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Journal of Strategic Marketing

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Examining the boundary conditions of customer citizenship behaviour: a focus on consumption ritual
Christian Gilde , Stefano Pace , Simon J. Pervan & Carolyn Strong
a b c d a b c

University of Montana Western, Dillion, Montana, USA University of Bocconi, Milan, Italy

Southern Cross Business School, Southern Cross University, PO Box 42, Tweed Heads, 2485, Australia
d

School of Management, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

Available online: 25 Nov 2011

To cite this article: Christian Gilde, Stefano Pace, Simon J. Pervan & Carolyn Strong (2011): Examining the boundary conditions of customer citizenship behaviour: a focus on consumption ritual, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 19:7, 619-631 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2011.603053

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Journal of Strategic Marketing Vol. 19, No. 7, December 2011, 619631

Examining the boundary conditions of customer citizenship behaviour: a focus on consumption ritual
Christian Gildea, Stefano Paceb, Simon J. Pervanc* and Carolyn Strongd
a c

University of Montana Western, Dillion, Montana, USA; bUniversity of Bocconi, Milan, Italy; Southern Cross Business School, Southern Cross University, PO Box 42, Tweed Heads, 2485, Australia; dSchool of Management, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK (Received December 2010; nal version received 1 July 2011)

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Customer citizenship behaviour (CCB) is discretionary activity by a customer, over and above the normal requirements of an exchange, which benet the rm. In this study, a review is conducted of the range of activity positioned as customer citizenship behaviour and a call is made to broaden the boundary conditions within which this activity falls. A four by three framework is developed in terms of exchange focus and time of exchange. Through this lens, new behaviours are identied, including marketing hype and consumption rituals. Qualitative research is presented on consumption rituals in a major sporting event: premiership rugby. Findings suggest that managers need to understand the time, space and practices within which their brands can have relevance. This will enable rms to position their brands to both benet from CCB activity as well as form part of CCB activity. Keywords: customer citizenship behaviour; customer extra role behaviour; consumption rituals

Introduction Much had been written about customer extra role behaviour in recent years. The very idea is intoxicating to marketing managers. That customers would engage in activity above and beyond the call of duty to enhance the effectiveness of a rm is surely the Holy Grail. Yet rms appear to be achieving this in certain spheres. In 2011, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, Inc., launched a campaign for its Dorito corn chip brands in both Canada and the UK whereby customers were invited to complete an advertisement. The winning completions were integrated into the actual campaigns. In Canada, the customer was even able to share in the prots from sales of a avor of their choice. Walkers Crisps ran a similar campaign in 2010 in the UK with their Flavour Cup competition (Relaxnews, 2011). Further, the department store Target launched a charity campaign through its Facebook site in 2010 (Kaushik, 2011). They allowed Facebook users to vote for a recipient of their choice. This enabled the rm to donate one million dollars to a charity chosen by a majority of Facebook users thus making their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme highly relevant to customers and the subject of signicant word of mouth. Firms are beginning to realize the capacity of customers to help them and their brands and as a result have started to develop strategy to foster this behaviour. In this

*Corresponding author. Email: simon.pervan@scu.edu.au

ISSN 0965-254X print/ISSN 1466-4488 online q 2011 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2011.603053 http://www.tandfonline.com

