Customer information sharing and new service development: is there a link?
ISSN: 0888-045X
Article publication date: 6 February 2020
Issue publication date: 18 May 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish the link between customer information sharing and new service development.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a survey of tourism firms, 295 questionnaires were collected in three large tourism locations in Tanzania. Thereafter, the hypotheses were tested by structural equation modeling (SEM) after undertaking both factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
Results indicate that there is a positive association/link between customer information sharing and new service development. The link here expresses the association that exists as customers share information and the extent of use of this information for the firm benefit in facilitating new service development. Specifically, customers post service information and customer interaction behaviors positively support new service development; however, customers’ pre-service information revealed no link.
Practical implications
These results offer practical evidence that post service information and interaction behaviors form the groundwork for development of new services in service-related organizations.
Originality/value
These results evidence that customer post service information and customer interaction behaviors form the groundwork for development new services in tourism. Hence, the study strengthens the value co-creation and innovation views in the service arena by extending knowledge in the use of both the service and the customer environment for service improvement.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is part of the PhD thesis which was funded by Innovation and Sustainability in Tourism Project No. 2280.
Citation
Busagara, T., Mori, N., Mossberg, L., Jani, D. and Andersson, T. (2020), "Customer information sharing and new service development: is there a link?", The Bottom Line, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 133-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/BL-09-2019-0112
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited