Does customer experience always benefit service companies examining customers epistemic motivation and interaction with the beauty service contexts

Precursorsandrationalesoftheresearch

Competition in a global market has been increasingly challenging, includingwithin the service sector (Gentile, Spiller, and Noci, 2007) Thus service companiesneed to ensure their competitive advantages (Lovelock, Patterson, and Wirtz, 2015).Serviceresearchers have suggested customer experienceis nowbecoming vitalcompetitive advantages a service company can pursue (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016;Gentile, Spiller and Noci, 2007; Pine and Gilmore, 1998) In the same vein, servicecompanies have realized the importance of improving customer experience, such asby putting customer experience as the top priority of the company as well as assigningexecutives to specifically handle customer experience management(Lemon andVerhoef,2016;DeKeyser,etal.,2020).Therearemultipletouchpointspre- consuming,action,andpost-consumingaservice,andtheyareallequallyimportant.At any touchpoint, a bad experience can derail an organization's efforts to offer animpressive customer experience

(Rawson and Jones, 2013;De Keyser, et al.,

2020;Siqueira,etal.,2020).Designinganeffectivecustomerexperiencemeansgeneratingrev enue for the business, preventing competitors from capturing the business' loyalcustomers,c r e a t i n g c u s t o m e r e n g a g e m e n t a n d a d i s t i n c t i v e c u l t u r e f o r b u s i n e s s (Thakur, 2016; Homburg, et al., 2017) According to a recent report from Acquia – Closing the Customer Experience Gap: Customer Experience Trends Report 2019 –globally, more than three-quarters (76%) of consumers switch to a brand competitorafter just one bad experience (Brown, 2019) Your business will witness significantperformanceimprovementsacrossthetopandbottom- line,ifbusinessesfocuseffectivelyonthecustomerexperience(Brown,2019).Customerexpe rienceisconceptually defined as an internal and subjective response, including cognitive andaffectiveresponses,thatcustomershavedirectorindirectcontact(Meyerand

Schwager, 2007; De Keyser, et al., 2020) Understanding customer experience helpsexecutives design their services (Pullman and Gross, 2004; Teixeira, et al., 2012) Inthis competitive era, consumers desire more than just products or services, but theyseekuniqueandmemorableexperiencesandhence,understandingcustomerexperienc e becomes critical to sustaining the company's competitive advantage (SteinandRamaseshan,2016;PineandGilmore,1998)

Besides,previousstudieshaveempiricallydemonstratedtheeffectofcustomer experience on several positive outcomes (Pine and Gilmore, 1998; KlausandMaklan,2012;Mascarenhas,KesavanandBernacchi,2006;PullmanandGross,2004) Companiesrespondtocustomersandformmarketsbydesigningandofferinguniqueexperience sthatgivethemwithacompetitiveadvantageandleadtofavorablebusiness outcomes (e.g., customer retention and profitability) (Bolton, et al., 2009;Verhoef,etal., 2009).Positivecustomerexperienceemotionsarethe linktopositiveoutcomes(e.g.,satisfactionandrepurchasebehavior)andnegativeemotionsto negativeconsumptionoutcomes(e.g.,dissatisfactionandavoidancebehavior)

(HolbrookandBatra,1987;Russell,WeissandMendelsohn,1989).Customerexperience isexpectedtosignificantlyinfluencebusinessperformance(PrahaladandRamaswamy, 2004), particularly on marketing outcomes (Camarero, 2007) Thecreationofpositive customer experiencesisrelatedtosuccessfulperformanceoutcomes(Rose,etal.,2012).Thus,unders tandingcustomerexperienceis essential Today, modern marketing is much concerned with brand/ customerengagement(Kumar,2019;Khan,etal.,2020;Pansari&Kumar,2016;Meire,etal.,201 9; Rather, 2020; Jessen, et al., 2020) Exploring the factors affecting customerengagementisimportantbothacademicallyandpractically(Kumar,2019;So,2016).Previ ous studies have focused on debating the conceptual structure of customerengagement (Dwivedi, 2015; Hollebeek, 2011b; Hollebeek, 2014; So, 2016) Theresults of previous empirical studies are still limited, especially testing variables thatplay the role of antecedents of customer engagement (Dwivedi, 2015; France, et al.,2016;Hollebeek,2014).Thekeyquestionforthethesis:whethercustomerexperienceist heantecedenceofcustomerengagement/customerengagementisthe consequenceofcustomerexperience?Howistherelationship?

Intheprocessofcreatingandprovidingservices,thecustomerisnolongeranoutsider; they often contribute in it as “partial employees” (Groth, 2005) In thischanging role, the customer influences the firm's production efficiency and servicequality and engages in active voluntary behaviors, such as customer citizenshipbehavior (Keh and Teo, 2001) Social identity theory is defined as "a part of anindividual's self-conception is rooted in his knowledge of membership of a socialgroupalongwiththeattachedemotionalmeaning.asamember(Tajfel,1974).Fromthis perspective, Dholakia, et al., (2004) argued that social identity is a definingmotivationforconsumerstorecognizethemselvesasmembersofonlinecommuniti es, satisfy their fundamental social needs, and maintain positive socialidentity by engaging in social behaviors for the groups to which they belong to AndBrewer, (1991) stated that people tend to define themselves by identifying with thegroupstheybelongtoandwill struggletoimprovethegroup’sstatus.Thehigherthelevel of Customer company identification, the more likely it is that consumers willponderthemselvesaspartoftheorganizationandshowpositiveattitudesandbehaviors to help the companies achieve its goals (Ran and Zhou, 2019).Therefore,theresearchbasesonSocialIdentity Theory toproposethemediatorsfortherelationshipbetweencustomer experienceandcustomerengagement.

Kruglanski and Webster (1996) described that individuals have differences intheirdispositionalneedforcognitiveclosure(NFC).Calogero,etal.,

(2009)conceptualized the NFC as an epistemic motive that is related to the reasons andbehavior that people search for information in their social environments And thereasonsandbehaviordifferinindividualsaccordingtotheirmotivationforinformation processing and judgment (Webster and Kruglanski, 1994; Kossowska,2002; Leone and Chirumbolo, 2008) People with high NFC have a dislike forambiguityandthereforelowepistemicmotivation,thesepeoplecanbecharacterizedas having a preference for quick decision-making, command and predictability, andare closed-minded In contrast, people with low NFC showed a higher tolerance toambiguitya n d t h e r e f o r e a h i g h e p i s t e m i c m o t i v a t i o n T h e y p r e f e r s l o w d e c i s i o n - making, indecision, diversity, and openness (Kruglanski and Webster, 1996). Facialexpressionsplayanessentialroleininterpersonalinteractions,researchonemotionalinfecti on has reported that emotional expressions can elicit affective reactions inothers (Hatfield, et al., 1992) People frequently anticipate or predict the behavior ofothers and facial expressions are an important source of these predictions (Frith andFrith, 2007; Alguacil, et al., 2017) Van Kleef, et al., (2009) has recommended thatpeople with low epistemic motivation directly base their behavior on their affectivestate that is suggested by the emotional expressions of others Hence, in the presentstudy explored the customers’ personal-characteristic, that is their motivation toprocesscuesrelatedtothebeautyservices.

Customerexperience hasbecomeincreasingly importantforservicebusinessesthatseeitasaforceofsustainablecompetitiveadvantage,an dfor service designers,whoponderitfundamentaltoany service designproject(Teixeira, et al.,

2012) Experiential marketing is emerging as a new marketingstrategyassomethingtosatisfyconsumers'emotionaldesireswithansensationaland memorable feeling or experience even in the beauty services industry (Jeon, 2013).In recent years, the experiential marketing research has been actively carried out inthe cultural industry, the fashion industry, the cultural content industry and designindustry, etc., for the most part while the experiential marketing elements such assense,feelings,thoughts,actionsandrelationships(Schmitt,1999).Whiletheexperient ial marketing researches targeting cosmetics has been performed a greatdeal recently even in the beauty industry, the researches targeting beauty salons areperformingresearchpartiallysuchasemotionorrelationmarketingandthesituationis that the experiential marketing researches examined comprehensively are almostnonexistent(Jeon,2013).

Researchgaps

Despitetheprevalentresearchonthecustomerexperiencewithintheserviceindustry,acloserlookat theliteraturerevealsacriticalgapinthisresearch.First,theliteratureon customer experience focuses on examining what makes customer experience(Alnawas and Hemsley-Brown, 2019; Quach, et al.,

2020; Chylinski, et al., 2020).However,priorstudies havesuggestedthatthewaycustomerexperienceproductsor services varies across contexts (e.g., industry or cultural context) (Verhoef, et al.,2009; Shobeiri, Mazaheri and Laroche, 2018; Hwang and Seo, 2016) For example,playfulness, aesthetics, and service excellence are more valued by the US customersthan by Chinese counterparts (Shobeiri, Mazaheri and Laroche, 2018). Therefore,researcherscontinuouslyattempttodevelopaglobalmeasureofcustomerexperiencethat needs to be validated over different contexts, but these studies have focused onfinancial services (Rose, et al., 2012;

Klaus, et al., 2013; Garg, et al., 2014;

Fernandes,andPinto,2019).KlausandMaklan(2012)conceptualizedanddevelopedameasur efor customer experience which involves four dimensions that represent a perceptualorhigher- orderperceptionsuchas,productexperience,outcomefocus,moments-of-truth,andpeace-of- mind,despiteitspotential,ithasnotbeenwidelytestedempirically The author found only two studies that investigated this concept indifferent service contexts: mortgage and hotel industry (Klaus and Maklan,

2012;LemonandVerhoef,2016),whilepreviousstudieshavealsosuggestedthatcustome rs experience of a product or service is different across different contexts(Verhoef,etal.,2009;Shobeiri,MazaheriandLaroche,2018;HwangandSeo,2016).Thus,t heapplicationofthe“customerexperience”conceptualstructureofKlausandMaklan(2012)fort hisreseachaimstoexamineitsscalesapplicabilityinthecontextof beauty services in Vietnam and to propose managerial implications more detailedandcomprehensiveisneeded.

Second,a m o n g s t t h e e x i s t i n g r e s e a r c h , l i t t l e a t t e n t i o n h a s b e e n g i v e n t o understandcustomer’saspectsandtheservicecontextthattranslatescustomerex perience to positive outcomes for the companies (Teixeira, et al., 2012; Klaus andMaklan,2012)butonlyexaminecustomerexperienceasafactoraffectingcommitment,perception, and behavior (Khan, Garg and Rahman, 2015; Klaus andMaklan, 2012;Klaus, et al., 2013; Sharma and Chaubey, 2014; Garg, Rahman andQureshi, 2014;Van Doornetal, 2010; Rose, et al., 2012; Keiningham, et al., 2017;Kumar, et al.,2019; Kuo and Chen, 2015; Sari and Wijaya, 2019; Karnowati andAstuti, 2020);Heo and Kim, 2016) Thus, this research is crucial to understand themechanism and condition that translate customer experience into positive companyoutcomes.Ascustomer-engagementbehaviorrepresentsvarious consumers’ actions that benefit the companies, the use of a multi-dimensional conceptual structure toexamine the relationship between customer experience and customer engagementbehaviordeemednecessarybecausetheoutcomeismoreinclusive( R o y , etal.,20 20;Ng,et al.,2020).

Third,somepreviousstudieshadexamineditseffectoncustomerengagementbehavior,butt heirresearchapproachesthroughdifferenttheoreticalbackground,notSocial Identity Theory (Libaietal,

2010; Brodie, et al., 2011; Kumar, Peterson andLeone,2010);Kumar,etal.,2013;Hollebeek,GlynnandBrodie,2014;Bueno,etal.,2019).Inot herwords,morestudiesareneededtounderstandhowcustomer-experience can result in customer-engagement behavior with the new approach.Further, customer experience is not produced by the companies but is formed, it isimportant to understand what personal aspects of customers that influence theirresponses toward companies’ offerings and touch points (Heinonen and Strandvik,2015; Heninonen, et al., 2010) Personal aspects of customers were found in theresearch results of

Mann and Rawat, (2016) which are extraversion personality,conscientiousnessandopenness.Accordingtosocialidentitytheory,whencusto mersvalue their interactions with the company and the service staff, they are more likelytoidentifywiththecompanyandtheservicestaff,thisidentificationcanbedemonstrate d through their post-experience behavior (Mael and Ashforth, 1992;Hong and Yang, 2009) During the process of customers experiencing the service,meaning that they are contributing and co-producing to jointly create profits for thebusiness, the customer motivation factor is indispensable This study also built uponCustomerdominantlogicandNeedforcognitiontheorytofocusanindividualaspectthat is related to individual cognitive framework, that is motivation

(D'Andrade,1992;SingerandSalovey,1996).Particularly,thisstudyfocusesoncustomerepis temicmotivation,individual’smotivationtodeveloparichandaccurateunderstanding of one’s current situation(Wang Ze, et al., 2017; Cote and Hideg,2011).

Finally,beautyserviceisalsodefinedaspersonalserviceshownbymarketingliterature in which customer experience plays an important role in co- producingserviceoutcome(Konishi,2016).Konishi(2016)classifiesservicesintotwogroups: grouponeisthatcustomersevaluateservicequalitybasedontheservice'scredibilitysuch as medical, repair, legal services, ; group two is that customers evaluate servicequalitybasedoncustomerexperiencesuchasbeautycareservices,resorts,restaurants , tourism, , from this classification, it shows that beauty services belongtothesecondgroup.Italsoconfirmsthatcustomerexperienceisextremelyimportantin beauty services, but has not found any researches of beauty services that examineaspects of the mechanism and condition that translate customer experience intopositive company outcomes in generally and in Vietnam particularly Therefore, theresearchhas decidedtochoosebeautyservicesinVietnamtoconductthestudy.

Researchaims

Applied within the beauty service context in Vietnam, this research aims tovalidate the scale of customer experience as well as examining the mechanism andconditionsthatlinkcustomerexperienceandcustomerengagementbehavior.Buildin guponCustomer-DominantLogic(HeinonenandStrandvik,2015;Heninonen, et al.,

2010), the Social Identity Theory within the consumer context(Lam,etal.,2010;He,LiandHarris,2012),theNeedforCognition(Cacioppo,Petty,and Morris, 1983; Xiao, et al., 2021,Su, et al., 2021), this research proposed thatcustomerexperienceleadstocustomerengagementbehaviorasmediatedbycustomer -employeeaswellascustomer- companyidentificationandcustomerengagementbehavior.Inaddition,thisrelationshipbet weencustomerexperienceandcustomer engagementbehavior is moderated by customer epistemic motivation.Below,thisresearchelaboratedtheproposedresearchframeworkthatcanbedivid edintothreemainsections:(1)Themediatingroleofcustomer- employeeidentificationontherelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengageme ntbehavior,

(2)themediatingroleofcustomer- companyidentificationontherelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengag ementbehavior,(3)theconditionalrole of customer epistemic motivation on the indirect relationship between customerexperience and customer engagement behavior Subsequently, the development oftheformalhypotheses,methodology,resultsandgeneraldiscussionwillbepresentedanddiscus sed.

Researchobjectivesandquestions

Relating to the aim of the research showed in section (1.2), the followingresearchquestions/objectives areformulatedwithexpectedsolutions.

Objective 1:Determine whether customer engagement behavior is the outcome ofcustomer experience in the beauty service context The two corresponding researchquestions developedwere:

1.1 Is customer engagement behavior the outcome of customer experience inthebeautyservicecontext?

Objective 2:Examine the mediating roles of customer-firm and customer- employeeidentificationintherelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengage ment behavior of the beauty service context The two corresponding researchquestions developedwere:

2.1 Are customer-firm and customer-employee identification the mediators inthe relationship between customer experience and customer engagementbehaviorofthebeautyservice context?

2.2 How are the mediating roles of customer-firm and customer- employeeidentificationintherelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandc ustomerengagementbehaviorofthebeautyservicecontext?

Objective 3:Examine the moderating roles of customer epistemic motivation in theindirectrelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengagementbehavior of the beauty service context The two corresponding research questionsdevelopedwere:

3.2 How is the moderating role ofcustomer epistemicmotivation in therelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengagementbeha viorofthebeautyservice context?

Objective 4:Identifying the demographic variables controlcustomer engagementbehaviorinthebeautyservicecontext.Thecorrespondingresearchquestiond evelopedwas:

4.1Which demographic variables control customer engagement behavior inthebeautyservicecontext?

Objective 5:Provide recommendations to increasing customer engagement in thebeautyservicecontext.Thecorrespondingresearchquestiondevelopedwas:

5.1What recommendations for the managers on the mechanism that translatecustomer experience to customer engagement behavoir,especially in thebeautyserviceindustry?

Researchcontext

Beautyserviceindustry

The British Beauty Council and BritainThinks have come together to comeup with the definition of the beauty service industry, which has gone went throughseveral iterations, with the final version reflecting consensus based on the views ofindividuals represent different sectors of the beauty service industry, but the mainstructure of this definition is beauty services including holistic treatments, beautytreatments, and hair services (British Beauty Coucil, 2019) According to a surveyof the beauty service market in some Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan,Japan, Singapore, and Korea by Research Office and Legislative Council Secretariat(2019), there are three main types of services, they are“beauty salonsprovidingconventional beauty services through hairdressing, perming and make-up; andaesthetic salonswhich provide beautifying services for skincare and bodycarethrough manual techniques, cosmetics and equipment;cosmetic surgeryofferingbeautyservicesonenhancingappearancethroughsurgicalandmedicaltechni ques,inwhichplasticsurgeryisdefinedasasurgicalspecialtydedicatedtoreconstructio noffacialandbodydefectsduetobirthdisorders,trauma,burns,anddisease”.

Schmenner (1986) divided the service industry into four patterns using theintensity of labor and customer interactions Labor intensity represents the ratio oflabor waste to value added Customer interaction means the frequency of a serviceprovider's contact with a customer during service use Figure 1.1 shows that beautyservices are classified as labor-intensive services, with a workforce requiring highprofessionalskills.Theroleofthebeauticianandtheparticipationofthecustomerisvery important to the formation of the service, the interaction between the customerand the beautician determines the positive outcome of the beauty service Therefore,this dissertation has selected beauty services to examine deeply about the interactionincustomerexperience.

Toevalutethegoodsandservicesqualities,Konishi(2016)dividedthegoodsand services into two categories, the one is easy to evaluate the quality and the otherdifficult The one that is easy to evaluate for quality is mostly tangible products/goods, the other that is difficult to evaluate the quality is intangible products/ services.Konishi (2016) has also specifically classified products and services for qualityevaluationinthreeaspects:evaluatingthequalityofatangibleproductthroughsearchqualities,e xperiencequality,evaluatingthequality ofgeneralservicesthroughcredence qualities,evaluating the quality of personal services through experiencequalities.

