Understanding how mindfulness sustains customer cocreation effort and transforms service value to well-being

Abstract

Purpose Mindfulness, while being suggested as an important psychological cognitive capability of customers, has received insufficient attention in studies of transformative services characterized by challenging cocreation behaviors. It is unclear about the contributions of mindfulness to customers’ cocreation and transformative outcomes. This study aims to investigate the direct, indirect, mediating and moderating relationships to explain how mindfulness sustains cocreation effort, increases perceived service value and ultimately enhances the diffusion from the service value to customer well-being. Design/methodology/approach A structural model was developed and tested using the CB-SEM method. Data were surveyed from two transformative service industries, yoga training and higher education (N = 283 and 273 cases, respectively). Findings Customer mindfulness has a positive relationship with cocreation effort, which in turn positively associates with perceived value. Additionally, mindfulness has a direct relationship with perceived value, which then is the full mediator in the relationships between mindfulness, cocreation effort and life satisfaction. Mindfulness also moderates the transformation from service value (immediate outcome) to life satisfaction (long-term outcome). Practical implications Transformative service providers and policymakers should acknowledge and develop strategies to cultivate customers’ mindfulness, which subsequently fosters their value cocreation effort and enhances their well-being. Originality/value This research puts forward the concept of mindfulness, a trainable cognitive capability of customers, and shows its importance in transformative service cocreation. This paper provides a full structural mechanism explaining how mindfulness helps cocreate a transformative service and diffuse its immediate value to customer life satisfaction.