Co-production offerings, in which customers engage in the production of goods and services, are ubiquitous in everyday life (e.g., ready-to-assemble products, self-service technologies).However, while previous research has predominately identified beneficial aspects of coproduction in contrast to traditional firm production, the pivotal role of co-production intensity within co-production processes has largely been neglected. Furthermore, little is known about strategies that firms can employ to positively influence customers' perceptions of co-production processes. Drawing on a large field experiment with 803 customers engaging in actual coproduction processes, the current study makes a first attempt to address these research voids.Results show that co-production intensity negatively affects customers' satisfaction with the coproduction process. Further, the study offers first insights into how firms can mitigate these negative effects by employing corporate communication strategies that either emphasize specific co-production value propositions (value-enhancing communication strategies) or highlight additional co-production service supplements (intensity-reducing communication strategies). The findings of the study offer important theoretical and managerial implications.

Previous research has identified customer satisfaction and customer-company identification as two of the most important concepts in relationship marketing. Yet despite their proclaimed importance, research on their long-term effectiveness is surprisingly scarce. Furthermore, comparative research acknowledging the concepts' different theoretical roots and illuminating the differences in their long-term effectiveness is lacking. In addition, little is known about how competitive actions affect the long-term effectiveness of both concepts. This study makes a first attempt to address these research gaps and offers a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and customer-company identification in driving important customer outcomes over time. Latent growth analyses of rich longitudinal data from customers over nine measurement points spanning 43 weeks (n = 6,930) show that customer satisfaction and customer-company identification have positive initial effects on customers' loyalty and willingness to pay but differ in their ability to maintain these positive effects over time. Whereas the positive effects of customer satisfaction decrease more rapidly, the effects of customer-company identification are significantly more persistent. Analysis of the moderating effects of relative competitive advertising suggests that customer-company identification is more effective at immunizing customers against competitive actions.

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Despite increasing interest in warmth and competence as fundamental dimensions in consumers’ evaluation of service providers, prior research remains ambiguous about which dimension is more important. The current study develops a nomological framework that clarifies this ambiguity and explains whether, when, and why warmth or competence takes precedence for different outcomes in customer-service provider relationships. Combined evidence from field and laboratory studies support the notion of an asymmetric dominance, which suggests that warmth is dominant in driving outcomes that capture relational aspects (e.g., customer-company identification), whereas competence is dominant in driving outcomes that capture transactional aspects of the customer-service provider relationship (e.g., share of wallet). The findings provide first insights into the underlying mechanisms that drive this asymmetric dominance by demonstrating that relational and capability concerns mediate this process. Moreover, the current investigation identifies novel moderators that offer managers help in identifying service contexts (people vs. object care) and customer segments (differing in process and outcome service goals) for which investing in warmth or competence is more promising. Overall, displaying competence is particular effective in driving customer attraction and current operating performance, whereas displaying warmth is better suited to establish strong emotional bonds and drive customer retention.

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