Social exchange theory explains how a party in social interaction provides the other party with reciprocal rewards. Applying this concept to the customer context, this study empirically investigates determinants of customer citizenship behaviors (CCBs) in services. For the generalizability of the study across various service providers, the data were collected based on Bowen’s (1990) classifications of services. With a total of 665 usable customer responses, structural equation modeling was adapted to test the theoretical research model. This study reveals that customers’ perceived support and justice from the service provider positively influence affective commitment toward the organization, resulting in CCBs. The results show that customers’ perception of organizational support has the partial mediation effect between customers’ perception of organizational justice and their affective commitment. Furthermore, customers’ affective commitment partially mediates the relationship between customers’ perceived organizational justice and CCBs, but fully mediates the effect of customers’ perceived organizational support on CCBs.

Introduction

A service dominant logic, which focuses on exchange processes and relationships among exchange parties, argues that value is an outcome through collaboration among all entities in an exchange network (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Considering this notion, researchers and practitioners have paid attention to the issues related to customer citizenship behaviors (CCBs), defined as ‘customers’ voluntary and discretionary behaviors that are not required for the successful production and delivery of the service but that, in the aggregate, help the service organization overall (Groth, 2005, p. 11). According to Dong, Evans, and Zou (2008), CCBs result in positive outcomes, such as value co-creation, favorable relationship with customers, and effective performance of marketing strategies. In the marketplace, customers may often help employees or other customers, provide ideas to improve the service performance and/or quality, and/or recommend the service provider to other customers. These customers’ voluntary behaviors enable service providers to enhance their business performance and competitiveness. Given the theoretical and practical emphasis on the importance of CCBs, many researchers have focused on issues related to CCBs, but empirical research is lacking in the investigation of the antecedents of CCBs in the service industry (Choi, Lotz, & Kim, 2014; Tung, Chen, & Schuckert, 2017). More specifically, intangibility, which is distinct from products, and inseparability, which refers to co-occurrence of production and consumption, of service allow customers to have more opportunities to actively present their opinions and knowledge to the service provider in order to improve the service quality (see Dong et al., 2008). Often, customers, as they may perform some of the roles of employees, may serve as substitutes for employees (e.g. creating a salad at a salad bar). When customers perform beneficial actions for their service provider, similar to those of the service provider’s employees, they are sometimes considered partial employees or co-producers who influence the organization’s productivity (Chiu, Kwag, & Bae, 2015). According to Vargo and Lusch (2004), customers, as partial employees, co-create the production as well as consumption of services, and suggest feedback on the organization’s performance by directly being involved in the encounter with the organization. Moreover, customers can provide voluntary or discretionary behaviors that benefit the organization, such as assisting the sales force or other customers and/or providing constructive ideas for performance enhancement (Groth, 2005; Yi & Gong, 2013). What factors lead customers to perform CCBs? Past research shows that customers’ positive perceptions of their relationships with organizations lead to them to voluntarily assist those organizations (Bettencourt, 1997; Bove, Pervan, Beatty, & Shiu, 2009; Yi & Gong, 2008).