Matthew Alexander

The Role of Customer Engagement Behavior in Value Co-Creation A Service System Perspective

Recent developments in marketing and service research highlight the blurring of boundaries between firms and customers. The concept of customer engagement (CE) aggregates the multiple ways customer behaviors beyond transactions may influence the firm. However, the term is embryonic and academics and practitioners alike lack understanding on how CE contributes to value co-creation. This article marks the first attempt to conceptualize the role of customer engagement behavior (CEB) in value co-creation within a multistakeholder service system. We combine the theoretical perspectives of CE and value co-creation research to the analysis of a rich case study of a public transport service system involving consumers, communities, businesses, and governmental organizations. Our findings describe drivers for CEB, identify four types of CEB, and explore the value outcomes experienced by various stakeholders. This article proposes that CEB affects value co-creation by virtue of customers’ diverse resource contributions toward the focal firm and/other stakeholders that modify and/or augment the offering, and/or affect other stakeholders’ perceptions, preferences, expectations, or actions toward the firm or its offering. Through inducing broader resource integration, CEB makes value co-creation a system-level process. We offer nine research propositions explicating the connections CEB has to value co-creation by focal customers, the focal firm, and other stakeholders. Our research suggests that firms should focus greater attention on the resources that customers can contribute, explore the potential to engage diverse stakeholders around a common cause, and employ organically emerging systems that provide opportunities for more extensive value co-creation.

Reflecting on changes in operational training in UK hospitality management degree programmes

Purpose – The aim of this conceptual paper is to assess the continued relevance of operations based training within hospitality management higher education programmes. The paper explores the purpose of a hospitality management degree programme and how this might have impacted upon curriculum development and the student learning experience.Design/methodology/approach – The paper attempts to draw together writing on some of the key issues surrounding operations based training including balancing preparedness for industry with providing a true higher education experience and the growing clamour for a more liberal approach to hospitality education.Findings – The paper identifies and discusses two UK programmes that have made significant changes to their operations provision.Originality/value – The paper further explores issues around the debate into the hospitality curriculum adding a valuable dimension concerning operational training.

Nutritional labelling in restaurants: Whose responsibility is it anyway?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer attitudes towards the potential implementation of compulsory nutritional labelling on commercial restaurant menus in the UK.Design/methodology/approach – The research was approached from the perspective of the consumer with the intention of gaining an insight into personal attitudes towards nutritional labelling on commercial restaurant menus and three focus groups were conducted consisting of participants with distinctly differing approaches to eating outside the home.Findings – The research suggests that, while some consumers might welcome the introduction of nutritional labelling, it is context‐dependent and without an appropriate education the information provided may not be understood anyway. The issue of responsibility for public health is unresolved, although some effort could be made to provide greater nutritional balance in menus.Research limitations/implications – Following this research with a quantitative investigation, the ideas prese...

Love motels: oriental phenomenon or emergent sector?

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the “love motel” concept by examining the changing attitude of consumers in Taiwan. This will increase knowledge of the sector and define love motels.Design/methodology/approach – The literature review charts the development of Taiwanese love motels from a dual origin: American motels and Japanese “love hotels.” This is followed by an empirical qualitative study consisting of a two‐stage collection strategy: focus groups of hospitality and tourism professionals to gather a wide range of opinions on the subject area, followed by semi‐structured interviews with consumers.Findings – The findings split into three interrelated areas: growth of Taiwanese love motels due to more liberal attitudes towards sexual practice; a change in the public perception of motels due to increased standards and an increased satisfaction with the personal consumption experience; these hotels are designed for couples.Research limitations/implications – The empirical element of the study is an e...

Customer engagement behaviours and value co-creation

Contemporary markets are increasingly interconnected, with actors no longer seen as part of linear value chains but existing in networks of service systems where interaction, collaboration and experience sharing take place (Jaakkola, Helkkula & Aarikka-Stenroos, 2015; Lusch & Vargo, 2014; Chen, Drennan & Andrews, 2012). In such markets, traditional boundaries between the roles of “customer” and “provider” are losing clarity, highlighted by the emergence of concepts such as prosumers and post-consumers (Carù & Cova, 2015; Cova & Dalli, 2009). Customers are not satisfied with the limited role of a buyer, receiver and user of a firm’s offering at the end of the value chain, but proactively engage in crafting the offering according to their personal needs and wants, and seek to also engage other stakeholders (such as other consumers, communities, firms or government organisations) in the service system to contribute their resources towards common aims (Jaakkola & Alexander, 2014). Examples include, customers rating products and services in various online marketplaces, co-creating experiences in brand communities, co-designing and innovating products and services, and arranging boycotts against firms and products perceived as doing harm (e.g. Carù & Cova, 2015; Fournier & Avery, 2011; Füller, 2010; Libai et al., 2010). To capture the various customer activities and behaviours beyond the traditional role of a buyer and user that affect the firm, an overarching concept customer engagement has been introduced (Brodie, Hollebeek, Jurić, & Ilić, 2011; Van Doorn et al., 2010)

