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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - I Can’t Always Get What I Want
T2 - Low Power, Service Customer (Dis)Engagement and Wellbeing
AU - Abboud, Liliane
AU - Bruce, Helen
AU - Burton, Jamie
N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2023/11/27
Y1 - 2023/11/27
N2 - Purpose: This paper aims to examine experiences of low customer power in service interactions and the impact of those experiences on customers’ engagement and disengagement towards a firm. It subsequently identifies how such experiences may affect customers’ wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted visual elicitation interviews with 30 customers of a range of services. Data were analysed thematically using abductive reasoning. Findings: Low customer power is influenced by several factors perceived by customers as associated with the firm and/or the context of the customer–firm relationship. Results show that low power drives negative customer engagement and may result in behavioural disengagement. Low customer power, negative engagement and disengagement can have negative implications for customers’ eudaimonic (physical and financial) and hedonic wellbeing. Research limitations/implications: Future studies might explore specific service contexts and power dynamics across service ecosystems and should further analyse the implications of these relationships on firms’ strategic organisational responses. Practical implications: Firms should monitor customer power and explore means of enhancing the wellbeing of their customers through strategies designed to increase customer power, thus, reducing negative customer engagement and avoiding detrimental impact on customer wellbeing. Originality/value: This study reframes discussions on low customer power in relation to firms and its impact on firms and customers. It identifies low customer power as a key variable in the study of customer engagement, disengagement and wellbeing.
AB - Purpose: This paper aims to examine experiences of low customer power in service interactions and the impact of those experiences on customers’ engagement and disengagement towards a firm. It subsequently identifies how such experiences may affect customers’ wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted visual elicitation interviews with 30 customers of a range of services. Data were analysed thematically using abductive reasoning. Findings: Low customer power is influenced by several factors perceived by customers as associated with the firm and/or the context of the customer–firm relationship. Results show that low power drives negative customer engagement and may result in behavioural disengagement. Low customer power, negative engagement and disengagement can have negative implications for customers’ eudaimonic (physical and financial) and hedonic wellbeing. Research limitations/implications: Future studies might explore specific service contexts and power dynamics across service ecosystems and should further analyse the implications of these relationships on firms’ strategic organisational responses. Practical implications: Firms should monitor customer power and explore means of enhancing the wellbeing of their customers through strategies designed to increase customer power, thus, reducing negative customer engagement and avoiding detrimental impact on customer wellbeing. Originality/value: This study reframes discussions on low customer power in relation to firms and its impact on firms and customers. It identifies low customer power as a key variable in the study of customer engagement, disengagement and wellbeing.
U2 - 10.1108/EJM-04-2022-0266
DO - 10.1108/EJM-04-2022-0266
M3 - Journal article
VL - 57
SP - 2713
EP - 2736
JO - European Journal of Marketing
JF - European Journal of Marketing
SN - 0309-0566
IS - 10
ER -