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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that customer engagement behavior may not always be a positive experience for customers. Specifically, the paper examines the effect of sources of help (employee vs customer) on customer satisfaction, and the underlying mechanism behind such an effect.

Three studies were conducted to test the hypotheses, and bootstrapping was used to analyze the proposed mediation and moderation models.

The results from the studies demonstrated the effect of sources of help (employee vs customer) on customer satisfaction. Specifically, compared to those who have received help from employees, customers who have received help from other customers showed lower satisfaction toward the firm. The relationship between sources of help and satisfaction was mediated by an affective factor, embarrassment, and a cognitive factor, altruistic motivation. In addition, the relationship between embarrassment and satisfaction was moderated by concern for face.

Firms should devote more resources toward minimizing customers’ embarrassment during service encounters and demonstrate altruistic motivation to provide voluntary help to lead customers to reciprocate helping.

The current research provides a new perspective on customer engagement behavior during service encounters. This research highlights the negative outcomes of receiving help from other customers.

Customer-to-customer (C2C) interaction plays a significant role in service. The purpose of this paper is to identify the drivers that motivate customers to interact with other customers, the interactions through which customers affect other customers and the value outcomes of C2C interactions for the participants.

The paper is based on a systematic literature review of C2C interactions. The authors analyzed 142 peer-reviewed articles to synthesize existing knowledge about C2C interactions. A generic value framework is used to categorize earlier research and reveal areas for further research.

The main outcome of this study is an integrative framework of C2C interaction that bridges C2C interactions and customer value. The findings indicate customer-, firm- and situation-induced drivers of C2C interactions. Outcome- and process-focused C2C interactions are identified to result in functional, emotional and social value outcomes. Avenues for additional research to explore issues related to current technology-saturated service settings are proposed.

The paper proposes an agenda for future research to extend the C2C interaction research domain and explore how such interactions create value for the customer. The role of the service provider is not explicitly addressed but is an important area for further research.

Companies can use the framework to understand how they can become involved in and support beneficial C2C interaction.

This paper reviews empirical studies on C2C interaction, offering a systematic review of C2C interaction and producing an integrative framework of C2C interaction. It identifies a research agenda based on the framework and on topical issues within service research and practice.

In this study, the author aimed to measure the effect of customer loyalty on customer citizenship behavior as well as the effect of experience value perceptions of tourist railway journey customers on customer loyalty within the scope of social exchange theory.

The author obtained data from 126 participants who had experienced the tourist railway adventure through random sampling. In the next stage, the author extracted the data obtained with the bootstrapping sample technique to 5,000 samples. The author analyzed these obtained data with the PLS-SEM model with the Smart PLS 3 software.

The results of the research show that the most important experience value dimension that creates loyalty in the touristic railway journey is the emotional value dimension; the second important dimension is the hedonic value dimension and other experience value dimensions did not have any effect on customer loyalty intention levels. In addition, an important result of the study is that loyal customers mostly intend to advise other customers, and relatively less of them intend to give feedback to the firm.

The fact that the concepts of touristic railway journeys are different due to the nature of tourism is an important limitation of the study, which is only for individuals who have experienced the Touristic Eastern Express. The fact that the Touristic Eastern Express is a long journey and stops at many destinations on its arrival and departure route can affect customers' perceptions of the experience value.

The values that create customer loyalty in the touristic railway journey are mostly emotional and hedonic values. In addition, customers who are loyal as a result of this journey are more intent on advising other customers than giving feedback to the firm.

The study was carried out on the customers of the touristic eastern express, which started its activities in 2019. Ensuring customer loyalty for the sustainability of this trend has significant tourism potential; Afterwards, the transformation of customer loyalty into customer citizenship has a very important place. In addition, as far as we have examined the literature, the absence of similar studies in the tourism sector is an indicator of the study's originality. Considering these data, it is expected that the study will fill an important gap in terms of both sectoral and academic.

The purpose of this paper is to set forth a conceptual model describing the actors and roles in ecosystems created to enable productive black entrepreneurship in the USA.

This paper provides a systematic literature review of entrepreneurship ecosystems. It further leverages such literature review by using an autoethnographic approach recommended by Guyotte and Kochacka (2016), drawing on the authors’ practical experience in studying, owning, educating or consulting employer businesses owned by persons of color in the USA and abroad.

