Engaging in times of COVID-19 and beyond: theorizing customer engagement through different paradigmatic lenses
ISSN: 1757-5818
Article publication date: 28 July 2020
Issue publication date: 17 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider a broadened suite of paradigmatic lenses to help better understand customer engagement during and beyond COVID-19. During this period of uncertainty and economic downturn, many customers are questioning their ways of living and being, and thus businesses are engaging customers in new and evolving ways. To appreciate this broadened realm of engagement requires researchers and businesses to embrace existential humanism as an alternative, yet complementary, paradigmatic lens.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper. The authors consider three distinct paradigmatic lenses on human (inter)action—economic rationalism, institutionalism and existential humanism—and apply these lenses to deepen the underlying theorizing of the customer engagement concept. Further, the authors illustrate how customers engage with businesses in distinct ways, seeking meaning congruent with the challenges faced during COVID-19.
Findings
The authors argue that the common tripartite model of cognitive, emotional and behavioral customer engagement, typically informed by reductionist and unilateral paradigmatic lenses, is insufficient to understand why customers seek to engage with businesses during and after COVID-19.
Originality/value
In providing a broader paradigmatic perspective, the authors make a plea for a stronger consideration and activation of spiritual engagement in marketing. The current COVID-19 environment challenges extant philosophical assumptions of engagement theorizing, which we address by way of existential humanism. The authors contribute through a more differentiated perspective of engagement, accounting for a broader spectrum of human experience. This enables more informed theorizing across levels of abstraction, while emphasizing diverse avenues for future engagement for a time even beyond COVID-19.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “The Coronavirus Crisis and Beyond: Implications for Service Research and Practice”, guest edited by Dr. Volker G. Kuppelwieser and Dr. Jörg Finsterwalder.The authors thank the anonymous reviewers and editors for their helpful guidance regarding our manuscript. Moreover, the authors thank Chris Medlin and Neal Haslem for their valuable feedback on previous versions of the manuscript and the excellent discussions. Your views often challenge the mainstream, which makes progress possible.
Citation
Karpen, I.O. and Conduit, J. (2020), "Engaging in times of COVID-19 and beyond: theorizing customer engagement through different paradigmatic lenses", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 31 No. 6, pp. 1163-1174. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2020-0156
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited