Table 1 Key themes of CX – authors'...

Table 1

Key themes of CX – authors' creation

Key themes	Subthemes	Key propositions or findings in the CX literature
1. CX definition	Core definition of CX	CX is the set of customers' responses to a firm's offering, which are nondeliberate and spontaneous (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). These responses can be active or passive depending on the level of participation of the customer (De Keyser et al., 2020)
	Characteristics of CX	CX is multidimensional: cognitive, emotional, physical, sensorial and social (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
		CX is holistic (Gentile et al., 2007; Verhoef et al., 2009)
		CX is subjective and thus unique for every customer (Meyer and Schwager, 2007; Lemke et al., 2011)
		CX is dynamic: the customers' responses keep evolving over time (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
2. Antecedents of CX	CX stimuli	CX stimuli are “anything than can be perceived or sensed by the customer” when interacting with the firm's offering (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020, p. 639)
	CX stimuli	CX stimuli are perceived as a whole, not in isolation from one another (Gentile et al., 2007)
	Contingency factors	Contingency factors shape how customers respond to CX stimuli Contingency factors at the individual level include, among others, the customer's personality, mood, physical condition, resources, expectations, goals and motivations (Puccinelli et al., 2009; Verhoef et al., 2009; Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; De Keyser et al., 2020)
		Contingency factors at the social level include the presence and behavior of other customers as well as the social roles that customers embrace and the social norms and rules they follow (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; De Keyser et al., 2020)
		Contingency factors at the environmental level can be natural (e.g. weather), economic (e.g. state of the overall economy at the country or global level), public (e.g. road infrastructure) or political (De Keyser et al., 2020)
3. Outcomes of CX		CX likely enhances customer loyalty (Berry et al., 2002), customer satisfaction and firm profits (Grewal et al., 2009)
4. Customer journey	Touchpoints	The customer journey is composed of touchpoints, which are moments when customers interact with the firm's offering (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). The interaction is either actual or imagined, such as when customers anticipate future service encounters (De Keyser et al., 2020)
		Touchpoints can be under the direct control of the firm (e.g. service encounter) or outside of it (e.g. an interaction with a firm's partner) (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
		Touchpoints can be online (e.g. website visits) or offline (Gahler et al., 2023)
	Stages of the customer journey	The customer journey encompasses three stages: pre-purchase (e.g. information search), purchase (e.g. core service encounter) and post-purchase stages (e.g. writing a review) (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Voorhees et al., 2017)
5. CX measurement	Scale development	CX can be measured with the help of dedicated scales, such as the customer experience quality scale (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Kuppelwieser and Klaus, 2021) or the customer experience scale (Gahler et al., 2023)
	Specificities of CX measurement	Given its dynamic and multidimensional nature, CX needs to be measured in real-time and over time (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020) and preferably with the help of a multi-method approach (De Keyser et al., 2020), which is exemplified in the method developed by McColl-Kennedy et al. (2019) or by Baxendale et al. (2015)
	Measurement by proxies	Practitioners tend to measure CX through proxies such as NPS and satisfaction scales, though academics warn against such simplified measures (Homburg et al., 2017; Meyer and Schwager, 2007; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
	Call for developing new measurement tools	There is a need to develop new measurement tools such as • Self-adaptive scales that would allow customers to focus on the touchpoints that they find relevant to their CX (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020) • An all-encompassing measurement tool that would capture CX holistically (De Keyser et al., 2020)
6. CX management	CX management as engineering	CX management is a strategy that consists in engineering CX to create value for both the firm and the customer (Grewal et al., 2009; Verhoef et al., 2009). CX management should notably create seamless CX, i.e. seamless transitions between touchpoints (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Homburg et al., 2017)
6. CX management	CX management as facilitation	A firm's ability to manage CX is limited due to the contingency factors that influence how customers respond to CX stimuli (Lemke et al., 2011; De Keyser et al., 2015). CX management is thus limited to facilitating the co-creation of the intended CX (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020)