Each actor in the ecosystem has practical wisdom and assets that can be shared and leveraged through interacting with the other actors either as role model institutions or capacity development institutions, thus mitigating social inequalities and boosting economic progress by extending entrepreneurial opportunities beyond those that are greatly resourced.

Our literature review is based on selected samples of relevant articles on entrepreneurship ecosystem research and ethnic minority entrepreneurship, and thus, is not exhaustive. The selection was partly influenced by the authors’ opinion of whether a given study was relevant or not to a black entrepreneurship ecosystem. There is the possibility that some relevant studies were excluded. Thus, other actors are encouraged to revise or adapt this model to inform their distinct roles and goals.

The proposed model can help actors involved in the operation or support of a black-owned business make optimal business decisions, enabling each actor to be instrumental in another’s understanding of how to facilitate the success of black American entrepreneurs and business owners and thus, deploy marketing campaigns to boost the visibility and role of each actor. These campaigns play a role in their entrepreneurial marketing efforts.

Responding to Gines and Sampson’s (2020) call, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to explicitly provide a comprehensive black entrepreneurship ecosystem model that identifies the actors, roles and activities that can help black Americans address social inequalities that limit their ability to become a successful employer business. The proposed model may aid in deepening the theoretical discussion on entrepreneurial ecosystems and be of inspiration for the future works of scholars and practitioners interested in the entrepreneurship and marketing interface.

The current study aims to explore the relationships between three kinds of customer-to-customer (C2C) interaction quality and brand loyalty via customer promotion and prevention emotions.

In order to test the model, we gathered self-administered data through an online survey. The relationships were examined using structural equation modelling (SEM).

The findings show that the influence of customer-to-customer interaction quality on promotion/prevention emotion varies: friend-interaction quality evokes both promotion emotion (high-arousal feelings) and prevention emotion (low-arousal feelings), whereas neighbouring customer-interaction quality elicits promotion emotion, and audience-interaction quality elicits prevention emotion. Moreover, the findings show that enhancing both promotion and prevention emotions is crucial to improve customer attitudinal loyalty in mass service settings, and the strength of the link from promotion emotion to attitudinal loyalty is stronger than that from prevention emotion.

The authors suggest that marketers should focus on facilitating effective friend- and neighbouring customer-interaction to enhance promotion emotion.

The paper contributes to a stream of research on customer-to-customer interaction by exploring the relative influences of three kinds of customer-to-customer interaction quality on customer attitudinal loyalty via post-consumption emotions.

Applying social exchange theory as the theoretical basis, this paper aims to examine the impacts of two forms of digital social interaction on social well-being and helping behavior of customers: moderator–customer interaction quality and customer–customer social support. Furthermore, this paper investigates customer exchange ideology as a moderator of these impacts.

This paper adopted a purposive sampling method for survey materials sent to customers of firm-hosted virtual communities (FHVCs) using a consumer panel service company. The self-administered survey was developed from existing scales, and 265 usable responses were obtained.

Both forms of digital social interaction within FHVCs positively impact social well-being, which in turn positively influences helping behavior in the community. Social well-being is decomposed into social integration and social contribution, and each partially mediates the impact of customer–customer social support and moderator–customer interaction quality on helping behavior. This finding provides greater explanatory power for the role that digital social interactions have in predicting customer helping behavior in an FHVC. In addition, an exchange ideology positively moderates the impact of customer–customer social support on helping behavior via social integration.

This paper demonstrates that resource exchange dynamics occur digitally within FHVCs, which then affect social well-being and helping behaviors in customers. From a practical point of view, this study indicates the potential that digital interactions have in generating social and economic value through helping behaviors.

Applying social capital and the social exchange theories to customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions, this study aims to propose that interaction quality perceptions affect the customer-to-service provider’s interaction quality perceptions in a prolonged, close-proximity service setting. Examining this exogenous dimension, the study also tests socio-emotional support perception’s mediating effect and customer proactiveness’ moderating effect.

This study adopts and modifies existing general services of C2C interaction dimensions to fit the health-care context. An in-person survey of 192 neurosurgery inpatients and their care-giving companions (both considered health-care customers) provides data to validate the dimensions and test the model. Structural equation modeling and moderated regression test the hypotheses.

Results show that affirmative C2C interactions positively affect the customer’s perceived socio-emotional support, whereas negative C2C interactions show no significant impact. Greater socio-emotional support acuity improves customers’ assurance and empathy quality perceptions about the provider’s service. Customer proactiveness moderates C2C interaction dimensions.

