Customer Psychological Empowerment as a Critical Source of Customer Engagement

Abstract

Interpersonal influence today includes an extension in cyberspace in the form of e–word-of-mouth (eWOM), thereby transforming customers into information producers. Companies nonetheless continue to experience difficulty in encouraging customers to engage online respecting company brands or to participate in co-creating value and promoting company products via the Web. This research examines how customer psychological empowerment, namely the extent to which customers feel that they exert power in the marketplace, potentially enhances brand engagement. Using structural equation modeling, each of a qualitative and quantitative study has been conducted at a French ski resort (N = 753). Findings demonstrate that customers engage for three reasons: belief that they can help companies without resorting to the venting of negative feelings (punishment), brand attachment, and reciprocity based on the perceived sincerity of online comments penned by other customers.