A meta-analysis of customer engagement behaviour

Abstract

Customer engagement behaviour has emerged as an influential concept in marketing and refers to customers' behavioural manifestation towards a firm originating from motivational drivers. To provide a comprehensive and generalisable picture of this concept, this study provides a meta-analysis integrating data of 196 effect sizes of 184 publications with a sample of 146,380. The findings reveal engagement through two pathways: organic pathway as relationship-oriented (perceived quality, perceived value and relationship quality) and promoted pathway as firm-initiated (functional and experiential initiatives). Moderator analysis indicates that the influence of the two pathways on engagement depends on engagement context (online vs. offline), industry type (service vs. manufacturing) and product type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and cultural context. Findings support attitudinal engagement–loyalty and behavioural engagement–firm performance linkage. Study results provide new insight into various engagement approaches and their relationship to each other. The authors offer recommendations to help marketers manage their customer engagement process more effectively.