Study of the relationship between consumer engagement in the
value co-creation and customer satisfaction in the hospitality
industry
Antonina Korelina
Postgraduate student
Department of Company Marketing, Management Faculty
Higher School of Economics
korelina.as@gmail.com
Abstract
The article presents the results of a study of the relationship between consumer
engagement in the value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty in the hospitality
industry. This relationship is considered through a prism of customer experience, taking into
account various forms of consumer participation in the value co-creation and various forms of
co-creation activities in the hospitality industry. Based on this research the classification of
forms of co-creation activities in the hospitality industry and a conceptual model describing the
relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and customer
satisfaction and loyalty was developed. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis of tourist
comments in social media related to hotels in Moscow was conducted.
KEYWORDS: value co-creation, customer engagement, customer satisfaction, customer
loyalty, hospitality industry, hotel industry content analysis
Introduction
In recent years there has been a rapid growth of the hospitality industry in Russia. Today
one of the greatest challenges faced by the companies in the hospitality industry is the evergrowing pace of competition. One of the biggest sectors of the hospitality industry in Russia is
the hotel industry. The competitive situation in the hotel industry has changed fundamentally and
will do so in the future. These changes are characterized by quantitative growth in the number of
market actors as well as by significant changes in strategic behavior of market actors. Such
development is largely due to the recent entrance of international hotel chains with their
extensive experience in marketing and interaction with customers. Hence a focus on customer
satisfaction and loyalty is likely to become a necessary aspect for the future survival of these
organizations in highly competitive hospitality industry. According to Pine and Gilmore, co-
creating new experiences with customers is the solution to this problem, because co-creation can
affect customer satisfaction and loyalty as it allows customers to personalize the content of their
experience (Pine, Glmore, 1999; Prahalad, Ramaswamy, 2000; Pingitore, Seldin, Walker, 2010).
Prahalad and Ramaswamy introduced the concept of co-creation in 2000 in their Harvard
Business Review article "Co-Opting Customer Competence", where they defined co-creation as
an active creative and social process based on collaboration between companies and consumers
that is initiated by the firm to generate value both for the firm and the customer. Value for the
customer is unique experience acquired and value for the firm is the growth of knowledge about
the customer, based on which a company can create the best customer value supply in the market
(Prahalad, Ramaswamy, 2000). A new role of the consumer in an interaction within the company
and the concept of open innovations lead to co-creation between the company and its consumers
(Bendapudi, Leone, 2003). Many companies do not know what knowledge and experience their
customers have, so they need to attract customers and create an environment for open
communication that will allow consumers to implement their knowledge for the benefit of the
other participants and the company (Prahalad, Ramaswamy, 2004). Co-creation increases the
likelihood of having a higher percentage of successful new products, as the company knows
customer needs and how to meet them in the best way, so that solves the problem of information
asymmetry between producers and customers (Thomke, Von Hippel, 2002). While investigating
customer co-creation, we refer to customer value as to all the material and emotional gain a
customer gets or creates in cooperation with a company.
In the changing market environment, as consumers become more active and informed, it
is necessary to create value for consumers by active interactions with them (Prahalad,
Ramaswamy, 2004). Today companies can differentiate themselves from competitors not only
by quality and cost of their services, but also by the ability to co-create unique value with
consumers.
The concept of consumer engagement in the value co-creation is widely covered in the
marketing literature. Jaworski and Kohli find that because the offer is co-created, it is certain to
meet customer needs. Therefore, a rise in co-created offers is supposed to increase customer
satisfaction (Jaworski, Kohli, 2006; Payne, 2008). The process of co-creation increases the
tendency to repeat positive experience on the part of the customer because the firm generates
unique insights into the co-creating customers’ sources of value (Randalla, Gravierb, Prybutokc,
2011). Therefore co-creation represents a source of significant competitive advantage due to
increased customer satisfaction and positive impact on customer loyalty.
Nowadays companies find it hard to position themselves in the eyes of consumers in the
highly competitive hospitality industry. Both searching for and booking tourism experiences is
2
increasingly done on-line. These changes were largely influenced by the development of
information technology, which adds value to the end user since up to date information and prices
can be compared before booking. Consumers assessing value pre-purchase can choose a higherpriced hotel if non-price information about this hotel suggests a superior experience during the
stay there (Noone, McGuire, 2013). It forces companies to compete even more not only on price
but on the ability to co-create unique experience as well. So according to Pine and Gilmore,
creating and supplying experiences will be a way for companies to survive in even more
competitive environment in future (Binkhorst, 2006).