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instance, however, the academic literature is somewhat behind strategic practice. Whilst there has been important work done on developing dimensions in service (Bove, Pervan, Beatty, & Shiu, 2009) and goods contexts (Johnson & Rapp, 2010) there has been no attempt to explain the boundary conditions of these activities thus critical discussion is still needed on what constitutes extra role behaviour. The key to addressing this problem is an understanding of the theory and therefore motivation behind extra role behaviour. As such, the rst contribution of this study echoes a question in the call for papers of this special issue; what motivates customers to participate beyond their expected roles? Social exchange theory and empathy theory are offered as explanatory theories, and a review of the ideas and the empirical phenomena behind them is provided. In doing so, a second question asked in the call for papers is addressed, namely, what are the types of customer engagement beyond their expected roles? These are presented in a four by three framework with marketing hype and consumption ritual identied as additional practices. This study focuses on one of the newly identied practices, ritual. Thus a second contribution is to present ndings of qualitative research into consumption rituals around UK premiership rugby. We conclude by discussing the strategic implications for extra role behaviour in general and ritualistic behaviour in particular. Customer citizenship behaviour Extra role behaviours are activities performed by customers which are over and above the remit of the focal exchange (Bettencourt, 1997). In marketing exchange, this includes positive behaviour like attending research events about a brand, wearing or using promotional material, being exible with appointments and also negative behaviour like being rude to staff, protesting against a brand and not following established rules of engagement. The current study addresses positive extra role behaviour only. The term customer citizenship behaviour (CCB) is used to reect positive extra role actions which enhance organizational effectiveness. The behaviour must therefore benet the rm and not necessarily other customers or employees (Bove et al., 2009). Previous research on this kind of extra role behaviour centres on the benets a rm can derive by having the customer engaged in such a way with them (see Bailey, Dwayne, & McCollough, 2001; Bettencourt, 1997; Groth, 2005; Gruen, 1995; Keh & Teo, 2001; Rosenbaum & Massiah, 2007). Bove et al. (2009) brought much of this literature together and they develop a measure of CCB in a service marketing context. Johnson and Rapp (2010) also present a measure but position theirs as relevant to all kinds of marketing exchange, prot and non-prot. Table 1 presents the dimensions identied in both studies. Unsurprisingly there are a number of similarities. These dimensions are worthy of further critique in terms of both theory and practice. CCB theory To date, CCB has been explained in terms of social exchange theory (SET) (Bettencourt, 1997; Groth, 2005) and empathy theory (ET) (Batson, Chang, Orr, & Rowland, 2002). Bove et al. (2009) use both of these theories to predict that that trust and commitment to the service worker is why customers perform CCB. The basic premise of social exchange theory is that social behaviour represents an exchange of activity, tangible or intangible, and is more or less rewarding or costly, between at least two persons (Homans, 1961).

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Table 1. Customer citizenship behaviours. Bove et al. (2009) Positive word of mouth behaviour Displays of relationship afliation (e.g. wearing a hat or t-shirt bearing the name of the given organization) Making suggestions for service improvements Policing of other customers Customer voice behaviour Customer exibility (e.g. being prepared to change a booked appointment at late notice) Benevolent acts of service Facilitation Participation in rms activities Johnson and Rapp (2010)

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Expanding behaviours (e.g. recommending the brand to others) Displaying brands Providing feedback Competitive information (e.g. offering information about competitors) Forgiving behaviours Increasing price (e.g. being prepared to pay a premium or pay more than a competing product) Supporting behaviours Responding to research

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Fundamental to these propositions is the notion of reciprocity (Emerson, 1976), that an individuals action towards another is based on the expectation that it will elicit a tting and proportional reaction from which the initiating individual will gain some value (Becker, 1986). The more valuable a response a person receives the more likely that person will respond with a resource that will encourage that rewarding activity (Homans, 1961). Taken within the context of CCB, extra role behaviour occurs because the customer wants to reciprocate for what they perceive as an additional product or service offering by the rm. Alternatively, assuming a norm of reciprocity is upheld (Pervan, Bove, & Johnson, 2009); they want to encourage this response from the employee or rm. In both scenarios a self-serving motive is in evidence (Bove et al., 2009). A second explanation is provided by the theory around empathy. The motive here is altruistic, driven by empathy for the service worker (Batson et al., 2002). Using Bove et al. (2009, p. 700), empathy driven CCB is more likely to occur when the customer has: (1) a conscientious and/or agreeable personality trait (Davis et al., 1999; Organ, 1990); (2) worked in the service industry and can recollect his/her own experiences as a service worker (Batson & Shaw, 1991); and/or (3) has feelings of attachment (kinship, friendship, familiarity, attractiveness and/or similarity) for the service worker (Batson & Shaw, 1991). Thus, customers feel empathy for an employee of the rm and want to reward them for efforts they have unique insight into. Without further empirical research, it is difcult to discern which motive is in evidence for CCB to occur. It is not the intention in this study to do so, however, useful insight can be gained by further critiquing the boundaries within which these theories are applied. In the CCB literature, both SET and ET are used to predict exchange along two dimensions: exchange focus and exchange time. Exchange focus relates to whether the actions represent customer and rm, customer and employee or customer and customer exchange; where focal rm refers to the rm beneting from the CCB. With the exception of policing behaviour, a customer to customer exchange, much of the CCB literature focuses on customer employee and customer rm exchanges (see Bove et al., 2009). Further, this typology ignores customer to non-focal rm exchanges despite the possibility that this kind of activity may benet a focal rm. Exchange time refers to whether CCB occurs

