Research On The Impact Of Exhibition Of Service-oriented Enterprises’ Backstage Behavior On The Customer Participation

Based upon "the line of visibility", the entire business behavior of service-oriented enterprise can be divided into front region behavior and backstage behavior. Front region behavior is defined as the behavior and activities occurred in front of the stage during the course of the offering of the product and service, which behavior the enterprise is willing to demonstrate and exhibit to the customers. Backstage behavior is identified as the behavior and activities occurred behind the stage, which behavior cannot be observed by the customers subjecting to enterprise restriction. Due to the "invisibility" of backstage behavior, it leads to an information asymmetry between the customers and service-oriented enterprise, which could magnify the customers’ perceived value against risk. At present, with the increasingly severe competition, there are more and more service-oriented enterprises showing the customers the backstage service that ought not to be offered by the enterprises in order to enhance the customers’ trust towards the enterprises and achieve a rising number of customers who could participate into the service activities. For example, enterprises in catering industry frequently display "transparent kitchen" by taking advantage of camera and transparent wall made by glass to display the backstage behavior, or inviting the customers to the kitchen. Some service-oriented enterprises even construct the whole kitchen in the dining hall for the exhibition. However, how the visibility of the enterprises’backstage behavior influences the customers’perceived values and whether the visibility of the enterprises’backstage behavior can propel the customer participation to a higher level? Moreover, what are the internal influential mechanism and boundary condition? All these imperative theoretical and practical questions cannot be addressed currently based upon the existing academic theories.With the guidance and conglomeration of dramaturgy theory, signaling theory and impression management theory, on the basis of adequate reference on the previous research, from the prospective of theoretical construct, this thesis has divided the backstage behavior carried out by service-oriented enterprise into two types, "High-technical" backstage behavior and "High-attractive" backstage behavior. The research has tested the impact level and result of two types of backstage behavior display upon the customer participation. Furthermore, the research has also tested the internal influential mechanism and the relevant modification variables. Through the implementation of three quasi-experiments, the research has concluded that comparing the scenario without the display of backstage behavior with the scenario under which the enterprises acted "High-technical" backstage behavior and "High-attractive" backstage behavior, customers become more positive and active to participate into the service activities. The findings are also in favor of the view that customer trust and customers’ positive affects are intermediators. Under the circumstance of showing "High-technical" backstage behavior to the customers, "Customers’cognition-based trust" towards the service-oriented enterprises has the function of intermediation. Under the circumstance of showing "High-attractive" backstage behavior to the customers, "customers’positive affect" intermediate the impact of the exhibition regarding "High-attractive" backstage behavior on customer participation. In addition, the thesis advocates the modification functions of "forms of exhibition/display" and "customers’professional level". In detail, when the service exhibition is direct/interaction-induced, both of two types of backstage behavior can motivate the customer to participate into the business activities. While, when the service exhibition is indirect/individual-induced, the effect of "High-attractive" backstage behavior on customer participation goes down compared with the effect of "High-technical" backstage behavior. With regard to the modification function from "customers’professional level", as to the low-professional level customer, the exhibition of either type of backstage behavior can motivate the customer to participate into the business activities. As to the high-professional level customer, the effect of "High-technical" backstage behavior on customer participation goes down compared with the effect of "High-attractive" backstage behavior.This study is divided into introduction, literature review, the relevant theoretical support, model building and hypothesis, empirical test and the overall conclusion six chapters. Generally, the paper was divided into the following four parts:The first part is chapter 1, the introduction part. This part includes the research question, the reason of topic selection, research significance, the innovation of research ideas, research framework and research methods. Through the literature review and combination with the hot issues in marketing practice, we determine that the core problems of the study compose:what is the impact of the exhibition of different types of backstage behavior upon customer participation? What is the intrinsic mechanism? What kind of factors can be acting as moderating variables?The second part includes chapter 2 and chapter 3. Chapter 2 is literature review part, which aims to find the theory gap through the organization of potential research ideas and comments. The content of this part consists of the discussion on the theoretical review mainly about the front stage behavior, backstage behavior carried out by service-oriented enterprises, customer participation, customer trust and customer affects. In particular, chapter 3 explains the relevant theory foundation, which was used to support the model building in the paper constructing the academically theoretical argument. The theory foundation includes dramaturgy theory, signaling theory and impression management theory.The third part includes chapter 4 and chapter 5. Chapter 4 explains the model building and the proposal of hypothesis, which chapter focuses on the development of theoretical models and further analysis of the hypothesis based upon the given relevant literature. Chapter 5 is the empirical examination, including four studies, a pre-test, study 1, study 2 and study 3. This chapter discusses research design, experiment operational process and the data findings.The fourth part is chapter 6 relating to data analysis, which is based on the results analyzed in chapter 5. Chapter 6 carries out an overall discussion and refines the academic contribution. Finally, the limitations of the study and future research directions were interpreted.In conclusion, with the application of empirical research, the study explores the impact of enterprises’exhibition of backstage behavior upon the customer participation, the internal mechanism involved and the mediators. Overall, the findings and relevant research result could enrichen the current theory and provide practicable guidance to service-oriented enterprises who display the backstage behavior for continuously improving the enterprises’performance achievement.