Is Knowing More Better? Examining the Influence of IT-enabled Customer Knowledge Transfer on Service Outcomes

This study explores the impact of IT-enabled transfer of customer knowledge among workers on service outcomes in service-oriented industries. Using a large-scale proprietary dataset from a beauty-care company, our empirical analysis reveals that, overall, customer knowledge transfer among workers improved service outcomes, measured by customer spending. To explore the underlying mechanisms, we categorize customer knowledge into three types: superficial subjects (e.g., customers’ personalities), personal profiles (e.g., customers’ family and employment details), and intimate subjects (e.g., customers’ private needs and health conditions). We find that while the transfer of customer knowledge about superficial subjects significantly boosted customer spending, the transfer of customer knowledge regarding intimate subjects negatively impacted customer spending. Meanwhile, the transfer of customer knowledge on personal profiles negatively affected privacy-sensitive customers. Overall, our findings highlight the dualities of customer knowledge transfer: it can enhance service outcomes when managed carefully but may backfire if perceived as intrusive and raising privacy concerns.