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before (in preparation for) a focal exchange, during a focal exchange or after a focal exchange; where focal exchange refers to the actual transaction between the customer and the rm beneting from the CCB. Here the literature focuses largely on activity after the focal exchange with few CCBs identied as occurring in preparation for a focal exchange. Table 2 presents the CCB behaviours within a four (focus of exchange: focal rm, non-focal rm, employee, customer) by three (time of exchange: before, during, after) framework for further analysis. The majority of CCBs identied are after the focal exchange and further are either customer to rm or customer to employee in terms of exchange focus. Through this lens the breadth of CCB is more apparent and gaps are evident. For instance, there are a number of customer to customer exchanges which are extra role in nature and will have direct benet to the rm. Marketing hype is one example. Wind and Mahajan (1987) contend that hype creates a favourable and conducive environment for new product acceptance and moreover it is something rms can encourage through timely and targeted media campaigns. Hype over a product launch is largely developed through customer to customer exchange and this process can be amplied with the development of brand communities and other social media sites (Urban, 2005). A second example, which is unique because it spans all of the temporal frames and exchange foci, is ritual. Consumption rituals are more enduring than hype and therefore have greater potential for marketers. They represent an integral part of many consumption episodes and are a type of expressive, symbolic activity constructed of multiple behaviors that occur in a xed, episodic sequence, and that tend to be repeated over time (Rook, 1985, p. 252). What is different about this kind of extra role behaviour is that it often involves non-focal rms yet still benets the rm providing the focal brand (the word brand is used interchangeably with rm hereafter). Some rms have been very effective at facilitating this, for example, the consumption of branded lager at a branded pub before, during and after the focal exchange of a branded football match. This football ritual is motivated by the desire to develop camaraderie and a sense of anticipation before the game and it serves to amplify the actual focal consumption experience and the post-consumption evaluation. The implication is that rms may be well advised to work with each other not only because they have complementary brands but because their brands are part of one anothers consumption rituals. Although history has now made rituals familiar, many, in the rst instance, are not obvious; for example, the consumption of strawberries at Wimbledon in the UK, the wearing of plaid shirts to identify with the Seattle based grunge music scene or indeed orange tab black LEVIS in the NZ alternative music scene. Others, like a coffee at a favourite cafe after a browse in a book store or owers on Mothers Day, and Turkey at Thanksgiving are more predictable. The remainder of the paper explores ritual behaviour in the context of UK premiership rugby. First, the literature on surrounding rituals of consumption is examined. This is followed by the report of a qualitative study using two case studies of premiership rugby teams and their fans. Findings are then discussed including strategic implications and future research. Surrounding rituals of consumption Rituals of consumption do not occur just at the moment of consumption. Consumers can enact these rituals before, during and after the main consumption ritual. Rituals that precede and follow the main ritual of consumption can be referred to as surrounding rituals. The boundaries between the main ritual and the surrounding rituals may seem

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Table 2. The boundary conditions of CCB. Exchange time Focal exchange Increasing price Competitive information Ritual After focal exchange

Exchange focus

Preparation for the exchange

Customer Firm

Customer exibility Marketing hype Ritual

Journal of Strategic Marketing

Customer Employee

Customer exibility Marketing hype

Benevolent acts of service facilitation Competitive information

Customer Customer Ritual

Marketing hype Ritual

Policing of other customers Ritual

Customer Non-focal rm

Ritual

Displays of relationship afliation Displaying brands Making suggestions for service improvements Customer voice behaviour Participation in rms activities Forgiving behaviour Competitive information Providing feedback Responding to research Ritual Making suggestions for service improvements Customer voice behaviour Forgiving behaviour Competitive information Providing feedback Positive word of mouth behaviour Expanding behaviours Ritual Ritual

