CUSTOMER

PARTICIPATION
Submitted By:
Anjali Garg
MEANING

Customer participation refers to the customer behaviors related to

definition, production and delivery of a service, including mental,
emotional, and physical behaviors. ... Customer participation not only
influences the productivity and service quality of service organization,
but also influences their own satisfaction.
LEVELS OF CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION ACROSS
DIFFERENT SERVICES!
The level of customer participation low, medium, high – varies across
different services, as shown in Table In some cases, all that is required
is the customer’s physical presence (low level of participation), with the
employees of the firm doing all of the service production work, as in
the case of a symphony concert.
Symphony-goers must be present to receive the entertainment service,
but little else is required once they are seated. In other cases,
consumer inputs are required to aid the service organization in creating
the service (moderate level of participation). Inputs can include
information, effort, or physical possessions.
LEVELS OF CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION IN
SERVICE DELIVERY:

Low level of Medium High level of

customer level of customer
participation customer participation
participation
 Define
Customer’s
Job

Strategies for
enhancing
customer
participation

Recruit, Manage
educate and the
reward the customers
customers mix
DEFINE CUSTOMER’S JOB

The first task is to define the customer’s job; identifying current level of
participation and the desired level of participation. It can range from
low to moderate to high degree of participation. Depending upon the
service requirement and customers changing needs and expectations
the service provider can choose to decrease or increase or maintain the
existing level of participation.
RECRUIT, EDUCATE AND REWARD THE
CUSTOMERS
MANAGE THE CUSTOMER MIX
Ensuring successful service delivery to different groups of customers
with varying needs; socio economic status, marital status, family
orientation, corporate clients , educational institutes , gender and age
profiles etc. can be good idea of providing services on the basis of
segmentation of the customers . Example : like most of the high end
hotels and resorts specify areas for families , corporate get together
and other segments of the customers.
7 INPUTS OF CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION
How level of customer participation impacts the
service processes
Customer-induced activity vs customer-independent
Customer participation is one of the crucial factors in the service
processes. Today various services produce customization through
customer involvement in the service creation. The service provider
facilitates co-creation by involving customers at multiple touchpoints of
service creation and delivery. The degree of participation varies from
low to high, and sometimes it’s none if the customers don’t want to
participate or don’t possess the skill or knowledge to carry out the
activity.
Customer-independent activities are mostly the backstage operations with zero involvement of
the customer, for example, in an online order, the packaging and supply chain operations are
carried out without any customer involvement. Whereas, the customer-induced activity can
vary from passive to active participation of customers in service activities. For example,
ordering at a drive through is low/passive involvement than ordering pizza at Pieologywhere
you make your own pizza.
Each type of activities has different impact on shaping the services processes efficiency and
also connects to a different kind of risk.
If we increase the number of customer-induced
activity in any service.
• There are more number of contact points between the customer and
the supplier.
• More number of external factors to be considered.
• Difficult to plan capacity and direct resources to their most efficient
use, hence increasing production risk.
• Low market risk as customer participation means the customer has
agreed to accept the service and pay for it.
If we increase the number of customer-
independent activity in any service.

• There are less number of contact points between the customer and
the supplier.
• Difficult to understand the customer interest in the service offering as
the customer isn’t the co-producer at any point of the service bundle
production, hence increasing market risk.
• Low production risk as resources use are planned and standardised as
per the capacity.
CUSTOMER’S ROLES
Customers as a productive process
Service customers are referred to as “partial employees” of the organization. They are
human resources who contribute to the organization’s productive capacity. In other words,
if customers contribute effort, time or other resources to the service production process,
they should be considered as part of the organization.
• Customer inputs can affect the organization’s productivity through both quality and
quantity of output. E.g. research suggest that in an IT consulting context:
• Clients who clearly articulate the solution they desire.
• Provide needed information in a timely manner.
• Communicate openly.
• Gain the commitment of key internal stakeholders.
• And raise the issues during the process before it is too late will get better service.
Customers as quality contributors to service delivery and
satisfaction
Another role customers play in service delivery is that of the contributor to their
own satisfaction and the ultimate quality of the services they receive. Customers
may care little that they have increased the productivity of the organization
through their participation. But they likely care a great deal about whether their
needs are fulfilled. Effective customer participation can increase the likelihood of
service delivery that their needs are met and that benefits the customer seeks are
attained. Services such as health care, education, personal fitness, and weight loss,
where the service outcome is highly dependent on the customers participation. In
such services unless the customers perform their roles effectively, the desired
service outcomes cannot be achieved.
Research has shown that in education, active participation by students – as
opposed to passive listening – increases learning the desired service output
significantly.
Customers as competitors
A final role played by service customers is that of a potential competitor. If self-
service customers can be viewed as resources of the firm, or as “partial
employees,” self-service customers in some cases. They can partially perform the
service or the entire service for themselves and may not need the provider at all.
Customers thus in that sense are competitors of the companies that supply the
service. Whether to produce a service for themselves (internal exchange). E.g. child
care, home maintenance i.e. have someone else provide home services for them
(external exchange) is a common dilemma for consumers.
Similar internal versus external exchange decisions are made by organizations.
Firms frequently choose to outsource service activities such as payroll, data
processing, research, accounting, maintenance, and facilities management. They
find that it is advantageous to focus on their core businesses and leave these
essential support services to others with greater expertise. Alternatively, a firm may
decide to stop purchasing services externally and bring the service production
process in-house.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• https://medium.com/@jagritikumar/customer-participation-in-
service-activity-1134d7b050a7
• https://www.projectguru.in/publications/role-of-customers-in-
service-delivery/