To tackle management problems, CEOs in hospitality industry have to offer a means of
engaging customers into the company’s value creation chain. Despite considerable potential of
the hospitality industry, Russia is currently lagging behind the developed countries in this aspect.
This study will foster the spread of the ideas of co-creation marketing in Russian hospitality
industry.
To conclude, despite the large amount of research on customer satisfaction and loyalty in
the tourism industry, there are only a few publications on unique experiences and their
relationship with customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry. Also there is no consensus
among scholars and practitioners on precise definition of the consumer engagement in the value
co-creation and its measure. The existing definitions of this notion are too broad to develop a
fine scale to estimate it. Thus, in regard to Russian tourism industry, the proposed study can be
considered a first effort, firstly, to examine the role of co-creation and peculiarities of using it in
the hospitality industry, and, secondly, to investigate how co-creation influences customer
satisfaction and loyalty. The research will investigate new ways to involve a consumer directly in
the value chain development, as well as different tools to improve customer satisfaction and
loyalty. This study is important because the existing models and concepts in marketing, in
particular the concept of co-creation, can be tested in the emerging markets such us Russian
tourism market in order to push the boundaries of the existing theory. It is anticipated that the
results of this study will help improve the concept of co-creation for the Russian business
environment, thus making it more usable to Russian firms.
Co-creation in the hotel industry
With the development of new forms of interaction with customers such as co-production,
crowdsourcing and social media companies can more effectively use consumer innovation
potential. Crowdsourcing is based on the process of outsourcing the phase of idea generation to a
potentially large population in the form of an open call (Poetz M. K., Schreier M., 2012). Coproduction is based on the involvement of customers. In service encounters «customers are
3
usually physically present to receive the service and are often called on to provide critical
information that is necessary for the effective delivery of the service» [Chathotha P., Altinayb L.,
Harringtonc R. J., Okumusd F., Chane E. S.W., 2013, p. 12]. Co-production is gaining more
importance today in the hotel industry. Although hotels have begun to develop social media
programs in order to attract and retain clients, the hotel industry has yet to fully explore the
potential of social media (Noone, McGuire, Rohlfs, 2011).
According to Kohler, Fueller, Matzler and Stiegerand the critical challenge for cocreation in virtual worlds is not so much the technological infrastructure, but the ability to create
an experience for consumers. Hence, companies have to think about how they should attract
qualified participants and establish a virtual community characterized by a shared consciousness
of kind and mutual support (Kohler, Fueller, Matzler, Stiegerand, 2011). According to Vargo and
Lush co-production is one of the important components of value co-creation, which is the motor
of a service sector (Vargo, Lush, 2006). Co-production implies customer participation in the
creation of the products and services.
Komlosi and Gyuracz-Nemeth view value co-creation as a fundamental factor gaining
more importance in the hotel industry today (Komlosi, Gyuracz-Nemeth, 2010). Komlosi and
Gyuracz-Nemeth’s research is devoted to studying co-creation in hotel business in Hungary.
Their article focuses on testing the hypothesis that value co-creation is essential to hotels
however hotel managers are usually not aware of its existence or do not call it co-creation.
In the search of determinants of customer satisfaction, researches proposed customer
engagement in value co-creation as one of the components. Thus, Giebelhausen, Chun and
Cronin study the relationship between co-creation and guest satisfaction in the hotel industry.
The authors reveal that customers are more satisfied when they voluntarily participate in green
programs requiring some sacrifice (Giebelhausen, Chun, Cronin, 2013). Brunner-Sperdin, Peters
and Strobl reveal that there is strong relationship between the emotional state of customers and
customer satisfaction, where the emotional state depends on leisure experience, hardware and
human ware (Brunner-Sperdin, Peters, Strobl, 2012).
