Customer participation in services: a framework for process design

Abstract

In any service delivery process its customers participate in a certain way and how this takes place will affect the efficiency and the quality of the service delivery process substantially. In this paper we develop a design-oriented modelling framework that aims to guide managers on the question of how the participation of customers can be designed best. Building on a systematic literature review on customer participation models in the disciplines of services, marketing and operations management, the paper develops an integrative framework that helps with the assessment of alternatives design options for customer participation. The framework offers guidance on the design across the different phases of a service process and provides a specific set of dimensions to be evaluated in the design. This supports managers in the examination of the implications of their design for customer value, as well as for different operational efficiency attributes.