A CIT investigation of other customers' influence in services

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the different forms of other customers' influence in various service settings.Design/methodology/approachThe critical incident technique (CIT) method was used to collect and analyze the data. A total of 142 critical incidents involving other customers' influence in services were collected.FindingsBased on CIT analysis, nine types of other customers' influence involving positive and negative, direct and indirect customer‐to‐customer interactions emerge. In addition, the researchers find that the degree of other customers' influence varies for different service settings.Research limitations/implicationsMethodologically, there are a number of limitations of the CIT method used in this research. The paper suggests ways to overcome these limitations. Moreover, findings of this research suggest a number of additional directions for future research.Practical implicationsThis research suggests the importance of proactively managing customer‐to‐customer interactions during a service encounter experience.Originality/valueThis paper builds on previous research and provides empirically based analysis of the different forms of other customers' influence across service settings.