Zooming out: actor engagement beyond the dyadic

The purpose of this paper is to broaden extant understanding of actor engagement behavior beyond its currently dominant dyadic (micro-level) focus, by examining it from multiple levels of aggregation within a service ecosystem framework.,This conceptual paper draws on service-dominant logic and structuration theory as theoretical lenses to inform engagement research.,By means of a stepwise exercise of “zooming out,” the paper introduces a multi-perspective (micro-, meso-, macro- and meta-level) view of actor engagement that develops understanding of multiple engagement contexts, and suggests that balancing multiple roles may result in actor disengagement behavior. The role of reference groups and role conflict associated with balancing multiple roles is critical to understanding why engaged actor proclivities may wax and wane between contexts.,The paper offers a set of five propositions that can be utilized by engagement scholars undertaking further research in this area.,Firms need to understand the values and norms embedded in diverse engagement contexts which can affect actor groups’ needs and motivations. Firms should develop appropriate organizational mechanisms to facilitate (rather than impede or obstruct) the desired behaviors of engaged actors.,The broader context within which engaged actors operate, and its effects on engagement, has been largely overlooked to date. By broadening the analytical perspective on engagement beyond the dyadic this paper reveals previously unaddressed aspects of this phenomenon, such as the role of disengagement behavior, and the effects of multiple engagement contexts on actors’ future behaviors.

Delivering the Past: Providing Personalized Ancestral Tourism Experiences

Heritage tourism is increasingly viewed as both an individual and experiential phenomenon as well as being related to specific attributes of a destination. Ancestral tourism fits the former perspective and centers on tourists traveling to sites which they perceive to be a “homeland” where, during the visit, they attempt to discover more about their own heritage. This study explores ancestral tourism from a provider perspective focusing on the delivery of tourist experiences and relationships between tourists and the place visited. The research is based on a qualitative study of tourist and nontourist specific providers across Scotland with data collected using in-depth interviews. This study reveals a phenomenon that delivers deeply personal experiences to visitors and where encounters involve intense, often lengthy, interactions between visitors and providers. Ancestral tourism experiences are also often centered on tourism provision within local communities, which can present challenges to both provider and tourist alike.

“Responsible drinkers create all the atmosphere of a mortuary”: Policy implementation of responsible drinking in Scotland

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the reaction of customer facing staff and their attitude to the introduction of high profile corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes; in particular their level of awareness and willingness to implement them. Design/methodology/approach – Conducted using a series of site visits and interviews with managers working within the licensed trade, this was followed up with structured interviews of “front line” staff. Findings – Despite high levels of awareness of both the social problems relating to alcohol consumption and the legislative changes, engagement with operational CSR was limited and often disinterested. Legal and societal expectations regarding drunkenness are of little concern. Research limitations/implications – This paper is concerned with nascent legislation, the full impact and success of which has not yet emerged. Reviewing this study in five years would add to the strength of the results. Limited to Scotland due to its devolved licensin...

Recapturing place identification through community heritage marketing

We are guided by the following research questions: How do community residents contribute to place marketing strategies that promote the heritage of their local area? How can community participation be encouraged and supported? We draw on an ethnographic study of adopted railway stations in Scotland. We use in-depth interviews, participant observation alongside visual and archival data. We present and discuss three themes: community involvement in heritage activities, facilitating community participation through Adopt a Station and benefits and place identification. Initiatives which empower residents should be prioritised to capitalise on their latent knowledge, skills and expertise. We suggest that bringing heritage outside the museum space into key places used by local residents will support the increased accessibility of heritage. While there are often strong arguments in favour of local community involvement in place marketing, it is much less common to find successful reports of this working in practice. Research either questions the capabilities of local residents to make meaningful contributions or hints at a tokenistic form of involvement. We contribute by offering insight into successful heritage-based community activity. Unlike previous research which focuses on the economic impact of place marketing, we focus on place identification for local residents. We also observe how offering a sense of ownership and freedom allows community management of the heritage message to flourish.

How change does not happen: The impact of culture on a submarine base

This study was part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project involving the University of Strathclyde and Royal Navy Base Faslane on the Clyde. The main focus was a market research study to assist in the development of a retail hub for service personnel and civilians to use while on the base. In the course of the study, it was noted how many obstacles to change there were. The researchers have used Johnsons concepts of the cultural web and organisational paradigm to identify what the ‘blockages’ to change are, and suggest a number of possible ways of addressing these issues. The research suggests that this phenomenon may become more common as more public organisations develop partnerships with private organisations, leading to the potential for clashes of corporate and personal cultures.