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fuzzy, since the consumer ows from one to the other smoothly. However, consumption rituals like any ritual have rules that dene clear boundaries between what happens before and after them. What is part of the ritual, what precedes or follows it, is clear in the mind of the participants enacting the ritual, thus surrounding rituals are conceivable. In their study of the clubbing phenomenon, Goulding, Shankar, Elliott, and Canniford (2009) show that the clubbing experience is preceded by a pre-ritual that is clearly distinct with respect to the main ritual being in the club to dance. This pre-ritual takes two main forms. First, the clubber carefully prepares at home for the dance oor, selecting clothes and make-up with attention. The individual fantasizes about the night that he/she will spend dancing. This anticipation can start hours or days before the actual event takes place. A second pre-ritual is that of queuing outside the club entrance. Clubbers queue for long hours and they are not even sure whether they will be allowed to enter the club. They entertain each other and try to get noticed by the clubs staff in order to get admitted to the club. From time to time, the club staff allows one or more lucky people to enter the club. The pre-ritual of queuing is a transformative experience that prepares the individuals for the main ritual of the club (Goulding et al., 2009). The post-ritual of clubbing is also visible and relevant. After long hours of dancing, clubbers enter a chill-out room. In this space the music is softer, the environment is calm and people engage in a rite of separation from the main ritual of dancing (Goulding et al., 2009). This post-ritual is meant as an interstitial space between the club oor and the routine experienced in everyday life. In the case of clubbing, the main ritual and the surrounding rituals are well dened in time (the queuing that is abruptly stopped when one is selected and allowed to enter the club), space (dance oor vs chill-out room) and other features (loud music for the main ritual vs soft chill-out music for the surrounding ritual). Belk and Costa (1998), in their study on the sacralization of consumption, show that people do engage in activities that are preparatory or supporting with respect to the main ritual. The pre-ritual is enacted in order to prepare for the sacred rites. Among the functions of the preparing rituals, there is the protection against the negative consequences that the contact with the sacred may cause. Surrounding rituals can be considered as a form of CCB, because they extend, enrich and redene the value of the main ritual, which is the customer and focal rm exchange. Following is an exemplar of the surrounding rituals in the form of a qualitative project using two case studies of premiership rugby teams and their fans. After this research, the ndings are discussed including future research and strategic implications.

Research project Sports as empirical eld People attending sports events enact a consumption ritual. Scholars acknowledge the sacred nature of this sports event (Belk & Costa, 1998). The prototypical sport competition, the Olympics, has pure religious origins (Guttmann, 2002). Today sports are not religious any more, but they still have a deep sacred nature, thus a ritual nature. Fans engage in a number of different activities and assume different supporting roles before, during and after the main ritual, that is the game. Pre-rituals are common in sports attendance. For instance, some estimates claim that 35 to 50 million people in the USA regularly engage in tailgating (American Tailgaters Association, 2007), that is to gather in parking lots or places near the stadium before the game, to party, enjoying food and beverages.

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The focus of this study is rugby. An ethnographic approach (Arnould & Wallendorf, 1994) is used whereby participant observation is made of surrounding rituals of spectators attending rugby games in two cities, in England and in Wales. Observations included the games as well. Both teams play in the top league of professional rugby, are internationally known by rugby fans and have a large fan base. In both cities, the research included indepth interviews with different types of respondents: regular fans who attend all games of their team; fans who are members of a fan community; occasional fans; rugby players; and management ofcials of the teams. The aim of interviewing such a diverse crowd was to attain variability in the experiences lived by different actors (and the roles they play). The research also employed document analysis, by examining newspaper articles about rugby. In addition, the participant observation in online forums of supporters, according to netnography (Kozinets, 2010), provided a further understanding of the subject.

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Findings Enhancing and extending the values and ethos of rugby Rugby fans engage in surrounding rituals and roles that are replicated on each and every match-day. Before and after the game fans gather in the same pub or number of pubs (usually pubs linked with the teams history) to meet and socialize. Pubs transform themselves into an over-crowded ritual place on game-day where fans can play out their surrounding rituals. Informants show that they are aware of their behaviour and its implicit rules, thus it is a ritual rather than a mere automatic habit. Drinking beer is a core component of this ritual. As one fan says during an informal chat at the stadium: What do we do before the game? Drink!. Another informant conrms that the typical fans would meet in a pub. Here is a big connection between beer and rugby (P). As one of our informants recounts, he follows a strict routine on the match day. He meets his friend in a pub before going to the stadium. In the pub they drink some beers (S), then they go to the stadium. Given the use of beer involved in the pre-game and post-game ritual, one may presume that some social disorders could happen, quite the opposite of a positive CCB. On the contrary, the overall atmosphere which precedes, accompanies and follows the rugby match is remarkably joyful and friendly. As the top manager of one of the teams remarks, people are all very friendly . . . Its not the nonsense that is going on in football, you know, with rivals and ghting (B). According to him, football unlike rugby is characterized by a ght culture, which is a shame. In rugby instead you dont have crowd problems, bad language, missiles being thrown on the pitch (B). In 10 years as a manager, he remembers just one single incident when a fan threw a beer can at the referee. This sense of balance and peaceful order is reected by the following excerpt from a regular fan:
One of the things that rugby people think is true is that there is no need for violence among the fans, because the need for violence is satised on the pitch. There is acceptable, legal, controlled violence on the pitch. (B)