Looking at figure 1.2, Konishi (2016) classifies services into two groups:grouponeisthatcustomersevaluateservicequalitybasedontheservice'scredibilitysu ch as medical, repair, legal services, ; group two is that customers evaluate servicequalitybasedoncustomerexperiencesuchasbeautycareservices,resorts,restaurants, tourism, , from this classification, it shows that beauty services belongto the second group The beauty service is one of the personal services and to evaluatethe quality of beauty services isdifficult, we evaluate its quality based on customerexperience measurement Customers experience touchpoints when interacting withthe brand, they identify themselves with beauticians and the firm and bring positiveresults for the business That is the reason why the dissertation has chosen beautyservicesasthesubjectfor theexamination.

BeautyserviceindustryinVietnam

Manyyearsago,beautyindustry wasnotreally popularandanofficialprofessioninVietnam.Inrecentyears,theVietnamesemarkethasbecome apotentialmarket for beauty service business investors with the explosion of a large number ofbeautyservicebusiness.Therisingconsumerdemandforskinandbodycareservices has boomed the growth of beauty industry, the number of beauty service businessesis increasing rapidly in big cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da

Nang, HaiPhong andBinhDuong.Beauticians/ practitionerswithexpertperformancearealwayse a g e r t o w e l c o m e w i t h h i g h r e m u n e r a t i o n a n d n e v e r u n e m p l o y e d I t i s estimated that about 2,000 beauty service businesses established each year to meetthe consumer demand in Vietnam and there are about 2 million employed personsworking in this field The number of beauty service establishments in Vietnamincreased by 15-20% from the previous year, most of them are dealing with losingcustomers to competitors, ineffective communication. Currently, most of the beautyservice businesses in Vietnam are dealing with losing customers to competitors,ineffectivecommunication(VietNamNetBridge,2016).

As people gradually feel that beauty is indispensable in everyday life and thedemand for beauty is increasing, the beauty service business models develop moreand more strongly in Vietnam In recent years, Vietnam is currently a potential marketfor beauty services due to the economic growth, the development of social life andthe increasing demand for beauty of people of all ages… In almost every country Incities, towns, towns across the provinces, it is easy to see the presence of beautyservice establishments (beauty establishments) such as beauty salons, spas or evenclinics.However,theexplosionofaseriesofbeautyestablishmentsmakesthebeautyservicem arketgraduallybecomechallenginganddifficultduetofiercecompetition.Facedwiththatsitua tion,inordertobeabletosurviveanddevelop,beautyestablishmentsareforcedtolookforth eirownbusinessopportunitiesonthebasisofthoroughly understanding the market, customers, choosing for themselves the targetmarket appropriate criteria for designing the right customer experience values HoChi Minh City (HCMC) is the largest market for beauty services in Vietnam Thehealthcare sector has a policy of developing tourism health, so many domestic andinternational tourists come to the city to use medical services, including beautyservices Therefore, the number of aesthetic and beauty establishments is increasingtomeettheirbeautyneeds.AsofSeptember2019,thecityhasatotalof1,329beautyser vicebusinesses(GeneralStatisticsOfficeof Vietnam, 2019).

In the beauty service industry in Vietnam, it is divided into 2 areas which arebeautycareserviceandbeautysurgeryservice:beautycareserviceisatypeofbeautycareoperati onthatdoesnotcausebleeding,doesnotmakechangesinsidethehumanbody.Thisserviceisco mpletely different from beauty surgery service.Beautysurgery service is where a person chooses to have an operation, or invasive medicalprocedure, to change their physical appearance for cosmetic rather than medicalreasons.AccordingtoDecisionNo.27/2018/QD-

Beauty salons:This is a service group in the field of hair cutting, hairdressing, hairwashing Corresponding to their fields, this group mainly includes the followingservices:haircutting,shampooing,drying,curling,dyeing,straightening,straight ening, etc In addition, there are other services for both men and women,eyelashes,manicure,etc.

Aesthetic salons:These are sauna services, massage and similar health promotionservicesexcludingsportsactivities.Morespecifically,thisgroupincludesthef ollowing types of services: Sauna services, sunbathing services, massage services.The services without the use of surgical methods, such as skincare salons, bodycaresalons,etc.

Cosmetic surgery clinics:These are where a person chooses to have an operation,or invasive medical procedure, to change their physical appearance for cosmeticrather thanmedical reasons.Cosmetic surgery includessurgicaland nonsurgicalprocedures (such as botox and dermal fillers) that enhance and reshape structures ofthebodytoimproveappearanceandconfidence.

Plastic surgery clinics:This is a surgical specialty involved with the reconstructionoffacialandbodytissuedefectscausedbyillness,trauma,orbirthdisorders.

Table1.1 Classificationofbeautyservicesin Vietnam Beautycareservice Beautysurgery service

Beautysalons Aestheticsalons Cosmeticsurgery Plastics urgery

Hairdressingsalons Spa (Dayspa, beautyspa,clinicspa) Cosmetic surgeryclinics Plasticsurgery clinics

Manicuresalons Massage (Foot massage,Physiotherapy massage,Stone massage)

(Source: Author’s survey)Tomeetthebusinessconditionsofb e a u t y c a r e s e r v i c e s , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e provisionso f l a w B u s i n e s s o w n e r s n e e d t o c h o o s e o n e o f t w o b u s i n e s s m o d e l s : Businessregistrationintheformofindividualbusinesshousehold s;Registertosetupa c o m p a n y T h e p a r t i c i p a t i o n a n d l e v e l o f i n t e r a c t i o n i n e a c h s e r v i c e s e c t i o n (beautycareservice,beautysurgeryservice)isdifferent Thesectionofbeautycareserviceincludesverycommontypesofservices,theyarebeautysalo nsandaestheticsalonsasinTable1.1,itiseasyandconvenientforresearcherstoapproachr espondentsd u r i n g t h e s u r v e y , t h e r e f o r e T h e t h e s i s h a s s e l e c t e d b e a u t y sal o ns t o conducttheresearch.

Beautysalonservice

The beginning of beauty salon services can be traced back to the hairstylingart The hairstyling service industry dates back to ancient Egypt, Rome, and

Greece.However,theprofessionof b e a u ty servicesde velopedfollow ing thecomm e rcia llinesin the late nineteenth century Their popularity was assisted by the development oftechnological innovations that generated new demands for hairstyles Schools ofcosmetology were first founded in America in the late 1890s to train students,primarilywomen,fortheexpandingenlargingprofession.Formanyyears,smallsolepr oprietorships were standard in the industry As the purchasing power of workingwomen increased rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s, the industry began to enlargeandthe numberofcorporate- ownedsalonsincreaseddramatically.

In recent years, in addition to people’s health conditions, especially women,tend to take care of their physical appearance Therefore, in the face of the need toenhancethebeautyofwomen,manybeautysalonshavestartedtheirbusiness.Usingspecialex periencesandtechniques,theycreatesignificantopportunitiesforwomen'sappearance,helpingthe mfeelmoreconfident.

(Sourse: Khan and Tabassum, 2010)Theproduct- linesthatbeautyestablishesprovideareverydiverse,including:Threading,Hair,Facials, Makups,Touch-ups,Personalcare.Detailsoftheseproduct-lines are listed in Table 1.2 with the reference of Khan and Tabassum,

(2010).ThedissertationhasreliedonthebeautyserviceclassificationofKhanandTabassu m, (2010) to designscales in order to collecting general information aboutthecomsuming behaviorofbeautyservices.

BeautysalonserviceinVietnam

In Vietnam, there are two business forms of providing beauty services frombeauty salons: providing a single servicesuch as hairdressing salons, manicuresalons, eyelashes salons, cosmetic tatooing; or a combination service such as manybeauty salons add spa services to create new attraction for customers,helping toincrease business profits Beauty salon industry in Vietnam is largely unorganized,thetwomaincategoriesofbeautysalonsinVietnamhasbeenidentifiedasfollowing:

Category I: Beauty salons operating as commercial establishments in professionalmanner

These are large commercial establishments operating on a commercial basis.Theyofferallkindsofservicestotheircustomers.Mostofthemalsooffercoursesinbeauty services The capital invested in these stores is very high, so the fees for theservicesaredifferent.Mostofthesestoresarelocatedindowntowndistricts.Thefeesfor the various services in this category are very high, at least double to triple that ofthose in the category II service providers The beauty salons of this type focus moreon quality of service, great spaces, well-equipped infrastructure, and more. Theyprovidevalueforservice.Theyadoptacompleteprofessionalapproachwhiledisplaying services These beauty salons attract customers even though they are farawayfromresidence.Therearetwomostpopularbusinessmodelsappliedtohumanresource management at beautysalonsinVietnam:

Traditional human resource management model:an owner who oversees the entirebeautysalon,holdingalltherolessuchasowner,technician,janitor,cashier,arrangerof all service processes, and mentor to employees With this model, the salon ownerrecruitslearnersandemployeeswhocometothemwithouttheneedtoworkbutwantto learn a profession This model has technical strengths, but there are managementproblemsincustomerservice.

Modern human resource management model:This business model applies scientificknowledge of business administration to human resources by management throughstandardization, digitization, personnel structuring; targeted business, developmentvision and strategy Single beauty salons or beauty salon chains can apply thisbusinessmodel.Currently, inHanoi andHo Chi Minh, there are a number ofbusinesses that have applied this model, they are some beauty salon-chains such asHanoi: ViVi, Venus, Juno salon (Korea); Ho Chi Minh City: J-First Tokyo (Japan),Art Hair (Korea), Mano Mano (Japan), most of which are foreign businesses, and afewaredomesticones.

Beauty salons in this category are the commercial establishments but has asmallscaleofoperation,functioningisconservativeandtheyrestricttheiroperations to local area from where they operate They offer limited and customised services aspertheneedsofthecustomersinthelocalityoftheiroperations.Thesebeautysalonsoffer the limited range of services Some selected salons in upper-middle classlocalities offer specialised services on demand.

These salons take over the middleclassandhighmiddleclassareas,thecapitalinvestmentsislessincomparisontotheCate gory - I salons These beauty salons generally get customers from their localityorthroughreferencesfromnearbyareas.

Keyterms

The beauty industry encompasses sales of cosmetics, perfume, and products for skinand hair care Beauty salons and spas are considered the service sector of the beautyindustry(Grindstaff,2020)

The section of beauty service deals with three main types of services – hairdressers,personal care and body artists (City Of Adelaide, 2020) According to the ResearchOffice & Legislative Council Secretariat (2019), beauty services dominate 3 maintypesofservices,whicharebeautysalons,aestheticsalons,cosmetic surgery.

Beautysalonsprovidingconventionalbeautyservicesthroughhairdressing,permingandma ke-up (ResearchOffice&LegislativeCouncilSecretariat,2019).

Researchsubjectandscope

Thisresearchfocusesontheexperienceprovidedbybeautysalonsanddiscussesmoreo ntherelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengagement.Thisresearchwillp rovideabeautysalonmanagerabetterunderstanding of their customer behavior especially the role of customer experiencein shaping customer engagement The research was conducted in the area of Ho ChiMinh city, Vietnam, since Ho Chi Minh is one of the big cities with the highest growthrate of beauty salon industry in Vietnam The salons chosen as research samples aresalons with premium prices which are targeted for upper middle class people andlocatedinbeauty servicemarket.Hence,premiumpricedsalonwaschosenbecause suchsaloncustomersareexpectedtodelivermorereliableandaccurateopinionaboutexperience and engagement 1,200 questionnaires then distributed to top twelvebeautysalonsinHoChiMinhcity.Thetargetedrespondentswerefemaleconsumerswithv arylevelofexperience,theywereaskedtocompletethequestionnairesregardingtoits experiencetoward thebeautysalons.

Structureoftheresearch

Introducingtheresearchtopicandabriefbackgroundfollowingbyproblemstatement,res earchquestion,researchobjectives,scopeandlimitations,thesignificanceandstructureof thethesis.

Providing detail instrument of researchmodel, research process, measurements andquestionnairedesign,datacollection methodanddataanalysis method.

Draw out conclusion and propose recommendations to enhance customer towardbeautysalonsinHoChiMinhCity.

The second chapter explored the background viewpoint of the related literature andtheories in order to explore the research gaps and needs to found for advance theconceptual framework, proposing the research hypotheses to adapt above framedresearchquestionsandobjectivesinchapter1.

At first, Chapter 2 presents a review of the concept of customer experience,theimportanceofcustomerexperienceinbusinessoperations,componentsof customer experience in beauty service, consequences of customer experience ingeneralservice.Thenext,toanswertheresearchquestion1.1“Iscustomerengagement behavior the outcome of customer experience in the beauty servicecontext?”,thischapterreviewedtheconceptsofcustomerengagement,antecedences ofengagementcustomer.Third,this chaptershowstheclassificationofbeautyservice and the importance of customer experience in beauty service The fourth, thechapter shows an reviewing of two theories: Customer- DominantLogic and SocialIdentity theory And finally, this chapter presents operationalization of the selectedvariablesformeasurementdesigninthenextchapter.

ReviewofCustomerexperience(EX)

ConceptualizationofCustomerexperience

In the early days, Abbott (1955) and Alderson (1957) focused on emphasizing that“what people really desire are not products but satisfying experiences”. Furtheringthis notion, some experiential theorists offereda broader view of human behavior,especially recognizing the importance of the emotional aspects of decision makingand experience (such as Hirschman and Holbrook 1982; Holbrook and Hirschman1982; Thompson, Locander and Pollio 1989) Experience is defined in many differentcontexts of consumption There are many definitions of experience that have beengiven that are general and do not reflect any particular component (Terblanche andBoshoff, 2001; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004; Caru and Cova, 2007; Meyer andSchwager, 2007; Palmer, 2010;Helkkula, 2011; Nasution, et al.,

2014) Such genericconceptscanprovideextendedfunctionalityforconceptualizingexperiencesindiffe rent contexts, however, the lack of specific components makes examining theconcepto f e x p e r i e n c e w i t h o u t t h e f o c u s e s a n d d e t a i l s O t h e r d e f i n i t i o n s f o c u s o n differentcomponentsofexperience(HolbrookandHirschman,1982;Gentile,Spiller,and Noci, 2007; Grundey, 2008; Gentile, et al., 2007; Verhoefetal, 2009; Schmitt,2011; Klaus and Maklan, 2012; De

Keyser, et al., 2015) The concept of customerexperiencewasfirstdistinguishedinthemid-

1980swhentheperceptionofconsumption experience and hedonic consumption were discussed by Holbrook andHirschman (1982) Initial studies address the manageable characteristics of singleservice encounters: in particular how to minimize the impact of negative serviceexperiences(Bitner,1990).Thehedonicnatureofconsumerexperiencesfocusingonth ree aspects of consumption that are senses, emotions and fantasy (Holbrook andHirschman, 1982) Schmitt (1999) with a multidimensional view identified fivecomponentsinexperience:sensory(sense),affective(feel),cognitive(think),physic al (act), and social-identity (relate) experiences Brand experience consists offourseparate,thoughrelated,dimensions:sensory,affective,intellectual,andbehavior al(Schmitt,2011).Theconstructofcustomerexperienceconsiststhecustomer’s cognitive, affective, emotional, social, and physical responses (Verhoef,et al., 2009).“Customer experienceas “comprisedof the cognitive, emotional,physical, sensorial, spiritual, and social elements that mark the customer’s direct orindirectinteractionwith(an)othermarketactor(s)”—inessence,therawdatacontained in all direct or indirect interactions that then come together as an overallexperience”(DeKeyser,etal.,2015).BustamanteandRubio(2017)foundcustomerexperie nce to include customers’ internal responses to service stimuli (cognitive,emotional and physical responses) and social responses to other actors joined in theservice encounter Customer experience is multi-dimensional consisting of spiritual,sensorial, physical, rational and emotional evaluations of the service touchpoints(PekovicandRolland,2020;KuppelweiserandKlaus,2020)

Pine and Gilmore’s (1998) indorsed the idea of customer experience, whichflashed penetrating interest in both research and practice The recent definitions ofcustomer experience originates from a set of interactions between customer andproduct, or part of its organisation, which incites a response (Gentile, Spiller, andNoci,2007).Verhoefandcolleagues(2009)frazzedtheimportanceofpastexperience sinestablishingcurrentones.Experiencesarepersonalandexceptional, theycomprisecustomersperceptionandparticipation,engagecustomersemotionally,sh aredwithothersandrememberedforawhile(Walls,2009).PimpakornandPatterson, (2010)statesthatcustomerexperienceistheresultoftheirassessment of the cumulative contacts that customers have with service Taking thedynamic view in a more progressive way, Patrício and colleagues

(2011) abandonedtheoutdatedviewofcompany- customerinteractions,instead,theyarguethatinteractions occur in a broader network of companies Klaus and Maklan

(2012)definedcustomerexperienceisgeneratedfrombothcognitiveappraisalandaffectiveresp onse, although their research represented these in a sequential change, but it hasnot yet determined which sequences are most important both in the customers’ overallappraisalandintheirresultingbehavior,therefore,t h e literatureexhortsmanagerstoaccept a massive growth in responsibility for customer outcomes Srivastava andKaul (2014) claimed that personal interaction is very important in the customerexperiencebuildingprocess,asitisattheheartofthecustomer- employeerelationship.

Customer experience has become a very commonly used phrase in recentyears Customer Experience has emerged as a key marketing concept for creating aunique, enjoyable and memorable experience This is a concept that if understoodsimply,itisnotnew,butitsevolutionthrougheachstageanduptonowisstillanewto pic and attracts researchers, especially in service marketing Customer experienceis a strategic process that helps a company create comprehensive customer value,achieve differentiationandsustainable competitive advantage (Shaw and Ivens,2002; Carbone and Haeckel, 1994; Pine and Gilmore, 1998; Gentile, et al., 2007;Verhoef, et al., 2009) Carbone and Haeckel, (1994) confirmed that traditional servicevalue propositions are no longer relevant to reaching today's customer and creatingdifferentiation, businesses should focus on designing customer experience which isas important as creating products and services Customer value is not created by asinglecomponent,butby acombinationofmany componentsinthecustomerexperience (Gronroos, 2006) The results of previous studies suggests the businessmanagementwithcustomerexperienceisfocused,businessesneedtodevelopco mpetenciesindesignandmanagecustomerexperienceinordertoprovide enjoyable experientialmemories for customers.There are veriety definitions ofcustomer experience in the literature, in this section, the author review some of themajor accepted definitions that are relevant to service experiences in the Table 2.1.Table 2.1 shows that customer experience is a multidimensional concept, the maincomponentsinthisconceptarecognitive,affectivve,sensory,conative.Mostofthesefour- component conceptual structures are widely used, especially the conceptualstructure of (Klaus and Maklan, 2012) is highly comprehensive and suitable for theinvestigationof service experience, buthas notbeenpopularizedyet.

