The effects of three customer-to-customer interaction quality types on customer experience quality and citizenship behavior in mass service settings

Purpose Creating superior customer experience quality is important to firm success, but the link between customer experience quality and customer-to-customer interaction quality – a critical component of customer experience quality in mass service settings – has seldom been spotlighted. This paper aims to propose and test a theoretical model of the relationship among three types of customer-to-customer interaction quality (friend-interaction, neighboring customer-interaction and audience-interaction) and customer experience quality. They also examine these variables’ effects on customer citizenship behavior in mass service settings. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data through a self-administered survey. The proposed relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings Friend-interaction and audience-interaction quality perceptions significantly influence customer experience quality, with neighboring customer-interaction quality perception significant only for low communication quality. We find that enhancing customer experience quality is crucial to promoting citizenship behavior in mass service settings. Practical implications Neighboring customer-interaction quality perception has a significant effect on customer experience quality, particularly in a low communication quality situation. Therefore, service marketers should provide effective neighboring customer-interaction management schemes to enhance experience quality together with friend-interaction and audience-interaction management schemes when customers experience low communication quality. Additionally, service marketers should focus on enhancing communication quality only when anticipating low neighboring customer-interaction quality. Originality/value The findings highlight the effects of three types of customer-to-customer interaction quality on customer citizenship behavior through experience quality perception in mass service settings, and the effect of neighboring customer-interaction quality perception on customer experience quality, moderated by communication quality.