Fostering collaborative research for customer experience - Connecting academic and practitioner worlds

Area of Science:

• Business and Management
• Information Systems
• Marketing

Background:

• Highlights the need for academic-practitioner workshops to bridge the gap between theory and practice in customer experience (CE).
• Details the 2nd Academic-Practitioner Research with Impact Workshop focused on CE design and decision-making, co-hosted by Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, and Loughborough University's Centre for Service Management (CSM).

Discussion:

• Examines critical success factors and considerations for organizing future academic-practitioner collaborative events.
• Discusses the outcomes of the workshop, including the generation of eight research papers (six theoretical, two empirical).

Key Insights:

• The workshop advanced understanding of CE by exploring the integration of technology (AI, big data) in CE research.
• Research addressed atypical CE scenarios, including vulnerability, deviant behaviors, and service failure/recovery.
• Focused on organizational and B2B aspects, such as business model innovation and CE Management (CEM) in business markets.

Outlook:

• Encourages continued collaboration between academics and practitioners to enhance research relevance and practical application in CE.
• Suggests future research directions informed by the workshop's outcomes, particularly in technology-driven CE and B2B contexts.