“Customers’perceptionsofaserviceexperiencearebasedonthetechnical performanceoftheservice(functionalclues),thetangibles associated with the service (mechanic clues) and thebehavior and appearance of service providers (humanic clues).Functional, mechanic and humanic clues play specific roles increatingthecustomer’sserviceexperience,influencingbothratio nalandemotional perceptionsofservicequality”

T h e y f u r t h e r a d d e d t h a t i t i s s t r i c t l y a personal experiencewith customer’sinvolvement atdifferentlevelsincludingrational,sensorial,physical,andemotiona l.”

(Grundey,2008) “Subjective episode in the construction/transformationof theindividual,withhowever,anemphasisontheemotionsandsensesli vedduringthe immersionattheexpenseofthecognitivedimension.”

“Theinternalandsubjectiveresponsethatcustomershaveofanydirectorind irectcontactwithacompany.Directcontactgenerally occurs in the course of purchase, use and service, andis usually initiated by the customer.

Indirect contact most ofteninvolvesunplannedencounterswithrepresentativesofacompan y’s products, services, or brands and takes the form ofword-of- mouthrecommendationsorcriticisms,advertising,newsreportsandreviews

“The customer experience originates from a set of interactionsbetween a customer and a product, a company, or part of itsorganization,w h i c h p r o v o k e a r e a c t i o n T h i s e x p e r i e n c e i s strictlyi n d i v i d u a l a n d i m p l i e s t h e c u s t o m e r ’ s i n v o l v e m e n t a t

2009) “Customerexperienceconstructisholisticinnatureandinvolvesthecustom er’scognitive,affective,emotional,socialandphysical responses to the retailer this experience is created notonlybythoseelementswhichthe retailercancontrol.”

(Palmer,2010) “ontheonehand,experienceisalearnedoutcomethatisassociated with predictable behaviors, whereas on the other ithas come to be associated with processes whose novelty mayresultinunpredictableresponsebyconsumers”

2011) “Threecharacterisationsoftheconceptofserviceexperienceareidentifiedinth eliteraturereview:phenomenologicalserviceexperience,process- basedserviceexperienceandoutcome-basedserviceexperience”

(Schmitt,2011) “Brande x p e r i e n c e c o n s i s t s o f f o u r s e p a r a t e , t h o u g h r e l a t e d , dimensions:sensory,affective,intellectual,andbehavior al”

“Serviceexperienceisthecustomer’sassessmentofallattributesof their direct and indirect dealings with a service provider thatexplains their behavioral loyalty through repeat purchasing Itsdimensions are product experience, outcome focus, moments-of-truthandpeace-of-mind”

“Serviceexperienceismultidimensional,consistingofacognitive dimensionrelatedtoservicequalityandtwoaffectivedimensionsrelated to positive activation, such as enthusiasm or boredom,andpositivedeactivation,suchasrelaxationorstress”

Customer experience as a journey that customers goes throughwhere they accumulate awareness and response through everycarriercontactwith theserviceprovider.

2015) “Customer experience as comprised of the cognitive, emotional,physical, sensorial, spiritual, and social elements that mark thecustomer’s direct or indirect interaction with (an)other marketactor(s)”— in essence, the raw data contained in all direct orindirectinteractionsthatthencometogetherasanoverallexperie nce.”

“optimal experience… depicts the psychological mental state ofapersonwhoisimmersedinanactivitywithenergizedconcentrati on,optimalenjoyment,fullinvolvement,andintrinsicinterests,andwhoisu suallyfocused,motivated,positive,energized, and alignedwiththe taskathand”

Customer experience is a key driver of business success and competitiveadvantage (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016) Customer Experience Trends Report 2019 –globally, more than three-quarters (76%) of consumers switch to a brand competitorafter just one bad experience (Brown, 2019) Delivering customer experience at thetop of every business's goal list, designing the customer experience consistentlyexceeds customerexpectations to keep them long- term loyalistsofthebusiness,t h a t ' s the best way of increasing the business's revenue As you know, a satisfied customeris really on the front line when it comes to promoting your business through bothword of mouth and online reviews. That is why you have to invest heavily inimproving your customer experience, especially for modern customers who are veryknowledgeable Customers who have positive experiences spend more, be moreloyal, delivering great experiences to customer means helping businesses reducecosts.

(Kriss,2014).Focusontheeffectivenessofthecustomerexperience,and yourbusiness will see significant performance improvements across the top- and bottom-line (Brown, 2019) Customer experience is both elusive and the effort to measureand manage it attracts a lot of research attention in service marketing(Geyskens, etal.,1999).Duringthedifferentstagesoftheconsumerprocess,customersexperiencedifferentstat esofexperience,whichmeanscompaniestakeintoaccounttheseseparateprocessestoplanac cordingly(Schmitt,etal., 2009).

Nasution et al, (2014) derived and built upon their framework based on thedefinitionofcustomerexperienceafterSwinyard(1993),whichmetaphoricallycustomer experienceasajourneythatcustomersgoesthroughwheretheyaccumulateawareness and response through every carrier contactwith the service provider.Customer Experience Framework was designed into layers representing this journeyfrom the innermost layer outward as shown in Figure 2.1. Looking at Figure 2.1 wefind that individuals have different, often unique, needs and wants at different stagesof the service encounter To provide value, a company must provide products andservicest h a t m e e t t h e s e n e e d s T h i s i s t h e m a i n r e a s o n f o r a cust omer-centriccompany To provide a satisfying customer experience, companies strive to developafullsuiteofexperientialmarketingstrategypackagesthatincludevariousExperien tialmarketingstrategyisdesignedtoengagecustomertocooperateandbe involved with the product or service, and specifically designed make the customersexperience favourable responses, either through direct or indirect contact with thecompanythroughthemediatorsthatconnectthem(GopalaniandShick,2011).

ConsequencesofCustomerexperience

We understand service experience as part of a causal model, in which theoutcomes of experience are measured, and as one element in a model linking anumber of variables or attributes to outcomes (Helkkula, 2011).Many previousstudies such as Berry, et al., (2006); Sandstrửm, et al., (2008); Olsson, et al., (2012);Jaakkola,etal.,

(2015)suggestedthatserviceexperienceisexplainedasacombinationofbothreasonorfun ction,andaffectiveoremotionalcustomerresponsesorassessment.Whenacustomerhasap ositiveexperiencewiththeserviceprovider,itleadstocustomer’spositiveemotions(Pansariand Kumar,2017)

The relationship network of customer experience (Figure 2.2) was designedby(GodovykhandTasci,2020)reflectsthattherearefourcomponentsofexperience

(cognitive, affective, sensory, and conative) The four components of the customerexperience concept arestrong and canvary indifferentstagesofconsumption(before, during, after consumption) The number of antecedents from brand-relatedstimuli, consumer-related factors that filter these stimuli can customer experience inall stages, as well as consumption contexts and other macro environmental factors.Then, total experience from the results of before, during, and after the experiencerelated to customer perception and behavior such as brand-related outcomes, brandsatisfaction,brandloyalty.

(2011)findthatCommitment,Purchase,Retention,Wordofmouthareaconsequenceofcust omerexperiencethroughmediatingroleofvalue-to- use.Customerexperienceisacustomer'sinternalandsubjectiveresponsetoanydirectorindirect contactwithacompany,directcontactoftenoccursduringpurchase,useandserviceandUsuallyi nitiatedbythecustomerandmostoftenindirectcontactinvolvesunplanned encounters with representations of the company's products, services orbrandsandintheformofrecommendationsorreviews.wordofmouth,advertisements,n ewsreports,reviews,etc.

(MeyerandSchwager,2007).Theoutcomesincustomerexperiencearenotsimplyperson alperceptionbutco-production, product, interaction, and engagement (Homburg, et al., 2015; Pucinelli,et al., 2009).Zolkiewski, et al., (2017) introduced the strategic customer experiencemanagementframeworkt ocapture th e complexity ofB u s i ne s s to Busi ness (B 2B ) service interactions in which the values of outcomes were measured and discussed.The outcomes of customer experience are loyalty, commitment, word of mouth,satisfaction,involvement,increasedconsumption,purchasedecision,andpricese nsitivity, trust listed in researches of (Rose, et al., 2012; Klaus and Maklan, 2012;Klaus, et al., 2013; Garg, et al., 2014; Khan, Garg, and Rahman, 2015; Keiningham,et al., 2017; Fernandes and Pinto, 2019; Kuo and Chen, 2015; Jeon, 2013; Sari andWijaya, 2019; Karnowati and Astuti, 2020; Heo and Kim, 2016; Roth and Menor,2003; Bigne, et al., 2005; Holbrook, 2006; Gentile, et al., 2007; Tsaur, et al., 2007;Oh, et al., 2007; Tynan and McKechnie, 2009; Iglesias, et al., 2011; Ismail, et al.,2011; Zhang, et al., 2011; San Martin, et al., 2013) After reviewing related studiessummarizedinTable2.2,thereare3mainpointstonotehere.Firstly,previousstudieshave conducted research on customer experience in different service contexts, butmost of their results prove that outcomes and consequences of customer experiencearethefirst- orderconstructs(suchascustomersatisfaction,loyalty,commitment,re- visitationintention,wordofmouth),nostudieshavebeenfoundtoapplythesecond-order construct of customer engagement behavior in the context of beauty service.Secondly, Klaus and Maklan (2012) conceptualized and developed a measure forcustomer experience in the context of mortgage services in the UK, their researchdescribescustomer experience is a second-order construct with four dimensions:Product Experience, Outcome Focus,Moments of Truth, Peace of Mind, despite itshigh generality and potential, but the author found only one research of (Khan, GargandRahman,2015) whichappliedthisconceptualstructuretoconducttheirresearchon hotel service experience in India Third,the author has not found any researchapplying social identity theory to test the indirect relationship between customerexperienceand customer engagement behavior.

Authors Contexts Dimensions/Indicators Links Outcomes/

Satisfaction, Trust,Repur chase Intention Klaus andMaklan(20

MortgageSer vices,UK ProductExperience,O utcome Focus,Momentsof Truth,

CustomerexperienceLoyalty,Satisfact ion, Word-of-Mouth

Loyalty,Satisfa ction,Word-of- Mouth

Italy BrandExperience,ServiceEx perience,Post-Purchase Experience

CustomerexperienceLoyalty,Satisfact ion,Word-of-Mouth

Loyalty,Sati sfaction, Word-of-Mouth Garg,etal.,

FunctionalElements,Online Aesthetics,Customization, Value Added,Speed, Core Service,

LoyaltyWord-of-Mouth Loyalty,Satisfa ction,Word-of-Mouth

Authors Contexts Dimensions/Indicators Links Outcomes/

Keiningham,et al.,(2017) Avarietyof servicecontexts Cognitive,Emotional,Physical,

Environment,Frontline Personnel,Moments-of- Truth,ProductOfferings

CustomerexperienceRelationship QualityRetention, Word-of- Mouth,Tolerance

Retention, Word-of- MouthTolerance Kumar,etal.,

(2019) Offering-related, Value-related, Enabler- related, Market-related

*CustomerexperienceSatisfactionemotional attachmentEngagement

Bodysensoryexperience Body sensory experienceLoyalty;Bodysensoryexperienc eSatisfaction

ExperientialMarketing(Sense,Re lation,Feel,Think,Action)

Satisfaction, Re- visitinte ntion SariandWijaya,

Sensory,affective,intellectual,beh avioural

Customer experienceEmotionalBrandAttachme ntLoyalty;

Astuti,(2020) Beautycare service,Indonesia Sense,Feel,Think,Act,Relate CustomerexperienceLoyalty Loyalty HeoandKim,

Serviceexperienceonusing,Ser vice experience duringentrance/exit, Serviceexperiencewhilewaiting

ReviewofCustomerengagementbehavior(EG)

ConceptualizationofCustomerengagementbehavior

After reviewing the engagement literature, the author finds that engagementhas been discussed for more than a century with a wide range of interpretations in avariety of contexts In the social context, engagement is discussed ascivic, social,community engagement In the business context, engagement is discussed in thecontext of a contractual relationship, in management In the field of marketing, itrefers to the positive relationship between a business and its customers as customerengagement.

Customer engagement was defined as both a state and a process in previousmarketingliterature.Bowden(2009)assertedthatcustomerengagementasapsy chological procedure motivates loyalty Vargo and Lusch, 2004 exploited anddiscussed customer engagement based on Service dominant logic, their conclusionthatcustomerengagementrelatestoaprocessofdevelopingandnurturingrelat ionshipsandresearchresultsareconsistentwiththistheory.Customerengagement as a psychological state that occurs with some specific intensity at aparticulartime(Schaufeli,etal.,2002;Salanova,etal.,2005).Customerengagementis an ongoing process, therefore, varying levels of complexity and intensity can beexpectedi n d i f f e r e n t s i t u a t i o n s a n d t i m e s ( B r o d i e , e t a l , 2 0 1 1 ) T h e r e h a v e b e e n variousdiscussions,definitionsanddebatesaboutcustomerengagement,inthisstudytheauthorsynt hesizessomeconceptualizationsinTable2.3.

“Thelevelofacustomer’smotivational,brand-relatedandcontext dependent state of mind characterized by specific levelsofcognitive,emotionalandbehavioralactivityinbrandinteractio ns.”

(2014) “Aconsumer'spositivelyvalencedcognitive,emotionalandbehavi oral brand related activity during, or related to, specificconsumer/brandinteractions.”

“Thelevelofacustomer’sphysical,cognitive&emotionalpresencei ntheirrelationshipwithaserviceorganization”Customerengagem entasapsychologicalstatethatischaracterized by a degree of vigor, dedication, absorption, andinteraction.”

“It is holistic in nature and involves the customer’s cognitive,affective, emotional, social and physical responses to the entity,productandservice.”

“Behavior through which customers make voluntary resourcecontributionsthathaveabrandorfilmfocusbutgobeyondwh atisfundamentaltotransactions”

“The intensity of an individual’s participation and connectionwiththeorganization’sofferingsandactivitiesinitiatedbyei therthecustomerortheorganization."

Inthemarketingliterature,customerengagementisdefinedasaunidirectionalor multidimensional concept Early studies on customer engagement focused oncustomerbehaviortoformaunidimensionalconcept(Sprott,etal.,2009;VanDoorn,etal.,2010 ).Althoughtheunidimensionalconceptofcustomerengagementisvaluable, due to itssimplicity it isnot possiblet o c o v e r t h e f u l l s p e c t r u m a n d c o m p l e x of engagement (Brodie, et al., 2011) Therefore, more recent researches definedcustomere n g a g e m e n t a s a m u l t i - d i m e n s i o n a l c o n s t r u c t , o f t e n i n c l u d e s a f f e c t i v e , behavioural and cognitive dimensions (Brodie, et al., 2013; Chandler and Lusch,2015;MollenandWilson,2010;Patterson,etal.,2006;Vivek,etal.,2014).So,King,andSpar ks,(2014)proposedandconfirmedintheirresearchthatcustomerengagement as a second-order construct which have five dimensions and representthemoreabstractconstructofcustomerengagementsuchasidentification,enth usiasm,attention,absorption,andinteraction,andassuch,areflectivemodelofcustomerengag ementcanbeseeninFigure2.3.Theproposedsecond-ordermodelis supported in both the employee engagement (Rich, Lepine and Crawford, 2010) andcustomerengagement(Patterson,etal., 2006)literature.

Indynamicandinteractivebusinessenvironments,customerengagementrepresentsa strategicrequirementtodeliverenhancedcompanyperformance,includingsalesgrowth, outstandingcompetitiveadvantage,andprofitability(Brodie,etal.,2011;Vivek,etal.,2012;Ku mar,etal.,2010)discussedcustomerengagementinmarketingresearchasanoutcome measure ofthefirm’sactivitiesovertheyears.

AntecedencesofCustomerengagementbehavior

Previousviewsoncustomerengagementhavesuggestedthatantecedencesofengagemen tbehaviorevolve overtime(VanDoorn,etal., 20 10 ) Customer engagement is reflected as a psychological state, which occurs as a result of acustomer'sinteractiveexperiencewithanagent/focalobjectinspecificservicerelationships (Brodie, et al., 2011).After reviewing the prvious studies on customerengagement,theauthorfoundthattherehavebeenmultipledimensionsandd i v e r s i t y in the discussion of the antecedences of this concept structural, but the key contentsof antecedences related to the concept of customer experience Antecedences anddimensions of customer engagement are summarized in Table2.4 Table 2.4 showsthat most of the studies examining the conceptual structure of customer engagementbehavior in three aspects of cognition, emotion, and behavior, especially

Clause'sresearchshowsthatthisconceptualstructureexminescognitionandemotiontranslat es into four behaviors that are augmenting behavior, co-developing behavior,influencingbehavior,mobilizingbehavior.

Petzer,(2018) Customersatisfaction,Customer perceivedvalue Interaction,Attention,

Vivek,etal., (2014) - Consciousattention,Enthusedpart icipation,Social connection

InvolvementIn teractivity,Rap port,Trust, Brandattachment,Commitment,Bra ndperformanceperception

Identification,Enthusiasm,At tention, Absorption,Interaction

Brandexperience, Satisfaction, Trust, Commitment,Customer value, Brand loyalty,Customerequity,Firmreput ation,

Servicequality,Servicefairness Augmenting behavior,Co-developing behavior,Influencingbehavio r,Mobilizingbehavior

- Augmenting behavior,Co- developingbehavior, Influencingbehavior, Mobilizingbehavior

Islam,etal.,(2019) Servicequality Cognitive,Emotional,

Romero,(2018) Relationshipquality,Rewards,Sel f-enhancement, Learning,Socialintegration,Comp anyidentification

Loyalty, Word-of- Mouth,Customerinter action,

(Perceivedquality, Perceived value);Promoted pathway (Functionalinitiative,Experientialin itiative);

Relationship quality (Satisfaction,Trust,Commitment)

Brandusageexperience Vigor,Dedication,Absorption Brandengagement, India Cheung,LeeandJin,

Interaction Vigor(Physical),Absorption(Co gnitive),Dedication (Emotional)

(2010) Satisfaction,Trust/ commitment,Identity,Consumption goals,

Valence,Form/ modality,Scope, Nature of impact,Customergoals

Theoreticalbackground

Customer-DominantLogic

Managers and researchers have their own mental models that guide them inservicesettings,thatisoftentermedaslogics(Gummesson,2007;Gronroos,2006).Withinthem arketingdomain,managers’andresearchers’mentalmodelshasshifted from goods-dominant logic to service-dominant logic (Vargo and Lusch,2016) While the former viewed the company as the producer of value, the lateremphasizesthatvalueisco- createdbetweentheproducerandcustomers(Heninonen, et al., 2010).Although Service dominant logic seems to incorporatecustomers’ perspective, both logics view service from the provider’s perspectives(Heninonen,et al.,2010;Brown,2007).

Specifically, Service dominant logic assumes that providers are involved inand in control of the co-creation and tend to focus only to the visible value andcustomer experiences, hence neglects the invisible mental model or the logic of thecustomers (Heinonenand Strandvik, 2015) For example, building upon SDL,company visualizes customer’s service process, known as service blueprinting(Bitner,etal.,

2008).AnotherstudybyPayneetal(2009)analyzesopportunitiestoco-createwith customers fromcompanies’ perspectives.

