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2.4 Quality of Customer Interaction
Quality of customer interaction refers to the extent to which the interaction of a service
provider with a customer is open, flexible, and customer-oriented (Homburg and Stock,
2004). This interaction also refers to the ability of the firm to interact with its customers and
take advantage of the information that they obtain from such interaction (Ramani and
Kumar, 2008). Customers generally expect service providers to respect their opinions.
Accordingly, service providers can improve their interactions with their customers by
encouraging them to offer suggestions or share new information. This antecedent also
involves the flexibility of service providers in changing demands of their customers, which
reflects their willingness to deviate from their contractual obligations to accommodate the
requests of their customers. Johnston, McCutcheon, Stuart, and Kerwood (2004) find that
service providers demonstrate their flexibility when dealing with unexpected situations that
arise from highly cooperative buyer-supplier relationships. Customer orientation refers to the
ability of the service providers to understand and address the preferences of their customers
to the exclusion of other concerns (Slater and Narver, 1999). Relationship marketing
develops a long-term focus by improving the quality of customer interaction. Both parties
receive benefits from such interactions, such as an improved communication process and a
wider understanding of the goals of each party, which can be used by service providers to
generate better solutions to the problems of their customers (Čater and Čater, 2009; Ulaga,
2003).
In general, a service is an interactive process and during such interaction, production
and consumption take place simultaneously and the customers and the service providers
co-produce the services (Heinonen, Strandvik, Mickelsson, Edvardsson, Sundström, and
Andersson, 2010). S-D Logic emphasizes the importance of interactions that transpire among
different actors in the market, as well as the value co-creation and co-production that result
from such interactions (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). By demonstrating openness, service
providers express their willingness and ability to share with customers the information or
knowledge embodied in their organizational skills and routines (Inkpen and Birkenshaw,
1994). As such, openness of service providers facilitates most aspects of co-production
(Kauser and Shaw, 2004). Customer orientation refers to the commitment of organizations to
their customers such that customers and firms share co-creative values (Lengnick-Hall,
1996). Good interactions enable customers to enter the value co-creation processes
(Gummesson and Mele, 2010). Interaction forms the basis of customers’ capability to
contribute to co-production through dialogue, knowledge exchange and transfer, and other