A brief literature review reveals that there are studies on consumer engagement in value
co-creation (e.g. Brodie, Ilic, Juric, Hollebeek, 2011; Brodie, Hollebeek, Smith 2011; Brodie,
Hollebeek, 2011), and there are publications about the relationship between customer satisfaction
and customer experiences namely the relationship between customer satisfaction and guest
emotions (e.g. Brunner-Sperdin, Peters, 2009); brand experience and customer satisfaction and
loyalty (e.g. Brakus, Schmitt, Zarantonello, 2009), tourism experiences and consumer
involvement (e.g. Kim, Ritchie, McCormick, 2012). Therefore nowadays there is a lack of
4
empirical studies concerning the relationship between consumer engagement in value co-creation
and customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Purpose and objectives of the study
Purpose of the study is to define relevant forms of co-creation activities and relevant
forms of consumer engagement in the value co-creation in the hotel industry in Moscow to
increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. We narrow the research domain to one of the largest
Russian cities - Moscow for the following reasons, firstly, Moscow is the leader in the number of
rooms in hotels and, secondly, in the number of five-star category hotels of all Russian cities.
The main purpose of this study subsumes several objectives of the research:
1. Develop a classification of forms of co-creation activities in the hotel industry;
2. Study how hotels in Moscow are ready to co-create the experience environment and involve
clients in the value co-creation (finding examples of consumer engagement in the value cocreation in the hotel industry in Russia (Moscow));
3. Assess the relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and
customer satisfaction and loyalty (conducting content analysis of tourist comments in social
media related to hotels in Moscow);
4. Develop a conceptual model describing the relationship between the consumer engagement
in the value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty in the hotel industry;
Methodology and data
This research proceeds through two stages. Firstly, secondary data analysis was
conducted to investigate do hotels in Moscow co-create the experience environment. Secondly,
content analysis of tourist comments in social media (tripadvisor.ru) related to hotels in Moscow
that use customer experience as a source of value creation was conducted to assess the
relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and customer
satisfaction and loyalty.
Classification of forms of co-creation activities in the hotel industry
The classification of forms of co-creation activities in the hotel industry was based on a
co-production/co-creation matrix developed by Chathotha et al. (2013). This matrix describes
four types of company - consumer interactions depending on the location and type of the cocreated value: co-production, firm-driven service innovation, customer-driven customization and
co-creation (Fig. 1) [Chathotha et al., 2013 ].
5
Figure 1. Co-production/co-creation matrix
To study how hotels are ready to co-create the experience environment examples of
consumer engagement in the value co-creation in the hotel industry in Moscow have been
analyzed.
Co-production. The elements of co-production in Moscow hotels are represented by
self-reservation using web-sites or mobile applications, buffet breakfast in hotels and self-service
in hostels.
Firm-driven service innovation. For instance, testing hotel websites and testing
sleepboxes at Sheremetyevo Airport can be considered as service innovation. Since sleepboxes
was a new business model for the Russian market, initially it was tested at Sheremetyevo Airport
on a small scale. After that, taking customer needs into account, a hotel near the Belarusian
railway station was opened.
Customer-driven customization. More often high price segment hotels offer clients
customized services. For instance, five-star hotel Crowne Plaza Moscow offers clients
customized entertainment program. Personal Activities Director and professional team help
customers to develop, plan and manage the event.
Co-creation. Hotels being actively involved in consumer co-creation and characterized
by keenness to innovate use several ways to involve consumers in value co-creation. Service
«Dinner on the roof» was co-created by the five-star hotel "Swissotel" with clients. Many
examples of consumer engagement in the value co-creation were found in hostels. Hostel
"Fabrika" co-creates its design together with clients, providing free accommodation in exchange
for painting. Hostels "Bear Hostel" and "Dom" involve clients in price-setting (co-pricing). "Bear
6
Hostel" works on a "pay what you want" scheme. It offers clients to point optimal hostel rates
per night online, then backpackers get a confirmation from the hostel staff about the possibility
of booking at this price. Hostel "Dom" sets bike rental prices based on its customers' feedback.
"Da! Hostel" held an online competition for the best bike hostel name where customers could
vote for the best ones or offer their owns.
Secondary data analysis revealed that despite the fact that co-creation is not wide spread
in hotel industry in Moscow and is not part of marketing strategy for many hotels in Moscow
nowadays hotels pay a lot of attention to collecting and analyzing information about their clients.
For this reason feedback will be concerned in this research as one of the types of engaging
customers in value co-creation. Wei, Miao and Huang (2013) also consider user generated hotel
reviews as a type of customer engagement behaviors (Wei W., Miao L., Huang Z., 2013).
