Exploring Determinants and Effects of Shared Responsibility in Service Exchanges

Effects of inviting customers to share responsibility in the context of impersonal service

“…Lengnick-Hall (1996) has urged management to examine the roles that customers can and do play in the service-production process, while Bendapudi and Leone (2003) have asserted that actively encouraging customers to be co-creators of service value will be the next frontier in competitive effectiveness. Shared responsibility is defined by Sierra et al (2009) as mutual accountability for the success of a service outcome, through verbal and physical efforts by the parties directly involved in the exchange. Bringing customers into the process in that way increases their perception of joint control over the outcome.…”

“…Perceived shared responsibility was measured by responses on the seven-point Likert scale from Study 1a to three modified statements adapted from the study by Sierra et al (2009): "The service provider and I" were first, "both responsible for the maintenance of the equipment"; second, "both accountable for the maintenance of the equipment"; and third, "both in control of the maintenance of the equipment." The internal validity of this scale was assessed as acceptable, at α ¼ 0.82.…”

“…At the level of the firm, those have concentrated on the economic benefits of productivity gains by using customers as substitutes for some part of what would otherwise be employee labor (Mills and Morris, 1986). At the customer level, research has centered on customers' motivation to "co-create" a service (Bateson, 1985;Kuppelwieser and Finsterwalder, 2011;Meuter et al, 2005) and on the effect that participation in the transaction has on perceptions of quality, satisfaction, and loyalty Impersonal service (Bendapudi and Leone, 2003;Cermak et al, 1994;Chan et al, 2010;Finsterwalder and Tuzovic, 2010;Sierra et al, 2009). Other studies have proposed that customers should be managed as "partial employees" (Claycomb et al, 2001;Kelley et al, 1990).…”

Alliance strategy: context, process, and requirements

“…Vertical ISS re-organizes services and their associated business processes and resources in supplier-customer relationships 6 . Demarcation and arrangement of supplier-customer responsibilities shift (Sierra et al, 2009), resulting in renewed attention for specialization across the value chain (Johnston and Lawrence, 1991). This specialization and awareness of value chain partner's potential contributions lead to new dependencies and coordination patterns, for instance programs for engaging customers or citizens in service design and delivery (Messinger, 2013).…”

“…shared responsibility for cocreating services and their value (Edvardsson et al, 2011;Sierra et al, 2009). …”