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communication, affective commitment, and interactional justice as the antecedents of
co-production. In the context of business-to-business marketing, the compatibility and
history of business relations, affective commitment, and expertise are considered as the
antecedents of co-production (Chen, Tsou, and Ching, 2011). By contrast, this study focuses
on the circumstances under which customers would be motivated to engage in co-production.
Three antecedents of co-production are identified in this study, namely, asset specificity,
quality of customer interaction, and decision-making uncertainty. Asset specificity is a
significant factor in the collaborative relationship between service providers and their
customers (Athaide, Stump, and Joshi, 2003). A favorable customer interaction encourages
customers to provide valuable suggestions for service providers, thus bringing both parties
into a close working relationship (Ramani and Kumar, 2008). Customers may face decision-
making uncertainty on various attributes of the products and services offered (Patterson,
2000), and thus, they are prompted to collaborate with their service providers to make
confident decisions (Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Alemán, 2001).
Customer participation in co-production requires mental and physical efforts and
willingness to exert effort on behalf of the relationship. Consistent with social exchange
theory, customers always seek a trade-off between benefits and costs. They engage in efforts
that maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of participation in co-production. In other
words, customers guided by cost-benefit considerations are more likely to reciprocate with
such effort if they believe that service providers have contributed mutual benefits to the
relationship and such co-production can reduce operating costs through their joint efforts
(Eisingerich and Bell, 2006). Indeed, co-production creates value by enhancing the benefits
that customers receive from their service providers. It can be achieved by customizing the
value, enriching the interpersonal relationships between customers and service providers,
and enhancing customer satisfaction (Chan, Yim, and Lam, 2010; Xie, Bagozzi, and Troye,
2008). Co-production improves the competence and aptitude of customers, which
subsequently enhances their confidence and sense of fulfillment (Dong, Evans, and Zou,
2008). The essence of relationship marketing lies in the generation of relational benefits for
customers. These benefits, which include special treatment, as well as social and confidence
benefits (Gwinner, Gremler, and Bitner, 1998), are considered by the present study as the
consequences of co-production. In addition, behavioral outcome and share of wallet are two
additional important aspects of the relationship revenue that are used to determine customer
loyalty (Keiningham, Perkins-Munn, and Evans, 2003). This study explores how relational
benefits can be strengthened to increase customers’ share of wallet.