Feedback. Almost all hotels of different categories analyze tourist comments in social
media, hotel websites as well as specialized resources (such as tripadvisor.com) and react to
them. High price category hotels have customer databases, where they keep personal data of
clients, information about the frequency of visits of guests and their individual preferences. For
instance, five-star hotel "Ritz-Carlton" uses database management system to alter guests’
experiences by documenting and retrieving specific guest preferences when they return - without
specifically asking the guests for their preferences. Hotel employees make notes of individual
preferences and enter them into a guest preference system. The value of customer databases
increases especially for hotel chains when customers stick to those hotels they already visited.
Five-star hotel "InterContinental" also uses customer database; distributes questionnaires to
assess customer satisfaction; analyzes comments on hotel website, Facebook, tripadvisor.com,
gives feedback and interviews clients staying for more than 4 days.
The result of the analysis of examples of consumer engagement in the value co-creation
in the hotel industry in Moscow is the classification of forms of co-creation activities in the hotel
industry (Fig. 2). For the hotel industry five forms of co-creation activities have been allocated.
1. Feedback:
1.1 Analyzing customer reviews
1.2 Customer database
1.3 Questionnaires to assess customer satisfaction
1.4 Client Interviewing
1.5 Focus groups
2. Co-production:
2.1 Self reservation
2.2 Self check-in and check-out
7
2.3 Self-service (restaurant, etc.)
2.4 Participation in hotel green programs
2.5 Participation in hotel competitions (best photo, etc.)
3. Firm-driven service innovation:
3.1 Testing website/electronic applications
4. Customer-driven customisation:
4.1 Customized products & services (menu, entertainment program, press, etc.)
5. Co-creation:
5.1 Co-creating hotel concept
5.2 Co-creating hotel design (idea generation/direct participation)
5.3 Involvement in price-setting
5.4 Creating online/offline consumer community
Figure 2 shows how these five types of value co-creation differs in terms of level of
consumer engagement in value co-creation and level of personalization of value created.
Figure 2. Updated typology of the consumer engagement in the value co-creation in the hotel
industry
With the introduction of a new type of co-creation (feedback) the basic co-creation
criteria, offered by Chathotha et al. had to be revised. To classify co-creation, we used two
8
features: the degree of customer engagement and the level of personalization of the value
created. The first one characterizes the customer role in cooperation with a company. In case of
low customer engagement, co-creation is initiated and operated by a company, which provides
consumers with limited freedom of action for the establishment or improvement of existing
products / services. In case of high customer engagement, a company gives its co-creation
partners freedom of action and decision. This motivates customers to participate in co-creation to
satisfy their individual needs. Thanks to motivation and customer interest in co-creation, they are
willing to take more effort in co-creation. Also mentioned types of co-creation differ in the level
of personalization of the value created.
Co creation reflects more active side of customer engagement in value co-creation. The
higher the customer engagement the higher the level of personalization of the value created. Cocreation in the raw has the greatest degree of the customer engagement in cooperation with a
company. It also requires a lot of effort from a client and helps to create the most personalized
customer value. The mentioned list of co-creation types does not cover all possible types of cocreation in hospitality industry but still is quite extensive and representative.
Conceptual model describing the relationship between the consumer engagement in the
value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty in the hotel industry
To assess the relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and
customer satisfaction and loyalty quantitative and qualitative content analysis of tourist
comments in tripadvisor.com related to hotels in Moscow that use customer experience as a
source of value creation was conducted.
Content analysis proceeds through several stages:
1. Selecting content for analysis and defining units of analysis (using stratified sampling);
2. Estimating the tonality of tourist comments using subjective rating scale (from - 3 to 3);
3. Coding the content (emergent coding1);
4. Making mind-map describing the relationship between the consumer engagement in the
value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty using ATLAS.ti 5.0;
5. Specifying categories describing the relationship between the consumer engagement in
the value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty (priori coding2);
6. Applying coding to the data using specified categories;
1
Emergent coding - categories are established following some preliminary examination of the data
2
Priori coding - categories are established prior to the analysis based upon some theory
9
7. Data analysis: performing frequency analysis and assessing the relationship between
specified categories (correlation analysis – Spearman correlation coefficient);
8. Identification and analysis of hubs (relationships between the main components of the
model). Hub is considered as statistically significant relationship between one of the main
components of the model with the frequency exceeding 80% and at least two other
constructs of the model (correlation coefficient> = 0.5, 95% significance level)
(Krippendorff, 2004);
The methodology developed by Krippendorff (2004) was used as it allows to assess the
relationship between components of the research model using only qualitative data.
