User, Customer and Consumer Experience: Highlighting the Heterogeneity in the Literature

The notion of experience has gained in popularity both in management and in computer science. To assess the quality of an information system, specialists in human-computer interaction are now referring to the user experience. On the marketing side, the concept of experience has also become key to describe the relationship between an individual and a brand. Several streams of research exist, some privileging the notion of customer experience and others of consumer experience. However, the multiplication of those works also created fragmentation and theoretical heterogeneity, as emerged through our analyses. This situation is particularly noxious to the communication between the disciplines of human-computer interaction and marketing, becoming more and more necessary. In order to promote this multidisciplinary communication, we clearly define and differentiate the constructs of experience. We also highlight the current heterogeneity in the literature through a systematic literature review and we end by formulating some suggestions to researchers and practitioners. This work contributes to a better communication between the disciplines of human-computer interaction and marketing, and more particularly to the unification of the constructs of experience