Cocreation of the hospitality brand experience: A triadic interaction model

Although dyadic interactions among customers have widely been acknowledged to impact customer experience, the interdependence between customers and the service provider may form a symbiotic force that attenuates how an experience is cocreated. This study focuses on triadic interactions among casino patrons by modeling employee-to-customer (E2C) interactions as a boundary condition that may moderate the effect of customer-to-customer interactions (C2C) and customer-to-companion (Cu2Co) interaction quality on brand experience. Data were collected among patrons from 30 casino establishments using a two-step sampling approach. Findings suggest that E2C interaction moderates the relationship between customer interactions and the brand experience, such that the C2C interaction quality effect is more salient under the high E2C interaction condition. Implications for both practice and theory as well as limitations and future directions are further discussed.