To conduct content analysis the sample of Moscow hotels was formed, which included
hotels of different categories (tab. 1).
Table 1
Characteristics of hotels
Name
DA! Hostel
Fabrika Hostel
Category
-
Hotel Bega
Description
Hostel
Hostel chain
3*
National hotel
Aerostar
4*
Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel
Holiday Inn Moscow Lesnaya
Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow
International hotel chain
5*
Lotte Hotel Moscow
Radisson Royal Hotel Moscow
Site http://www.tripadvisor.com contains reviews both in Russian and in English for each
hotel. In almost all cases reviews in English are prevailing. In order to make the sample
representative reviews in English were included in the sample in the amount equal to the amount
of reviews in Russian maintaining the ratio of positive, neutral and negative reviews. Stratified
sampling was formed according to the formula:
x + x/(x+y) * (x+y) * y1/y + x/(x+y) * (x+y) * y2/y + x/(x+y) * (x+y) * y3/y,
where x – the amount of reviews in Russian, y – the amount of reviews in English, y1 –
the amount of positive reviews in English, y2 – the amount of neutral reviews in English, y3 –
the amount of negative reviews in English (tab. 2).
Table 2
10
Sample description
Hotel
name
Hotel
category
Total
number
of
reviews
Number
of
Russian
reviews
Number
of
English
reviews
Number
of
analyzed
Aerostar
Moscow
Marriott
Grand
Hotel
Holiday
Inn
Moscow
Lesnaya
Hotel
Baltschug
Kempinski
Moscow
Lotte
Hotel
Moscow
Radisson
Royal
Hotel
Moscow
3*
4*
4*
4*
5*
5*
5*
13
70
80
315
193
200
271
222
1397
21
5
16
13
13
30
11
48
41
198
12
8
54
67
302
163
189
223
181
1199
24
13
32
26
26
60
22
96
82
381
DA!
Hostel
Fabrika
Hostel
Hotel
Bega
Hostel
Hostel
33
Total
reviews
The results of reviews tonality evaluation are presented in Fig. 3. More than half of the
reviews were positive (75%), 12% - neutral and 13% - negative.
41
3
23
2
11
1
12
0
4
-1
5
-2
4
-3
0
10
20
30
40
50
Figure 3. Tonality estimation of tourist comments using subjective rating scale (from - 3 to 3), %
For each hotel the number of positive reviews also exceeds the number of neutral and
negative (tab. 3).
Table 3
Tonality estimation of tourist comments per hotel, %
DA!
Hostel
Fabrika
Hostel
Hotel
Bega
Aerostar
Holiday
Inn
Moscow
Lesnaya
2
Hotel
Baltschug
Kempinski
Moscow
5
Lotte
Hotel
Moscow
8
Moscow
Marriott
Grand
Hotel
12
2
Radisson
Royal
Hotel
Moscow
6
-3
4
8
0
-2
0
23
0
15
12
3
18
1
4
-1
8
8
0
8
0
3
5
3
4
11
0
13
15
0
15
8
22
9
13
10
1
4
8
19
35
0
23
9
2
10
2
8
31
28
19
38
32
23
11
26
3
63
8
53
0
31
15
32
68
41
Fig. 4 shows the average rating of reviews tonality evaluation. However, it should be
noted that positive review can not clearly indicate customer satisfaction.
2.34
Hotel Bega 3*
2.17
Lotte Hotel 5*
1.88
DA! Hostel
1.56
Radisson Royal Hotel 5*
1.17
Holiday Inn Lesnaya 4*
1.12
Marriott Grand Hotel 4*
0.95
Hotel Baltschug Kempinski 5*
0.15
Fabrika Hostel
Аэростар
Aerostar
4* 4*
0.12
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Figure 4. Average rating of reviews tonality evaluation
Fig. 5. shows the mind-map describing the relationship between the consumer
engagement in the value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty based on codes
allocated during qualitative content analysis. The mind-map shows what factors shape customer
satisfaction and loyalty. Combining the mind-map with quantitative study of customer
satisfaction allows to determine problem areas that require improvement.