Figure2.6.Customer-dominantlogic ofservice andservice management

Asanalternativelogic,Customerdominantlogicisintroducedandpositioned as customer-focused vis a vis to provider-dominant logics that includesboth goods- dominant logic and service-dominant logic (Heninonen, et al., 2010).Customer dominant logic is a view that emphasizes on understanding customerlogic, the systems of actors and spheres that customers are involved with,and howcustomers create value from the firms’ offerings (Heinonen and Strandvik, 2015;Heinonen, et al., 2013) Customer dominant logic posits that value is formed throughcustomers’ interpretation of experiences and accumulated customer realities (e.g.customers’ ecosystem and life spheres) where value is embedded (Heinonen, et al.,2013;Heninonen,etal., 2010).Further,Customer dominantlogic offers broader view of customer value by addressing not only thewhat, but also how, when andwhere the value is formed(Heinonen, et al., 2013; Heninonen, et al., 2010).Inconclusion, Customer dominant logic suggests that company has to understandcustomerexperiencefromcustomer’sperspective,includingthevisibleandi nvisible logics, to ensure that the value is formed leading to positive outcome.ApplyingCustomerdominantlogic,thedissertationfocusonwhenandhowcu stomerexperienceleadtocustomerengagementbyunderstandingthecustomers’ecosystemandt heirlogics.

Social IdentityTheory

Social identity theory posits that people go beyond their personal identity anddevelopasocialidentityforarticulatingtheirsenseofself(TajfelandTurner,1985;Bhattacharya andSen,2003).Thatis,peopletendtodefinethemselvesbycategorizing or associating themselves in a contextual manner such as gender,ethnicity, occupation, sports teams, as well as other more short-lived and transientgroups (Kramer, 1991; Scott and Lane, 2000) Individuals’ identification withspecific groups is often termed as social identity, defined as self-perceptions basedoncognitivelinksbetweentheiridentitiesandtheidentitiesofgroupsororganizatio ns(AshforthandMael,2000).

People’sidentity isnotdeterministic,suchthatpeoplecanchooseandnegotiate to whom they want to be identified with (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003).Peoplemightwanttobeidentifiedwithaparticulargroupwhentheyfindthegroupto be attractive or capable of enriching their social identity (Scott and Lane, 2000;Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003) That is, consumers might be motivated to identifythemselves with a specific group when the group can satisfy one or more self-definitional needs such as to help consumers define themselves (Bhattacharya andSen, 2003; Dutton, Dukerich, and Harquail, 1994) Another important aspect thatleads to identification is what relevant others think about the group, such thatpeople’s identification with a group is more likely to be stronger when referentothersregardthegroupashighesteem(Bhattacharya andSen,2003).

Moreover, people can also choose to be identified with a group even whentheyarenotaformalmemberofthegroup(BhattacharyaandSen,2003;Scottand

Lane, 2000) Thus, consumers can also identify themselves with an organization orthe service employees although they are not the formal member of those groups(Ahearne,BhattacharyaandGruen,2005;Tuskej,GolobandPodnar,2013).Althou gh some researchers argue that customers’ identification with the companyisaconsequenceofcustomers’identificationwiththeserviceemployees(Bhat tacharyaand Sen, 2003; Ahearne, Bhattacharyaand Gruen,2005),somestudies have demonstrated that those two constructs can occur independently eachother and have a distinctive role towards the company outcomes (Chan, Gong,ZhangandZhou,2017;Yim,Tse,andChan,2008).

Prior research on social identity reveals that identification with a groupproduces positive outcomes, such that people who strongly identify themselves withorganizations are more likely to support the organization in various ways and toevaluate the organizations positively (Ahearne, Bhattacharya and Gruen, 2005;Kelley,DonnellyandSkinner,1990).Forexample,consumerswhostronglyidenti fy themselves with the companies are more likely to take part in extra- rolebehaviour such as positive word-of-mouth about the company, recruiting othercustomers, and product improvement suggestions (Dutton, Dukerich and Harquail,1994;ScottandLane,2000;Ahearne,BhattacharyaandGruen,2005).Moreimpor tantly, other studies have revealed that consumers’ identification with thecompaniesproducescustomerengagementbehavior(He,LiandHarris,2012;Lam,etal.,20 10).

Forthatreason,researchershavebeencontinuouslyexploringtheantecedentsofc ustomers’identificationwiththecompaniesandtheserviceemployeessuchasCSR(Cor poratesocialresponsibility)practice,loyaltyprogram,customers’relationship with the service employees(Netemeyer,Heilman,andMaxham,2012;Ahearne,BhattacharyaandGruen,2 005;MartinezanddelBosque,2013; Cho, Kim and Kim, 2015) Convergently, those studies suggest that thoseantecedentscreateapositivecustomerexperienceandsubsequentlyleadtopositiveevaluati onandidentificationwiththecompaniesandtheserviceemployees(Brashear-

Alejandro,KangandGroza,2016;MartinezandBosque,2013;Netemeyer,Netemeyer,HeilmanandMaxhamIII,2012;Yim,TseandChan,2008;

SteinandRamaseshan,2016).Inconclusion,whenthecustomersvaluetheirinteraction with the company and the service employees, they are more likely toidentifythemselveswiththecompanyandtheserviceemployees(MaelandAshforth,1 992;HongandYang,2009).

Duringtheserviceexperience,thereisaninteractionbetweenthecustomerandthe company/ employees, the customer identifies the company and it’s employee,which means that they have positive experiences, they identify themselves with thecompanyanditsemployees,whichisthepremisetoincreasecustomerengagementbehavior after the service experience, bringing benefits to the company Therefore,this study used social identity theory as a premise to propose the mediating role ofidentificationcompanyandemployeeintherelationshipbetweencustomerexperienc eand customer engagementbehavior in the beautyservices.

NeedforCognition

CacioppoandPetty(1982)alsoarguethatindividualswhopossesshighneedfor cognition are more highly motivated to think about the given information thanindividuals with low need for cognition. Cacioppo, Petty and Kao (1984) theydefined the need for cognition as ‘‘an individual’s tendencyto engage in and enjoyeffortful cognitive endeavors”.The results of the work of Cacioppo, et al., (1996)suggests that everyone has to understand their world, but that people with highcognitiveneedstendtoseek,absorb,thinkabout,andreflectoninformationinordertounderst andtheeffects,interests,orevents,incontrast,peoplewithlowcognitiveneeds aremore likely to rely on information from others (e.g.,celebrities, orexperts).Theirresearchalsoconcludedthat“Individualsw h o differintermsoftheirneed for cognition also differ interms of their tendency to engage in effortfulcognitive activity when given a task or making sense of the world, actively acquireinformation about a relevant stimulus or event, and enjoy (or are less stressed by)cognitivelyeffortfulproblems,lifecircumstances,ortasks”(Cacioppo,etal.,1996).Feist (2006) suggested that “Need for cognition, therefore, should be associatedwith interest in science, because the latter begins with wonder, questioning, andcuriosity about how the world operates” Need for cognition was found to bepositivelyrelatedtocuriositywantingtolearnmoreaboutacademia,orwantingto learnaboutacertaintopic(Olson,CampandFuller,1984).PettyandBrinol(2006)suggested that the need for congition is the system which has been referred to asemotional,impulsive,intuitive,implicit,orslowlearningandiscontrastedwiththeother system, which is labeled as cognitive, reflective, rational, explicit, or fastlearning.Individualswithhighcognitiveneedstendtodigdeeperintotheinformationp rovidedtothem,aremorelikelytobeinfluencedbythequalityoftheinformationthansuperficial discoveries,theyoftenactivelyseekoutmoreinformation beyond the messages provided to them (Verplanken, Hazenberg andPalenéwen,1992).Previousstudiesindicatedthatneedforcongition- orientedindividuals tend to process media information more carefully and analytically(Cacioppo, Petty and Morris, 1983; Xiao, et al., 2021,Su, et al., 2021) Thesuggestions and conlusions have been tested in many different research contexts andthe results also support this view (Evans, Kirby and Fabrigar, 2003; Yoon and Lee,2021; Wu, Chen and Chang, 2021; Sandra and Otto, 2018; Gallagher, 2012) Theresults of previous studies suggest that the effectiveness of marketing and businessstrategiesisindeedmoderatedbyNeedforcognition(Putrevu,TanandLord,2004;Martin,e tal.,2003;PilliandMazzon,2016;Obiedat,2013;Pan,etal.,2020;KhanandAbidUsman,20 21).

Personal service establishments (PSEs) offer a range of services to theircustomers,includingmanicures,pedicures,facials,waxing,andhairstylingand(or)barberi ngservices…(BarnandChen,2012),sobeautyserviceisatypeofpersonalservice Personal service is defined as the type of service where the interactionbetween customers/ consumers and front-line employees is very important (Ganesh,Arnold and Reynolds, 2000; Beatson, Coote and

Rudd, 2006) During serviceperformance,customerswithhighorlowcognitiveneedswillhavedifferentinteracti on behaviors before, during, and after the service experience, so the Needfor cognition theory is used as a theoretical background to discuss andmakesuggestionsinthisresearchcontext ofbeautyservices.

Proposalframework

Afterreviewinganddelvingdeeplyintotheliteraturesandtheoriesrelatedtotwoc o n c e p t s o f c u s t o m e r e x p e r i e n c e a n d c u s t o m e r e n g a g e m e n t b e h a v i o r i n t h e abovesections,therearefourmainpointsfound.Firstly,toanswerresearchquestions1.1an d1.2,thedocumentsprovethatcustomerexperienceisthepremiseof forming customer engagement behavior, although there are many studies relatedtotheconceptofcustomerexperience.customersbutisonlyincludedasaninfluencingfac torwithoutexploitingthepositivecustomerexperienceaspectthatcontributestoth ecompany'sprofits.Second,Customer- dominantlogictheoryshowstheimportanceofbothactorsinbusinesspracticeandemp hasizesthemainroleofcustomersinvalueformationwhichisthelogicalchainofco- creationfrompre-servicee x p e r i e n c e , s e r v i c e e x p e r i e n c e , p o s t - s e r v i c e e x p e r i e n c e C u s t o m e r s participateandactasamemberofthebusinessto createvalueafterservice.Third,toa n s w e r r e s e a r c h q u e s t i o n s 2 1 a n d 2 2 , S o c i a l i d e n t i t y t h e o r y is e x p l o r e d a n d exploited.Socialidentitytheorysuggestst hatwhenacustomer hasahighsocialidentity,th ey oftensee themas par t o f t h e o rg an iza ti on, activelycontributing tocreatevaluefortheorganization.Fourth,toa nswerresearchquestions3.1and3.2,theneedforcognitivetheoryisreviewed.Needforcog nitivetheoryrecognizesthatdifferentcognitivemotivationsleadtodifferentbehavior s,peoplewithhighcognitivemotivationareoftenclosedandmakequickdecisions,conversel y,peoplewithlowcognitivemotivationareoftenopenandandhesitantinmakingdecisions.Insum,builtuponcustomer-dominantlogictheory,thesocialidentitytheoryand the need for cognition theory, this research proposes that customer experiencewill produce identification with the company and service employees that lead tocustomer engagement behavior.Besides, this study propose that this mediatedrelationship between customer experience and customer engagement behavior ismoderated by customer epistemic motivation The research framework is depictedin Figure 2.7.Furthermore, all main variables in this research and the hypothesesdevelopmentwillbeelaboratedinthefollowingsection.

Customer experience Customer engagement behavior

Operationalization oftheselectedvariables

Customerexperience(EX)

Customersexperienceoccurseverytimecustomersinteractwiththeservicesacross multiple channels and at numerous points in time, even before and after theserviceinteraction(SteinandRamaseshan,2016;KlausandMaklan,2012).Customer experienceresultsfromtheirevaluationoftheaccumulativecontactsthatcustomers have with the services (Stein and Ramaseshan, 2016; Pimpakorn andPatterson, 2010) Also, customer experience is multi-dimensional consisting ofspiritual, sensorial,physical, rational and emotional evaluationsofthe servicetouchpoints (Gentile, et al., 2007; Pekovic and Rolland, 2020; Kuppelweiser andKlaus,2020)

Thedimensionsthatconstruecustomer-experiencevary acrosscontexts(Bustamante and Rubio, 2017; Happ at al., 2020; De Keyser, et al., 2020).

Forexample,whilethequalityofmaterials,signage,andpersonalartifactsareessentialforl u xu ry hotels c u s t o m e r s , t hos e a s pe c t s are less of i m p o r t a n t to b u d g e t ho t els customers (Walls, et al., 2011; Ren, et al., 2016) Also, the dimensionality ofcustomer experience is different for an identical industry across different cultures(Shobeiri, Mazaheri and Laroche, 2018; Srivastava and Kaul, 2014)Such as, forIndian customers, social interaction and convenience are the major concern whenevaluating experience in retail stores (Srivastava and Kaul, 2014) People alsoevaluate customer experience differently between online and offline contexts, suchthat the elements that are important within an online context are not necessarilyimportantforofflinecontext (Roseatal.,2012;Bustamante,2017).

Although customer experience had been conceptualized clearly, measuringcustomerexperiencehasbeenproblematicascustomerexperiencemeasurestendt orepresentsproductorserviceevaluationbyassessingeachdimensionoftheproductor service (Klaus and Maklan, 2012; Gentile, et al., 2007) Consequently, there hasbeen no unified measure for customer experience across research due to the varietyinservicedimensionality(LemonandVerhoef,2016).Furthermore,asaproductofthe interaction between customers, the services and contextual elements, customerexperiencecannotbesimplyassessedbyevaluatingcompanies’offerings(Verhoef,etal., 2009;Teixeira,etal.,2012).Inotherwords,researchersproposethatcustomerexperienceispartlycontr ollableanduncontrollabletothecompany(Teixeira,etal.,2012;Verhoef,et al.,2009).

Toaddresstheabovementionedissues,KlausandMaklan(2012)conceptualized and developed a measure for customer experience They posit thatcustomerexperienceinvolvesfourdimensionsthatrepresentaperceptualorhigher- orderperceptionsuchas,productexperience,outcomefocus,moments-of-truth,andpeace-of- mind(KlausandMaklan,2012;KlausandMaklan,2013).Productexperiencereferstothei mportanceofcustomers’perceptionofhavingchoicesandthe ability to compare offerings even if they were from the same provider (Klausand Maklan, 2012) Whereas, outcome focus represents the importance of goal-oriented experience, such that the service helps the customers achieve their goals(Roy,,etal., 1996).

However, although some elements personal to customers such as socialinfluenceandpurposeofshoppingmightapparentlyarenotcontrollable,understa ndingcustomers’personalelementsmighthelpcompanytodesignservicesthat lead to the desired customer experiences (Verhoef, et al., 2009; Teixeira, et al.,2012).Existingresearchoncustomerexperiencegenerallyexaminetheantecedentsand consequences (Gounaris, et al., 2007; Chen, 2015; Berry, et al., 2002; Rose, etal., 2012) For instances, several studies examine the antecedents of customerexperience, however they tend to limit the view from the companies’ perspectivesand only involve the visible aspects of the experiences (Teixeira, et al.,

2012;Gentile,etal.,2007;Rose,etal.,2012).Forexample,astudybyRose,etal.,(2012)examines the effects on service attributes to cognitive and affective evaluation andpurchaseintention.

Gentile, et al., (2007) and Klaus and Maklan (2012) indicated that customerexperience is multi-dimensional and consisting of spiritual, sensorial, physical,rational and emotional evaluations of the service touch points Rose, et al., 2012showed that customer experience results from their evaluation of the accumulativecontacts thatcustomers have with the services SteinandRamaseshan(2016)defined that customers experience occurs every time customers interact with theservicesacrossmultiplechannelsandatvariouspointsintime.Inaddition,Verhoef,et al., (2009) and Teixeira, et al., (2012) concluded that as a product of interactionbetweencustomersandtheservices,customerexperiencecannotbesimplyprodu ced by the company but has to be co-created with the customers In otherwords, customer experience is both partly controllable and partly uncontrollable tothe company However, although some elements personal to customers such associal influence and purpose of shopping might apparently are not controllable,understandingcustomers’personalelementsmighthelpcompanytodesignservi cesthatleadtothedesiredcustomerexperiences.

Consistent with the customer experience concept, the customer experiencequality scale is developed based on an overall assessment of cognitive and emotionalvaluefromthecustomer'spointofviewby

KlausandMaklan(2012),capturesthe value-in-usenotonlytheattributes,andassesstheemotionalresponsesandfunctionality ofthe company offerings (Klaus andMaklan,2012).Despite itspotential,thecustomerexperiencequalityscalehasnotbeenwidelytestedempirically and thus, this paper also aims to examine the applicability of the scalein beauty salon located in Vietnam (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016) Subsequently,thestudyaimstotestwhetherthescaleisrelevanttomeasurecustomerexperiencewiththe beauty salon services in Vietnam Using a qualitative study, we purify themeasurementitemspriortoexaminingtherelationshipwithotherconstructs.Further,wewillexaminetheproposedresearchframework(Figure2.7).

Customerengagementbehavior (EG)

Previous studies show that customers’ identification with the company andthe employee will motivate customers to perform a behavior that supports thecompanybeyondthetransactions,thatoftennamedascustomerengagementbehavio r (Kang, et al., 2015; Jaakola and Alexander, 2014; Bhattacharya and Sen,2003;Chan,etal.,2017).KumarandPansari(2016)showthatcustomerengagement increasesafirm’sperformance.Customerengagementitselfisdefinedasapsychologicalpro cessinwhichcustomers’mindisfullyabsorbedbyaspecificcontext, characterized by a particular level of cognitive, emotional and behavioralactivity withinaninteraction(Thakur,2016;Bowden,2009).Inotherwords,customer engagement behavior represents customers’ behaviors that go beyond thecustomers’ role within a service provision and behave according to their initiativeandmotivationtowardthecompany(Roy,etal.,2018;Cheung,etal., 2020).

Therearevariousformsofcustomer- engagementbehaviorsuchascustomerinvolvement in positive word-of-mouth about the company, customers’ action inhelping the company as well as other customers, product improvement suggestion,recruiting other customers, and proactive communication of anticipated problems(Jaakola and Alexander, 2014; Pansari and Kumar, 2016) For example, customerscontribute various resources toward the company and its offerings that eventuallyimprovethevalueforcustomers(JaakolaandAlexander,2014;PansariandKumar,2016).Insum,customer-engagementbehaviorprovidescompanieswithapoolof customers who are not merely transactional and hence, it is an essential source ofcompetitive advantageforthecompany(Roy,et al.,2018).

