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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically test some of the consumer engagement frameworks that have been previously proposed in marketing literature. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered via surveys distributed to members of a health club in the USA. Results were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings We found the effects of satisfaction on intercustomer support – the assistance received from other customers within a service setting – to be fully mediated by customer identification. The strength and direction of effects differed based on the type of identification. They also found an effect of satisfaction on customer patronage frequency. This effect was fully mediated by customer–employee identification. Practical implications The findings illustrate that, in most cases, intercustomer support can be built and enhanced by focusing on customer identification. Both customer–company and customer–customer identification had a positive effect on social/emotional and instrumental support; however, they did not influence a consumer’s patronage frequency. Conversely, customer–employee identification decreased perceptions of instrumental support, but increased perceptions of social/emotional support and patronage frequency. While the findings indicate that identification with a firm’s employees drives a customer’s patronage, firms must decide if the benefits received from increased patronage are worth the decreased instrumental support. Originality/value Past research has demonstrated the benefits of intercustomer support at both the firm and customer level, yet little research has investigated what enhances intercustomer social support in an organization. The research answers this question and illuminates some specific mechanisms that mediate this effect. Additionally, while previous research indicates that intercustomer support drives objective outcomes such as firm performance and loyalty intentions, we instead found these outcomes to be driven by customer–employee identification.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth understanding of actor engagement (AE) on social media by proposing a holistic and integrative conceptual framework. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of 118 articles, the paper draws on the service-dominant logic (SDL)-based service ecosystem perspective combined with the tenets of relational dialectics as theoretical lenses to inform AE research in social media. Findings The paper proposes a framework of AE in social media called the TASC model, an acronym of Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis-Conflict. TASC introduces the dialectical nature of AE and discusses the contexts and levels of AE in the social media ecosystem and their evolving processes. Practical implications Firms can apply the knowledge provided by TASC to gather marketing intelligence and develop marketing strategies to anticipate tensions, motivate the desired AE intensity and valence and reinforce value co-creation in the social media ecosystem. Originality/value TASC is a comprehensive framework that, for the first time, explains engagement at all levels of the social media ecosystem by combining the SDL-based service ecosystem view with the relational dialectics perspective.

Purpose Service scholars are finding that institutions – enduring social structures, such as rules, norms, beliefs – are increasingly important in theorizing on service-related phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to advance the use of institutional theory in service research by synthesizing the key insights from institutional theory that have been applied to service-related phenomena and developing a research agenda to guide the future use of institutional theory in service research. Design/methodology/approach This paper is an integrative literature review covering 68 articles from major service research and marketing journals that adopt institutional concepts and frameworks to study service-related phenomena. Findings The paper maps the “institutional turn” of service research, that is, the increasing tendency to draw on institutional theory for theoretical insights within service research and builds a conceptual framework of the institutional stabilization and destabilization mechanisms that explain endurance and change in service phenomena. The paper also proposes a research agenda that outlines four previously ignored aspects of institutions that have important implications for service research. Research limitations/implications In addition to synthesizing insights and proposing directions for future research, the paper highlights specific theoretical and methodological considerations for the future use of institutional theory within service research. The literature review is limited to the 13 major service research and marketing journals. Originality/value This paper is the first literature review of the use of institutional theory in service research.

Purpose Providing that branded applications (apps) became a new trend in mobile marketing, the purpose of this study, thus, is to explore how to promote app users’ continuance intention and purchase intention (i.e. “app continuance”) toward a specific branded app. Design/methodology/approach By integrating both goods-dominant logic (GDL) and service-dominant logic (SDL), this study uses a unifying model to examine whether perceived usefulness and task-service fit (TSF) have different effects on the two parts of app continuance. This study identifies task characteristic and four service characteristics (interactivity, presence, localization and ubiquity) as antecedents of TSF. Furthermore, psychological barriers are examined as mediators of TSF and purchase intention within SDL. Data collected from 631 users of the targeted branded apps support all of the proposed hypotheses. Findings The findings show that besides perceived usefulness, TSF is an essential determinant of both app continuance in the context of branded apps and a partial mediator of psychological barriers between TSF and purchase intention. Originality/value Unlike prior studies, which have focused on traditional GDL to examine continuance intention, this study incorporates SDL and the notion of psychological barriers to explore such matters. The evidence concerning the significantly higher explanatory power of the full model suggests that a deeper understanding of the antecedents of app continuance is possible when the alternative view is taken into consideration, thus providing a promising avenue for future research.

