Stimulating customer engagement behaviours: an experiment in shared autonomous vehicles

Disruptive services require customer engagement to scale successfully. While prior research highlights the role of service design in driving engagement, which specific service attributes trigger different types of engagement behaviours remains unclear. This study addresses the gap through a discrete choice experiment on a fictional Shared Autonomous Vehicle service. The results highlight engagement behaviours; each associated with distinct service design triggers. Safety information and peer reviews are critical for encouraging deeper forms of engagement, while functional features such as booking ease only gain traction once safety concerns are addressed. Moreover, engagement responses vary across consumer segments, highlighting dispositions towards engagement and the importance of tailored design strategies. These findings offer insights for firms and regulators seeking to accelerate adoption of disruptive services through customer-led engagement.