Jörg Finsterwalder

Co-creation by engaging beyond oneself: the influence of task contribution on perceived customer-to-customer social interaction during a group service encounter

Research has increasingly focused on investigating not only interactions between companies and customers in business-to-consumer settings, but also on analysing the influence of accidental or occasional customer-to-customer interactions on the service experience. To date, there has been little research on the effects of planned co-creation efforts of customers in service encounters – where multiple customers simultaneously engage in producing and consuming a service experience. During such encounters, each customers contribution to tasks related to creating the service experience can be analysed in terms of its influence on social dynamics within the group. Drawing on a sample of 249 customers who have experienced a group service encounter, we demonstrate that customer engagement in the group task has a positive influence on perceived customer-to-customer social interaction. We also show how the perceived task contribution of other customers significantly influences an individuals perception of their own input.

Quality in group service encounters

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of service quality for settings where several customers are involved in the joint creation and consumption of a service. The approach is to provide first insights into the implications of a simultaneous multi‐customer integration on service quality.Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper undertakes a thorough review of the relevant literature before developing a conceptual model regarding service co‐creation and service quality in customer groups.Findings – Group service encounters must be set up carefully to account for the dynamics (social activity) in a customer group and skill set and capabilities (task activity) of each of the individual participants involved in a group service experience.Research limitations/implications – Future research should undertake empirical studies to validate and/or modify the suggested model presented in this contribution.Practical implications – Managers of service firms should be made aware of the ...

EQ und DLQ: Emotionale Intelligenz und Dienstleistungsqualität im Kundenkontakt

Die Erstellung von Dienstleistungen ist in der Regel mit einem interaktiven Prozess zwischen Kunde und Mitarbeiter des Anbieterunternehmens verbunden. Durch die Intangibilitat der Dienstleistung manifestiert sich die wahrgenommene Qualitat insbesondere auch in der Person des Kundenkontaktmitarbeiters und dem Erleben der Beziehung zu dieser Person (Nerdinger 1998, S. 197). Dadurch ist das Qualitatsniveau der erstellten Dienstleistung auch wesentlich von den Fahigkeiten des jeweiligen Mitarbeiters abhangig, so dass sich eine vom Kunden wahrgenommenen Diskrepanz zwischen erwarteter und gelieferter Qualitat auch auf das Kontaktpersonal zuruckfuhren lasst.

Conceptual underpinnings for transformative research in a service ecosystems context to resolve social issues – framework foundations and extensions

ABSTRACT A number of services within society are designed to improve the well-being of its members and transform lives. Some services focus on the protection and support of vulnerable members of society, for example, those suffering the effects of drug use, mental health conditions, violence or poverty. Clients of such social services may also come from minority or marginalised cultural backgrounds. Typically, social services aim to reduce disparities and enhance individual and population well-being. A major challenge for social policy-makers and social service providers is to establish and maintain constructive engagement between the social services and those they are intended to serve. Some of these vulnerable clients are deemed ‘hard-to-reach’ (HTR) by policy-makers and service providers. Yet, the transformation of lives requires the involvement of the focal actor (client) and their service or activity system, as well as the engagement of other actors, such as the social worker embedded in their service or activity system. This paper aims to further unpack a novel approach, called integrative transformative service framework. This contribution extends its conceptualisation which fuses mainly three different approaches, namely Transformative Service Research (TSR), (Cultural-Historical) Activity Theory (CHAT) and (Regulatory) Engagement Theory (RET).

An integrative transformative service framework to improve engagement in a social service ecosystem: the case of He Waka Tapu

Purpose This study aims to understand the engagement between an indigenous social service provider and marginalised clients deemed “hard-to-reach” to gain an insight into how to improve the client’s engagement and well-being through transformative value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach The exploratory study’s findings draw on primary data employing a qualitative research approach through document analysis and in-depth interviews with clients, social workers and stakeholders of the focal social service provider in New Zealand. Findings The findings indicate that there are inhibitors and enablers of value or well-being co-creation. The lack of client resources and a mismatch between client and social worker are primary barriers. Other actors as well as cultural practices are identified as enablers of well-being improvement. Research limitations/implications This research reports on a single social service provider and its clients. These findings may not be readily transferrable to other contexts. Practical implications Findings indicate that social service providers require a heightened awareness of the inhibitors and enablers of social service co-creation. Social implications Both the integrative framework and the findings provide a sound critique of the prevailing policy discourse surrounding the stigmatisation of members of society deemed “hard-to-reach” and the usefulness of such an approach when aiming at resolving social issues. Originality/value This is the first exploratory study that reports on the engagement between a social service provider and its clients in a dedicated Māori (indigenous) context by employing an integrative research approach combining transformative service research, activity theory and engagement theory.

