Affordances Advancing User-Created Communication (UCC) in Service: Interactivity, Visibility, and Anonymity

Abstract

Purpose: Digital platform users not only consume but also produce communication related to their experiences. Although service research has explored users’ motivations to communicate and focused on outcomes such as electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), it remains largely unexplored how users iteratively interact with communication artifacts and potentially create value for themselves, other users, and service providers. We thus introduce communicative affordances as a framework to advance user-created communication (UCC) in service. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing from the literature in communication, service research, and interactive marketing, we introduce an affordance perspective on UCC in service. Findings: We present three UCC affordances for the service context—interactivity, visibility, and anonymity—discuss opportunities and challenges for service providers associated with these affordances, and, finally, offer affordance-specific research questions and general recommendations for future research. Research limitations/implications: By conceptualizing UCC in service from an affordances perspective, this paper moves beyond the traditional sender–receiver communication framework and emphasizes opportunities and challenges for service research and practice. Practical implications: Instead of focusing separately on specific technologies or user behaviors, we recommend that service managers adopt a holistic perspective of user goals and motivations, use experiences, and platform design. Originality: By conceptualizing UCC as an augmenting, dialogical process concerning users experiences, and by introducing communicative affordances as a framework to advance UCC in service, we offer an in-depth understanding of the diverse and ever-evolving landscape of communication in service.

Affordances Advancing User-Created Communication (UCC) in Service: Interactivity, Visibility, and Anonymity