Leveraging Consumer Citizenship Behaviour for Providing Better Services to Consumers
As a consumer have you ever helped a retailer, a waiter serving you or your co-passenger while travelling in an aeroplane? If your answer is yes, it means you have displayed consumer citizenship behaviour. In theory, Consumer citizenship behaviour refers to a voluntary act of helping a company, employee or fellow consumer with an intent to improve the service. An interesting question for marketing managers is how leveraging consumer citizenship behaviour can be instrumental in delivering better services and how they can develop citizenship behaviour among consumers.
My co-authored research paper published in the ‘Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services’ offers some help. We commenced by exploring the published literature on citizenship behaviour and found that few studies have attempted to discover the determinants of citizenship behaviour. We pondered whether companies can do something to promote citizenship behaviour and loyalty among their consumers and we found our key determinant as ‘Relational benefits’ (benefits that consumers derive from a relationship with the firm). Specifically, we found that consumers feel more confident about the delivery of service (Confidence benefits) and tend to like being respected and valued in the relationship with the firm (social benefits). However, it was difficult to postulate that if consumers derive relational benefits, they would display citizenship behaviour and loyalty, therefore, we delved deeper into the research and found that if consumers feel a match between their identity and the identity of the firm, they are more likely to be loyal and display citizenship behaviour.
We tested these proposed relationships by surveying 254 airline passengers in India and found that when firms make consistent efforts to provide confidence and social benefits, consumers are more likely to identify with the firm and thus more likely to show citizenship behaviour and loyalty. Thus, our study informs managers that providing quality service consistently and valuing your consumers by showing respect and gratitude can be critical for developing citizenship behaviour among consumers. This relationship is strengthened if consumers identify with the firm in this process. In a highly competitive marketplace, firms struggle to maintain consumer loyalty and engage consumers with the products and services offered. Probably providing relational benefits to consumers can help marketing managers and firms.
Note: This article is based on the research article by “Utkarsh and Gupta, R. K. (2022). Effects of confidence and social benefits on consumers’ extra-role and in-role behaviors: A social identity and social exchange perspective. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 65, 102879.” Click here to connect with the author on LinkedIn.