The difference between violence in football and order in rugby is frequently stressed by the informants. As a player says, Football [fans] are too much tribal. I would not spend every Sunday in a stadium (T). Rugby is celebrated as a gentle and family-friendly game, as a noble sport that emphasizes sportsmanship, integrity, courage. Composure is one of the key features of this sport (Birrell, 1981). Without self-restraint, respect for the rules and for the opponents, the toughness of the game would cause serious injuries. Players do not fake injuries, while pretending to have been fouled is quite common in football. It is rather unlikely to see anything malicious on the rugby eld (R). Even in the rare cases of

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ghts between players, peace is quickly restored afterwards: Ive seen people losing their temper and then they ght and then shake hands and theyve done with it (R). Fans often mesh together with the visiting fans of the opponent team in a friendly manner in the pub. After the game, fans cheer for each other. Part of the ritual is to cheer for the opponent fans, shaking hands to congratulate in case the opponent won or to comfort them in case of a loss. With this behaviour, fans replicate what players do immediately after a rugby game. Players line up to cheer for the opposing team. The symbolic battle is nished and the warriors pay their respect to the enemy warriors. This friendly co-mingling of fans of two opposing teams before and after the main ritual allows them to play the roles of emulators; actors that emulate the comrade-like behaviour displayed by the actual players and required by the ethos of rugby. Through the creation of a friendly environment and the enactment of kind and balanced gestures, surrounding rituals take the values of rugby and replay them outside the rugby eld. Guarding the games values A rugby player who is celebrated embodies all the values of rugby, and, thus, some surrounding rituals revolve around this gure. A rugby player is a semi-god and, at the same time, an approachable normal citizen. With his strength, athleticism and courage, the rugby player goes far beyond what a common man can do. At the same time, in the mythology of rugby, the authentic and prototypical player is an amateur who, after exceptional sport actions on the eld is a normal citizen. In one of the cities a bronze statue celebrates the most known player, like a historical gure; still, the statue is not celebrated as a monument, but rather located in one of the commercial malls of the city, with common people strolling around it. This paradoxical normalcy of the semi-god is embodied by a modern myth of English rugby: Johnny Wilkinson. To convey the sense of what a rugby player is, an informant tells a story about Wilkinson: An hour and a half after the game, Johnny Wilkinson was still on the eld and gave autographs. He was surrounded by people. He is exceptional. He has time for everyone (L). He is praised for being an easygoing person, always willing to spend time with others outside the eld. Wilkinson refused some commercial contracts and endorsements that would have distracted him from his focus on training and rugby matches. And this is what rugby supporters would expect from a real rugby player. The intrusion of the commercial (e.g. endorsements, advertisements) into the career of a player should be minimal. Some players embody this new wave of professional rugby. Ordinary rugby heroes are a relic of the good old days when rugby was an amateur sport. In the English city where rugby was studied, rugby became professional only in 1995. The age of amateurship is remembered by older fans as a better and almost utopian time. In their view, todays professionalism and internationalization of rugby has, to a certain extent, ruined the true spirit of rugby. Professionalism is seen as somehow inauthentic, contaminated by commercial interests rather than led by true sport values. The black-andwhite pictures of the old players are displayed in the pub located in the stadium in the English city. These ancestral portraits are meaningfully exhibited in the place where parts of the surrounding ritual happen. Post-game rituals involve talking with players a few minutes after the game has ended. In big cities like London, with big teams, J recounts, it would be much more difcult to talk to the players. Still, this kind of contact is sought by fans. In one of the cities, players join their fans directly in the stadium pub. The post-game ritual reafrms the normality of rugby players as everyday people; it transforms the players into normal men that you can

