The Journal of Service Research has accepted a current research paper, co-authored by Martin Bieler, Prof. Dr. Peter Maas, Lukas Fischer (all I.VW-HSG) and Dr. Nele Rietmann (ICI-HSG) for publication. The article «Enabling Co-Creation with Transformative Interventions: An Interdisciplinary Conceptualization of Consumer Boosting» develops a new theory on how consumers can be guided towards better decisions, as well as a new method for interventions into consumers’ decision-making processes.
To that end, it draws on existing knowledge in the areas of consumer psychology, transformative service research, and research on intervention mechanisms such as nudging. It finds that to efficiently support consumers in their situated decision-making processes, service providers need to have various intervention mechanisms to choose from. Specifically, there need to be mechanisms which immediately help consumers make a decision, as well as mechanisms which sustainably increase decision-making competencies.
The latter can be achieved with the new intervention “Consumer Boosting”, which helps consumers make better decisions through the development of relevant competencies in a context-specific, personalized manner. Consumer boosting increases the potential for mutual service creation even when consumers make decisions outside of service firms’ immediate reach and is especially suited for digital consumer interactions.
The article provides criteria for the selection and the design of intervention mechanisms in specific situations. Potential areas of application are especially those with high knowledge requirements and complex decision tasks, such as financial services or health. The online first publication of the article is expected shortly.
The co-author Martin Bieler can provide an executive summary on request. Please contact him for further details.