Exploring customer engagement valences in the social services

Abstract

Purpose Minimal attention is given to the negative valences of customer engagement and how they manifest in ways that detract from service value. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the meaning and conceptual dimensions of disengagement and negative engagement in conjunction with positive engagement. It explores how three valences of engagement manifest towards dual objects: the service community and the focal service organisation. This exploration is based within a new and novel social service context. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach using (four) focus groups is used. Findings A conceptual model of customer engagement is derived from the groups that include strongly held and positive customer engagement; passive, yet negatively orientated customer disengagement; and active and destructive negative customer engagement. Positive customer engagement is found to be directed at the service community object, whereas customer disengagement and negative engagement are directed at the focal service organisation object. A spillover effect is also revealed whereby negative engagement with the focal service organisation detracts from customers’ positive engagement within their service community. This suggests that engagement within a social service is multifaceted: several engagement valences may exist within one service relationship. It also suggests that these engagement valences are interrelated. Originality/value This is the first paper to apply three valences of engagement within the one focal relationship and examine how they manifest towards two objects, providing a unique perspective of how different interactions within the service ecosystem can influence engagement.

Conceptualizing negatively valenced influencing behavior: forms and triggers

“…Additionally, apart from a recent study that identified cognitive (subjectivity) and emotional (irritation and community intimacy) triggers of community engagement (Heinonen, 2017), the majority of existing studies on the negative valence of engagement have identified only emotional triggers, such as hatred, anger and stress, towards a service provider, brand or firm (e.g. Bowden et al, 2017;Juric, Smith and Wilks, 2016;Naumann et al, 2017).…”

Changes and evolution in the intellectual structure of consumer dissatisfaction

“…Major areas of interest analysis resulted in several revelations. On the one hand, we observed that research on consumer dissatisfaction is currently more focused on discovering how to manage dissatisfied customer engagement by recovery strategies, for example, by showing how different interactions within the service ecosystem can influence engagement (Azer & Alexander, 2020; Naumann, Lay‐Hwa Bowden, & Gabbott, 2017). Furthermore, the most innovative research is trying to define which factors influence hotel customer dissatisfaction (Li, Liu, Tan, & Hu, 2020).…”

Customer Engagement: A Systematic Review and Future Research Priorities

“…Negatively valenced engagement in relation to brands, can be shown through consumers’ “unfavourable brand-related thoughts, feelings, and behaviours during focal brand interactions” (Hollebeek and Chen 2014, p. 63). In the context of services, negative CE can entail feelings of “anger, hatred and stress, which manifest through more constructive coping behaviours such as individual and group complaint behaviour” (Naumann et al 2017, p. 902). More importantly, negative CE can manifest in ways that affect the wider service community beyond the focal firm, by customers who may seek to recruit others in their cause (Naumann et al 2017).…”

“…In the context of services, negative CE can entail feelings of “anger, hatred and stress, which manifest through more constructive coping behaviours such as individual and group complaint behaviour” (Naumann et al 2017, p. 902). More importantly, negative CE can manifest in ways that affect the wider service community beyond the focal firm, by customers who may seek to recruit others in their cause (Naumann et al 2017).…”

“…Finally, disengagement , or the “termination” stage, refers to the process of concluding a customer's engagement with the focal object (Bowden et al 2015), which is typically permanent (Brodie et al 2013). Disengagement can be characterised by feelings of cynicism, frustration, neglect and distrust (Naumann et al 2017) that is, active engagement with a negative valence, which can create lower tolerance for service failures causing customers to be more susceptible to ending the relationship (Bougie et al 2003). Nonetheless, as with valence, few researchers have sought to understand the wide spectrum of CE, in terms of its level or intensity.…”