How should customers be trained in their role as coproducers? The influence of training and its characteristics on the benefits of coproduction

This research examines the effect of customer training on the customer’s role during service encounters. We examine its influence on coproduction outcomes from the standpoint of both the company (productivity) and the customer (customer satisfaction). The analysis of the influence of customer training is implemented in two stages. First, we establish that customer training improves the company’s productivity without decreasing customer satisfaction. With this verified, we consider the content of training (cognitive vs cognitive and affective) and the medium deployed (employees vs digital). We then establish that training increases productivity more when its content is both cognitive and affective, whereas the medium has no effect. Conversely, when employees deliver training, customer satisfaction is higher, while training content has no effect on this variable. Results provide guidelines for enhancing the benefits for both companies and customers