The Role of Customer Retention in Business Outcomes of Online Service Providers

Abstract

Despite great business outcomes that some service providers achieve on crowdsourcing marketplaces, many are unable to find customers, transact on a regular basis and survive. Previous research on the customer–provider relationship development in these marketplaces has shown the impact of provider profiles on customers’ decision-making and highlighted the role of prior relationship between the two parties as a major determinant of provider selection decisions of customers. However, little is known about the role of prior relationship and customer retention on the business outcomes of providers. This study theorizes a mediating impact versus a moderating impact of customer retention on the association between profile information and business outcomes of providers, building on the integrated information response model (IIRM). This study investigates two competing theoretical models using archival data from a leading crowdsourcing marketplace. The results show that a provider’s profile information is significantly associated with the provider’s business outcomes, while customer retention partially mediates this relationship for the self-provided information on the profile. Moreover, customer retention negatively moderates the positive impact of the customer-provided information on the provider’s business outcomes, implying the important role of new customers in achieving better business outcomes on crowdsourcing marketplaces.