Research has found that several factors may enhance or inhibit customerpropensity to engage with the service, one of them is the contextual factors ofservices(Patterson,etal.,2006;FernandesandEsteves,2006).Forexample,customersare morelikelyandmoredesiretoengagewiththeservicewhenservicesinvolvinghigh- involvementservice,interaction-basedservices,low-availabilityand high switching cost Fernandes and Esteves, 2006; Bolton and Saxena-Iyer,2009) Consistently, customer identification with the context is also considered asone of the most important factors that enhance customers’ engagement (Coelho, etal.,2018;Ahearne,etal.,2005).Forexample,studiesonbrandidentificationfoundthatcusto mer’sidentificationwiththebrandleadstocustomerengagementwiththebrand(Coelho,etal., 2018;StephensonandYerger,2014)

Insum,theinteractionbetweenthecustomerandthecompanyaswellastheservice providers are considered as the elements of customer experience (Stein andRamaseshan, 2016; Tynan, et al., 2014) When the customers perceive that theircustomer experience, specifically related to their interaction with the company andservice providers are positive the customers are more likely to be engaged with theservice,henceitproducespositiveoutcomesforthefirmsuchascustomerengagement behavior (Yi and Gong, 2009; Yim, et al., 2008; Coelho, et al., 2018).In each of the previous studies, the concept of customer engagement behavior wassynthesizedfrommanyperspectives,thetermwasstub,andscholarsandpractitioner salikelackedunderstandingofthewaysinwhichcustomerengagementcontributing to value co-creation, until 2014 in a study by Jaakola and

Alexandermarkedthefirstattempttoconceptualizetheroleofcustomerengagementbehavior(CEB) in co-creation value in a service system Research has identified four typesofcustomerengagementbehaviorsthatofferimportantpotentialforfutureresearch.The four dimensions of customer engagement behavior are: Augmenting behavior;Co- developingbehavior;Influencingbehavior;Mobilizingbehavior.Researchsuggeststhatun derstandingthemotivationsforthesetypesofengagementbehaviors willbeessentialforcompanieslookingtobenefitfromvoluntarycustomercontributions.

Relationshipb e t w e e n C u s t o m e r e x p e r i e n c e ( E X ) a n d e n g a

The importance of the experience construct in terms of customer and brandengagementhasbeenhighlightedbyengagementresearchlinkedtoconsumptioningene ral and brands in particular According to Hollebeek (2011), "engagement" ispersonal, context-dependent, and the result of a subject-object interaction (i.e., theoutcome is based on a particular customer experience) Customers are engaged “bywayofimmersiveco- creativeconsumerinteractionswithafocalagent/object(e.g.,abrand) infocal service relationships,”according to (Brodie,etal.,2011).

Customers'immersivesituation-specificinteractionsintheservicerelationship are thus critical to the evolution of the service relationship in generaland of customer engagement in particular (Brodie, et al., 2011) Consumer brandengagementtendstobeamulti- dimensionalphenomenonthatincorporateselementssuchasfocus,conversation,interactio n,feelings,sensorialenjoyment,andinstant activation to create a complete brand experience for customers (Gambetti,Graffigna, and Biraghi, 2012) In “a complex, iterative process within servicerelationships,”engagementandexperiencecoexist(Brodie,etal.,2011).Therelati onship between different modes of engagement and experience leads to theinferencethatcommunicationislikelytobeunstableacrosscontextsandcannotbeexplaine dconclusively(Bijmolt,etal.,2010;Fehrer,WoratschekandGermelmann,2014; Kumar, et al., 2010; Van Doorn, et al., 2010; Rather, et al., 2020; Mohd-Ramly and Omar, 2017) Furthermore, in the review of theories and previous studiesrelated to the two concepts "customer experience" and"customerengagementbehavior" in section 2.1 and section 2.2 show that customer experience is theantecedent of customer engagement behavior, and conversely customer engagementbehavioristheconsequenceofcustomerexperience.Therefore,thisstudypropo sesthatCustomerexperiencedirectlyaffectscustomerengagementbehavior.Accordingl y,ahypothesiswasproposedasfollow:

H 1 - Customer experience has a positive impact on customer engagementbehavior.

Mediatingr o l e o f C u s t o m e r -

Customer-companyidentificationisanaffectiveandsociologicalfoundationthat is critical to developing an enduring relationship between the company and thecustomer (Homburg, et al., 2009; Kang, et al., 2015) Conceptually, customeridentification consists of cognitive and affective components (Wolter and Cronin,2016).Accordingly,thecognitivecomponentofcustomeridentificationrepresents a cognitive connection between the definition of the company and the definition aperson applies for themselves as reflected by self-categorization and conceptualoverlap(BergamiandBagozzi,2000).Whereastheaffectivecomponentofc ustomeridentificationreferstoapositiveemotionalconnectionbetweentheidentity of an organization and the evaluation a customer applies to themselves asreflectedbypositiveself-consciousemotions (WolterandCronin,2016).

Previous studies have found that customer experience leads to customeridentification with the company, such that when customers experience positivecognitive and emotional interaction with the service providers as well as with theother consumers, they will be more likely to identify themselves with the company(Ahearne, et al., 2005; Hong and Yang, 2009; Karaosmanoglu, et al., 2011). Theexplainingrationaleisthatwhenthecompanyisevaluatedpositivelybytheconsumers, an identification with the company will provide customers with anopportunitytosatisfytheirself- definingneedsviathecompany’sdisplayingfeatures such their image, perceived characteristics of the company (Chan, et al.,2017;Ahearne,etal., 2005;KehandXie,2009).

Additionally,theinteractionbetweenserviceprovidersandcustomersisalsoan important component of customer experience (Chan, et al., 2017; Stein andRamaseshan,2016).Customersoftenbasetheirimpressiononthecompanyontheirinteraction with the service providers (Hartine and Ferrel, 1996; Solnet,2006).Furthermore,customerexperiencethatisformedthroughpositivecognitiveevaluat ionandemotionalbondswiththeserviceproviderswillalsoincreasetheir value associated with the relationship between customers and the service providersandhencewillpotentiallyincreasecustomers’identificationwiththeservicepr oviders(Ashforth,etal., 2016;Chan,etal.,2017).

Despite being closely related, researchers suggest that customers evaluate theservice providers and the companies separately (Guenzi and Pelloni, 2004; Ngo, etal.,2020).Subsequently,previousstudiesdemonstratethatcustomers’identificationwi ththecompany andtheserviceprovidersrepresentadistinctconstructthatmayleadtodifferentoutcomes(Cha n,etal.,2017;Yim,etal.,2008).Consistently, as customers’ interaction with the service providers is an importantaspect of customer-experience within the service industry, we will examine bothconstructs separately(Chan,et al.,2017;SteinandRamaseshan.,2016).

Previous studies show that customers’ identification with the company andthe employee will motivate customers to perform a behavior that supports thecompanybeyondthetransactions,thatoftennamedascustomerengagementbehavio r Kang, et al., 2015; Jaakola and Alexander, 2014; Bhattacharya and Sen,2003;Chan,etal.,2017).Customerengagementitselfisdefinedasapsychologicalproces sinwhichcustomers’mindisfullyabsorbedbyaspecificcontext,characterized by a particular level of cognitive, emotional and behavioral activitywithin an interaction (Thakur, 2016; Bowden, 2009) In other words, customerengagementbehaviorrepresentscustomers’behaviorsthatgobeyondthecust omers’ role within a service provision and behave according to their initiativeandmotivationtowardthecompany(Roy,etal.,2018;Cheung,etal., 2020).

Therearevariousformsofcustomer- engagementbehaviorsuchascustomerinvolvement in positive word-of-mouth about the company, customers’ action inhelping the company as well as other customers, product improvement suggestion,recruiting other customers, and proactive communication of anticipated problems(JaakolaandAlexander,2014;PansariandKumar,2016).Forexample,c u s t o m e r s contribute various resources toward the company and its offerings that eventuallyimprovethevalueforcustomers(JaakolaandAlexander,2014;PansariandKumar,2016).Insum,customer-engagementbehaviorprovidescompanieswithapoolof customers who are not merely transactional and hence, it is an essential source ofcompetitive advantageforthecompany(Roy,etal.,2018).

Research has found that several factors may enhance or inhibit customerpropensity to engage with the service, one of them is the contextual factors ofservices(Patterson,etal.,2006;FernandesandEsteves,2006).Forexample,customersare morelikelyandmoredesiretoengagewiththeservicewhenservicesinvolvinghigh- involvementservice,interaction-basedservices,low-availabilityand high switching cost (Fernandes and Esteves, 2006; Bolton and Saxena-Iyer,2009) Consistently, customer identification with the context is also considered asone of the most important factors that enhance customers’ engagement (Coelho, etal.,2018;Ahearne,etal.,2005).Forexample,studiesonbrandidentificationfoundthatcusto mer’sidentificationwiththebrandleadstocustomerengagementwiththebrand(Coelho,etal., 2018;StephensonandYerger,2014).

Insum,theinteractionbetweenthecustomerandthecompanyaswellastheservice providers are considered as the elements of customer experience (Stein andRamaseshan, 2016; Tynan, et al., 2014) When the customers perceive that theircustomer experience, specifically related to their interaction with the company andservice providers are positive the customers are more likely to be engaged with theservice, hence it produces positive outcomes for the company such as customerengagement behavior (Yi and Gong, 2009; Yim, et al., 2008; Coelho, et al., 2018).Therefore, this study proposes that the effect of customer experience on customerengagementbehaviorismediatedbyanincreasedcustomer- employeeidentificationand customer-company identification, which in turn leads to customer engagementbehavior.Accordingly,aset of hypotheseswereproposedasfollow:

H2 -Customer experiencewillincreasecustomer- engagementbehavior,mediatedbycustomer-employeeidentification.

H2 a - Customer experience has a positive impact on customer- employeeidentification.

H3 -Custo mer experiencewillincreasecustomer- engagementbehavior,mediatedbycustomer-firmidentification.

ModeratingroleofCustomerepistemic motivation(EM)

Before exploring the moderating role of customer epistemic motivation,research needs to understand its concept Epistemic motivation is defined as thetendencythatanindividualwantstohavein- depthknowledgeofasubject,informationprocessingprocess,oracomprehensiveunderstan dingofarelatedfield(Kruglanski,2012;NijstadandDeDreu,2012).Epistemicmotivationisap ropensity to deeply understand an experience (DeBacker, et al., 2008). Whensomeoneconcentratesonsearchingorguessinginformation,theirepistemicmoti vationishigh(KruglanskiandWebster,1996;Kruglanski,etal.,2010).Epistemic motivation is a tendency to be concerned with expressing the feelings ofothers, paying attention to internal emotions and to the gestures of the person theyare communicating with (Wang Ze, et al., 2017) For example, an employee is latefor a meeting, if that employee has high cognitive motivation, they often pay closeattentiontothechairman'sattitude,gestures,andbehaviorinordertohaveaplantohandlet hesituation.Epistemicmotivationisimportanttounderstandwhatpersonalaspectsofcustomerst hatinfluencetheirresponsestowardcompanies’offeringsandtouchpoints(Heninonen,etal.,2010; HeinonenandStrandvik,2015).Earlystudieshaveprovedtheroleofpersonalfactorssuchase xtraversionpersonality,conscientiousness and openness on customer experience(Marbach, et al.,

2016;MannandRawat,2016).Individualaspectrelatedtoindividualcognitiveframewo rk was considered as motivation (Singer and Salovey, 1991; D'Andrade,1992). Together with individual’s motivation, customer epistemic motivation wasalso mentioned when examinning one’s current situation(Cote and Hideg, 2011;WangZ e , e t a l , 2 0 1 7 ) E a r l y s t u d i e s h a v e f o u n d t h e m o d e r a t i n g i n f l u e n c e o f individual’s epistemic motivation on the way they respond toward a specific socialcue(Van Kleef,et al.,2009;WangZe,etal.,2017).

Further,ascustomerexperienceissubjective,previousstudieshaverevealedthe role of personal factors on customer experience (Marbach, et al., 2016; Mannand Rawat, 2016) For example, a study by Mann and Rawat (2016) demonstratesthatextraversionpersonality,conscientiousnessandopennessinfluenceh owcustomers develop their customer experiences In addition, as customer experienceis not produced by the companies but is formed, it is important to understand whatpersonal aspects of customers that influence their responses toward companies’offeringsandtouchpoints(HeinonenandStrandvik,2015;Heninonen,etal.,2010). BuiltuponCustomerDominantLogic,thisstudywillfocusanindividualaspectthatis related to individual cognitive framework, that is motivation (D'Andrade,

1992;SingerandSalovey,1996).Specifically,thisstudywillfocusoncustomerepistemicmotivation,i ndividual’smotivationtodeveloparichandaccurateunderstandingofone’s current situation(Wang

Ze, et al., 2017; Cote and Hideg, 2011) Previousstudies have found the moderating influence of individual’s epistemic motivationon the way they respond toward a specific social cue (Wang Ze, et al., 2017; VanKleef, et al.,

2009) Specifically, individuals with high epistemic motivation aremore likely to use and rely on their cognitive appraisal and discount the affectivereactionsasirrelevant(WangZe,etal.,2017;Greifeneder,etal.,2011).VanKleef, etal.,(2009)foundthatapersonwithhighepistemicmotivationisstronglyinfluenced by inference from their perceptions, while a person with low epistemicmotivationismoreaffectedbytheirfeelings,inotherwords,lowepistemicmotivat ionleadtotheirbehaviorbasedonemotions,whereashighepistemicmotivation individuals have less faith in their emotional state, but instead rely onothersourcestoguidetheirbehavior,whichisprovidedbyexpressionofthepersontheyareint eractingwith.

Ascustomerexperiencecomprisesofmultisensoryresponsessuchasspiritual,se nsorial,physical,rationalandemotionalevaluationsoftheservicetouchpoints(Gentile,etal.,2007;KlausandMaklan,2012;WangZe,etal.,2017),itis assumed that customer epistemic motivation moderate the relationship betweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengagemantbehavior.Inotherwords,individua l’s tendency to use only cognitive assessment will provide incompleteresponse to form customer experience toward service offerings This article willfocus on customers’ personal- characteristic, that is their motivation to process cuesrelated to the services (Wang Ze, et al., 2017; Van

Literaturesuggeststhatpeoplehavedifferentmotivationinprocessinginformationthatinflu encetheirinformationprocessingtypesthatthey use:suchasquickandeffortlessordeliberateandeffortful(KleefDeDreuandManstead,200 4).Individual’s motivation to develop a rich and accurate understanding of one’scurrent situation is often termed as individuals’ epistemic motivation (Wang

Ze, etal., 2017; Cote and Hideg, 2011) When customers’ epistemic motivation is high,customersaremorelikelytoprocessinformationrelatedtotheirexperiencewiththeservicedeli berately,focusondiagnosticinformation,andusesystematicinformation processing (De Dreu and Carnevale, 2003) Consequently, previousstudies found that people who are high in epistemic motivation tend to accentuatethe importance of cognitive appraisals and subsequently discount the influence ofaffectivereactions(VanKleef,etal.,2009;WangZe,etal.,2017).Besides,astudyby Van Kleef and colleagues (2004) reveals that individuals with high epistemicmotivation tend to focus and process task-related information and discount theirrelevantinformation.

As emotion is an essential element for customer-experience, identificationwith the company as well as with employees, the study propose that customerepistemic motivation will negatively moderate the relationship between customerexperience and customer engagement behavior (Rose, et al., 2012; Wolter andCronin,2016).Suchthat,customerexperiencecomprisesofmultisensoryresponses

- such as spiritual, sensorial, physical, rational and emotional evaluations of theservice touchpoints - discounting the affective response on customer experienceevaluationmightattenuatetheeffectofcustomerexperienceoncustomereng agement behavior (Gentile, Spiller and Noci, 2007; Klaus and Maklan,2012;WangZe,etal.,2017).Similarly,customers’identificationwiththecompa niesis alsoaffectedbythepositiveemotionofthecustomerstowardthecompanies,hencethe likelihood for identifying themselves with the company and the employees willreduce when the affective evaluation is discounted (Wolter and Cronin, 2016) Inother words, individual’s tendency to use only cognitive assessment will provideincompleteresponsetoformcustomerexperiencetowardserviceofferings.Acc ordingtoKruglanski,

(2012)andNijstadandDeDreu(2012),epistemicmotivationoccursonlyininformationp rocessing,anditisanimportantantecedence ininformationsharing.Thus,intheco ntextofthisresearch,duringserviceexperience,ifcustomershavehighepistemicmotivati on,theirbehaviorisbasedontheir perception, they care deeply about the touch points in the service experience.Formally,asetofhypotheseswereproposedasfollow:

H4- Customer epistemic motivation will negatively moderate the direct effectsofcustomerexperienceoncustomerengagementbehavior.

H 4a – Customer epistemic motivation will negatively moderate the direct effectsofcustomerexperienceonCustomer-emplyeeidentification.

H 4b– Customerepistemicmotivationwillnegativelymoderatetheindirecteffectsof customer experience on customer-engagement behavior, such that theeffect of customer experience on

Customer- employee identification anddecreaseswhenthecustomerepistemicmotivationincreasesandsubseque ntlydecreasesthecustomerengagementbehavior.

H 4c - Customer epistemic motivation will negatively moderate the indirect effectsofcustomerexperienceonCustomer-firmidentification

H 4d - Customer epistemic motivation will negatively moderate the indirect effectsof customer experience on customer-engagement behavior, such that theeffectofcustomerexperienceonCustomer- firmidentificationanddecreaseswhenthecustomerepistemicmotivationincrease sandsubsequentlydecreasesthecustomerengagementbehavior.

Controlledv a r i a b l e s

AccordingtoMartynShuttleworth(2008),c o n t r o l l e d variablesareusuallyfarmoreimport antthanthedependentorindependentvariables,butsometimesresearchers overlookthem.‘‘Control’’meanstoholdconstant,andavariableiscontrolledwhenitsinfluenceont heothervariablesinthemodelisheldconstant(Klass,McClendon,and Gainey, 2002) The control variables show how well they explain the variationof the dependent variable The control variable can be qualitative or quantitative,butisusuallyqualitative.Commoncontrolledvariablesarevariablesaboutdemo graphic variablessuch as race, education, age, and income (Deshwal, 2016).The research further included three items of controlled variables to capture theimpactofgender, age,education.Toexaminewhetherthese control variablesdetermined the customer engagement behavior, three of hypotheses were proposedasfollow:

Based on literature review are presented in the previous chapter, this chapter willcontinue to present the research framework and research design It focuses onresearchp r o c e s s withtwomethodsofquantitativeresearchandqualitativeresearchand develops themeasurement scale Itd e s c r i b e s t h e w a y h o w t o t e s t t h e h y p o t h e s e s ofresearchmodelandanalyze datacollectedfromthesurvey.