Purpose The increased involvement of customers in their experience is a reality for all service organisations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the way organisations collaborate with customers to facilitate consumption of cultural experiences through the lens of co-production. Although organisations are typically an integral part of the co-production process, co-production is typically considered from a consumer angle. Aligned with the service ecosystem perspective and value-in-cultural context, this research aims to provide greater insight into the processes and resources that institutions apply to co-produce experiences with consumers and the drivers and inhibitors of such processes. Design/methodology/approach Case study research with three exemplar organisations, using in-depth interviews with key informants was used to investigate the processes organisations follow in co-producing the service experience with customers, as well as the drivers and inhibitors of organisational co-production of the service experience in the cultural sector. Findings The findings illuminate that cultural organisations are co-producing the service experience with their customers, as revealed through a number of key processes: inviting customers to actively participate in the experience, engaging customers and supporting customers in the co-production of the experience. Increasingly demanding consumers and a changing competitive landscape are strong external drivers of co-production. Visionary leadership and consumer-focussed employees are internal factors impelling organisations to co-produce experiences with consumers. A strong curatorial orientation, complex organisational structure, employee attitude and capability gaps and funding constraints are impediments towards organisations co-producing experiences with consumers. Originality/value This paper addresses a gap in Service-Dominant logic theory, arts/cultural marketing and broader services marketing literature by proposing a broadened conceptualisation of co-production of the service experience. This conceptualisation can be used as a platform to derive strategic imperatives for managers of service organisations. The findings highlight the key practices and resources that are central to organisations co-producing experience with customers. In this way, greater understanding of institutional logics and practices that underpin experience co-production emerges.

Purpose Noting that resource integration is a pivotal dimension of value co-creation in Service-Dominant logic, this paper aims to explore how service employees engaged in co-creation processes with customers integrate the latter’s resources. Design/methodology/approach To address the limitations of previous research on customer resources and their integration by service employees, this study turns to the concept of customer participation to identify the nature of customers’ resources. A conceptual framework of their integration by service employees underpins nine key propositions. This foundation leads to the development of theoretical contributions, managerial implications and avenues for research. Findings Customers can use 12 types of resources in value co-creation. Contrasting with earlier findings, the conceptual framework reveals that service employees may not only integrate these customers’ resources but also either misintegrate or not integrate them. Non-integration and misintegration may be intentional or accidental. Accordingly, value co-creation or co-destruction may result from interactions. Research limitations/implications This conceptual and exploratory text requires complementary theoretical and empirical investigations. It also does not adopt an ecosystems view of co-creation. Practical implications Knowing the different steps of resource integration and what influences them should increase the chances of value co-creation and limit the risks of value co-destruction. Originality/value Scant research has examined the nature of customer resources and how service employees integrate them. This paper also is the first to distinguish among resource integration, misintegration and non-integration.

Purpose – The study demonstrates that firms can effectively involve customers in new service development (NSD) to create radically innovative, high-performing new services. Prior research found no effect of customer involvement on radicalness in NSD programs, but the current study provides evidence that customer involvement in the design stage of NSD projects can increase the radical innovativeness of a new service. Design/methodology/approach – Surveys from 160 firms captured information on the development process, participants and outcomes of recent service innovation projects. Direct effect and mediation hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings – Customer involvement in the NSD process increases the innovativeness of a new service when customers are involved in the design stage and when the influence is mediated by process complexity. Customer involvement in the development stage has no significant effect on service innovativeness. Process complexity also mediates the positive influence of frontline employee and cross-functional team involvement in the NSD process on service innovativeness. Practical implications – To produce radically innovative new services, managers should: focus on customer involvement in the design phase and build an understanding of how the customer creates value-in-context, and use a detailed but flexible development process and provide extensive opportunities for interaction of customers, frontline employees and cross-functional teams throughout the NSD process. Originality/value – The study draws on complexity theory to explain how a complex NSD process enhances participants’ creativity and learning and increases the innovativeness of a new service.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between customer networks and intercustomer social support, through the theoretical lens of service dominant logic (SDL). Co-creation and objective performance objectives are analyzed to understand the differential impact of instrumental and social/emotional intercustomer support on performance. Design/methodology/approach – A combination of survey and secondary data were collected within a health-club setting to test hypotheses. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings – A customer’s network ties positively impact his/her intercustomer support perceptions, and this relationship is moderated by tie strength. Further, instrumental support impacts objective performance measures, while social/emotional has a greater impact on affective outcomes. Research limitations/implications – As customers become more connected, it is in the interest of the organization to capitalize on these connections. Future research should investigate what types of programming and marketing can directly enhance the number and types of connections customers form with others. Practical implications – Service organizations can benefit by fostering environments where customers connect with each other. These connections need not be at a high level; simple, informational connections prove to benefit the organization. Originality/value – The present research is designed to add to the research on intercustomer support in the service literature. This study investigates network-level antecedents of intercustomer support. Further, this research connects intercustomer support to objective (firm-reported) measures of performance. Last, this research examines intercustomer support through the lens of SDL and investigates its impact on co-creation outcomes.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to extend understanding of the sense of place captured by the servicescape concept, as a means by which customers clarify their service expectations and their satisfaction with service experiences. Design/methodology/approach – The design is conceptual. This article critically examines and extends the servicescape concept in the light of insights from the service-dominant (S-D) logic. Findings – First, we explain how servicescape adds meaning to a service provider’s value proposition, part of a pattern of customer expectations which are later confirmed or disconfirmed as value-in-use. Second, the servicescape is a more socially imbued context than has previously been recognized, because the service experience is co-created by customer and service provider. Third, the context for service is not restricted to the traditional physical servicescape, as other more fluid and web-based settings are now common. Practical implications – Extending the understanding of place as a context for value determination in new ways. Originality/value – The literature on servicescape is extensive, but it is anchored to the physicality of the service environment. Given the rise of the Internet and, more recently, digital social media as a virtual “place” of business, the relevance of servicescape is due for critical review. Our critical examination adds to the experience value of service and also extends the S-D logic understanding of value-in-use.

