How customer community engagement and employee dynamic learning capability impact service performance through customization? A firm–customer synergistic perspective

Purpose: The emergence and rapid expansion of social media platforms have transformed the dynamics of consumer–brand communication. While consumer–brand relationship is driven on marketing campaigns in regular manner, social media (e.g. WeChat groups) creates boundaryless connections between external forces (e.g. customer community engagement) and internal resources (e.g. sales force). Therefore, this paper aims to provide a firm–customer synergistic perspective to explain service performance (SP) through service customization, which is significantly contributing to the research of consumer–brand relationship field in the current era. Design/methodology/approach: A survey including two sets of questionnaires are employed for data collection, with one completed by frontline salesperson of Casarte and the other by their customers. A total of 242 dyadic-level data are adopted to test the hypothesis. Findings: The findings shed light on the mechanism that drive SP by firm–customer interactions. These insights hold distinct managerial implications for firms seeking to leverage digital tools to efficiently meet customer demands. Originality/value: This study contributes to understanding consumer–brand relationship within social media environment. It offers a synergistic perspective combined both outside-in and inside-out thinking, and explains how consumer–brand relationship can be fostered from both customers and salespeople. It highlights the significance of customer community engagement and salespeople dynamic learning capability as crucial factors in building strong consumer–brand relationship.