26th International Association for Management of Technology Conference - IAMOT 2017

Digitalization has brought extensive changes to businesses. The complex nature of the digital economy is characterized by various functions and provides global access to knowledge and information. It furthers transitions in the way people and organizations interact and behave. One of the current challenges facing businesses in digitalized world is how to engage and build longer-lasting and deeper connections with customers (Wiersema, 2013; Saunila et al., 2016; Ukko et al., 2016). In recognition of this challenge, the last decade has seen an increased recognition and understanding of the concept of ‘customer engagement behavior’, which refers to customer’s behavioral manifestations that have a brand or firm focus, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers (Van Doorn et al., 2010). However, there has been few studies conducted focusing on engagement in digital context. In this paper, we contribute to this research gab by examining how customer engagement behavior changes throughout the digital product and service development process. The paper builds on a longitudinal, qualitative single-case study (Yin, 2003) due to its suitability in holistically analyzing previously unexplored phenomena (Eisenhardt, 1989). A company providing pay-tv services is used as a descriptive case study to explain a phenomenon and the real-life context in which it occurred (Yin, 2003). The case study approach was chosen because the research field of customer engagement is still in its early stage; there is even less evidence available about engagement in digital business environments. To conduct the empirical study, we utilized a broad repertoire of secondary data to gain an in-depth view of the empirical environment. The limitations of secondary data were tackled by utilizing primary data that was gathered through interviews, focus groups, and participant observations in meetings in which a selected focus group was involved. This study shows that the most important factors of customer engagement behavior in digital product and service development are personality of the service as well as the understanding of what the customer has bought and what he/she is committed to. Latter user experience must reflect those expectations in practice. The study highlights the importance of engagement during the front-end phase of the process. At the back-end phase, the complete services and solutions are provided in a digital format; thus, the role of engagement in creating value is shaped by the maintenance and updating of the solutions provided. This study put the results of previous studies forward by concentrating on digital environment. As a main contribution, the study clarifies the engagement factors of digital product and service development. This study suggests that the factors affecting customer engagement differs among different phases of the product and service development process.