12
Figure 5. Mind-map describing the relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty
Frequency analysis of specified categories describing the research model of the
relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and customer
satisfaction and loyalty in the hotel industry was conducted (Fig. 6). Constructs of the model
were generated based on the analysis of the literature on relevant topics. Constructs describing
customer satisfaction and loyalty are based on the study of Pingitore G. et al. (2010) (Pingitore,
Seldin, Walker, 2010).
Figure 6. Conceptual model describing the relationship between the consumer engagement in the
value co-creation and customer satisfaction and loyalty in the hotel industry
In 99% of cases consumers mention the quality of food and beverage in their reviews.
More than half of the analyzed reviews contained information about the personnel, reasons for
the preference and facilities. And only in 5% of cases consumers mention co-creation in their
reviews (Fig. 7).
A la carte service (including Breakfast)
99
Guest Room
93
Staff
61
Reason for the preference
54
Facilities
50
Price to value
47
Hotel Services
26
Purpose of this stay
23
Reservations & Check-in/out
21
Willingness to recommend
20
Willingness to return
16
Co-creation
5
Reputation of the hotel chain
3
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Figure 7. Frequency analysis of specified categories describing the model
To identify sustainable components of the research model Spearman correlation
coefficient were calculated between the main components of the model. Then hubs (statistically
significant relationship between one of the main components of the model and at least two other
constructs of the model) were analyzed (Fig. 8).
15
Reason for
the
Purpose of
stay
preference
Spearman's
rho
Purpose of
stay
Hotel
Services
Willingness
to
Reputation of
Willingness to
return
Price to value the hotel chain recommend
Facilities
Cocreation
-.050
.027
.045
.041
,152**
.075
.016
.039
-.011
.064
.068
,237**
.
.347
.616
.403
.441
.004
.159
.768
.466
.830
.231
.199
.000
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
-.050
1.000
-,175**
,117*
-.002
-.101
.001
-,166**
.014
.066
-.076
.029
.046
.347
.
.001
.028
.977
.056
.992
.002
.796
.213
.151
.589
.387
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
.027
**
*
**
.033
.029
**
.036
.616
.500
N
355
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Staff
Staff
A la carte
service
(including
Breakfast)
Guest
Room
1.000
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Reason for
the
preference
Reservations
& Checkin/out
Reservations Correlation
& CheckCoefficient
in/out
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Guest Room Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
1.000
.054
.064
,120
.086
-.050
.001
.
.308
.229
.023
.108
.350
.007
.537
.588
.004
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
.045
,117*
.054
1.000
,180**
.014
.072
-,149**
.038
.022
-.003
.102
,178**
.403
.028
.308
.
.001
.795
.179
.005
.479
.679
.957
.055
.001
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
.041
-.002
.064
,180**
1.000
.003
-.015
-.052
.088
.034
.067
.090
.015
.441
.977
.229
.001
.
.959
.773
.328
.099
.518
.210
.091
.772
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
,152**
-.101
,120*
.014
.003
1.000
,210**
.021
-.019
.029
.095
-.082
.099
.063
-,175
-,144
,154
A la carte
service
(including
Breakfast)
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
.004
.056
.023
.795
.959
.
.000
.697
.725
.581
.074
.123
N
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
Hotel
Services
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
.075
.001
.086
.072
-.015
,210**
1.000
,154**
.072
.054
.061
.003
,180**
.159
.992
.108
.179
.773
.000
.
.004
.175
.310
.255
.962
.001
N
353
353
353
353
353
353
353
353
353
353
353
353
353
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
.016
-,166**
-.050
-,149**
-.052
.021
,154**
1.000
.018
-.091
.087
-.092
-.044
.768
.002
.350
.005
.328
.697
.004
.
.739
.086
.101
.084
.407
N
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
.039
.014
-,144**
.038
.088
-.019
.072
.018
1.000
.066
-.025
.003
.043
.466
.796
.007
.479
.099
.725
.175
.739
.
.213
.644
.952
.424
N
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
-.011
.066
.033
.022
.034
.029
.054
-.091
.066
1.000
-.043
.017
,126*
.830
.213
.537
.679
.518
.581
.310
.086
.213
.
