Customer participation behavior and customer citizenship behavior in hotels: Testing co-production and value-in-use as mediators

This study investigates customers’ contribution to value co-creation by exploring the associations between customer co-creation behavior, including customer participation and customer citizenship behavior, and co-creation processes, namely, co-production and value-in-use. It combines co-creation theory with equity and social exchange theories to propose a model for customer behavior towards value co-creation. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data were collected from tourists staying at hotels in Portugal. Results indicate that customer participation behavior envisages co-production and value-in-use, while the two forms of value co-creation subsequently improve customer citizenship behavior. Moreover, co-production enhances value-in-us. Additionally, customer participation behavior is associated with customer citizenship behavior through co-production and value-in-use. This research contributes to the co-creation theory by proving co-production and value-in-use as transforming mechanisms that turn customer participation behavior into customer citizenship behavior. Applying the proposed model as a managerial tool in hotels improves co-creation processes and boosts customer citizenship behavior.