Māori knowledge and consumer tribes

This paper explores an agenda for consumer behaviour research as it relates to tribal consumerism. It is argued that while the international consumer behaviour research field is inspired by Indigenous knowledges, the quality of research will be relatively poor and unconvincing unless Indigenous researchers and voices make their way into those conversations. We argue for greater plurality through Indigenous participation in consumer behaviour research, and we challenge business schools to realise their accountability.

The Role of Transitional Servicescapes in Maintaining Attachment to Place: An Abstract

Previous research has extended scholars’ focus on place attachment and the servicescape as the physical service setting. However, very little attention has been paid to exploring the temporal dimension in connection with attachment and servicescapes. In particular, how place attachment is maintained during the transition phase between the removal of, or disruption to, one permanent servicescape and the reestablishment of its replacement. For example, the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, suffered two major earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011 causing significant damage to and the subsequent removal of large parts of the city’s retail, commercial and residential precincts. Six years on Christchurch is still undergoing an extensive rebuilding process. Because of the magnitude of destruction, especially in the CBD, and the logistics of clearing damaged buildings, designing, planning and funding new works have meant that only now a new permanent city is emerging. This rebuilding process created numerous blocks of vacant land on which entrepreneurs set up businesses either as individual temporary servicescapes or part of larger precinct-based transitional servicescapes that contained a collection of individual businesses, events and/or installations. This post-earthquake scenario provides a suitable study environment in regard to the time perspective of servicescapes and how residents maintain, build or rebuild their attachment to place during this temporary or transitional period. Aligned with such an extensive rebuilding programme is the notion that attachment occurs at differing levels of servicescape, whether this is at the individual retail or service store level or the greater precinct or city level. In these transitional phases, place attachment at one level may leverage or be leveraged by the servicescapes of another level. Scholars in environmental psychology have attempted to conceptualise, understand and measure place attachment to interpret the individual–individual, individual–community and individual–place bonding for a specific place scale (e.g., Kyle et al. 2005). The majority of such research focuses on a medium-range place scale such as neighbourhood or community. In this paper we review the literature on servicescapes and place attachment and apply it to the transitional and reconstructed city of Christchurch in order to derive an understanding of the ability of temporary or transitional spaces to maintain place attachment even when the original servicescapes have been destroyed.

Would you forgive Kristen Stewart or Tiger Woods or maybe Lance Armstrong? Exploring consumers’ forgiveness of celebrities’ transgressions

ABSTRACT Employing a qualitative approach, within the context of Generation Y consumers, this research investigates the internal justification processes used by consumers contemplating to forgive a celebrity who has transgressed society’s norms of acceptable behaviour. A thematic analysis of data from in-depth interviews identified nine emergent categories, grouped into four themes or core drivers: celebrity-related drivers, consumer-related drivers, context-related drivers and time-related drivers. The findings show that although there is generally no personal relationship between consumers and celebrities, consumers tend to bond with celebrities in para-social relationships. Many consumers see these relationships as similar to how they connect with friends thus leading them to show forgiveness tendencies towards a celebrity comparable to forgiving friends. The paper presents a conceptual framework highlighting the consumer’s forgiveness justification process.

Measuring the self, the social and the task-oriented side of service customers in joint co-creation experiences

The conceptualization and measurement of co-created services, as well as managing the customer experience across customers, have been named as research priorities in service research. However, no consideration has been given to investigate consumption experiences where multiple consumers interact and co-create a service, although customer-to-customer, customer group and consumer tribes studies have been recent emerging foci in research. This paper aims at establishing a missing link by exploring interaction patterns of customers in a joint service experience. A quantitative multi-stage study has been carried out using the dimensions of task orientation, social orientation and self orientation of customers derived from psychology, contributing to the slowly growing body of empirical studies on customers’ value co-creating behavior and roles.

The Tribal Consumer: A Comparison of Traditional Māori and Modern-Day Tribal Social Systems

Over the last 30 plus years a vast body of literature has been built around the concept of consumption communities, as a way of understanding consumer interactions and behaviour beyond the firm/customer interface. Considering the ubiquity of the internet and hence consumers’ ability to connect with users of any product or service well beyond their immediate location, knowledge of consumption communities has never been more pressing. The ability for customers to interconnect without traditional geographic constraints or even the influence of the firm has major implications relating to customer-to-customer co-creation, re-configuration of value propositions to allow for individualisation, and at times co-destruction of value. Despite the many terms used to describe consumption communities they all appear to be based on the premise that groups of consumers interact to share enthusiasm for and develop knowledge of a particular consumption related activity. One term that appears to have prevailed in the literature over recent years and has been applied to a variety of contexts it that of the tribe.