.424
.752
.017
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
.064
-.076
.029
-.003
.067
.095
.061
.087
-.025
-.043
1.000
.065
.062
.246
Facilities
Price to
value
Reputation of Correlation
the hotel
Coefficient
chain
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Willingness Correlation
to
Coefficient
recommend Sig. (2-tailed)
Willingness
to return
.231
.151
.588
.957
.210
.074
.255
.101
.644
.424
.
.224
N
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
.068
.029
,154**
.102
.090
-.082
.003
-.092
.003
.017
.065
1.000
.052
.199
.589
.004
.055
.091
.123
.962
.084
.952
.752
.224
.
.331
N
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
,237**
.046
.036
,178**
.015
.099
,180**
-.044
.043
,126*
.062
.052
1.000
.000
.387
.500
.001
.772
.063
.001
.407
.424
.017
.246
.331
.
355
355
355
355
355
355
353
355
355
355
355
355
355
23
54
61
21
93
99
26
49
47
3
20
16
5
Co-creation Correlation
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Frequency
Figure 8. Correlation analysis
There is a statistically significant but weak relationship between the variables: the
purpose of stay, food, staff and additional services. These variables are sustainable components
of the research model and may form "hub". Krippendorff's methodology was developed to
analyze data collected during the interviews. Instead of a moderator/interviewer trying to extract
information from participants, in social media respondents feel free to leave there comments. For
this reason it is difficult to identify categories describing the model coding the data collected
from social media.
Implications
The classification of forms of co-creation activities in the hotel industry was proposed on
the base of systematization of types of customer engagement in co-creation. We analyzed the
examples of consumer engagement in the value co-creation in the hotel industry and conducted
16
content analysis of tourist comments on tripadvisor.com related to hotels that use customer
experience as a source of value creation. As a result, we developed the conceptual model
describing the relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and
customer satisfaction and loyalty in the hotel industry.
Also we got the following practical results providing insight into the development of the
hospitality industry in Moscow in the context of involving customers in value co-creation. The
majority of companies engaging consumers in the value co-creation in the hotel industry in
Moscow are international. International hotel chains, with their extensive experience in
marketing are more likely to engage clients in the value co-creation than national hotels chains
which do not seem to be familiar with the idea of co-creation. Hotels more often use
customization, service innovation and especially co-production than co-creation.
In developed countries hotels of all categories engage clients in the value co-creation,
while in Moscow five star hotels and hostels are more often co-creating the experience
environment. Co-creation is a new market strategy for Russian market. Five star hotels are ready
to implement value co-creation with clients as they have necessary marketing resources, complex
organizational structure of the marketing department and an experience in implementing
marketing innovations. Hostels are able to engage consumers in value co-creation due to
flexibility in business processes.
High price segment hotels more often use customization, while hostels usually implement
value co-creation with clients. It can be explained by the difference of the target audience and the
resources available. Five & four star hotels implement customization as they have necessary
resources to build and maintain customer databases (CRM systems). Investment in the
development of CRM-systems allows these companies to personalize their services to the
customers' needs.
Hostels engage clients in value co-creation due to the characteristics of their target
audience as tourists staying there are active young people willing to participate in co-creation
activities. Co-creation in hostels (the lower price segment) has the greatest development
prospects in Moscow, because tourists staying at hostels do not expect to get the WOW-effect of
being involved in the value co-creation so their willingness to recommend increases.
By means of customer engagement in co-creation companies in the hospitality industries
allow clients to choose and manage the crucial component of customer value – customer
experience. To successfully engage customers in co-creation, hotels have to choose the type of
co-creation in accordance with resources on their disposal and characteristics of the target
audience. The analyzed types of co-creation differ in terms of the degree of customer
17
engagement and the level of personalization of value created. The company assessing the
resources on it disposal predicts its abilities of creating standardized or personalized customer
value. It analyses target audience and estimates the degree of customer interest and inclination to
co-creation. Thus, the variety of relevant forms of co-creation is limited to those providing
higher value for the company and its clients. Consequently, the proposed classification of cocreation types can serve as a method allowing to determine under what conditions each type of
co-creation would be the most promising for the company.
Proposed classification of forms of co-creation activities and a conceptual model
describing the relationship between the consumer engagement in the value co-creation and
customer satisfaction and loyalty in the hotel industry need further empirical confirmation in
larger samples of Moscow hotels and hostels.