Researchframeworkandhypotheses

The research framework has been built upon the Social identity theory,Customer-Dominant Logic and Need for cognition This research proposes thatcustomer experience will produce identification with the company and serviceemployeesthatleadtocustomerengagementbehavior.Besides,thisresearchprop osesthatthismediatedrelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengagement behavior is moderated by customer epistemic motivation There are 5determinants,ofwhich2determinantsaresecond- orderconstructs(customerexperience and customer engagement behavior), and 5 main points in proposingrelationshipsinthe researchmodel arepresentedindetailasfollows

(5) Indirectrelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcustomerengagemen t behavior through customer-employeeidentification withmoderatingroleofcustomerepistemic motivation

H 1Customer experience will have a positive effect on customer engagement behavior.

H 2Customer experience will increase customer-engagement behavior, mediated bycustomer- employeeidentification.

H 2a Customer experience will have a positive effect on customer- employeeidentification.

H 3Customer experience will increase customer-engagement behavior, mediated bycustomer- firmidentification.

H 3b Customer-firm identification will have a positive effect on customer- engagement behavior.

H 4a Customerepistemicmotivationwilln e g a t i v e l y m o d e r a t e t h e d i r e c t effectsofcustomer experience oncustomer-emplyeeidentification.

H 4b C u s t o m e r e p i s t e m i c m o t i v a t i o n w i l l n e g a t i v e l y m o d e r a t e t h e i n d i r e c teffects of customer experience on customer-engagement behavior, suchthattheeffectofcustomerexperienceonCustomer-emplyee identification and decreases when the customer epistemic motivationincreasesandsubsequentlydecreasesthecustomerengagement behavior.

H 4d C u s t o m e r e p i s t e m i c m o t i v a t i o n w i l l n e g a t i v e l y m o d e r a t e t h e i n d i r e c teffects of customer experience on customer engagement behavior, suchthat the effect of customer experience on customer-firm identificationand decreases when the customer epistemic motivation increases andsubsequentlydecreasesthecustomerengagementbehavior.

Thereare5paths whichexplain8directimpacts intheframework:

(6) Customere x p e r i e n c eCustomer- employeei d e n t i f i c a t i o nCustomerengagement behavior;

Thereare4paths whichexplain4directimpactsmoderated bycustomerepistemicmotivation:

(8) Customerexp er ie nce* Cus to me r e p i s t e m i c m o t i v a t i o nC u s t o m e r - e m p l o y e e identification;

(9) Customer experience*Customer epistemic motivation  Customer- firmidentification;

(10) Customer experience*Customer epistemic motivation  employeeidentificationCustomerengagementbehavior;

(11) Customer experience*Customer epistemic motivation  Customer- firmidentificationCustomerengagementbehavior

Researchdesign

The overall method for formulating research issues, explaining the site chosen fordata collection, ethical criteria when entering the research area, procedure for datacollectionandanalysis,andthepositionoftheresearcherduringthedatacollectionproces s is known as research design (Creswell, 2003) According to Hussey andHussey (1997), the success of the study is solely dependent on the proper selectionofresearchprocedures/stepswithintheresearchdesign.Themainstepsofthisstudyarede pictedin Figure3.2.

The primary purposeofthe study istoexamine the proposedresearchframeworkwhoserelationshipbetweencustomerexperienceandcus tomerengagement behavior is mediated by customer-company identification, customer-employee identification, and customer engagement with the customer epistemicmotivation as conditional variables However, as customer experience is a context- specificconstruct(Olsson,etal.,2012),thevalidityofthemeasuresapplyinginthebeauty service industry in Vietnam were tested the first in Study 1 and then testingthehypothesesbasedontheproposedresearchframeworkinStudy2.

Study 1 Measurement items and conceptual constructs selection, assessment andvalidation

Study 1 was conducted with a combination of two methods, which arequalitativeandquantitativeresearch.Thestudycomprisedanin-deptinterviewwithten professors whose expertise in service marketing and research method to screenthe measures-items and select the items that are relevant within the context of thisresearch(Thakur, 2016; Eastman, Goldsmith and Flynn, 1999) First, an in-depthinterview was conducted to assess the suitability of the proposed research modelbased on theoretical foundations. Next, the interview was based on the initialmeasurement of the constructs that have been back translated by two experts whomasterbothEnglishandV i e t n a m e s e aswella s understandthenatureofthe constructs(Malholtra,Agarwal,andPeterson,1996).Conductanin-depthinterviewwith three purposes: (1) to assess the suitability of the proposed framework; (2) toconsider whether the choice ofconceptual structures and the scales within it isappropriatewiththeresearchcontextofbeautysalonsinVietnam;(3)todiscussthemeaning and readability of every single item in the survey and make adjustmentaccordinglyto fit thelocal context.

Following the interview, two sequential pilot tests was conducted to purifyas well as to test the reliability and validity of the adapted measures (Eastman,Goldsmith and Flynn, 1999) Further, a survey follows on to examine the validityof measures applying within the context of beauty salon in Vietnam. For the firstpilot study aiming to purify the measures, 30 general beauty salon consumers inVietnam were recruited to judge and validate on the 48 items In the second stageofthepilotstudy,530respondentsfromthesamepopulationcompletedthesurvey.The second stage of the pilot study aims to ensure the reliability and validity of allthe measuresemployedwithinthisstudy.

ExploratoryFactor Analysis (EFA) ofcore constructs

Data cleaning andScreening, Reliability&Validity

In- depthinterviewsGro up discussionPilot study (nS0) Test Reliability andValidity

AnalysesTo examine the mediation&moderationimpac t

Study2.Empirical examinationoftheresearchframework and hypothesestesting

A structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses proposed withinthis research The research conducted surveys with 1,230 female consumers ofbeauty salon in Vietnam, respondents filled out the questionnaires The convenientsamplingprocedurewas donebyfacetofaceinterviewsurveymethods.

Step 2:Two pilot studies were conducted in which both the research methods(qualitative and quantitative) used to confirm the research framework and to refinequestionnaire.

Step 3:The survey was conducted for the main study and analyze collected data tomeetresearchobjectives andanswerresearchquestions.

Populationandsampling

Sampling method

Therearetwomostcommonmethodsforcollectingdata:probabilisticsampling and non-probability sampling Due to limited time and resources, thesample will be taken by non-probability techniques, in which quota sampling andconveniencesamplingareoneofthefournon- probabilitysamplingmethods.Quotasampling is a non-probabilistic sampling technique in which the researcher ensuresanequalorproportionalrepresentationofthesubjectsdependingonwhatcharacteri stics are considered to be the basis of the quota (Saunders, Lewis, andThornhill,

2010) In the present context of the study, a combination of these twosampling methodswaschosenfordatacollection.

Vietnam beauty service industry is selected as it is found to be a lucrativemarket attracting more than 50% of Vietnamese female market and is expected togrow in the coming future continuously (VietNamNet Bridge, 2016; Dinh, 2017).More importantly, as beauty salon is a professional service that provides plentiful,intimate, professional and experiential benefits for the customers, the context isappropriate for the dissertation (Wu, et al., 2014; Jeon,

2013) A sampling frameensures that the frame is covering the whole population (Rice, 1997) Ho Chi MinhCity is the largest market in Vietnam of a large number of beauty establishes(VietNamNet Bridge, 2016) In the present study, the sample frame is based onstatistics provided by Ho Chi Minh City Statistical Office (2018) which

Ho ChiMinh city currently has 19 districts (including 15 urban and 4 suburban districts).Toensuretherepresentativenessofthesample,thestudydecidedtocon ductsurveysin 15 urban districts of Ho Chi Minh City where many large beauty salons wereconcentrated.Thetargetsampleisthefemaleconsumerswhohaveexperiencewith beauty services of large beauty salons in the urban districts of Ho Chi Minh city.ThesurveyedbeautysalonsarelistedinAppendixIII.

Samplesizedetermination

Guilford(1954)proposedthatsampleshouldbeatleast200cases(Arrindellandvande rEnde,1985;MacCallum,Widaman,ZhangandHong,1999).Eachfreeparameter to obtain reliable estimates requires a ratio of ten responses (Bentler andChou,1987).FlynnandPearcy(2001)recommendaruleofthumbthatrequirestensubjects per item in scale However, the number of respondents per estimatedparameter increases to 15 if we found the data is violated multivariate normalityassumptions (Bentler and Chou, 1987; Hair, et al., 2008; Hair, et al., 1998) In thisresearch,therearetotal48itemsandeachoftheconstructstobemeasuredwithfourto five items.Therefore, this research requires a sample size from 530 to 795 Inorder to get the result more reliable for this research, the sample size was collectedto round up to 530 respondents for the pilot study and 1,230 respondents for themainstudy.

Instrumentdevelopment

Aftersampledesignandsamplesizeselectionisthedesignofdatacollectioninstrument To achieve research aims and objectives, the selection and design ofsurveyinstrumentswithrelevanceandaccuracyforresearchisoneoftheimportantmethods of the research process (Zikmund, 2003) Sekaran, (2000) and Zikmund, (2003)suggestthesurveyinstrumentshouldbeabletoaddresstheresearchquestion(s) about what need to be calculated (construct validity) and how it need tobe measured (construct reliability) The survey instrument design procedures ofLawley’s, (2000)andSekaran’s(2000)researchesissuitabletoapplytothiscurrentstudy,whichemphasizet hreestages:1)contentdevelopmentofitems,categorisation, scales and coding, 2) word using of items, and 3) general physics ofthe instrument In this study, theories related to customer experience will produceidentificationwiththecompanyandserviceemployeesthatleadtocustomerengagem ent behavior including Customer-Dominant and Logic the social identitytheoryareincorporatedwithintheextendedm o d e l todevelopthesurveyin strument.

Factors Source No.of items

Occupation (Wu,etal.,2014) 7 Nominal Personalinf ormation

Placeof residence (Ravindran,2018) 15 Nominal Geographical information

The place to firstknowbeautysal on(communication)

(Kim,2018) 4 Nominal Researchrel atedinform ation

Thebeautysalon’sse rvice that haveboughtthe most

The time usingservice of the beautysalon

Encouragement (Kim,2018) 5 Nominal Researchrel atedinform ation

Thecontentdevelopmentisbasedontheresearchquestions,whichaimstoex aminetheproposedresearchframework,thatistherelationshipbetweencustomer experienceandcustomerloyaltymediatedbycustomer-firmidentification,customer- employeeidentification,customerengagementwiththecustomerepistemic motivation as the conditional variables The layout and content designedwithin an instrument for the present study can be categorised into three sections. Itisdescribedbrieflyasfollows:

Thequestionnairebeginswithadescriptionofthecoverletterusedtointroduceyour surveyandencouragerespondentparticipation.Coverletterincludesthe purpose and description of the study.There was also a contacting number forcommunicatingparticipantsofthestudy.

Measured on a nominal scale to gather the background information of therespondents.Squareboxesfortickingthatcorrespondstoresponsesaboutdemograp hicquestionswithdetailedinstructionsgiventheuseofthesurveyquestionnaire and gave them the research-focused definitions This part is appliedto compare information among respondent segmentations and control variables,including12items andaredesignedinnominal- typescales.

The questions are developed based on the literature review, displayed underthe forms of affirmative statements, and categorized in 6 groups and consists 48itemswhichareusingafive- pointLikert-typescalerangingfrom“StronglyAgree”to“StronglyDisagree”.

Scales usedinthe researchframework

MeasurementsofCustomerexperience

Afterconductingthequalitativeresearchbyreviewingliteratureofcustomerexperience concept and interviewing ten experts about the scale is relevant tomeasure customer experience with the beauty salon services in Vietnam, it foundthat the scale for this measurement that is originally adapted from a study by Maklanand Klaus (2011) were found to be relevant applying in the context of the beautyindustryinVietnam.Customerexperienceincludesthe4dimension as:

“Peace-of-mindincludesstatementsthatarecloselyrelatedtotheemotional aspects of the service and are based on the serviceprovider'sexpertiseandguidanceprovidedthroughouttheproc ess;Outcomefocusrepresentstheimportanceofgoal-oriented experience, such that the service helps the customersachievetheirgoals;Moments-of- truthunderscorestheimportanceofservicerecoveryandflexibilityi nthefaceofunforeseencomplexity;Productexperiencereferstothei mportance of customers’ perception of having choices and theability to compare offerings even if they were from the sameprovider.”

Construct Description No.of items

Beingalready acustomer;thebeauty salonknows meandtakegoodcare

Construct Description No.of items Scale

The way beauty salon deals with when thingsgowrong.

Wanting to choose between different optionsto makecertaingot best serviceoffer.

Important to receive beauty service offersfromdifferentbeautysalons.

Measurementsof Customerepistemicmotivation

Afterconductingqualitativeresearchbyreviewingliteratureofthecustomerepistemicm otivationconceptandinterviewingtenexpertsaboutthescaleisrelevanttomeasurethecu stomerepistemicmotivationwiththebeauty salonservicesinVietnam,themeasurementwasbuiltbasedonliteraturereviewandth e previousresearchesby(CoteandHideg,2011;WangZe,etal.,2017).Custome rEpistemic Motivationincludes3 measuresshowninTable3.4.

Construct Description No.of items

3 Five- point Liker Paidattentiontothebeautician’semotionaldis t play.

MeasurementsofCustomer-FirmIdentification

After doing qualitative research by reviewing literature and interviewing 10expertsaboutthemediatingvariablesintherelationshipbetweencustomerexperience and customer engagement in the beauty salon services in Vietnam, thescale of customer-firm identification was adapted from Chan et al (2017), thismeasurementincludesfiveitems wereselectedandpresentedintable3.5.

Construct Description No.of items

Stronglyidentifywiththe beautysalon 5 Five- point Likert

Measurementsof Customer-employeeidentification

After doing qualitative research by reviewing literature and interviewing10expertsaboutthemediatingvariablesintherelationshipbetweencustomerexperiencean dcustomerengagementinthebeautysalonservicesinVietnam,the scaleofcustomer- firmidentificationwasalsoadaptedfromChanetal(2017),thismeasurementincludesfiveit emswereselectedandpresentedintable3.6.

Construct Description No.of items

Stronglyidentifywiththe beautician 5 Five- pointLi Havingafeelgoodtobeacustomerofthebeautici kert an

Liket o t e l l t h a t I a m a c u s t o m e r o f t h e beauticianThebeauticianfitswell tomyselfHavingafeelattachedtothebeautician

MeasurementsofCustomer engagementbehavior

Afterreviewingpreviousresearchesanddoingqualitativeresearchbyreviewing literature of customer engagement behaviour concept and interviewing10 experts about the scale is relevant to measurecustomer engagement behaviourwith the beauty salon services in Vietnam Most of the previous studies refer to theconceptofcustomerengagementwhichconsistsof3dimensionswhichareCognitive, Emotional, Behavioral In 2014, Jaakola and Alexander conceptualizedand developed a measure for customer engagement with only behavior which areAugmenting behavior, Co-developing behavior, Influencing behavior, Mobilizingbehavior This study aims to discover the outcomes of customer experience whichis the profit that customers generate for the business, the concept of customerexperience of (Jaakola and Alexander, 2014) should be applied is appropriate.Customerexperiencebehavior includes4dimensions:

“Co-developingbehaviorwhichoccurwhenacustomer'scontributions help a firm's development processes;Influencingbehaviorwhich occur when a customer's contributions affect orchangeothercustomers'perceptionsand/orbehavior;Augmenti ngbehaviorwhichoccurwhenacustomer'scontributionsa u g m e n t a n o e r i n g ;ffering; M o b i l i z i n g b e h a v i o r w h i c h occurwhencustomers'contributionsmobilizeotherstakeholders'behaviorstowardst heorganization.”

Construct Description No.ofi tems Scale

Co- Proactivelycommunicatinga b o u t p o t e n t i a l 5 Five- developing service-related problems point behavior Makingc o n s t r u c t i v e s u g g e s t i o n s a b o u t h o w Likert toimproveitsservices.

Influencing Sayingpositivethings aboutthissalonandits 3 Five- behavior employees toothers point

Augmenting Postingphotographsofmystayat thisbeauty 4 Five- behavior salon onsocial media point

Salon provides opportunities sharing experienceviasocial mediatoother.

Mobilizing Assistingothercustomersofthesalonifthey 6 Five- behavior need my help point

Willing to clarify other customers salon/outsidersmisunderstanding

Datacollection procedure

Anyr e s e a r c h d e s i g n m u s t i n c l u d e a s y s t e m f o r c o l l e c t i n g d a t a( S e k a r a n , 2000).Itistheprocessofselectingtheideasandopinionsofrespond entsfroma targetpopulationonaparticularsubject(Zikmund,2003).Dependingonthenatureof the research issue, a variety of data collection methods and techniques areavailable Interviews may be done in person, over the phone, or with the help of acomputer Self-administered surveys, postal surveys, electronic or internet surveys,and so on are examples of questionnaire methods (Zikmund, 2003; Sekaran, 2000;Fowler, 2002) The sample size required, the type of research question asked, thequalityandnumberofquestionsintheinstrument,andthecostintermsofrespondent accessibility and time are all factors to consider when choosing a datacollectionprocess (Fowler, 2002).

To assess thesuitability of theproposedframewor k,

Tomakeadjustmentof scales to fit thelocalcontext,

Self- Female 530 Toensurethe administrated consumers reliabilityand questionnaire validityofallthe measures.

1,230 To test hypothesesand prove the fit ofresearchmodel.

There are a number of data collection methods and techniques available andwhich one to choose depends on the nature of the research problemsuch as:Collectionmethod of data qualitativeare indepth interview,group discussion;Collection method of data quantitative isthe questionnaire survey with face-to- face,online,phone,mail(WilsonandFox,2013).Methodsofdatacollectionbyquestionn aireincludeSelf-administratedsurvey,mailsurvey, electronicorinternet survey

(Sekaran,2000;Fowler,200;Zikmund,2003).AccordingtoZikmund(2003),Self- administeredquestionnairewereidentifiedasthemainsourceofresearch data collection, and face-to- face surveys thrown in for good measure So,self- administratedquestionnairemethodwaschosentocollectdataforthisresearch.Self- administratedquestionnairemethodischaracterizedbypredefinedclosedstructure or open-ended items to be filled in by respondents (Sekaran, 2000) Theself-administered questionnaire is an data collection instrument that the items arewritten on paper or texted on word-file and attached to mail/e-mail and then theyarefilledoutbytherespondents(Zikmund,2003).

After the literature review, the author captured the nature of concepts asviewed by previous researchers, the study conducted in-depth interviews with tenexperts including six professors of three universities and four employers of fourbeauty salons in Ho Chi Minh City with the aim to assess the suitability of theproposed framework based on the foundational theory and to sellect the conceptsand constructs are suitable for the research context is the beauty salons in Vietnam.Theauthorhadscheduledthetimeandplacetomeetanddiscusswiththem,andthecont ent of the interview was recorded (the list of experts is in Appendix III). Allparticipantsaddressedthebroadquestions:

(1) Inyouropinion,whatis‘customerexperience/customerengagement/customer- firmidentification/customer-employeeidentification/customerepistemic motivation’?

