Understanding customer engagement in family firms: A conceptual framework

Abstract

The customer engagement (CE) concept has been presented to encourage active customer contribution to the firm that can add value to both firms and customers. While this concept is now part of a rich body of knowledge in the marketing strategy literature, research in the family business stream has not paid attention to it. Building on the CE concept, while integrating the familiness concept from the family business research, we advance a conceptual framework to establish CE in family firms. This study uses a methodological triangulation approach (i.e., a combination of literature review, popular press articles, and managerial insights from interviews) as the study approach to develop the framework. Using grounded theory to analyze the data collected through the triangulation approach, this study identifies the relevant factors that are used in the framework. Specifically, we propose that firm-related factors (i.e., adaptive marketing capabilities, and regenerative capability) employed by the family firm can lead to the creation of a positive family firm experience, a new concept we introduce in this study. Particularly, we propose that the firm-related factors have a diminishing positive effect on the family firm experience. We also identify moderators (i.e., vision disharmony, role overlap, and ethnicity) that influence the diminishing positive relationship between firm-related factors and family firm experience. Further, we also propose that the spillover in family firm conflict moderates the influence of family firm experience on satisfaction and emotional attachment, ultimately leading to CE. Based on this framework, we advance research propositions that discuss the creation of positive family firm experiences and identify areas for future research.