Customer Participation in Creating Customer Satisfaction: An Abstract

Abstract

The traditional mode of service typically represents a one-way delivery when people receive the service just the way the company distributes it to them. However, customer participation promptly emerges during service delivery as the customer’s willingness to participate in service building increases. The mechanism of service deliveries in the financial service industry has gradually transformed and developed over time. It has shifted from a one-way delivery of services to a situation where customers take part in the service by suggesting their desires. Such participation not only improves the service but also results in the satisfaction of customers toward the service. This study investigated the antecedents of customer participation, including interactional justice, customer education, affective commitment, and company support, and explored if customer participation strengthens customer satisfaction. Furthermore, it considered role identification and perceived benefits as moderators, depicting if these variables enhance customer participation toward customer satisfaction. The proposed model is deemed appropriate for an investment services context in which customers and investment consultants frequently interact with each other and in which customers are willing to engage in customer participation. The study collected data by delivering surveys to customers of financial brokerage companies. A total of 324 entries were considered as valid entries. Results show that customer education, affective commitment, and company support substantially increase the degree of customer participation. Customer participation also has a significant impact on customer satisfaction toward service delivery. Perceived benefits were found to positively moderate the enhancement of customer participation toward customer satisfaction. These results provide insights into how the Taiwanese financial service industry could increase customer participation and further enhance customer satisfaction in service delivery. These findings will also help companies discover ways to promote customer satisfaction given the competitiveness of the financial market. Financial companies will finally be able to develop customer satisfaction with the firm and service by identifying the aspects in their service that may increase customer participation throughout service delivery.