如何取得客戶的參與：知覺控制的作用

Abstract：As the customers played more and more important role in marketing value creation process，firms must improve the level of customer involvement.Customer’s perceived control played an important role in their involvement in firm’s activities.We proposed that marketing activities the customer participated in affected consumer’s perceived control，which in turn affected directly pleasure，perceived risk，customer empowerment，and through them to customer involvement.Meanwhile there was also a direct relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.

Key words：customer involvement，perceived control，pleasure，perceived risk，empowerment

1、Introduction

As the development of the information technology，especially the development of the internet，the role of customers in marketing value creation process has changed greatly.Firms can not solely make marketing activities，and customers are becoming a part of the business system.Firms have always sought to hear the “voice of the customers” by improving the level of customer involvement.Thus，how to get customer involvement becomes a very important problem for firms.Previous researches have showed the positive relationship between perceived control and involvement（Zaichkowsky，1985；Ward Barnes，2001）.However，the emotion，risk perception and empowerment aroused by perceived control may have the mediate effects.

2、Theoretical framework

Involvement is defined as “perceived relevance of the object based on inherent needs，values，and interests”（Zaichkowsky，1985）in exploring enduring and intrinsic relevance of an object.Barki and Hartwick（1989）concluded that the involvement as a subjective psychological state，reflecting the importance and personal relevance of an object or event.Researchers have viewed involvement as an internal state indicating arousal，interest，or drive invoked by a stimulus or a situation（Bloch，1982；Andrews，Durvasula， Akhter，1990）.This suggests that involvement has been conceptualized as a cognitive，affective or motivational construct indicating state of mind，or perceived personal relevance（Zaichkowsky，1985；Celsi Olson，1988）.

Following these researches，customer involvement should refer to a psychological state reflecting the importance and personal relevance of an object to the customer.Barki and Hartwick（1994）developed a measure of customer involvement reflecting the two dimensions of importance and personal relevance.

Control is widely accepted as a human driving force and has often been defined as the need to demonstrate one’s competence，superiority and mastery over the environment（Hui Bateson，1991）.Empirical evidence has shown that increased perceived control exerts a significant，positive impact on the human physical and psychological well-being（Hui Bateson，1991）.Similarly，Proshansky et al.（1974）have suggested that people tend to feel and behave more positively when they perceive that there is more control in the environment.

It has been suggested that perceived control is a crucial determinant of the quality of the two types of inter actions（interpersonal and environment）that comprise the service encounter.Schutz（1966）proposed that human social behaviors are driven by three kinds of interpersonal needs which include control，suggesting that a feeling of control is essential to having satisfactory interactions with other people.Similarly，Proshansky et al.（1974）have suggested that people tend to feel and behave more positively when they perceive that there is more control in the environment.

There was a positive relationship between perceived control and involvement（Zaichkowsky，1985；Ward Barnes，2001）.These results showed that the participants’ perceived control had the directly impact on customer involvement.However，other factors such as feelings of pleasure and perceived risk might mediate the relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.In Hui and Bateson’s（1991）and Ward and Barnes’（2001）studies，perceived control was found to exhibit a positive effect on feelings of pleasure.Meanwhile，it is proposed here that control can provide a means of reducing risk during the consumption experience（Noone，2008）.The extensive research on perceived risk has shown that consumers’ perceptions of risk are central to their evaluations and purchasing behaviors（Dowling，1999）.There were few researches to explore the mediating effect of the third factor between the perceived control and customer involvement.Customer involvement was positively related to customer satisfaction.The improved pleasure and reduced perceived risk can improve customer satisfaction.Therefore，we assumed that the pleasure and perceived risk will mediate the relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.

Another factor that mediated the relationship between perceived control and customer involvement might be the empowerment.Empowerment is thought to be a process by which individuals gain mastery or control over their own lives and democratic participation in the life of their community（Katz，1984；Rappaport，1987）.Melhem（2003）revealed three distinct dimensions of empowerment：responsiveness，control，and discretion.So the perceived control was strongly related to the customer empowerment.Customer empowerment reflects the extent to which a firm provides its customers avenue for proactive customer involvement（Ramani Kumar，2008）.Therefore，we assumed that the customer empowerment will mediate the relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.

3、Propositions

On the basis of the preceding discussion，our propositions lead to the theoretical framework depicted in Figure 1.Our framework proposes that marketing activities the customer participated in affect consumer’s perceived control，which in turn affects directly pleasure，perceived risk，customer empowerment，and through them to customer involvement.There is also a direct relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.

P1：High perceived control will lead to high customer involvement.

P2：Pleasure will mediate the relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.High perceived control will lead to high pleasure.High pleasure will then lead to high customer involvement.

P3：Risk will mediate the relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.High perceived control will lead to low risk.Low risk will then lead to high customer involvement.

P4：Customer empowerment will mediate the relationship between perceived control and customer involvement.High perceived control will lead to high customer empowerment.High customer empowerment will then lead to high customer involvement.

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