TY - JOUR
T1 - Product Market Effects of Customer Referencing
AU - Chung, Tuck Siong
AU - Jia, Xiaoli
AU - Jing, Jiao
AU - Ng, Jeffrey
AU - Zhang, Janus Jian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 European Accounting Association.
Funding:
This work was supported by Financial support from The National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant No 72002081].
PY - 2024/8/7
Y1 - 2024/8/7
N2 - Customer referencing refers to the phenomenon of a firm intentionally revealing its customers so that the firm can obtain certification of the quality of its products. In this paper, we examine the association between customer referencing and firms’ future product market performance. We find that firms that engage in customer referencing achieve better product market performance than those that do not, which is consistent with the notion that customer referencing, by certifying the referencing firm’s product quality, enhances the firm’s future product market performance. We also find that this positive association is stronger when the referenced customers are reputable and when the referencing firms have a greater need for certification. These results further affirm the certification role of customer referencing. Our study provides new insight into how certification via inter-organizational relationships can be an intangible marketing asset.
AB - Customer referencing refers to the phenomenon of a firm intentionally revealing its customers so that the firm can obtain certification of the quality of its products. In this paper, we examine the association between customer referencing and firms’ future product market performance. We find that firms that engage in customer referencing achieve better product market performance than those that do not, which is consistent with the notion that customer referencing, by certifying the referencing firm’s product quality, enhances the firm’s future product market performance. We also find that this positive association is stronger when the referenced customers are reputable and when the referencing firms have a greater need for certification. These results further affirm the certification role of customer referencing. Our study provides new insight into how certification via inter-organizational relationships can be an intangible marketing asset.
KW - Customer referencing
KW - Product market performance
KW - Product quality certification
KW - Supplier-customer relationship
KW - Voluntary disclosure
UR - https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/rear/2024/00000033/00000004/art00002
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144213949&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09638180.2022.2147092
DO - 10.1080/09638180.2022.2147092
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0963-8180
VL - 33
SP - 1165
EP - 1196
JO - European Accounting Review
JF - European Accounting Review
IS - 4
ER -