Customer interaction in business relations : a meta-analysis approach

Purpose: Customer interaction is both an aim and source of concern for managers around the world. Different forms of interaction, such as cocreation, coproduction and customer participation, are evaluated in different fields of knowledge, with a gap in terms of the joint analysis of their antecedents and consequences as well as possible practical distinctions in the effects of these concepts. The purpose of this paper is to examine customer interaction effects by applying meta-analysis of effect sizes that measure the strength of their relationships. Design/methodology/approach: The study used meta-analysis and moderator analysis approaches to synthesize preview results on customer interaction relationships. Findings: The results suggest the empirical validity of using customer participation to replace terminologies such as coproduction and cocreation, and show the moderation role of institutional, cultural and contextual factors. Research limitations/implications: This study investigated the literature in the areas of business and management to show whether, how and when customer interaction is related to individual and organizational factors. Although the conceptual and empirical implications derived from the preliminary efforts and the consolidated results are robust to generalization, methodological biases limited the findings. Practical implications: This research suggests that a better understanding of customer interaction (antecedents, consequences and moderators) may help organizations to identify the most appropriate ways to build their strategies and to improve the results of their efforts. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by providing one of the few attempts to consolidate the preliminary studies in different forms of customer interaction, suggesting possible moderations and amplifying the preliminary efforts.