(2) Are the hypotheses in the proposed framework suitable for the researchcontextofbeautyservices in Vietnam?

(1) Inyouropinion,whatis‘customerexperience/customerengagement/customer- firmidentification/customer-employeeidentification/customerepistemic motivation’?

Afterresearchingandchoosingtheconceptualstructuresuitabletotheresearch context through conducting the first in-depth interview, the follow-upinterview is conducted was based on the initial measurement of the constructs thathavebeenback- translatedbytwoexpertswhomasterbothEnglishandVietnameseaswellasunderstandthe natureoftheconstructs(EnglishandVietnamesequestionnaireareinAppendixIandII).N ext,thequestionnairewasfirstdevelopedanditwasprimarilyjudgedandvalidatedbytheexperts whomasterbothmarketingand acadamic research, and four others who are employers of beatuty salons, theircomments and suggestions were recorded in order to correct and redesign thequestionnaire.

Afterexpertvalidity,themodifiedquestionnairewascontinuouslypassedtothreegro upsoftengeneralbeautysalonconsumers(thetotalof30femaleconsumers) in Vietnam were recruited to judge and validate on the 48 items Theauthor pretended to be a customer of 10 beauty salons to have the opportunity tointeract with customers and ask for their help The requirement of judging andvalidating were: reading/reviewing the instructions and questions; answering thequestions and providing your answers; correcting or commenting directly in thenearbyspaceofthisinstrument,notonlythewording,grammar,etc.,butalsowhereeverthere is inappropriate; andprovidinganyrelevant comments(ifyes).

The data collection method are instruments used to gather information frompeoplewhocompleteinstrumentthemselves(BourqueandFielder,2003).“Periodica lly administered questionnaires are another self-reporting technique forcollecting phenomenological data Questionnaires can be used efficiently with alarge number of respondents and can yield both quantitative and qualitative data”(Hartson andPyla, 2012) A self-administered questionnaire is suitable when itspurposeiseasilydescribedinprintandwhentheinstructionsandquestionsto be askedarestraightforward(Williamson,2002).Respondentswereapproachedinthebeauty salons (please see the list of beauy salons in Appendix 3)and invited tocontribute in the study Those who were qualified to participate in the study wereaskedtocomplete the self- administeredquestionnaire.

Table3.9.Theresults ofDatacollection Stages Places Beautysalons Respondents Elimination

After being modified for further one more time, the questionnaires weredelivered to 530 respondents from beauty salons in four central districts of

Ho ChiMinh City (District 1, District 3, Phu Nhuan, Tan Binh) Based on the list of thebeautysalons(Appendix3),theauthorcontactedthemanagersofthebeautysalonsdirectlya ndaskedforhelpwiththedatacollection.Datawascollectedintwoways:

(1) With the help of the beauty salon's staff, (2) the trained fieldworkers (the studentswerestudyingmarketingresearch)cametothebeautysalonstomeetrespo ndents inoneplaceatonetime,givingoralorwritteninstructions,hand-deliveringquestionnaires, letting the respondents fill out the questionnaires; and collectingthem later The period of data collection was from August to November of 2020.The full data collection of repondents from other 11 districts is similarly done tocomplete the survey As much as 1,230 female consumers of the beauty salon inVietnam filled out the questionnaires,including 70 respondents whose issues withtheir responses Thus, only 1,160 responses were used for further analysis Theresultsofdatacollectionforthe twostudystagesarepresented inTable3.9.

Dataanalysisprocess

Thenextstepinresearchdesign(Figure3.1)isdataanalysisandconclusions,which comes after defining the research design and data collection criteria Thereview of this study is divided into two phases for this purpose: primary dataanalysisandstructuralmodelevaluation.Theprimarydataanddescriptivestatisticsare used in the first part of the study This section's findings give you an overallimpression of how people responded to the survey instrument In doing so, SPSSversion 22.0 is used for tasks ranging from experimental research to main research,suchasencoding,correcting,searchingformissingdata,assumptionsaboutnor malization,linearity,multicollinearity,outliers,andfactoranalysis(Tabachnick,Fidell, and Ullman, 2007; Field, 2006) The following table summarizes the testsneededtocompletethetablebelow:

Descriptivestatisticsisamethodusedtosynthesizethemethodsofmeasurement, description, and data presentation applied to the economic field Thestatistics table is the formality, also presents the research problem through whichtheadministratorcanmakecommentsontheresearchproblem.Descriptivestatistic s SPSS is only used for nominal scales (e.g gender, education level ) andordinalscales(e.g.,age,income ).

Cronbach's Alpha coefficients assess the reliability of the scale.Cronbach'sAlphacoefficientsareastatisticaltestusedtoexaminetherigorandcorrelat ionof observed variables According to the study of Nunnally and Bern Stein (1994),variableacceptancecriteria:

Meeting the above two conditions, the analytical variables are consideredacceptedandsuitablefor analysis in thefollowingsteps.

Factor analysis is an analytical technique to shrink and summarize data,beneficialfordefiningsetsofvariablegroupswithsomeparticularstatistics,including

KMO coefficient(Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin): An index used to consider theappropriatenessoffactoranalysis.Thevalueof KMOmustbeinthe rangeof0.5≤KMO≤1,whichisasufficientconditionforappropriatefactoranalysis,whereas ifthe value is less than 0.5, factor analysis is likely not suitable with the data;Bartlett'stest of sphericity: being used to consider a correlation matrix that is a unit matrix,whichisamatrixwithcomponents(correlationcoefficientbetweenvariablesiszeroanddia gonal(correlationcoefficient)byitself)isequalto.IftheBartletttesthasSig

< 0.05, we reject the hypothesis H0(correlation matrix is a unit matrix), which meansthat the observed variables are correlated with each other in the population;Factorloading: An indicator to ensure the practical significance of EFA

>0.3:Reachtheminimum;Factorloading>0.4:Viewingisimportant;Factorloading>0.5: Viewisofpracticalsignificance);TotalVarianceExplained:Thesumshows percentage of the factors extracted from the variables This sum must be atleast 50%, and the Eigenvalue criterion (which represents the portion of variationexplained by each factor) must be at least 1 for the factor drawn to have the bestsummaryofinformation.

The validity of a scale is evaluated by assessing the convergence value andthe discriminant validity of the scales The convergence value is a measure ofpositive correlation with alternatives in the same structure Regarding convergenceevaluation validity in the reflective structures, the team must also consider externalloadfactorsandAVE(Averagevarianceextracted).Ahighexternalloadfactorwill indicaterelevantindicatorsofasimilarnatureandcapturedbythebuilding.Furthermore, a common name for reliability index is the size of the external loadfactors Because the external load factor's importance is still relatively small, ageneralrulethatresearchersshouldnoteisthatthestandardizedexternalloadfactorshould be at least equal to or above 0.708 One standard measurement use to findand establishing convergent validity at the building level is the extracted mean- variance(AVE);AVEisthecommunityequivalentofrelatedstructures.Concerningthel ogicalaspectusedtodefinetheindividualindicator,anAVEvalueof 0.5 or higher indicates that, on average, the structure explains more than 50% ofthe variance of the indicators In contrast, an AVE less than 0.5 indicates that, onaverage, the variance of the items is still more than the variance explained by thestructure.

Discrimination is a measure of the use of empirical standards to distinguishit from other constructs Hence, the differential validation setting shows that astructure is unique and is not repeated by other constructs in the model. Specifically,thestudyusedtheHeterotrait-

Monotrait(HTMT)criteriontoevaluatethevalidityof the discriminant value in PLS-SEM Henseler et al.

(2015) propose to evaluatethe rate of EAs of the correlations The HTMT illustrates the ratio between thecorrelations between features and the correlations within a feature. Besides, anHTMT with a value higher than 0.90 shows a lack of discriminatory effectiveness.The value of the HTMT with a threshold lower than 0.85 will meet the differentialvalidityofthestructures.

In recent years, there has been much discussion on whether to utilise PLS- SEM or CB-SEM (Astrachan, Patel and Wanzenried, 2014; Henseler, et al., 2014;Sarstedt, Ringle, Smith, et al., 2014) Several previous research compared the twoapproaches without taking into account the fact that they are based on fundamentallydistinct measurement philosophies (e.g., Goodhue, Lewis and Thompson, 2012;Rửnkkử and Evermann, 2013) CB-SEM, in particular, employs a common factormodel, which assumes that observed scores from indicators are functions of theconstructitselfaswellasmeasurementerror.Theapproachsimplyemploys commonvariancetoestimatemodelparameterssuchasindicatorloadingsandroutecoefficients(i.e.,v ariancesharedbytheindicatorsofeachconstruct).PLS-SEM,onthe other hand, adheres to a composite model logic that employs total variance andexpressesconstructs as linearcombinationsoftheir indicators(Sarstedt,Hair,Ringle, Thiele and Gudergan, 2016) Researchers have long acknowledged thedistinctionsbetweentheseparadigms,butitisonlylatelythatdebateshaveswitchedto comprehending the ramifications of method selection (Hwang, et al., 2020).Because of these conceptual differences, utilising composite-based PLS- SEM toevaluate common component models yields skewed results Similarly, calculatingcomposite models using CB-SEM yields biassed results In fact, Sarstedt et al.(2016) demonstrate that when applied to the improper sort of model, the biasescausedbyCB-SEMaresignificantlymoreseverethanthoseproducedbyPLS- SEM(i.e., estimating composite models with CB-SEM vs estimating common factormodelswithPLS-SEM).

SEMissuitableforassessingoneormoreformative,andreflectiveconstructsincludedintheroute model.Moreover,mediationmodelsmightbeofthebasicormultiple- itemscalekind.PLS-SEMshavean advantage over regression techniques in terms of statistical significance as wellas factorial construct validity In contrast to regression analysis, PLS-SEM canreadilymanagemulti- collinearityconcerns(specifically,whendealingwithmultiple variables with the possibility that any of the independent variables couldbecorrelatedamong themselves)(Ramli,LatanandNartea,2018)

Thehighcorrelationbetweentheobservedcausalvariablesiscalledcollinearity. The high degree of collinearity between the observed variables isimportantbecauseitaffectsweightestimationandstatisticalsignificance.Ameasurem ent involving collinearity is the variance magnification factor (VIF) Avery high degree of collinearity is indicated by a VIF value of 5 or higher (Hair, etal.,

2016) In the context of PLS-SEM, a tolerance value higher than 0.2 or a VIFlessthan5indicatesno multicollinearitybetweenthetwo studied variables.”

After using the PLS-SEM algorithm method, hypothesized relationshipsbetweens t r u c t u r e s a r e t e s t e d f r o m s t r u c t u r a l m o d e l r e l a t i o n s h i p s , i e , t h e p a t h coefficients The normalized values of the path coefficients range from -1 to +1. Inparticular, path coefficients close to +1 denote a robust positive relationship (andthesamecasefornegativevalues).Furthermore,thecloserthepathcoefficientsareto 0, the weaker the relationships Whether a factor is significant or not ultimatelydependsonitsstandarderrorcheckedbystartingmethods.Usingbootstrapstandarderrorhe lpstocomputep-valuesforallstructuralpathcoefficients.Inmostresearchers, the p- value is used to evaluate the significance level Furthermore, thep-value is defined as the probability of falsely rejecting a true null hypothesis Whenassuming a 5% significance level, the p-value must be less than 0.05 to concludethattherelationshipunderconsiderationissignificantatthe5%level.Correspo ndingly,Hair,etal.,

(2017)indicatedthatasresearchersweremorerigorousintestingtheirrelationships,theyset thesignificancelevelat1%.Therefore,thecorrespondingp- valuemustbelessthan0.01inordertoconcludetherelationshipis significant.

The coefficient of determination (R² value) is a standard measurement forevaluatingstructuralmodels.Itdenotesthemodel'spredictivepowerandiscalculated as the squared correlation between an absolute value and a particularendogenous structure Rigdon (2012) and Sarstedt, et al., (2014) propose that itillustrates the measurement of the predicted power in the sample The R² valueranges from 0 to 1; in particular, a higher level results in a higher degree ofpredictiveaccuracy.

In addition to evaluating the R² values of all endogenous structures, thevariation of the R² value when an exogenous structure is specified is omitted fromthe model used to evaluate whether the structure is ignoring has a significant effecton endogenous structures or not This measurement is defined as the impact factorƒ² and is calculated as the equation below Cohen (2013) gave guidance to evaluateƒ² as values at 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 for the corresponding small, medium, andsignificant effects of the exogenous latent potential variable. Therefore, an effectsizevaluelowerthan0.02indicatesnoeffect.

Besides evaluating the strength of the R² values as a criterion of predictiveaccuracy,researchers should alsoevaluatethe Stone-

(Geisser, 1974; Stone, 1974) This measurement is an indicator of the model's out- of-sample predictive strength or predictive relevance In the structural model, Hairetal.,

(2017)reportedthatQ²valuesgreaterthan0foraspecificreflectiveendogenous latent variable show the relevant prediction model of the path model.for a specific dependency structure Table 3.12 briefly describes the statisticalanalysis methods usedtoprocessandanalyzethedataofthisstudy.

Pilottest Requiredanalysis Purpose Analyticaltechnique Tool Reference Requiredvalue

To label each variable andassign a number to eachresponse

Item-to-totalcorrelation SPSS22.0 (Churchill,1

Toconfirmtheconvergenceofthe scales in the conceptualstructure in the proposedresearch model and the datasupportoftheresearch

Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin(KMO) SPSS22.0 (Kaiser,1974) >0.60

Requiredanalysis Purpose Analyticaltechnique Tool Reference Requiredvalu e Demographics Toexploit background characteristics of surveysubjects

Mean, standard deviation,frequency,cross- tabulations

Item-to-totalcorrelation SPSS22.0 (Churchill,1979) >0.3

Factoranalysis To confirm the convergence ofthescalesintheconceptualstru ctureintheproposedresearchmo delandthedatasupportoftheresea rch

Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) SPSS 22.0 (Kaiser, 1974) > 0.60 Bartlett’s testof sphericity SPSS 22.0 (Bartlett, 1954) > 0.3

To analyze structuralrelationshipsbetween measuredvariablesandlatentconstru cts

TheresultsofPilotstudy

TheresultsofQualitativepilotstudy

Study1(Pilotstudy)comprisesaninterviewwithtenprofessorswhoseexpertiseinservi cemarketingandresearchmethodtoscreenthemeasures-itemsandselect the items that are relevant within the context of this research (Thakur, 2016;Eastman, et al., 1999) An in depth-interview with six professors whose expertise intheservicemarketingandbusinessresearchmethodand4employerswhoaremanagersand businessmenofbeautysalonswasconducted.Theinterviewwasbasedon the initial measurement of the constructs that have been back-translated by twoexpertswhomasterbothEnglishandVietnameseaswellasunderstandthenatureofthecon structs(Malholtra,etal.,1996).Thepurposeoftheinterviewistodiscussthemeaning and readability of every single item in the survey and make adjustmentaccordinglytofitthelocalcontext.Followingtheinterview,twosequentialpilottestswere conducted to purify as well as to test the reliability and validity of the adaptedmeasures (Eastman, et al., 1999) The experts’ suggestions and comments for itemsandquestionnaire are summarizedinTable3.14.

2 Should write “gói dịch vụ” instead of

3 Should add ”the make an appointment inadvancewalk– inwithoutanappointment’in9 th scaleof demographicsection

6.Should write“Whitecollarjobs”insteadof“officer

” and “Blue collar jobs” instead of“worker” in 4 th scale of demographicsection

9.R e - w r i t e theinstructionstomatchtheresearch purpose in part 3 of thequestionnaire, focus on customerexperience.

10.Shouldt r a n s l a t e “ i n t e r e s t e d i n , a t t e n t i o n t o , close attention to” in Vietnamese “quantâm, rất quan tâm, cực kỳ quan tâm” in themeasure of Customer epistemic motivation(clearlydistinguish3levelsofthisscal e).

11.Shouldwrite “góid ị c h vụ ” inste a d o f“ g ó i ưuđãi/thẻ thànhviên”

12.Shouldadd”them a k e a n appointmentin advancewalk– inwithoutanappointment’in9 th scaleof demographicsection

Furthermore,asurveyfollowsontoexaminethevalidityofmeasuresapplyingwithin the context of the beauty salon in Vietnam For the first pilot study aiming topurifythemeasures,30generalbeautysalonconsumersinVietnamwererecruitedtojudge and validate on the 48 items In the second stage of the pilot study, 530respondentsfromthesamepopulationcompletedthesurvey.Thesecondstageofthepilot study aims to ensure the reliability and validity of all the measures employedwithinthisstudy.

Theresultoftheinterviewandthefirstpilotstudyfoundthatthescaleforthecustomer experience that is originally adapted from a study by Maklan and Klaus(2011) were found to be relevant applying in the context of the beauty industry inVietnam The measure of customer experience includes four dimensions, such aspeace-of-mind (6 items), outcome focus (4 items), moments-of-truth (5 items) andproduct experience (4 items).Correspondingly, the examples of the items are: “I amconfidentinthebeauticians’expertise;theyknowwhattheyaredoing”;“Thereare other beauty salons, but I would rather stay with mine; it makes the process mucheasier”; “It was important that the company was flexible in dealing with me andlooking out for my needs”; “I want to choose between different options to makecertain I get the best service offer” For the mediating variables, five items wereselectedtomeasurecustomer-companyandcustomer- employeeidentification,subsequently,adaptedfromChan,etal.,

(2017).Theexampleforcustomer-employeeidentification measure is: “I strongly identify with this beautician”; whereas forcustomer-company identification measure is: “I strongly identify with this beautysalon” Furthermore, the customer engagement measure is adapted from Roy, et al.,(2018) consisted of four dimensions: co-developing behavior (3 items), influencingbehavior (3items),augmenting behavior (4 items), andmobilizing behavior

(6items),with16itemssuchas:“Iproactivelycommunicatewiththebeautysalonaboutpotential service- related problems”, “I said positive things about this beauty salonand its employees to others”, “I post photographs of my stay at this beauty salon onsocialmedia”,and“Iassistothercustomersofthebeautysaloniftheyneedmyhelp”.For the moderating variable which is customer epistemic motivation, the measure isadapted from Wang Ze, et al., (2017) consists of three items: “I was interested in thebeautician’s emotional expressions”, “I paid attention to the beautician’s emotionaldisplay”, “I paid close attention to the gestures of the beautician when talking tothem” All the measures within this present research are assessed in a five-point Likertscale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) In sum,the interviewand the first stage of the pilot study show that all 48 items measuring the constructsinvolved within this research are considered to be relevant within the context ofVietnam beauty salon and are understandable by the respondents, the 5 conceptualconstructs,inwhichhas8dimensionsofcustomerexperienceandcustomeren gagement behaviour,and48itemsarepresentedspecificinTable 3.15.

