Exploring service employees’ involvement in value co-creation: dimensions, antecedents and consequences

Purpose Although customer co-creation has received a significant amount of attention in both practice and academics, most of the previous studies have been conducted from the customer perspective while how service employees are involved in the customer value co-creation process has been rarely examined. To fill in this gap, the purpose of this paper is to develop a scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation, and test a theoretical model that investigates the antecedents and consequences of employee involvement in customer value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach Based on a comprehensive literature review and 12 in-depth interviews with service employees, a scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation was developed in Study 1. The items were purified, and the construct validity and reliability were evaluated via a survey (n = 178). In Study 2, the newly developed scale was cross-validated in a new service context and a conceptual model was tested by estimating a structural equation model with survey data collected from service employees (n = 225). Findings The newly developed scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation has demonstrated sufficient construct validity and reliability across different service contexts. Moreover, the results show that both customer orientation and perceived organizational support are positively associated with employee involvement in customer value co-creation, which, in turn, influences employees’ job satisfaction and job stress. In addition, firm cross-functional cooperation strengthens the relationships between perceived organizational support and employee involvement in customer value co-creation. Research limitations/implications Future research from other service contexts and countries is needed to confirm the generalizability of the new scale and the findings. Practical implications The findings of the study will provide implications to service managers regarding where to focus their organizational resources and how to facilitate employee involvement in customer value co-creation. Originality/value This study takes an initial step to develop a scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation and test the antecedents and consequences of employee involvement in customer value co-creation.