Key themes	Subthemes	Key propositions or findings in the CX literature
1. CX definition	Core definition of CX	CX is the set of customers' responses to a firm's offering, which are nondeliberate and spontaneous (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). These responses can be active or passive depending on the level of participation of the customer (De Keyser et al., 2020)
	Characteristics of CX	CX is multidimensional: cognitive, emotional, physical, sensorial and social (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
		CX is holistic (Gentile et al., 2007; Verhoef et al., 2009)
		CX is subjective and thus unique for every customer (Meyer and Schwager, 2007; Lemke et al., 2011)
		CX is dynamic: the customers' responses keep evolving over time (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
2. Antecedents of CX	CX stimuli	CX stimuli are “anything than can be perceived or sensed by the customer” when interacting with the firm's offering (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020, p. 639)
	CX stimuli	CX stimuli are perceived as a whole, not in isolation from one another (Gentile et al., 2007)
	Contingency factors	Contingency factors shape how customers respond to CX stimuliContingency factors at the individual level include, among others, the customer's personality, mood, physical condition, resources, expectations, goals and motivations (Puccinelli et al., 2009; Verhoef et al., 2009; Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; De Keyser et al., 2020)
		Contingency factors at the social level include the presence and behavior of other customers as well as the social roles that customers embrace and the social norms and rules they follow (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; De Keyser et al., 2020)
		Contingency factors at the environmental level can be natural (e.g. weather), economic (e.g. state of the overall economy at the country or global level), public (e.g. road infrastructure) or political (De Keyser et al., 2020)
3. Outcomes of CX		CX likely enhances customer loyalty (Berry et al., 2002), customer satisfaction and firm profits (Grewal et al., 2009)
4. Customer journey	Touchpoints	The customer journey is composed of touchpoints, which are moments when customers interact with the firm's offering (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). The interaction is either actual or imagined, such as when customers anticipate future service encounters (De Keyser et al., 2020)
		Touchpoints can be under the direct control of the firm (e.g. service encounter) or outside of it (e.g. an interaction with a firm's partner) (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
		Touchpoints can be online (e.g. website visits) or offline (Gahler et al., 2023)
	Stages of the customer journey	The customer journey encompasses three stages: pre-purchase (e.g. information search), purchase (e.g. core service encounter) and post-purchase stages (e.g. writing a review) (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Voorhees et al., 2017)
5. CX measurement	Scale development	CX can be measured with the help of dedicated scales, such as the customer experience quality scale (Klaus and Maklan, 2013; Kuppelwieser and Klaus, 2021) or the customer experience scale (Gahler et al., 2023)
	Specificities of CX measurement	Given its dynamic and multidimensional nature, CX needs to be measured in real-time and over time (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020) and preferably with the help of a multi-method approach (De Keyser et al., 2020), which is exemplified in the method developed by McColl-Kennedy et al. (2019) or by Baxendale et al. (2015)
	Measurement by proxies	Practitioners tend to measure CX through proxies such as NPS and satisfaction scales, though academics warn against such simplified measures (Homburg et al., 2017; Meyer and Schwager, 2007; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016)
	Call for developing new measurement tools	There is a need to develop new measurement tools such as• Self-adaptive scales that would allow customers to focus on the touchpoints that they find relevant to their CX (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020) • An all-encompassing measurement tool that would capture CX holistically (De Keyser et al., 2020)
6. CX management	CX management as engineering	CX management is a strategy that consists in engineering CX to create value for both the firm and the customer (Grewal et al., 2009; Verhoef et al., 2009). CX management should notably create seamless CX, i.e. seamless transitions between touchpoints (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Homburg et al., 2017)
6. CX management	CX management as facilitation	A firm's ability to manage CX is limited due to the contingency factors that influence how customers respond to CX stimuli (Lemke et al., 2011; De Keyser et al., 2015). CX management is thus limited to facilitating the co-creation of the intended CX (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020)

[ViewLarge]

Sharing Unavailable