Construct Description Code Dimensions Items

Peace-of-mind Ia m con fi den t i n t h e b e a u t i c i a n s ’ expertise;t h e y knoww h a t th e y a redoing.

Itisnotjustaboutthenow;thisbeautysalonis lookingafterme EX.PM3

Ichoosethe beautysalonbecauseitgives me independent advices EX.PM6

Outcomefocus Thereareotherbeautysalons,butIwouldratherstaywithmine;it makestheprocessmucheasier.

Itw as i m p o r t a n t t h a t t h e b e a u t i c i a n h a d e x p e r i e n c e d r e c e i v i n g t h e beautyservicetoo;he/sheknewwhatIwasgoingthrough.

Momentsof Truth Itwasimportantthatthebeautysalonwasflexibleindealingwithmeandlooking out formyneeds.

Construct Description Code Dimensions Items

Iti s i m p o r t a n t t h a t t h e b e a u t y s a l o n I a m d e a l i n g w i t h a r e g o o d people;theylisten, arepoliteand makemefeelcomfortable.

Theway theb e a u t y salond e a ls ( t ) wi th m e w h e n t h i n g s g o( w e n t ) wrongwilldecideifIstaywiththem.

Unless I can compare different options, I will not know which one isthebestforme.

Iwasinterestedinthe beautician’semotional expressions EM20 3

Ipaidattentiontothebeautician’semotionaldisplay EM21 Ipaidcloseattentiontothegesturesofthebeauticianwhentalkingtothem EM22

Construct Description Code Dimensions Items

(Chan,etal.,2017) Iliketotell thatIama customerofthisbeautician EI25

Iliketotell thatIama customer ofthisbeautysalon FI30

CustomerEngagementBehavior(Roy,et al., 2018) EG 4

Influencingbehavior Isa id pos it iv e t h i n g s a b o u t t h i s b e a u t y salon an di t s e m p l o y e e s t o others.

Irecommendthisbeautysalonanditsemployeestoothers EG.IN37 Iencouragefriendsandrelativestousethisbeautysaloninfuture EG.AU38

Augmentingbehavior Ipostphotographsofmystayat thisbeautysalononsocialmedia EG.AU39 4

Construct Description Code Dimensions Items

EG.AU41 Iengageinforwardingthepromotionso eredffered bythisbeautysalontoothers EG.AU42

Mobilizingbehavior Iassistothercustomers ofthebeautysalonif theyneed myhelp EG.MB43 6

Iteachothercustomers ofthebeautysalon touseservicescorrectly EG.MB45 Ihelpothercustomersofbeautysaloniftheyseemtohaveproblems EG.MB46 Iamwillingtostandto protectthereputation ofthebeautysalon EG.MB47

TheresultsofQuantitative pilotstudy

Subsequently, reliability and validity analysis was conducted with the data of530 respondents from the general beauty salon female consumers in Vietnam usingSPSS 22.0 software For examining the reliability of the measures, analysis andassessment on the Cronbach’s alpha value were conducted for each dimension andeach measure A value of Cronbach’s alpha which is greater than 0.7 was generallyconsideredas“acceptable”inmostsocialscienceapplicationalthoughlowerco efficients(i.e.greaterthan0.60)maybeacceptable,dependingonresearchobjectives needed (Hair, et al., 2008) Further, the value for Alpha if Item Deleted isalso checked to examine the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient if the individual item isremovedfromthe scale(GliemandGliem,2003).

The results of the reliability analysis show that the Alpha coefficients of theprincipal components were over 0.7 exceptPeace of Mind variable, which is 0.641.the scale’s Cronbach’s alpha Peace of Mind of would be 0.773 if item 2 were removedfor the scale (EX.PM3, EX.PM4), removing items EX.PM3 and EX.PM4 resulted inan increase in Cronbach’s alpha from 0.641 to 0.773 The total of present scales hasonly46 items from the original 48 items, and the reliability analysis is presented inTable3.16.

Cronbach’sa lpha if ItemDeleted

CUSTOMEREXPERIENCE(Peaceof Mind): Cronbach’sAlpha=.641

Cronbach’sa lpha if ItemDeleted

CUSTOMEREXPERIENCE:(Moments of-truth)Cronbach’sAlpha=.844

Cronbach’sa lpha if ItemDeleted

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT BEHAVIOR (Co-developing behavior):Cronbach’sAlpha=.800

CUSTOMERENGAGEMENTBEHAVIOR(Augmentingbehavior):Cron bach’sAlpha=.826

(Source: Author’s calculation)Table3.17showstheindicatorsintheEFAanalysismeetingthecondit ions:elevenfactorscanexplain68.672%ofthe varianceextractedisgreatert han50%;Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin(KMO)valueof.775isgreaterthan0.5andlessthan1;Bartlett'sSigvalueof.001is5

%smallerthanthealpha'ssignificancelevel;theFactorloadings wereselectedinthetablerangingfromover.4tonearly.9(i.e.,moderatecorrelationcoefficientsofe achitemwiththefactor),indicatethatallvariableswereconstructivelyvalidwith associateditems.

MT MB EI FI PE AU PM OF IN EM CO

MT MB EI FI PE AU PM OF IN EM CO

Total Variance Explained 68.672%Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin

Chapter4showsthedataanalysisperformanceandresultsincludingthedescriptive an alysis, path analysis,testing reliablity, convergent and discriminant validity ofmeasurementscale, testing hypotheses byapplyingPLS-SEM.

Descriptiveanalysisof Sample

The sample size is 1,230 The survey respondents are female consumers of thebeauty salon in Vietnam However, there were 70 respondents meeting issues withtheirresponses.Thus,only1,160responseswereusedforfurtheranalysis.Dominantly, the respondents’ age was 35-44 years old (23.9%); holding a bachelor’sdegree (37.3%); work as a freelancer (28.3%) with a monthly salary between 5 to 10million VND (approx 214.47 - 428 USD) (30.7%) The majority visit beauty salonstwice per month (50.2%) and are loyal customers of a specific beauty salon (34.3%).ThedetaileddemographiccharacteristicsoftheserespondentsareshowninTable4.1.

The place to firstknowbeautysal on

Thebeautysalon’sse rvicethathas boughtthe most

Appointment makeanappointmentin advance 801 69.1 walk– inwithoutanappointment 359 30.9

The interesting timeinadaytocome morninghours 165 14.2 noonhours 404 34.8 afternoonhours 363 31.3 eveninghours 228 19.7

Beforethefocalanalysis,anANOVAanalysisforthedemographicandconsumptio n characteristics of the respondents was performed The results show thattherearemeaningfuldifferencesincustomerexperienceacrossthevisitfrequency,theperson who encourages the customers to visit the beauty salon, the time of visit, age,andeducation.Forinstance,consumerswhovisitthebeautysalonintheafternoo ntendto perceive a higher service experience than consumers who visit in the morning ornighttime (F(1160,3) = 3.217, p 0.022) Subsequently, the results also revealdifferences in customer-engagement behavior across the frequency of visits to thebeauty salon, the period visiting the beauty salon, the types of services, the source ofinformation about the beauty salon, age, and education.Consumers who use curlingeyelashservicearemorelikelytoperformengagement-behaviorratherthanconsumerswho use other types of services (F(1160,3) = 14.149, p = 0.000) The ANOVA analysisresultsare presentedinTable 4.2.

Factor Level Mean F p-value Timetovisit Highest:

ValidationofMeasures:ReliabilityandValidity

Reflective-reflectivesecond-orderconstruct

ValuesofCronbach’sAlphaareapproachedtoassessthereliabilityofmeasuremen t scale.The valueof0.7 or higher is preferred.Toan exploratoryresearch,0.4orhigherisacceptable(Hulland,1999);compositereliabilityshoul dbe

0.7 or higher However, the value equal to 0.6 or higher is also acceptable andconvergentvalidityshouldbe0.5orhigher(BagozziandYi,1988).“Squareroot”ofAverage VarianceExtracted(AVE)ofeachlatentvariableshouldbegreaterthanthecorrelations among them (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) The analysis results presentedthat no variables were excluded as low loadings, almost indicators of the constructshavehighloadings,abovethecriticalvalueof0.7.

Ameasurementofcustomerengagementbehaviorincludes4latentconstructs(EG.CO,EG.IN,EG.AG,EG.MB).It’snecessarytoestimatetherelationshipbetween the latent variables and the observed variables through outer loadings withthis model Table4.3 shows that all outer loadings of the concepts EG.CO, EG.IN,EG.AG, andEG.MB are higher than the allowable value of 0.708 The observedvariableEG.MB45hasthelowestreliabilityof0.6=0.7752(outerloadingis0.775),while the variable EG.AG42 has the highest reliability of 0.837 = 0.9152 (outerloading is 0.915) Therefore, all observed variables for the four reflective constructsof customer engagement behavior are greater than the minimum allowable value fortheouter loading.

Dimensions Items EG.AG EG.CO EG.IN EG.MB

Co-developing behavior EG.CO34 0.849

(Source: Author’s calculation)InternalConsistencyReliabilityoflatentvariableswasevaluatedthroughther eliabilityc o e f f i c i e n t s o f C r o n b a c h ' s A l p h a T h e s t u d y a l s o e v a l u a t e d c o n v e r g e n t validityt h r o u g h t h e c o m p o s i t e r e l i a b i l i t y a n d A V E T a b l e 4 4 s h o w s a l l C A , C R values are greater than0.7.Cronbach’s Alphavalue ofAugmenting behavior is

0.913,Co-developingbehavior( C A =0.901),Influencingbehavior(CA= 0.91), andMobilizingbehavior(CA=0.903).Besides,thecompositereliabilityoffirst- ordercontructsarelargerthan0.7;i.e.,CRofAugmentingbehavioris0.873,Co- developingbehavior(CR=0.836),Influencingbehavior(CA=0.851),vàMobilizingbehavior(CA=0.8

Composite reliabilities Cronbach’salph as AVE

(Source: Author’s calculation)Table4.4pointsoutAVEofAugmenting behavioris0.726;Co- developingbehavior(AVE=0.753),Influencingbehavior(CA=0.77),vàMobilizingb ehavior(CA=0 651) Therefore, weconcludethat t he latentvariablesare b o t h internally consistentandaggregated.Alongwiththat,thevariancevaluesextractedAVEofth eresearchvariables a reg rea te r than0 5(E G CO =0.753, EG I N = 0.77,EG.AG

Finally,thestudyexaminesthediscriminantvaliditybetweenthelatentconstructs. Table 4.5 shows the HTMT values for all pairs of research variables in amatrix, and these values are much smaller than threshold 0.85 In addition, the lowand high threshold ofthe 95% confidence intervals (correction and cumulativedifference)ofallgroupsofvariablesaredifferentfrom1(Table4.6).Itdemonstrate sthatthemeasurementcontractsofcustomerengagementbehaviorhavediscriminatoryval ue.

EG.AG EG.CO EG.IN EG.MB

Figure 4.1 Validity testing result of Customer engagement behavior

Thus,themeasurementofcustomerengagementbehaviorincludesfourlatentvariables( Co- developingbehavior,Influencingbehavior,Augmentingbehavior,Mobilizingbehavior).Al lgroupsofvariableshavereliable,convergent,anddiscriminantvalidity.

(Source: Author’s calculation)Figure 4.1 shows the four reflectively measured dimenssions have a significant andmeaningfulpathcoefficientwithCustomerengagementbehavior(wheremeaningfulisβ

>0.20,Meehl,1990).TheynamedCo- developingbehavior,Influencingbehavior,AugmentingbehaviorandMobilizingbehavior,β

=0.443,0.608,0.547and0.743, respectively; all are with significant t-values(p < 0.01).This result illustrateall the weight of reflective indicators “customer engagement behavior” that supporttokeepallindicatorsintheempiricalresearch(Hair,etal.,2017).

Reflective-formativesecond-orderconstruct

The analytical methodologies used in earlier research were utilised in thiswork to analyse the reflective-formative second-order construct of the Customerexperience scale (D'Arcy, et al., 2009; Loch, et al., 2003), which is a reflective-formative second-order construct For any latent variables related to uncorrelatedmeasures, according to Wong (2013), outer loadings, correlation coefficients, andadversity velocities (CR and AVE) will become meaningless; therefore, consistencyreliability, internal indicators' reliability, and discriminant validity will not be usefulin evaluating formative constructs Moreover, according to Hair, et al., (2011), justtwo key criteria are required to analyse the formative measurement model, whichincludetheimportanceandrelevanceofindicatorweights,aswellasthepresenceofcolli nearity.Therearethreestepstoassesstheevaluationofaformativemeasurementmodel (Ramayah, 2018; Hair, 2017) The first is to examine the convergent validity,followed by an assessment of the collinearity issues, and finally an analysis of thesignificanceandrelevanceofformativeitems.

Table4.7 Convergent testingresultsof‘ C u s t o m e r experience’ scale

Furthermore, the VIF values of EX.PM (1.615), EX.OF (1.657), EX.MT(1.835), and EX.PE (1.651) are all significantly lower than the threshold of

5 Thesefindings support the hypothesis that the reflective-formative second-order constructofcustomerexperienceiscollinearwiththereflective-formativefirst- orderconstruct(Hair,et al.,2017).

The Figure 4.2 shows the four formatively measured dimenssions have a significantand meaningfulpathcoefficientwithCustomerexperience(wheremeaningfulisβ>

Outcome focus Moments of Truth Product exprience

0.20)(Meehl,1990).TheynamedPeace-of-mind,Outcomefocus,MomentsofTruthand Product exprience, β = 0.412, 0.203, 0 672 and 0.400, respectively; all are withsignificant t-values(p < 0.01).This result illustrate all the weight of formativeindicators “customer experience” that support to keep all indicators in the empiricalresearch(Hair,et al.,2017).

Reliabilityand ValidityofMeasurementmodel

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become apopular tool for analyzing such relationships and in studies ofcustomer behavior inservice.PLS-SEMcandealwithcomplexmodelstructures(e.g.,reflective–reflective vs reflective – formative second-order construct) Furthermore, PLS-SEMrequires a relatively smaller sample size and does not demand normally distributeddata (do Valle and Assaker, 2016; Gye-Soo, 2016; Ali, et al., 2018; Ha, et al., 2019;Chu, Lee and Chao, 2012; Avkiran, 2018; Hair, et al., 2019) SmartPLS 3.2.8 wasusedto estimate boththemeasurementandstructuralresearchmodel.

In this study, customer experience and customer engagement behavior areconsideredasecond-orderconstruct;thus,Hair,etal.,(2014)suggestthatthereliability and validity test be conducted at the second-order level The first stageexamined the convergent and discriminant validity of all the multiple-item scales'constructsandreliability.Theconvergentvalidityscoresareindicatedbytheaveragevarianc ee x t r a c t e d ( A V E ) v a l u e t h a t s h o w s t h e l o a d i n g o f a m e a s u r e m e n t t o a construct(Hair,etal.,2014).Table4.8showsthatallthemeasuressignificantlyloadtotheconst ructswiththeAVEvaluesabove0.5(AnliandArora,2017;BagozziandYi, 1988).Specifically, all AVE value of four constructs belongs to CustomerEngagement concept range from 0.65 to 0.769; all AVE value of four constructsbelongstoCustomerExperienceconceptrangefrom0.57to0.617.

Constructs Composite reliabilities Cronbach’s alphas AVE

Eachlatentvariable'ssquarerootofitsabsolutevalue(AVE)isanalysedinorder to determine its discriminant validity (Anli and Arora, 2017) According to Fornelland Larcker (1981), the square root of the AVE must be larger than the correlationsamong the latent variables in order to be valid When the square root of AVE iscalculated in this research, the result is between 0.705% to 0.819%, which is largerthan the correlation between latent variables, as shown in Table 4.8 When it comestomeasuringitems,thecompositeconstructreliabilitycoefficientsprovideanindic ationoftheirreliability(Hair,etal.,2014).Table4.9alsocontainsthevaluesof composite construct reliability coefficients, which shows that the values are higherthanthesuggestedvaluesforreliableconstructionswithreliabilitycoefficientsgreate r than 0.7 (Anli and Arora, 2017; Bagozzi and Yi, 1988) In summary, thefindingsdemonstratethatthescaleswithinthestructuralmodelarevalidandreliable,andthatthis is confirmed bythe data.

Valuesonthediagonal (bolded)aresquarerootof theAVE,whilethe off-diagonalsarecorrelations.

AssessmentofCommon methodbias

Toassessthecommonmethodbias,weusedtwomethods.First,weusedamarker technique by selecting a theoretically unrelated construct with the otherconstructs in the measurement model (Lindell and Whitney, 2001) Thus, weselected creativity as a marker variable as it has the lowest correlation with thedependent variable amongst all other constructs, that is 0.066 (p =0.264) (Ngo, etal., 2016) Furthermore, the correlation scores amongst other constructs in themeasurementmodelwiththemarkerconstructarelessthan0.3.Thesquaredvalueof the correlations represents the common variance, which ranges between 0.006to0.036,indicatinglowsharedvarianceamongsttheconstructs(Lowry&Gaskin,2014).Se cond,weexaminetheVarianceInflationFactor(VIF)foreachconstruct,such that when the scores are below 3.3, the model is considered free from anystandard method bias (Kock, 2015) In the present research, the VIF scores liebetween 1.021 to 1.063, below 3.3, and hence there is no common method bias.The two methods suggest that the effect of standard method variance on thecorrelations among the key constructs is slight,supporting the claim that thestandardmethodbiasisminimal.

TestinghypothesesbyPLS-SEMapplication

Mediationanalysis

Subsequently,weanalyzethemediationhypotheses(H1,H2andH3)usingPLS- SEMbootstrappingprocedure.PLS-

SEManalysisisselectedasthisanalysisisconsideredamorerobustanalysisforthetheoret icaldevelopmentstage,particularly in social research where data normality is not assumed(Hair, et al.,2017) Furthermore, PLS-SEM ismore appropriate for hypotheses testing orprediction, which is the goal of this study In contrast, covariance-based SEM is amore appropriate method for assessing the model structure (Hair, et al., 2014).Theresearch tested the mediating role of customer-firm identification and customer-employee identification in the relationship between the customer experience andcustomer engagement behavior in four criteria which were proposed by Andrewsetal. (2004):

 Criterion (1): customer experience has a significant impact on customer- firmidentificationandcustomer-employeeidentification.

 Criterion(2):customer-firmidentificationandcustomer- employeeidentificationhaveasignificantimpactoncustomerengagementbeha vior.

 Criterion (3): customer experience has a significant impact on customerengagementbehavior.

 Criterion(4):customerexperiencehasnosignificantimpactonthecustomer engagementbehavior in the mediating role of customer- firmidentificationandcustomer-employeeidentification.

Accoding to Table 4.11, customer experience has a significant impact oncustomer-firm identification (beta = 0.110, p-value = 0.004 < 0,05) và customerexperience has a significant impact on customer-employee identification (beta =0.145,p- value=0.000