Value Co-Creation and Behavioral Consequences: Evidence from Brazilian Consumers: An Abstract

The Service Profit Chain (SPC) establishes that value creation emerges from the interactions among the company, employees, and consumers. The rationale is that employees’ satisfaction influences consumer satisfaction, affecting the company’s performance. In this study, we rely on the general rationale of SPC connecting to the notions of value co-creation (VCC) and customer behavioral outcomes. VCC entails resource-integrating actors and promotes the customization process, affecting service development, processes, and production. In VCC, value is co-created, delivered, and evaluated in a dialogic way by consumers and service providers. The way employees and customers interact and liaise with each other is core to transform and facilitate the co-creation of value. A central aspect of VCC entails resource-integrating actors. Based on SPC insights transposed to the VCC process, we propose a model to investigate the customer co-creation process and its outcomes. In particular, the model advances that VCC dimensions (Dialogue, Access, Risk assessment, and Transparency) affect Satisfaction, Trust (affective and cognitive), and Customer Loyalty. We conducted a survey among Brazilian consumers in the following services: education, banking, and mobile communications. The questionnaire was administered using the electronic platform Survey Monkey. The sample produced 1012 valid questionnaires. The sample entails 45.6% male and 55.5% female respondents, with a mean age of 35 years. Data analysis included structural equation modeling conducted through the analysis of the correlation matrix. Findings revealed a positive impact of all VCC dimensions on Customer Satisfaction. Findings further revealed a positive relationship between the VCC dimensions of Dialogue, Risk, and Transparency and Affective Trust. The results reinforced satisfaction and cognitive trust as important drivers for Loyalty. Multigroup analysis revealed nuances in the findings related to the different services. Relevant differences were found between banking and education services and between education and mobile services. The study further reported managerial implications and avenues for future studies.