Abstract
PurposeSecondary customers often experience secondary vulnerabilities that manifest in family-centred transformative services as other- and self-related customer needs. Yet, a relational perspective on primary and secondary customers’ needs is lacking. The study analyses secondary customers’ needs and their relationship to primary customers’ needs to enhance well-being in customer entities. The service inclusion lens is used to understand customers’ experiences of vulnerability.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses an exploratory approach. The data consists of ethnographic observations and interviews of elderly residents (primary customers), their family members (secondary customers) and nurses in two nursing homes.FindingsPrimary and secondary customers’ needs are interrelated (or unrelated) in four ways: they are separate, congruent, intertwined or discrepant. The vulnerability experiences fluctuate in intensity and over time, individually reflecting on these need dimensions.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to service research concerning customers’ experiences of vulnerability, secondary customers and their inclusion in services. Primary customers’ service inclusion may increase/decrease secondary customers’ service inclusion and their experience of vulnerability. Moreover, secondary customers’ inclusion is often necessary to foster primary customers’ inclusion and well-being.Practical implicationsFostering service inclusion and well-being for primary and secondary customers requires balanced inclusion and acknowledging the needs of both groups. Service providers may need to act as moderators within customer entities if discrepant needs occur.Originality/valueThe study addresses the under-researched areas of family members’ customer needs, their relation to primary customers’ needs, experiences of secondary vulnerability and context-related vulnerability.
Highlights
When the primary customer faces vulnerabilities, family members usually take on caregiver roles, and they can experience secondary vulnerability (Pavia and Mason, 2014), which is different from the vulnerability experienced by the primary customer but directly related to it
Since secondary customers’ experiences of secondary vulnerability stem from the primary customer’s experiences of vulnerability, they mostly manifest as other-related needs, such as concern over the primary customer’s well-being, and as self-related needs concerning, for instance, emotional support and the adequacy of information
Embodying the interrelatedness of needs in a customer entity, the study contributes to the service literature by supporting the adoption of an extended consumer/ customer view (Fletcher-Brown et al, 2020; Leino, 2017) and a relational perspective (Kelleher et al, 2020), and provides an understanding of customer needs, including latent ones
Summary
(Family member of a nursing home resident). As this quote indicates, the influence potential of some services considerably extends beyond the primary customer, most often to family members. The primary customers of elderly care services are the elderly, who can be regarded as customers experiencing vulnerabilities. When the primary customer faces vulnerabilities, family members usually take on caregiver roles, and they can experience secondary vulnerability (Pavia and Mason, 2014), which is different from the vulnerability experienced by the primary customer but directly related to it. Family members are closely involved and in supportive roles with regard to the service. Based on their potential experience of secondary vulnerability, they can be regarded as secondary customers of these services (Leino, 2017)
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