Antecedents and Outcomes of Customer Engagement: Bridging Customer Value Co-Creation Behavior and Customer Psychological State Engagement

This dissertation draws on service-dominant logic and reviews the engagement literature to explore the antecedents and outcomes of two multi-dimensional customer engagement constructs: psychological state engagement (PSEngagement) and value co-creation behavior. PSEngagement is a precursor to value co-creation behavior, with the latter also known as behavioral engagement in prior research. The model proposed in this dissertation was tested in two service contexts: higher education, with a sample size of 454, and fitness, with a sample size of 122. To minimize the common method variance typical of survey research (Podsakoff, et al. 2003), the model was tested twice per context, once using self-report data only, and the second time using a combination of self-report and objective data. This dissertation integrates two research streams by including customer engagement and customer value co-creation behavior, explores the conceptual and operational definitions of each, and models their antecedents and outcomes. This research is important for theoretical as well as practical reasons. Theoretically, it contributes by corroborating the interplay between PSEngagement and value co-creation behavior and by examining that interplay within the broader nomological network of antecedents and outcomes. For practitioners, this research identifies the positive outcomes of having engaged customers as well as the mechanisms through which firms can engage customers