顾客知识创造能力对服务创新的影响——基于团队深层特征的实证研究

The Effect of Customer Knowledge Creation Capability on Service Innovation:An Empirical Study Based on the Deep Characteristic of Team

在信息技术快速发展的今天,知识已经成为企业重要的战略性资源。为了保持竞争优势,企业需要对知识,尤其是顾客知识进行良好的管理。本文关注团队的顾客知识创造能力,构建其前因和结果变量模型。通过对旅游服务提供商销售团队成员发放问卷576份,共获得182个团队的数据。数据分析的结果表明,团队的顾客导向和认知多样性对其顾客知识创造能力有积极的正向影响,而顾客知识创造能力能有效促进服务创新。本文丰富了顾客知识管理的理论研究,探讨了团队顾客知识创造能力对服务创新的驱动作用,为企业服务创新提供了实践启示。

With the rapid development of information technology, practice community has discovered that knowledge already becomes important strategic resources of enterprise. In academic field, service dominant logic also stresses that knowledge is the fundamental source of competitive advantage. In order to maintain competitive advantage, enterprises need to constantly create knowledge and carry on innovation. However, the knowledge creation cannot be limited within the enterprise, and only the pursuit of high-grade, precision and advanced, but should be cus- tomer-oriented, and be around customers＇ demand. Only to meet customers＇ needs, the enterprise can realize its own value. Despite all this, extant researches of customer knowledge are far from enough, especially in the team lev- el. There is no denying the fact that a single employee often cannot produce the good or deliver the service to cus- tomer without the supporting of other employees because of social division of labor, and more and more work needs team cooperation. During the process of the employee communicating and cooperating with other team members, the customer knowledge can be created. Therefore, this study focuses on the following two questions：what kind of team helps to improve its customer knowledge creation capability, and what benefits customer knowledge creative capabil- ity can bring for enterprises. Based on the perspective of deep characteristic of team, this paper investigated the positively effect of customer orientation and cognitive diversity of team on customer knowledge creation capability, and the influence of customer knowledge creation capability on the service innovation. This research selected sales teams of travel service provider as the research object, because they directly contact with customers, understand customers＇ real needs, transfer the ＂knowledge for customer＂ to customers, collect the ＂knowledge about customer＂, and absorb the ＂knowledge from customer＂. The satisfaction of customer requirements are often due to the joint effort of the whole team, so it is very important for team to improve its customer knowledge creation capability in order to provide better service, win cus- tomer satisfaction and loyalty. With the cooperation and support of 80 enterprises of travel agencies and hotels, a to- tal of 576 questionnaires and 182 teams of data were obtained. The results of data analysis shown that the reliability and validity of the questionnaire can be accepted, the customer orientation and cognitive diversity of teams have the positive influence on the customer knowledge creation capability, and knowledge creation ability can effectively pro- mote service innovation. This study analyzes the important role of the team in the process of customer knowledge management; explores the antecedents of customer knowledge creation capability based on the perspective of deep characteristic of team, and finds both homogeneity （customer orientation） and heterogeneity （cognitive diversity） are needed in the team; and also examines the relationship between customer knowledge creation capability and service innovation. Theoretically, this study on the one hand extends the research of service innovation, on the other hand enriches the research achievements of customer knowledge. In practice, the enterprise should pay more atten- tion to the cultivation of customer orientation in team level, assemble sales teams with cognitive diversity, cultivate the enterprise culture and build modern enterprises system to promote customer knowledge creation capability, then inspire service innovation. In short, this research enriched the study of customer knowledge management theory, in- vestigated the effect of customer knowledge creation capability on service innovation, and provided practical implications for enterprises to promote service innovation at the same time.