When engagement leads to intensity: an exploratory study on the nature of cocreation intensity

Services marketing has long recognized the important role played by the consumer within the service encounter as an active participant and collaborator (Schneider & Bowen, 1995). In today’s rapidly developing markets the boundaries between the firm and consumer are increasingly blurred and closer, in-depth interactions make consumers an important resource of the firm (Chan et al., 2010; Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010). This evolving perspective on the exchange process and consumer role therein, is generally understood as cocreation, whose importance is underpinned by its status as a research priority for the Science of Service (Ostrom et al., 2010; 2015) and the Marketing Science Institute (MSI).