Psychological Implications of Customer Participation in Co-Production

TLDR

Customer participation in production is increasing, yet the literature has largely ignored its psychological effects. The study aims to investigate how participation influences customer satisfaction. Using social psychological theory on self‑serving bias, the authors conduct two studies to examine participation effects. Study 1 finds that participation alters satisfaction in line with self‑serving bias, while Study 2 shows that offering a choice mitigates this bias when outcomes are worse than expected.

Abstract

Customer participation in the production of goods and services appears to be growing. The marketing literature has largely focused on the economic implications of this trend and has not addressed customers’ potential psychological responses to participation. The authors draw on the social psychological literature on the self-serving bias and conduct two studies to examine the effects of participation on customer satisfaction. Study 1 shows that consistent with the self-serving bias, given an identical outcome, customer satisfaction with a firm differs depending on whether a customer participates in production. Study 2 shows that providing customers a choice in whether to participate mitigates the self-serving bias when the outcome is worse than expected. The authors present theoretical and practical implications and provide directions for further research.