a vivid and rich understanding of why customers use social media and participate in social media brand communities.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 November 2018

Atieh Poushneh and Arturo Z. Vasquez-Parraga

This study aims to answer the following question: How can customer readiness be instrumental in non-technology-based service delivery?

1110

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to answer the following question: How can customer readiness be instrumental in non-technology-based service delivery?

Design/methodology/approach

Using a field study, this research examines the role of customer readiness in customer participation in non-technology-based service delivery and its indirect effects on such customer outcomes as perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and customer willingness to recommend.

Findings

The results show that customer readiness is a second-order construct. It has a significant impact on customer participation in service delivery, which in turn impacts three key service outcomes: customer perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and customer willingness to recommend. Four factors influencing customer readiness (consumer previous experience, consumer desire for control, consumer perceived risk and customer organizational socialization) are also empirically evaluated.

Research limitations/implications

Some limitations of the study are related to sample size and use of a type of services. The research tested 13 hypotheses with a limited sample size in one context. A better representation of the population and a more generalizable outcome require more representative samples and studies in various contexts such as banking, hotel services or health care services. This study demonstrated the importance of customer readiness for effective participation in non-technology-based service delivery; it does not address the impact of customer readiness on participation in the context of technology-based services. Future research may also shed light on when and why customers choose technology-based services versus non-technology-based services.

Practical implications

Effective customer participation in service delivery can, and should, benefit from boosting customer readiness.

Originality/value

This research shows the impact of customer readiness on non-technology-based service delivery, more specifically, the impact of customer readiness on customer participation in this type of service delivery. Customer readiness has been found to be beneficial in the provision of technology-based services; yet, its role in the provision of non-technology-based services has not been thoroughly evaluated.

Article
Publication date: 11 December 2017

Babak Taheri, Filipe J. Coelho, Carlos M.P. Sousa and Heiner Evanschitzky

Customers play a key role in value creation. Not surprisingly, research has investigated customers’ motivations to engage in the creation of value. Thus, this study aims to…

2092

Abstract

Purpose

Customers play a key role in value creation. Not surprisingly, research has investigated customers’ motivations to engage in the creation of value. Thus, this study aims to assess the link between mood-regulatory processes and customer participation in value creation.

Design/methodology/approach

This study develops a model that relates mood-regulatory processes to customer participation and customer value creation, and tests it with a sample of 419 hotel customers, using partial least squares estimation.

Findings

It is found that mood clarity relates directly with customer relational value; mood monitoring relates directly with customer participation as well as directly and indirectly with customer economic and relational value; and mood repair relates directly with customer participation and customer economic value, as well as indirectly with customer economic and relational value.

Research limitations/implications

This is a cross-sectional study limited only to hotels in Iran. This is the first study to evaluate the relationship between mood regulation with customer participation and value creation. Hospitality service organizations interested in promoting customer participation may consider mood as a segmentation criterion.

Originality/value

Value creation theory was applied to identify the relationship among customer mood regulation, participation, economic value and relational value, as it is first attempted in the hospitality studies.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 29 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2019

Aswathy Asokan Ajitha, Piyush Sharma, Russel P.J. Kingshott, Upendra Kumar Maurya and Arshinder Kaur

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to transformative service research by drawing on self-determination, elicitation of emotions framework and feelings-as-information…

1593

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to transformative service research by drawing on self-determination, elicitation of emotions framework and feelings-as-information theories to explore how customer participation, task-related affective well-being, customer knowledge, task complexity and service outcomes relate with each other.

Design/methodology/approach

A synthesis of relevant literature on customer participation and customer well-being reveals a conceptual model with 11 testable propositions.

Findings

The conceptual model shows that task-related affective well-being mediates the link between customer participation and service outcomes. Moreover, customer knowledge and task complexity moderate these links.

Research limitations/implications

An empirically testable conceptual model models the roles of task-related affective well-being, customer knowledge and task complexity in the process by which customer participation influences service outcomes.

Practical implications

Service managers can use the model to design services based on the effects of different types of customer participation on task-related affective well-being.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first to study the mediating role of task-related affective well-being in the relationship between customer participation and service outcomes. It does so by revealing the differential impact various types of participation have on service outcomes and the moderating role of customer knowledge and task complexity.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 33 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

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