The Impact of Customer Value Co-Creation and Relationship Quality on Relationship Equity: Personality Traits as a Moderator

This study aimed to examine the relationship among customer value co-creation, relationship quality, and relationship equity in the tailoring services in Malaysia. Moreover, this study also investigated whether customer personality trait plays a moderating role in the relationship of value co-creation behavior and relationship quality as well as the relationship between relationship quality and relationship equity. A total of 245 questionnaires were collected via purposive sampling from customers seeking tailoring services from SME tailoring businesses. The findings revealed that customer value co-creation has a statistically significant influence on relationship quality. In addition, relationship quality was also positively related to relationship equity. However, the moderating effect of customer personality trait was not significant. This study contributes to the existing literature on customer co-creation and personality traits of consumers in tailoring services of SMEs, particularly in explaining the relationship equity of consumers. Keywords: Value co-creation; relationship quality; relationship equity; personality trait, tailoring services ABSTRAK Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubungan antara penciptaan nilai pelanggan, kualiti hubungan, dan ekuiti hubungan dalam perkhidmatan jahit di Malaysia. Selain itu, kajian ini juga menyiasat sama ada sifat keperibadian pelanggan memainkan peranan sebagai pemboleh ubah sederhana dalam hubungan tingkah laku penciptaan nilai dan kualiti hubungan, serta hubungan kualiti hubungan dan ekuiti hubungan. Sebanyak 245 soal selidik telah dikumpulkan melalui persampelan purposive daripada pelanggan perkhidmatan jahit yang dimiliki oleh perniagaan kecil dan sederhana. Hasil penemuan menunjukkan bahawa penciptaan bersama nilai pelanggan mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap kualiti hubungan. Di samping itu, kualiti hubungan juga mempunyai hubungan yang positif dan signifikan dengan ekuiti hubungan. Walau bagaimanapun, sifat keperibadian pelanggan sebagai pemboleh ubah sederhana adalah tidak signifikan. Kajian ini memberikan sumbangan besar kepada literatur sedia ada mengenai penciptaan nilai bersama pelanggan dan keperibadian pengguna dalam perkhidmatan jahitan PKS, khususnya dalam menjelaskan hubungan ekuiti pengguna. Kata kunci: Penciptaan nilai pelanggan; kualiti hubungan; sifat keperibadian pelanggan; ekuiti hubungan; perkhidmatan jahitan