Stimulating customer participation behaviour and boosting value co-creation in hotels

Considering the competitive environment of the hospitality industry in delivering superior value to customers, customer participation in value co-creation with the service provider through interaction becomes pivotal. By bonding the co-creation theory with the equity theory, this study proposes a model for stimulating customer participation behaviour (CPB), which includes customer co-creation perception (CCCP) composing DART activities (dialogue, access, risk assessment, and transparency), CPB, co-production, and value-in-use. The collected data from tourists staying in hotels in Portugal was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results confirm that CCCP predicts CPB, co-production, and value-in-use. Moreover, CPB improves co-production and value-in-use and mediates the associations between CCCP and co-production/value-in-use. This research contributes to co-creation theory by confirming CCCP as a driver of CPB and provides practical implications to enhance co-production and value-in-use in hotels.