Consumer-to-Consumer Conversations in Service Settings

Abstract

This article contributes, in two ways, to our understanding of the nature, scope, and significance of conversations between strangers in service environments. First, a framework is introduced that provides both academics and practitioners with a summary of the key issues associated with the stimuli, manifestations, and consequences of such conversations. Second, the article reports a market-oriented ethnography of a specific service—rail travel—that locates stranger conversations within a broader categorization of consumer travel behaviors. This has resulted in the identification of a stabilizing effect of conversations between strangers through consumer anxiety reduction, the enactment of the partial employee role, and the supply of social interaction. The stabilizing effect can act as a “defuser” of dissatisfaction in services where consumers are in close proximity for prolonged periods in the service setting and regularly express dissatisfaction with service provision.

C2C value creation: social anxiety and retail environment

“…In fact, some authors have already identified C2C behaviours that result in worse service experiences (Grove and Fisk, 1997;Martin, 1996). However, generally, the literature posits that when a positive C2C interaction occurs, such as conversations and handshaking, it results in value for customers (Harris and Baron, 2004). To the authors' best knowledge, only a few studies have focused on the possible negative effects of a positive C2C interaction on customers, and none of the research has addressed social anxiety as an individual trait that could influence the relationship between C2C interaction and value.…”

“…Interactions among customers in the retail environment are common and can influence the retail experience (Harris and Baron, 2004;Martin, 1996;McGrath and Otnes, 1995). However, C2C interaction occurs not only in physical environments but also in online retail environments, the so-called C2C virtual interaction (Nicholls, 2010).…”

“…Previous research has shown that C2C interaction influences the shopping experience and is considered a common activity, not only in brick-and-mortar stores but also in online shopping environments (Gruen et al, 2007;Harris and Baron, 2004;McGrath and Otnes, 1995). Nonetheless, C2C interaction was a neglected area until Martin and Pranter (1989) published their work (Raajpoot and Sharma, 2006) -which emphasised other customers' importance to satisfaction with service encounters -yet much of the online C2C interaction remains hardly explored (Nicholls, 2010).…”

Designing Events for Social Interaction

“…It can be argued that event environments and the visitors to that environment (the audience) should not be considered solely as commercial service environments consumed by customers (e.g., as would occur with a nonprofit organization communicating a noncommercial message). The research because the impact of other consumers has shown to be an important factor for the evaluation of the service or experience (Harris & Baron, 2004;Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, & Gremler, 2002;McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig, 2002). In hedonic consumption situations (e.g., leisure and tourism settings) consumers are probably more interested in getting social benefits (Levy, 2010;Miao, Mattila, & Mount, 2011).…”

“…The CCI research focuses on how other consumers sharing the same service environment influence the consumers' experience (Gummesson, 2006;Harris & Baron, 2004). It has been found that other consumers can contribute to satisfaction and enjoyment (Grove & Fisk, 1997;Huang & Hsu, 2010), but also to dissatisfaction (Harris & Reynolds, 2003;Wu, 2007).…”