Title: The impacts of customer participation and company reputation on customer-company identification

Authors: Lan Xu; Tao Wang; Nan Cui; Suhua Su

Addresses: Economics and Management School, Luojia Mountain, Wuhan, Hubei, China. ' Economics and Management School, Luojia Mountain, Wuhan, Hubei, China. ' Economics and Management School, Luojia Mountain, Wuhan, Hubei, China. ' Economics and Management School, Luojia Mountain, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Abstract: This article investigates the impacts of customer participation and company reputation on customer-company identification and customer satisfaction. The findings of an experimental study in a fund market context show that both customer participation and company reputation positively affect customers' identification with the company; the effect of customer participation on customer satisfaction is partially mediated by customer-company identification; the effect of company reputation on customer satisfaction is fully mediated by customer-company identification. The findings enrich literature in customer-company identification and pinpoint an additional psychological mechanism that accounts for the effect of customer participation on customer satisfaction. Insightful managerial implications of these findings are discussed as well at the end of the article.

Keywords: customer-company identification; customer participation; company reputation; customer satisfaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2012.046449

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2012 Vol.10 No.3/4, pp.247 - 259

Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

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