Research On The Impact Of Prosumer Service On Customer Participation In The Sharing Economy

Many sharing economy platforms rapidly expanded their global business recently.Plenty of prosumers have been involved in sharing economy in the world.These individuals have become the critical driven force for boosting sharing economy development,through sharing their spare resources and providing service to customers.However,regarding the knowledge of prosumers' service and the types of connection with customers participation,both theoretical research and empirical evidence are lacked.To fill the research gap and extend current research,based on motivation,opportunity,and ability model(MOA),social exchange theory,adaptive performance theory,and international marketing relevant knowledge as research foundations,and adopted the view of service chains(i.e.,service preparation,service process,service evaluation),this dissertation explored three key research questions by conducting three sub-studies.First,at the service preparation stage,it answered the RQ1,What factors of prosumers' motivation,opportunity and ability exert impacts on customer participation? Second,at the service process stage,it answered the RQ2,Regarding the role difference between sharing economy prosumer and traditional frontline service employee,does the impacts of service providers' service behaviors on customer participation contingent on the role difference? Third,at the service evaluation stage,it answered the RQ3,What country factors boost or diminish the effects of prosumers service evaluation on customer participation?First,for the study 1,drawing on MOA model and social exchange theory,this dissertation analyzed 111 sharing economy short renting prosumer questionnaires which merged with objective customer orders.The results show that both prosumers economic motives and service knowledge exert positive effects on customer participation,however,prosumer service flexibility exerts negative effect on customer participation.Further,when one prosumer provides multiple assets in service activities,the negative effect of service flexibility would be significantly enhanced.Second,for the study 2,using adaptive performance theory and social exchange theory as the research foundations,this dissertation combined 241 sharing economy short renting prosumer questionnaires and 151 hotel frontline service employee questionnaires,the results show that both service providers' empathy and innovative service behavior exert positive effects on customer participation.Further,comparing with frontline service employee,prosumers' innovative service behavior has a higher impact on customer participation.Third,for the study 3,using international marketing knowledge as the research foundation,this dissertation conducted a meta-analysis by using 9560 customers nested in 9 countries.The aim of study 3 is to explore the moderating effects of hofstede cultural dimensions and the level of country sharing economy development.The results show that power distance diminishes the positive effects of perceived prosumer service experience on customer participation.While in individualism culture and high sharing economy development country,both the positive effects of perceived prosumer service quality and perceived prosumer service experience on customer participation are enhanced.Overall,this dissertation has three critical innovation points:First,this dissertation initially proposed the structure of prosumer service chain,which consists of service preparation,service process and service evaluation.At the service preparation stage,it includes prosumers' service motivation,opportunity,and ability related factors.At the service process stage,it includes two aspects:understanding customer needs and providing service to customers.At the service evaluation stage,it considers the factors related to prosumers' service quality and service experience evaluation.The framework provides a valuable theoretical foundation for future prosumer service research.Further,on a research view of prosumer service and customer participation,this dissertation proposed three research propositions and two critical research directions.In this vein,it provides research guides for future research which would enhance the knowledge about sharing economy research.Finally,the three studies of this dissertation accordingly fills the relevant gaps in sharing economy research.In the study 1,based on the research findings of service MOA factors(i.e.,economic motivation,service flexibility,service knowledge),this dissertation fills the gap of lacking the link between prosumer individuals' features and customers participation.In the study 2,by exploring the differences of service roles between prosumer in the sharing economy and frontline service employee in the traditional economy,this dissertation enriches the knowledge about the difference between sharing economy and traditional economy.In the study 3,by exploring the promotion and inhibition effects of country culture and the level of country sharing economy development,this dissertation contributes to existing global sharing economy research with an extension and supplement work.