Abstract
As academics and scholars are increasingly recognizing customers’ active role in shaping their service experience and co-creating value, the marketing literature has witnessed a significant rise in research on customer engagement. According to Brodie et al. (2011), customer engagement denotes customers’ psychological state with a particular focal object (i.e. a brand or a firm) occurring during interactive service experiences. It is manifested through engagement behaviors that go beyond the fundamental purchase, and has ensuing mutually beneficial outcomes for both firms and customers, including increased satisfaction, loyalty, and competitive advantage (Brodie et al. 2013; Kumar et al. 2010; van Doorn et al. 2010).
Existing literature is currently fragmented in regards to several aspects related to the construct. These include definitions, conceptualizations, conceptual relationships, as well as notions of engagement intensity and valence. Recent calls have been made for further theoretical advancement of customer engagement research (Hollebeek et al. 2019). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to draw from extant theoretical and empirical customer engagement literature to critique existing findings, highlight areas of inconsistency, and present future areas of research in order to advance a more holistic theoretical understanding.
The discussion leads to the identification of a number of gaps in knowledge, and subsequently a number of research directions destined to advance customer engagement marketing theory. Suggested themes for future research include: (i) examining the specific nature of engagement dimensions through empirical study; (ii) the dynamics, drivers, and outcomes of varying engagement intensities and valences (Li et al. 2018); (iii) disengagement as a potentially multi-dimensional construct; (iv) the role of external and contextual factors in shaping engagement; and (v) the managerial application and value of firm-driven engagement strategies. These have potential implications for practice, since understanding customer engagement should aid firms to effectively design engagement-informed marketing strategies to achieve desired outcomes.