The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 22, No. 3, January 2011, 746–761

Customers cocreating value with the firm: implications for IHRM
Milorad M. Novicevica, Allison B. Dukeb, Erin R. Holmesc, Jacob W. Brelandd, M.R. Buckleye* and Mark N. Binga
Department of Management, School of Business Administration, University of Mississippi, MS, USA b College of Business, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, USA; cSchool of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, MS, USA; dWCBA, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH, USA; e Michael F. Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical framework for governing an organization’s relationships with customers engaged as contributors to the organization’s business processes (i.e. customers as quasi-employees). Based on our suggested framework, we explain how appropriate customer-centric HRM practices can support more cost-effective and accommodating adaptations in the organization’s governance of its relationships with customers. We complement these propositions with practical examples illustrating how customers who take different cooperative roles will increasingly become valuable organizational assets. The collaborating customers not only provide the information necessary for the successful performance of the service exchange, but also contribute human and social capital in performing tasks that are a complement to or a substitute for employee tasks. In conclusion, we outline implications for international human resource management (IHRM), as well as future research directions for examining the relationships among customer governance, role configurations, and IHRM practices. Keywords: customer participation; customer relationship management; governance; IHRM a Service is the use of human resources for the benefit of another party