Do Self-Services Really Pay Off?

Scherer, A., Wünderlich, N.V., v. Wangenheim, F. (2015). The Value of Self-Service: The Long-Term Effects of Technology-Based Self-Service Usage on Customer Retention. MIS Quarterly, Forthcoming.

56 Pages Posted: 24 Apr 2015

See all articles by Anne Scherer

Anne Scherer

ETH Zürich - Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (D-MTEC)

Nancy Wünderlich

University of Paderborn - Faculty of Business Administration, Economics and Business Computing

Florian V. Wangenheim

ETH Zurich; ETH Zürich - Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (D-MTEC)

Date Written: December 1, 2014

Abstract

Advancements in information technology have changed the way customers experience a service encounter and their relationship with service providers. Especially technology-based self-service channels have found their way into the 21st century service economy. While research embraces these channels for their cost-efficiency, it has not examined whether a shift from personal to self-service affects customer-firm relationships. Drawing from the service-dominant logic and its central concept of value-in-context, we discuss customers’ value creation in self-service and personal service channels and examine the long-term impact of these channels on customer retention. Using longitudinal customer data, we investigate how the ratio of self-service vs. personal service use influences customer defection over time. Our findings suggest that the ratio of self-service vs. personal service used affects customer defection in an U-shaped manner, with intermediate levels of both, self-service and personal service use, being associated with the lowest likelihood of defection. We also find that this effect mitigates over time. We conclude that firms should not shift customers towards self-service channels completely, especially not at the beginning of a relationship. Our study underlines the importance to understand when and how self-service technologies can create valuable customer experiences and stresses the notion to actively manage customers’ co-creation of value.

Keywords: Self-service, e-service, value-in-context, customer retention, customer defection, longitudinal

JEL Classification: M30, M19

Suggested Citation

Scherer, Anne and Wünderlich, Nancy and Wangenheim, Florian V., Do Self-Services Really Pay Off? (December 1, 2014). Scherer, A., Wünderlich, N.V., v. Wangenheim, F. (2015). The Value of Self-Service: The Long-Term Effects of Technology-Based Self-Service Usage on Customer Retention. MIS Quarterly, Forthcoming., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2598096

Anne Scherer

ETH Zürich - Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (D-MTEC) ( email )

ETH-Zentrum
Zurich, CH-8092
United States

Nancy Wünderlich

University of Paderborn - Faculty of Business Administration, Economics and Business Computing ( email )

Warburger Str. 100
D-33098 Paderborn
Germany

Florian V. Wangenheim (Contact Author)

ETH Zurich ( email )

Weinbergstrasse 56
Zurich, 8092
Switzerland
41-44-632 6924 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.techmarketing.ethz.ch/

ETH Zürich - Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (D-MTEC) ( email )

Zurich
Switzerland

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