Lightening the dark side of customer participation – The mitigating role of relationship performance in business-to-business project contexts

Abstract

Customer participation offers significant opportunities for B2B suppliers in contexts where parties interact over an extended period of time. However, a growing body of research highlights concerns about the darker side of customer participation.Integrating literature on the dark side, reactance theory, and social exchange, this research contends that suppliers aim to preserve their autonomy. The authors forward a conceptual framework examining the effects of customer participation on two types of supplier commitment. A survey of 105 managers of business and industrial projects suggests that customer participation reduces suppliers’ affective and calculative commitment. Furthermore, relationship performance positively moderates the negative effect of customer participation on calculative commitment thereby alleviating the detrimental effects of customer participation. The present research advances the literature by highlighting the potential of relational approaches in lightening the dark side of customer participation and mitigating its possible detrimental effects.