Determining customer satisfaction and loyalty from a value co-creation perspective

ABSTRACT

In light of the recent developments in marketing theory, namely service-dominant logic and value co-creation, the development of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty deserves reconsideration to broaden the mostly firm-centric earlier approaches. We propose a framework that includes the contributions of co-creating actors and identification with the firm as antecedents of customer satisfaction and loyalty. This framework can be adapted to a context by defining a context-specific set of actors and their unique reciprocal relationships. Two quantitative studies conducted in the professional German soccer leagues demonstrate that multiple actors (event organizer, teams, and fans) roughly show the same effect on customer satisfaction. Moreover, identification has both direct and indirect (i.e. via customer satisfaction and perceived social actors’ contributions) influence on customer loyalty. The results imply firm activities have limited influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty. As a result, managers must identify strategies to facilitate value co-creation among all relevant actors.

摘要

根据市场营销理论发展的新趋势，即服务主导思维和价值共创之理论，我们有必要重新审视客户满意度和客户忠诚度理论的发展，从而拓宽先前的以企业为中心的方法。我们在文中提出了一个理论框架。该框架将共创角色的贡献及公司之认同作为客户满意度和忠诚度的前提。通过确定独特且相互关联的角色，该框架可以适用于各种不同情境。通过对德国职业足球联赛进行的两项定量研究表明，多重角色 (活动组织者、团队和球迷)对客户满意度的影响大致相同。此外，认同对忠诚度既有直接影响，亦有间接影响(即通过顾客满意度和感知到的社会角色的贡献)。研究结果显示，企业活动对顾客满意度和忠诚度的影响有限。因此，企业管理人员有必要探讨促进所有相关角色价值共创的战略。

关键词:

• 价值共创
• 服务主导思维
• 客户满意度;客户-公司之认同
• 客户忠诚度
• 情境价值

KEYWORDS:

• Value co-creation
• service-dominant logic
• customer satisfaction
• customer-company identification
• customer loyalty
• value-in-context

Acknowledgement

This paper is derived from the working paper ‘Extending the Service-Profit Chain: The role of Identification and Co-Creation’ by the same authors (University of Bayreuth, Working Paper 06-2010).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The terms ‘actors’ and ‘social actors’ refer to the entirety of economic and social actors.

2 In this article, ‘football’ refers to European football (i.e. soccer).