The impact of corporate heritage design and augmented role identities on customer satisfaction through experience. The case study of traditional London taxi.

Abstract

Purpose: The study aims to explore the relationship between corporate heritage design, augmented role identities and customer behaviour towards the well-known traditional London taxi. The study scrutinises whether the city and national role identities of London black cab positively resonate among the traditional London taxi users. Furthermore, the study examines if corporate heritage design plays a moderator role in the relationship between its perceived identities and user experience. Design/methodology/approach: This study is a deductive, case study based on positivist research philosophy. Before the main research, augmented identities of the traditional London cab revealed based on initial research with the secondary data. Then, a conceptual framework developed through the relevant literature. Various hypotheses were proposed via the conceptual framework. To test the proposed hypotheses, the research adopted an online survey research method to collect the required data. Surveys were collected via social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. At the end of the data collection process, as a sample of 523 clean survey responses were received. Results: The data were analysed by using SPSS and Structural Equation Modelling software SPSS AMOS. Within the context of traditional London taxi, data analysis validated the saliency of both city and national role identity for customer satisfaction. In addition to that, the analysis confirmed the significance of corporate heritage design on customer perceptions and responses of multiple identities (Corporate ID, City Role ID, and National Role ID) attached to the London black cab. Originality/value: This study differentiates by exploring the antecedents and impacts of corporate heritage design. On top of that, the notion city role identity and its effects are introduced to extend the understanding of corporate heritage. The conceptual framework confirms the moderation of corporate heritage design on the relationship between corporate identity, city role identity, and national role identity and customer experience. The study also identifies the antecedents of corporate heritage design (Continuity, Familiarity, Functionality, and Aesthetic). Managerial Implications: The study shows that corporate heritage design is an essential tool to communicate added identities such as national and city identity. Companies acquiring corporate heritage design should maintain those unique design elements whilst updating their products or service to satisfy customers’ modern needs. The study also suggests that companies attributed to other identities (e.g. social, territorial, cultural etc.) could increase the customer experience and satisfaction via revealing and communicating those augmented role identities. Lastly, like the traditional London cab, certain corporate heritage assets could become a symbol of a city or territory. Hence city administrators should also consider protecting those corporate heritage symbols to promote and differentiate the cities.