Does dispositional awe promote customer citizenship behaviours? The multiple mediating effects of construal level and social connectedness

Abstract

In the digital economy, the relationship between customers and companies is a win-win cooperation, and value co-creation has become the mainstream business development concept. Against this background, customer citizenship behaviours have received increasing and widespread attention in marketing and consumer behaviour research. However, previous studies have not sufficiently considered the importance of trait emotions in predicting customer citizenship behaviours. By focusing on a specific emotional disposition with positive functions, dispositional awe, this study develops an integrative model based on the prototype model of awe and the elaborated model of awe’s prosocial effects. This model examines the impact of dispositional awe on customer citizenship behaviours and analyses the roles of construal level and social connectedness in it. Drawing on a sample of 701 questionnaires from Chinese adults and using structural equation modelling, this study finds that dispositional awe contributes positively to three types of customer citizenship behaviours: making recommendations, helping other customers, and providing feedback. In addition, dispositional awe can influence customer citizenship behaviours through the independent mediating effect of social connectedness as well as the serial mediating effect of construal level and social connectedness. These findings suggest that frequent experiences of awe help develop an individual’s internal abstract mindset and subjective sense of connection to external society, thereby motivating customer citizenship behaviours. This study provides valuable insights into whether and how dispositional awe can influence customer citizenship behaviours and offers operational strategies for marketing practice.