References
1. Bendapudi N., Leone R. (2003). Psychological Implications of Customer Participation in
Co-Production. Journal of Marketing, 67(1), 14–28;
2. Binkhorst E. (2006). The co-creation tourism experience, ESADE/St.Ignasi - Cocreations;
3. Brakus J. J., Schmitt B. H., Zarantonello L. (2009) Brand Experience: What Is It? How Is
It Measured? Does It Affect Loyalty? Journal of Marketing, 73 (3), 52-68;
4. Brodie R. J., Hollebeek L. D. (2011) Advancing and Consolidating Knowledge About
Customer Engagement. Journal of Service Research, 14(3), 283-284;
5. Brodie R. J., Hollebeek L. D., Ilic А., Juric В. (2011) Consumer engagement in a virtual
brand community: An exploratory analysis. Journal of Business Research;
6. Brodie R. J., Hollebeek L. D., Smith S. D. (2011) Engagement: An important bridging
concept for the emerging S-D logic lexicon. Proceedings 2011: The 2011 Naples Forum
on Service;
7. Brunner-Sperdin A., Peters M., Strobl A. (2012) It is all about the emotional state:
Managing tourists’ experiences, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31, 2330;
8. Chathotha P., Altinayb L., Harringtonc R. J., Okumusd F., Chane E. S.W. (2013) Coproduction versus co-creation: A process based continuum in the hotel service context.
International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 11-20;
9. Giebelhausen M., Chun H., Cronin J. (2013) Of Pride and Pro-social Participation: How
Co-creation of Green Outcomes Influences Service Satisfaction via Self-Signaling, AMA
18
Summer Educators' Conference Proceedings, 24, 106-107;
10. Jaworski B., Kohli A.K. (2006). Co-creating the voice of the customer. In R.F. Lusch &
S.L. Vargo (Eds.), The service dominant logic of marketing, 109–117;
11. Kim J., Ritchie J. R. B., McCormick B. (2012) Development of a Scale to Measure
Memorable Tourism Experiences. Journal of Travel Research, 51 (1), 12-25;
12. Kohler T., Fueller J., Matzler K., Stiegerand D. (2011) Co-creation in virtual worlds: the
design of the user experience, MIS Quarterly, 35 (3), 773-788;
13. Krippendorff K. (2004) Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (2nd ed.)
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage;
14. Lush R. F., Vargo S. L. (2006) Service-dominant logic: reactions, reflections and
refinements, Journal of Marketing Theory, 6 (3), 281-288;
15. Noone B., McGuire K. (2013). Pricing in a social world: The influence of non-price
information on hotel choice. Journal of Revenue & Pricing Management, 12 (5), 385401;
16. Payne, A.F., Storbacka, K., Frow, P. (2008). Managing the co-creation of value. Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36 (1), 83-96;
17. Pine B.J., Glmore J.H. (1999). The experience economy: Work is theatre & every
business a stage: Goods &services are no longer enough. Harvard Business School Press;
18. Pingitore G., Seldin D., Walker A. (2010). Making Customer Satisfaction Pay:
Connecting Survey Data to Financial Outcomes in the Hotel Industry. Cornell Hospitality
Industry Perspectives (5), 4–13;
19. Poetz M. K., Schreier M. (2012). The value of crowdsourcing: Can users really compete
with professionals in generating new product ideas? Journal of Product Innovation
Management, 29, 245-256;
20. Prahalad C., Ramaswamy V. (2000). Co-opting Customer Competence. Harvard
Business Review, 78, 79-87;
21. Prahalad C., Ramaswamy V. (2004). Co-creating unique value with customers. Strategy
& Leadership, 32 (3), 4 – 9;
22. Randalla W. S., Gravierb M. J., Prybutokc V. R. (2011). Connection, trust, and
commitment: dimensions of co-creation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 19 (1), 3 -24;
23. Thomke, Stefan, Von Hippel E. (2002). Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create
Value. Harvard Business Review, 80 (4), 74‐81;
24. Wei W., Miao L., Huang Z. (2013). Customer engagement behaviors and hotel responses.
International Journal of Hospitality Management, 33, 316–330;
25. Komlosi E., Gyuracz-Nemeth P. (2010). Exploring manager’s gender-influences in value
19
co-creation in hotels /
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/215653010_Exploring_managers_genderinfluences_in_value_co-creation_in_hotels;
20