Perspectives Required for Customer Engagement Marketing:

Customer-Owned Resources and the Object of Engagement

Abstract

Interest in how to manage customer engagement is growing, from both the practical and theoretical perspectives. Despite this high interest, previous studies have not provided a unified view of how customer engagement is defined. Therefore, first of all, this study clarifies the definition of customer engagement. Because the distinction from other concepts becomes clear and management becomes easier, it is effective to define customer engagement from a behavioral perspective. Thus, this study defines customer engagement as the customer’s contribution to the firm, going beyond purchase, i.e., word-of-mouth, new customer referrals, product innovation, and customer support. Just as the definition of customer engagement is not clear, previous studies have suggested various ways to manage customer engagement. Therefore, in order to organize knowledge regarding managing customer engagement, this study introduces two new perspectives. One perspective is what kind of resources are used when customers engage. The other perspective is who is the object of engagement.