Advancing the Consumer Engagement Concept: Insights into its Definition, Measurement, and Relationships

Abstract

Although both managers and academics are becoming increasingly interested in consumer engagement (CE), significant confusion remains regarding its meaning, measurement, and relationships with other constructs. This dissertation aims to contribute to these three domains through an analysis of the results of four individual research papers. Paper I provides the first systematic literature review of customer engagement articles in top journals in marketing and related disciplines. This paper identifies four main customer engagement literature streams: 1) the behavioral stream, 2) the psychological stream, 3) the combined (i.e., behavioral and psychological) stream, and 4) the consumer trait stream. After providing a synopsis of the applied customer engagement measurement scales, the paper analyzes existing quantitative results and finds that customer engagement has a positive association with a variety of favorable customer-based constructs, such as attitude, brand equity, and behavioral intentions. However, a critical evaluation reveals that numerous definitions of engagement are neither explicit, logical, nor truly different from other marketing concepts, and that studies frequently apply alarming measurement practices. These issues make it challenging to interpret customer engagement relationships. The remaining three quantitative survey papers—Papers II, III, and IV—examine interaction- and trait-based antecedents and service- and brand-related consequences of CE. In these papers, the definition of CE is based on that given by Hollebeek et al. (2014), who characterize engagement as a positive cognitive, emotional, and behavioral activity that occurs during interaction with an engagement object. One of the most intriguing findings of these papers is that psychological engagement is a stronger driver of service continuance intention than either attitude or satisfaction when consumption is based on hedonic reasons. In contrast, attitude and satisfaction are stronger drivers when service use is based on utilitarian factors. In summary, this dissertation finds that CE is a theoretically and managerially relevant marketing concept and recognizes that much more research is needed in all three domains of CE.