Influence of customer participation on information technology services
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-03-2016-0104 |
| Date | 10 July 2017 |
| Pages | 1077-1092 |
| Published date | 10 July 2017 |
| Author | Jia-Jhou Wu,Hung Yu Kung,Tom M.Y. Lin |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
Influence of customer
participation on information
technology services
Jia-Jhou Wu
Department of Business Administration,
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan
Hung Yu Kung
Department of Information Management, China University of Technology,
Taipei City, Taiwan, and
Tom M.Y. Lin
Department of Business Administration,
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customer participation (CP) influences the two
contrasting relationship maintenance mechanisms: dedication and constraint, and identifies its antecedents in
the context of business-to-business information technology (IT) services.
Design/methodology/approach –An empirical study was conducted through a survey of 126 firms
receiving IT services in Taiwan. The partial least squares method was used to test the conceptual model of
the study.
Findings –The results indicated that CP positively relates to IT service quality, thereby influencing
satisfaction (i.e. dedication). In addition, CP was also found to be positively associated with switching costs
(i.e. constraint). Both satisfaction and switching costs have significant influences on loyalty. Furthermore,
IT capabilities, organizational compatibility, and role clarity are positively related to CP.
Research limitations/implications –Longitudinal studies are needed to explore how CP affects the dual
mechanisms in different phases of customer-firm relationships.
Originality/value –The study contributes to a thorough understanding of the influences of CP on
relationship maintenance.
Keywords Value co-creation, Loyalty, Service quality, Satisfaction,Customer participation, Switching costs
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Given the prominence of information services, information technology (IT) is a critical tool
enabling enterprises to gain competitive advantages. In addition to the services from IT
departments within their organizations, numerous enterprises acquire services from
IT service firms. IT services are knowledge-based services provided by experts, who are
proficient in ITs and systems, to clients who need technologies and systems for their
business operations (Park et al., 2012). Such services considerably enhance workforce
management, overall organizational performance, and supply chain management
(Sánchez-Rodríguez and Martínez-Lorente, 2011).
In the past decade, service management has shifted from goods-dominant (G-D) logic to
service-dominant (S-D) logic. In G-D logic, goods are the basis of economic exchange,
customers are primarily the passive receivers of goods, and manufacturers determine and
embed value in their goods (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). However, in S-D logic, service delivery
is regarded as a value-creation process and this logic emphasizes active customer Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 117 No. 6, 2017
pp. 1077-1092
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-03-2016-0104
Received 15 March 2016
Revised 26 September 2016
Accepted 11 October 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
The authors wish to acknowledge the research grant from Taiwan’s Ministry of Sc ience and
Technology: MOST 10 4-2410-H-011-0 08.
1077
Influence of CP
on IT services
participation (CP) in value co-creation (Vargo and Lusch, 2008). In information systems (IS)
research, S-D logic has gained attention from scholars (Hsu et al., 2013; Jiang and Zhao,
2014). Active participation and prosocial behaviors of customers could maximize created
values (Hsu et al., 2013). Additionally, CP was found to influence service effectiveness,
innovation, and firm performance (Lau, 2011; Chen et al., 2011; Ngo and O’Cass, 2013; Santos
and Spring, 2015).
Despite increasing research attention to CP, its influences on business operations have
not yet been adequately explored. Scholars have called for more research, particularly on
how CP contributes to building long-term relationships (Santos and Spring, 2015). To date,
very few studies have examined the potential mechanisms for determining the impact of CP
on relationship continuance. Maintaining long-term business relationships has been a key
issue in business-to-business (B2B) research (Backhaus et al., 2011), which directly affects
the profitability of firms. The association between CP and relationship maintenance is
worthy of investigation.
To fill the above-mentioned research gap, the study explores how CP influences
relationship continuance by adopting the dual-factor framework of relationship
maintenance. Furthermore, it is valuable to identify the antecedent variables of CP, once
its significant influences are empirically revealed. Consequently, the research questions of
this exploratory study are:
RQ1. How does CP influence loyalty toward IT service providers?
RQ2. What are the organizational determinants of CP in the IT services context?
The structure of the remainder of this paper is as follows. The next section presents
a conceptual model based on a literature review, followed by the proposed hypotheses.
The paper then describes the research methodology and empirical results. The study
concludes with the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
2. Conceptual framework
2.1 CP
Value co-creation is the joint, collaborative, concurrent, peer-like process of producing new
value, both materially and symbolically (Galvagno and Dalli, 2014). During this process,
“the collaborative nature of value-creation”is particularly emphasized, and the customer
is “always a co-creator of value”(Vargo and Lusch, 2008, p. 7). That is, value co-creation
essentially involves both CP and supplier participation. The distinction between
co-creation and co-production has been made by scholars for the sake of theory building.
Vargo and Lusch (2008) argued that co-production centers on “the participation in the
development of the core offering itself”(p. 8). Co-creation is a concept encompassing all
collaborative processes of value creation. Yet, a number of researchers consider the
concepts of co-creation and co-production to be coinciding, as noted in Galvagno and
Dalli’s (2014) literature review. This study adopts Vargo and Lusch’s (2008) view. In recent
years, value co-creation has attracted a growing scholarly interest. Despite some studies
centering on the cus tomer’s perspective (e.g. Fang et al., 2008), most prior studies,
conducted via surveying providers, have addressed the topic of co-creation from the
supplier’s viewpoint. To construct a holistic understanding of value co-creation, this study
focuses on CP.
CP is defined as “the degree to which the customer is involved in producing and
delivering the services”(Dabholkar, 1990, p. 484). Value co-creation does not view customers
as merely productive resources, but as active value creators, emphasizing that customers
and service providers are collaborative partners (Vargo and Lusch, 2008). From an
interorganizational perspective, Fang et al. (2008) revealed that customers’participation
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