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have a beer with. These rituals enact the idea that players and fans can mesh together. They mark a key difference between rugby and other sports that are based on worshipping celebrities hyped by mass media. This treatment of players has a function to guard the core tenets of rugby and avoid excessive compromise with commercialism and market-based professionalism. Including others in the surrounding rituals Communities of consumers and subcultures can be quite exclusive and prefer to distance themselves from the mainstream. Some subcultures can even seclude themselves from society to celebrate their events (Belk & Costa, 1998). On the contrary, the surrounding rituals of rugby supporters are quite inclusive. These rituals welcome opposing fans, the family of the fans and the public in general. The surrounding rituals are not fully centred on rugby, but rather on amicable socialization. Supporters depict these rituals as normal activities. They do not consider themselves as alienated from society, but as part of it. R emphasizes that attendance of the games is determined by the needs of the family, because I bring children with me, and so they include tting their schools sports pursuits. Supporters do not sacrice family duties; on the contrary they include them:
Part of the family would go to the game and part of the family would do other things. So, maybe the father comes to the game, the mother goes shopping, and some of the children would go to the game, and some of the children would go to the cinema or something like that. In other cases . . . the entire family comes. (R)

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This behaviour of normalcy and inclusiveness is mentioned by R and other fans too: Many of them have busy lives and they make it part of their life and they manage the balance. Discussion In this study, the boundary conditions of CCB are proposed and gaps are identied regarding how academia is thinking about the nature of this kind of activity. To date, much of the literature has focused on post-exchange activity directed at the rm or employees. However, this ignores the potential benet a rm may receive when customers engage with other customers, or other brands, before, during and after the exchange. Social exchange theory and ET are used to predict exchange along two dimensions represented in a four by three framework: (1) the customers focus in the exchange: focal rm, non-focal rm, employee and other customer; and (2) the time of the exchange: before, during or after the focal exchange. Ritual is presented as a new CCB activity worthy of further consideration because it is performed within each of the quadrants of the framework. The study presented on UK Premiership Rugby, shows that surrounding rituals serve two main CCB functions: to guard the core spirit of the game (through its players) for fans to enjoy; to extend these values to the general audience. At the game level, the surrounding rituals involving players are aimed at preserving the true spirit of rugby. It is a form of symbolic maintenance of the core of the game and its ethos. At the general audience level, the surrounding rituals emulate the fairness and kindness that characterize the ethos of rugby. The surrounding rituals extend these values and this ethos well beyond the game, making them available for anyone to enjoy. This occurs with the focal brand, other brands, as well as other customers. This extension also happens along time, space and practice.

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Times: surrounding rituals start well before the game and continue long after the game has been nished. Space: the activities of supporters are not only exercised in the stadium. They also involve nearby facilities and places. The whole city becomes the stage for the rituals. Practices: surrounding rituals reinforce and enhance the value of the game by applying its ethos to common gestures, like going to a pub or meeting other fans (new relations). Through this rugby values are introduced to a wider audience, beyond the game. Because of its inclusiveness, this enhancement of the core values of rugby reaches the general public; a public that is invited to take part in the ritual. Surrounding rituals allow that the values and ethos of the game are incorporated in daily (normal) life. For casual observers and for the regular fans of rugby, the value of the game is thus multiplied.

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Strategic implications Self-interest is a most reliable of human traits (Durkheim, 1964). As such, it is the SET explanation for CCB which holds the most promise for developing effective marketing strategy. For example, evidence suggests that running competitions, where rewards are available, is an effective way to garner customer participation like the avour suggestion Dorito and Walkers have been able to generate (Kaushik, 2011; Relaxnews, 2011). The self-interest motive also explains why companies have, and are well advised, to develop a strong social media presence. It is in this space CCB behaviour increasingly takes place (Sproull, Conley, & Moon, 2005). This is because customers are more able to control their level of involvement with the rm and other customers (Martin, Sherrard, & Wentzel, 2005; Sproull et al., 2005). Further, they are often able to act with relatively little emotional or physical effort, at any time of the day. Managers should also prioritize holding on to their best front line staff. Bove et al. (2009) nd a partial mediation effect of the customer and service worker exchange on likelihood of CCB. This suggests that the rm is directly rewarded even when it is the service workers provisions to the customer that are being reciprocated. The four by three framework presented here indicates that marketers need to think more broadly about how CCBs take place. With most of the CCB discussion to date on the focal rm and its employees, managers are missing out on a range of other possibly benecial activities. For instance, recognizing and developing strategic alliances with other brands, that serve to amplify the consumption effect of the focal brand, should be considered. Conversely, managers of these peripheral brands must also be aware of the network within which their brand exists as they can take advantage of a reverse effect whereby the consumption of the focal brand amplies the effect of the non-focal brand. For example, in Australia the consumption of Four n Twenty Pies is synonymous with attending Australian Rules football matches. The game itself, with its four quarter structure and winter schedule, is both served by, and serves to support, the consumption of this hot convenience product. The relevance of other customers and times should also not be underestimated. For example, holding pre-release events to generate word of mouth and hype for new products has been very successful for the hi tech, gaming and software industries. Even fast moving consumer goods brands like Unilevers Pot Noodle have successfully generated CCB fostering valuable user generated content on their YouTube sites via the release of viral music videos and a lavish pre-release party for its new Sticky Ribs avour at Londons Theatre Club in Soho (Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy, & Pervan, 2011).

