Extrinsic And Intrinsic Motivators Of Customer Participation In Compliance Dependent Services

Abstract

Research on customer participation has focused primarily on the customer’s participatory role in service creation during the face-to-face service exchange (Bateson 1989; Bowen 1986; Chase 1978; Kelley, Donnelly, and Skinner 1990; Lovelock and Young 1979; and Mills, Chase, and Margulies 1983) however customer involvement often extends beyond the face-to-face exchange. This is especially the case with compliance dependent services (CDS). CDS are services that require customer participation with his or her service delivery role while within the service organization and once away from the service facility to ensure goal attainment and customer satisfaction. Examples of CDS include dental care, weight loss programs, preventive auto maintenance, education, exercise programs, health care programs (diabetes, hypertension), prenatal care, long-term financial planning, debt management programs, and smoking cessation programs.

In an early CDS study, Dellande (1999) found motivation to be the most important customer attribute in gaining customer compliance. In this research we further our understanding of the role of motivation by studying the impact of persuasive provider communication, an extrinsic customer motivator, on intrinsic customer compliance motivation. One important characteristic of persuasive messages that influences their effectiveness is how they are framed. Among other factors, effective persuasive messages require comprehension and retention, yielding and behavior in accordance with the message content (McGuire 1966). Specifically, existing research suggests that behavior is affected by the extent to which messages emphasize the potentially negative consequences of failing to engage in a given behavior relative to a message in which the possible beneficial (i.e., positive) consequences of engaging in that action are emphasized (Roberson and Rogers 1988, Tykocinski et. al, 1994). We explore this distinction in the dental compliance service context. We specifically examine how the manner in which written compliance-related communications are framed influences consumers’ intended compliance behaviors.