The Effect of Customer Empowerment on Adherence to Expert Advice

58 Pages Posted: 31 Mar 2014

See all articles by Nuno M.A. Camacho

Nuno M.A. Camacho

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE)

Martijn G. de Jong

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)

S. Stremersch

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE)

Date Written: March 31, 2014

Abstract

Customers often receive expert advice related to their health, finances, taxes or legal procedures, to name just a few. A noble stance taken by some is that experts should empower customers to make their own decisions. In this article, we distinguish informational from decisional empowerment and study whether empowerment leads customers to adhere more or less to expert advice. We empirically test our model using a unique dataset involving 11,735 respondents in 17 countries on four continents. In the context of consumer adherence to doctors’ therapy advice (patient non-adherence to doctor advice may cost about $564 billion globally to the pharmaceutical industry every year), we find that decisional empowerment lowers adherence to expert advice. The effect of informational empowerment varies predictably across cultures and is only universally beneficial when initiated by the customer. These findings have important implications for professional service providers

Keywords: relationship, services marketing, expert services, professional services, advice-taking, advice-giving, adherence to expert advice, empowerment, delegation, international marketing research, cross-cultural studies, health marketing, consumer behavior

Suggested Citation

Camacho, Nuno M.A. and de Jong, Martijn G. and Stremersch, Stefan, The Effect of Customer Empowerment on Adherence to Expert Advice (March 31, 2014). ERIM Report Series Reference No. ERS-2014-005-MKT, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2418401 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2418401

Nuno M.A. Camacho (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam, NL 3062 PA
Netherlands

Martijn G. De Jong

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) ( email )

3000 DR Rotterdam
Zuid-Holland
Netherlands

Stefan Stremersch

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam, NL 3062 PA
Netherlands
+31 10 408 8719 (Phone)
+31 10 408 9160 (Fax)

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