A re-examination of the antecedents and impact of customer participation in service

Customer participation has been argued to be a critical influence on customer satisfaction with the service received, but empirical studies are relatively lacking. This study proposes a theoretical model of the antecedents and impact of customer participation in service and re-examines the relationships among organizational support, socialization, customer participation, and customer satisfaction. Findings of a questionnaire completed by tourists of a Taiwanese theme park indicated that: (1) customer perceptions of support and socialization significantly and positively influence customer participation; (2) perceived support and socialization have a significant and positive influence on customer satisfaction; (3) the directly positive relationship between customer participation and satisfaction is not supported in this study.