An Investigation of the Relationship between Customer Empowerment and Service Evaluation

Abstract

Researches on psychological empowerment most have been done on employee empowerment in organization. Some scholars explored disabled patient empowerment in hospital, but less have been done in normal services, empirical studies in this field are seldom. Based on literature review and depth interview, the authors proposed a casual model of the relationship between customer empowerment and service evaluation, surveyed 600 customers in travel agencies in China, and tested the model in an empirical study. The results of data analysis indicated that customer empowerment is composed of consumption capabilities, self-choices and effect, which differ from employee empowerment. All three components have direct or indirect impacts on customer perceived control, service quality, and customer satisfaction. Additionally, sticking to service fairness and sharing information with customer will improve customer perceived empowerment