Kils, Katharina (2019). The Impact of Customer Participation on Customer and Firm Outcomes. PHD thesis, Aston University.
Abstract
The objective of this thesis is to develop a better understanding of the impact of customer participation on customer and firm outcome variables. Customer participation relates to the customer being active in the production, delivery, maintenance or recovery stage of the core offering of the firm. The findings in literature are inconclusive, with some research finding a positive impact of customer participation on outcomes and other research finding negative results. Therefore, a meta-analysis was conducted for this thesis with the purpose of studying the effect customer participation exerts on customer and firm outcomes. Furthermore, moderators are tested regarding their impact on the customer participation — outcome link. Key findings are that overall, customer participation is a beneficial strategy for customer and firm and generally should be used. The moderators tested only further strengthen or weaken the positive impact of the marketing strategy on outcomes. It is a good strategy for firms to force customers into participating and for firm performance variables it is beneficial for firms to make use of technology in customer participation situations. However, attention needs to be paid to employees, as customer participation seems to increase an employee’s job stress. Additionally, firms need to ensure that customers do not feel exploited when being involved in customer participation and clearly communicate the benefits so that the customer’s perceived justice / fairness is enhanced.
Divisions: | College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Marketing & Strategy |
---|---|
Additional Information: | Copyright © Kils, 2019. K. Kils asserts their moral right to be identified as the author of this thesis. This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without appropriate permission or acknowledgement. If you have discovered material in Aston Publications Explorer which is unlawful e.g. breaches copyright, (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please read our Takedown Policy and contact the service immediately. |
Institution: | Aston University |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Participating Customers,marketing strategies,trade off situations |
Last Modified: | 28 Jun 2024 08:20 |
Date Deposited: | 09 May 2022 15:58 |
Completed Date: | 2019-09 |
Authors: |
Kils, Katharina
|