Customer engagement in evolving technological environments: synopsis and guiding propositions

• Published in: European journal of marketing 2019-09, Vol.53 (9), p.2018-2023
• Main Authors: Hollebeek, Linda D, Sprott, David E, Andreassen, Tor W, Costley, Carolyn, Klaus, Phil, Kuppelwieser, Volker, Karahasanovic, Amela, Taguchi, Takashi, Jamid Ul Islam, Raouf Ahmad Rather
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Consumers; Customer services; Decision making; Gamification; Innovations; Investments; Marketing; Social networks; Technology; User services
• ISSN: 0309-0566; 1758-7123
• DOI: 10.1108/EJM-09-2019-970

Within this environment, rapidly evolving technological or societal developments require companies to constantly review, and potentially revise, their customer or user segments to maintain their relevance. [...]insight into customers’ cross-technology usage is needed (e.g. which technologies do they enjoy using integratively, such as social media, online product information, and secure blockchain-based payment options; see e.g. Connell et al., 2019 or Piehler et al., 2019 in this Issue). Given the growing availability of brand-related personalization options, customer brand evaluations are expected to rise. [...]as customers increasingly invest their skill- or knowledge-based resources in their brand interactions, firm costs are anticipated to decline (e.g. in Bring-Your-Own-Device educational environments; Hollebeek et al., 2019). [...]excessive technology use or addiction can be detrimental to the user’s social capital, or even lead to physical impairments (e.g. loss of eyesight, weight gain). [...]sensible controls (i.e. guidelines, rules) around suitable technology use are encouraged to help optimize its positive effect on users’ lives, while minimizing any negative consequences. [...]this special issue, we offer specific research directions based on our propositions of CE within evolving technological environments in Table I, which can be used to inform further study in this exciting, growing area.