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There are two main implications of ritual consumption. The rst has been discussed and relates to being aware of the network within which the focal brand exists. Managers should ask who the exchange participants are and what are the time, space and practice elements? Customers invest much time and effort to live their surrounding rituals and roles. Marketers can take this nding and might be able to support these surrounding occurrences with services or goods that might enable a better preparation for and more fully lived experience of these peripheral activities by the consumers. Different roles and activities require different products (e.g. beer, team jerseys, food) to be more appreciated by the fans. In the USA, many brands have attempted to become integral to the ritual of tailgating. Marketing communication campaign examples include Bud Light Tailgate Approved, Pepsi Max Maximum Tailgating and Skinit Tailgate Packs, Get in the game (Free, 2009). However, marketers could also invent new roles and rules to create the need for certain products. Roles can range from fan-event-organizers to alpha-fans (fan leaders) that are indirectly used by companies to sell their products to other fans. An example of rules are rms attempts to redene the tailgate ritual by releasing tailgate cook books and even tailgate cooking television shows (Benson, 2011). The second implication is that rms should commit to carefully considered long tern sponsorship deals. This maximizes the potential for the brand to become part of the ritual of consumption. Alcoholic beverages are at the forefront of this, for example the long association between Steinlager and All Black rugby and Carling Lager and Premiership football. Whilst these may have started as sponsorship, their historical residence has made them synonymous with their respective sports. Finally, rms who recognize the value of consumption rituals, and are able to build on surrounding rituals, will have the potential to create strong and distinctive brand values that can be extended beyond the strict use of the product/service. For instance, a spirit of adventure can characterize the brand of a travel agency; this spirit of adventure can be used in many ways outside the strict purchase and consumption of the travel service received. It can inspire surrounding rituals like collective online storytelling about adventurous journeys. A clear assessment of the brand image is thus important for managers to give them leverage with this additional strength of the image. Future research and limitations This study is limited to a small sample of rugby fans, administrators and players. Future research should consider a range of other sports. Further, ritual needs to be examined beyond the sport context. Marketing hype also needs to be examined as an additional CCB behaviour. This is pre-exchange behaviour and largely customer-to-customer in focus and it holds the appeal of being highly controllable by the rm (Wind & Mahajan, 1987). The potential of the internet also needs to be considered. To date, most of the work on CCB has not specied the mode of exchange. The potential for customer advocacy using the internet cannot be ignored (Urban, 2005). For example, Schau, Muniz, and Arnould (2009) identify social networking, community engagement, brand use and impression management as four categories of customer value creation in brand communities. These need to be examined in terms of the current understanding of CCB. Specically, do they reect the dimensions already identied in extant literature or are new insights provided? Individual differences also need to be considered. For example temporal orientation (Martin, Gnoth, & Strong, 2009) may affect the propensity for customers to engage in CCB to reward rms for past or future activity. Further, examining susceptibility to normative inuence (Martin, Wentzel, & Tomczak, 2008) will provide insight to attitudes

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towards whether CCB activity can be developed via interpersonal inuences (Bearden, Netemeyer, & Teel, 1989) and thus fostered in a group setting. The current measures for CCB must also be revisited. This study identies further formative indicators, particularly relating to customer and non-focal rm exchange and customer to customer exchange that should form part of the index of CCB activities.

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