Effect of multilevel trust on effort-in-use and service co-design behaviour

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to draw on the trust-commitment theory and the framework of service-dominant marketing logic to investigate the potential effect of trust at both brand and service personnel level on consumers’ value co-creation behaviour. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a consumer perspective to investigate and interpret consumers’ value co-creation behaviour. The measurement scales were developed based on literature review and findings from focus group study. Survey interviews were undertaken in the USA and Hong Kong so as to test the potential moderator effect of country. Findings Effort-in-use and service co-design behaviour are two aspects of value cocreation behaviour. The findings provide theoretical expansion of the theory on value cocreation in two ways and suggest to discriminate the effect of consumer trust on and role in value cocreation behaviour at brand and service employee levels. Besides, the relationships among “trust in employee”, “trust in brand”, effort in use behaviour, service co-design behaviour, and customers’ perceived value actually could be moderated by country factor. Research limitations/implications The study only focuses on the behavioural dimension of value cocreation behaviour but provides a number of suggestions on how to expand the domain of the measurement scale for value co-creation behaviour, cultural influences and customer perceived value and identifies several potential moderators such as reputation of the service brand and type of service for future research. Practical implications The findings provide important insights to service marketers on how to adopt appropriate service strategy, service operation, marketing communications and service training to facilitate consumers’ value co-creation behaviour. Originality/value The present study represents the first attempt to investigate the potential impact of consumer trust at different levels on customers’ value cocreation behaviour. It explains the connections between trust as an antecedent to value cocreation under different country contexts, thereby adding new knowledge in both domains.

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