Purpose– This paper proposes a knowledge-exchange framework for value co-creation in franchise network.Design/methodology/approach– This conceptual study integrates literature on franchising, knowledge based view of the firm, absorptive capacity, and service dominant logic to propose a theoretical framework for value co-creation in franchising using knowledge as an operant resource.Findings– The proposed framework suggests that in a franchise network value is co-created by three key actors – franchisor, franchisees, and the customers; the operant resource these key actors bring to the value creation process is knowledge; and the absorptive capacity of principal actors and the appropriation hazard affect the flow and sharing of knowledge.Research limitations/implications– The authors hope that the proposed knowledge exchange framework for value co-creation in franchise networks provides an impetus for future research in this critical aspect of franchising – i.e. viewing knowledge as an operant resource and viewing the three actors as resource integrators and co-creators of value.Practical implications– The proposed framework suggests that managers in franchise industry should stop looking at consumers and franchisees as passive operand resources, but look at them as operant resource. They should also alter their perspective about the source of competitive advantage, with the focus shifting to knowledge as the operant resource.Originality/value– The study takes a new approach to value creation in a franchising network by introducing the concept of knowledge as an operant source.

Purpose – Employees have traditionally played a major role in the customer ' s service experience. Yet self-service technology (SST) replaces the customer-service employee experience with a customer-technology experience. This paper seeks to use a service-dominant logic lens to gain fresh insight into the consumer experience of SST. In particular, it aims to consider the resources that are integrated when consumers use SSTs, their co-production role and what might constitute value. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents findings from 24 semi-structured interviews that focus on the everyday experiences of consumers in using SST. Both genders and all socio-economic categories within all adult age groups from 18 to 65+ were included. Findings – There is a danger that organizations embrace SST as an economic and efficient mechanism to “co-create” value with consumers when they are merely shifting responsibility for service production. The paper identifies risks when customers become partial employees and concludes that customers should perceive the value they gain from using SST to be at least commensurate with their co-production role. Research limitations/implications – The qualitative study was confined to the consumer perspective. Future research within organizations and among employees who support consumers using SST would extend understanding, as would research within the business-to-business (B2B) context. Quantitative studies could measure the frequency and extent of the phenomena the authors report and assist with market segmentation strategies. Practical implications – The application of service-dominant logic highlights potential risks and managerial challenges as self-service, and consequent value co-creation, relies on the operant resources of customers, who lack the tacit knowledge of employees and are less easy to manage. There is also the need to manage a new employee role: “self-service education, support and recovery”. Originality/value – The paper draws attention to managerial challenges for organizations to ensure that SST adoption enhances and does not destroy value. Additionally, it highlights the importance of distinguishing between co-production and co-creation.

– Noting that a fundamental tenet of service‐dominant (S‐D) logic is the co‐creation of value‐in‐use, this paper aims to explore the theoretical possibility that the interactions between service systems cannot only co‐create value, but also have adverse consequences leading to actual value co‐destruction., – This conceptual paper critically reviews the dominance of value co‐creation and value‐in‐use in S‐D logic. Noting the relative lack of research in the converse possibility, the study proposes and explores the implications of value co‐destruction as a new concept which should be introduced within the framework of S‐D logic., – The study proposes a formal definition for the new proposed concept of value co‐destruction. It describes in detail the process by which it occurs, showing that value can be co‐destroyed through the interactions between different systems, resulting in value destruction‐through‐misuse. Indeed, value co‐destruction occurs when a service system accidentally or intentionally misuses resources (its own resources and/or those of another service system) by acting in an inappropriate or unexpected manner., – This paper is purely conceptual and exploratory. Empirical examination of the theoretical findings regarding value‐co‐destruction is required. Possible avenues of interest for such empirical research of value co‐destruction are suggested., – Limiting the occurrence of misuse by aligning the mutual expectations of interacting service systems should reduce the risks of value co‐destruction. Recovering from misuse should also be considered., – This study is apparently the first to have introduced the notion of value co‐destruction into the conceptual framework of S‐D logic.