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Linda Hollebeek

Visiting professor

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Charting the intellectual structure of customer experience research

Author

  • Prashant Kumar
  • Linda D. Hollebeek
  • Arpan Kumar Kar
  • Jana Kukk

Summary, in English

Purpose: Contemporary firms are increasingly focusing on enhancing the customer experience (CX) to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, despite the rapid growth of CX research from both the customer's and the firm's perspectives, the intellectual structure of CX research remains tenuous, thus requiring further investigation. Addressing this gap, the authors review and map the existing corpus of CX literature, from which important implications are drawn.

Design/methodology/approach: After inventorizing the CX literature (1997–2021), the authors apply bibliometric (e.g. co-citation) analysis to identify key CX articles and pertinent CX-publishing journals, followed by the identification of key CX research themes through network analysis.

Findings: The authors first document chief CX-publishing journals and articles and identify their respective contributions. The authors, then, derive five core CX themes, including CX through the customer journey, S-D Logic-informed CX, interactive service–based CX, CX in the servicescape and CX and consumption. The authors conclude by developing an agenda for future CX research based on the study findings.

Originality/value: By offering a pioneering analysis of the corpus of CX research (1997–2021), these analyses offer a pertinent theoretical contribution.

Publishing year

2023-01-20

Language

English

Pages

31-47

Publication/Series

Marketing Intelligence and Planning

Volume

41

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Topic

  • Business Administration

Keywords

  • Bibliometric analysis
  • Co-citation analysis
  • Customer experience
  • Literature review

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0263-4503