This study extends the research of the C2C interaction to include their effect on service quality perceptions in a prolonged close-proximity service setting. Study results validate C2C interaction’s dimensions specific to an inpatient setting. Finally, this study extends the application of social capital theory and social exchange theory to C2C settings.

Findings emphasize the importance of managing C2C interactions during prolonged, close-proximity service delivery processes to improve customer perceptions of service quality. Results suggest that managers should monitor customer proactiveness to maximize positive C2C interactions’ positive effects while minimizing negative C2C interactions.

Prior service quality studies tend to focus on managing internal resources (staff, processes or physical environment); however, this study examines how the interactions among external resources create a halo effect and impact customers’ service quality perceptions. Results inform methods to improve their quality perceptions by better managing exogenous factors. The study also responds to calls for research on how C2C interactions affect functional service contexts (vs hedonic service contexts).

By drawing on theories of social identity, attraction, social comparison and consumer identification, this research seeks to examine how consumers' perceptions of other customers of an organisation (the other customer effect) may have an influence on corporate image and consumer‐company identification. This study aims to test a model integrating these constructs in two contexts, i.e. products and services. It also seeks to investigate the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of a favourable corporate image in order to provide more insights to the argument that a corporate marketing approach helps to enhance marketing performance.

A survey of a convenience sample of 383 adult consumers is conducted. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed in order to test the proposed model. An alternative model is examined both in products and in services contexts.

The results indicate that perceptions about other customers influence customers' affective and behavioural reactions towards a company for both products and services. This finding suggests that corporate‐level marketing activities aiming to increase interaction among consumers lead to favourable corporate image and higher consumer‐company identification and hence desirable marketing outcomes. Furthermore, results show that for services the other customer effect is more prominent than for product offerings.

This study extends the concept of other customer effect to the context of corporate image and consumer‐company identification studies. It provides evidence that shifting towards corporate‐level marketing gives organisations another avenue for gaining a distinct position in the minds of consumers. Furthermore, by addressing both service and product contexts, it shows that other customer effect may exist beyond services studies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how affective commitment to fellow customers influences a customer's affective commitment to the service provider and customer citizenship behavior (CCB). In addition, the paper seeks to examine the moderating role of a customer's calculative commitment to the service organization.

The study used a large-scale survey among customers of a health club and a scenario-based experiment to test the hypotheses.

Both empirical studies provide evidence that affective commitment to fellow customers has positive consequences for the customer-firm-relationship. The findings suggest that commitment to fellow customers and commitment to the service organization influence very specific facets of customer citizenship behavior. In addition, the study found preliminary support for the moderating role of calculative commitment. Affective commitment to fellow customers showed the strongest effect on affective commitment to the provider in customer-firm relationships characterized by high (versus low) calculative commitment.

The results of this research have a number of managerial implications. This study suggests measures to strengthen customer-firm-relationships, e.g. generating intensive exchange among customers or attraction of consumer pairs. Providing customers with platforms of valuable relationships to multiplex ties can be a competitive advantage for service providers.

This article is the first that highlights the role of other customers as a target of customer commitment and how this commitment affects both the customer's relationship to the service provider and his or her customer citizenship behavior. The present study therefore broadens our knowledge of how bonding among customers influences consumer behavior in service settings.

The paper first aims to analyse the role and functionality of geocollaborative portals in assisting collaborative trip planning processes and then it seeks to develop and test a model for measuring the multi‐dimensionality of customer value perceived by system users.

Primary data are collected from students assigned to use Yahoo! Trip Planner for collaboratively designing an hypothetical trip. A two step approach of an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis was used for testing the model measuring the types of customer value derived from the system use.

Findings provide evidence of the existence of both “give” (risk, time and effort to use the system) and “get” (functional, social and emotional) customer values.

Findings are limited to the demographics of the students' sample, while future research should also try to replicate the study in other contexts (e.g. cultures, type of trips and destinations).

The findings provide useful information about the value dimensions that can affect customer behaviour in using and preferring a particular geocollaborative portal, which in turn give useful guidance on how to design and develop the functionality and services of such systems.

The paper contributes to the fields related to the role of geocollaborative portals in supporting collaborative decision processes and the types of customer value deriving from and motivating technology use. The paper also contributes to the field related to user toolkits developed to assist customers in designing and customising products/services.