Purpose

Designing and developing responsible business practices can create various tensions for service organizations. The purpose of this research is to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between customer engagement (CE) and responsible business practices (e.g. environmental, social and/or governance [ESG], corporate social responsibility [CSR] and diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI]) and explore customer engagement tensions that service organizations may face.

Design/methodology/approach

This research develops a list of CE-related responsible business practice tensions and empirically explores their relevance through in-depth interviews with nine ESG professionals.

Findings

This paper makes three important contributions. First, we find support for nine distinct but related tensions with implications for CE that organizations must navigate when pursuing responsible business practices. Second, interview participants provide some suggestions for tackling these tensions, which we support with relevant theories. Finally, we develop a conceptual framework that may stimulate future service research and inform the implementation of ESG strategies.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to conceptualize and empirically explore the tensions that emerge between responsible business practices and CE. The authors develop a novel analysis of the CE-related tensions that emerge when pursuing an ESG strategy.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are based on a small sample of ESG professionals. Future research may take a quantitative approach to further evaluate the role that these tensions play in engaging customers.

Practical implications

This research provides a conceptual framework that may guide ESG professionals in understanding, framing and navigating CE-related tensions when pursuing responsible business practices.

Social implications

A social benefit may be found when service organizations are better able to successfully navigate CE-related tensions when pursuing responsible business practices.

中文翻译：

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探索追求负责任的商业实践时客户参与的紧张局势

目的

设计和开发负责任的商业实践可能会给服务组织带来各种压力。本研究的目的是更深入地了解客户参与 (CE) 与负责任的商业实践（例如环境、社会和/或治理 [ESG]、企业社会责任 [CSR] 以及多样性、公平和包容性）之间的关系[DEI]）并探讨服务组织可能面临的客户参与压力。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究列出了与 CE 相关的负责任的商业实践压力清单，并通过对九位 ESG 专业人士的深入访谈，实证探讨了它们的相关性。

发现

本文做出了三个重要贡献。首先，我们找到了对九个不同但相关的紧张关系的支持，这些紧张关系对组织在追求负责任的商业实践时必须驾驭的影响。其次，访谈参与者提出了一些解决这些紧张局势的建议，我们用相关理论来支持这些建议。最后，我们开发了一个概念框架，可以刺激未来的服务研究并为 ESG 战略的实施提供信息。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这项研究首次概念化并实证探讨了负责任的商业实践与CE之间出现的紧张关系。作者对推行 ESG 战略时出现的与 CE 相关的紧张局势进行了新颖的分析。

研究局限性/影响

该调查结果基于一小部分 ESG 专业人士样本。未来的研究可能会采用定量方法来进一步评估这些紧张局势在吸引客户方面所发挥的作用。

实际影响

这项研究提供了一个概念框架，可以指导 ESG 专业人士在追求负责任的商业实践时理解、构建和应对与 CE 相关的紧张局势。

社会影响

当服务组织在追求负责任的商业实践时能够更好地成功应对与 CE 相关的紧张局势时，可能会产生社会效益。