Determining customer satisfaction and loyalty from a value co-creation perspective

Abstract

In light of the recent developments in marketing theory, namely service-dominant logic and value co-creation, the development of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty deserves reconsideration to broaden the mostly firm-centric earlier approaches. We propose a framework that includes the contributions of co-creating actors and identification with the firm as antecedents of customer satisfaction and loyalty. This framework can be adapted to a context by defining a context-specific set of actors and their unique reciprocal relationships. Two quantitative studies conducted in the professional German soccer leagues demonstrate that multiple actors (event organizer, teams, and fans) roughly show the same effect on customer satisfaction. Moreover, identification has both direct and indirect (i.e. via customer satisfaction and perceived social actors’ contributions) influence on customer loyalty. The results imply firm activities have limited influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty. As a result, managers must identify strategies to facilitate value co-creation among all relevant actors.