Co-production and the roles of dependence and service importance

Recent research suggests that there are increasing opportunities for customer-firm co-production as a means to achieve competitive advantage. This study proposes a model of co-production and investigates the link between co-production and its antecedent factors in a financial services context. The model is empirically tested in a survey of 288 customers of banks (or financial holding companies). Support is found for a contingency model involving customer expertise, service provider expertise, communication and interpersonal relationships along with perceived importance of service and dependence. Theoretical and managerial implications of findings are discussed. (C) 2015 College of Management, National Cheng Kung University. Production and hosting by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.