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Introduction
In the current service era where many customers no longer settle for impersonalized service experiences (Bock et al., 2016; Wilder et al., 2014), the success of services requires all interactants to engagingly take initiatives during service encounters (Chan et al., 2010; Guo et al., 2017). As service encounters involve both employees and customers as interactants (Bitner, 1990; Gallan et al., 2013; Lloyd and Luk, 2011), not only are the acts of employees critical in service delivery but also how customers act during the processes is significant for service outcomes (Dellande et al., 2004; Dong and Sivakumar, 2015; Sim et al., 2018). The phenomenon is especially crucial in high-contact and highly customized services, where identifying an individual customer's explicit and implicit requirements and preferences and, subsequently, integrating the information into service delivery has become central for fulfilling customer needs (Homburg et al., 2009; Lim et al., 2019; Wilder et al., 2014). That is to say, the proactive and collaborative engagement of both employees and customers is crucial for the creation of such individualized service experiences, in which service provision and customers' unique needs are matched (Auh et al., 2007; Bendapudi and Leone, 2003; Coelho and Henseler, 2012; Dong and Sivakumar, 2017; Gwinner et al., 2005; Johnston and Kong, 2011; Vargo and Lusch, 2016; Wilder et al., 2014). Such customized services bring about abundant positive service outcomes, such as customer satisfaction, loyalty, delight, trust, relationship longevity and high perceived service quality (Coelho and Henseler, 2012; Dong and Sivakumar, 2017; Gwinner et al., 2005; Kumar and Pansari, 2016; Wilder et al., 2014). Therefore, it is important for service firms to keep both service employees and customers highly engaged during service interactions.
Engagement behavior represents one's pattern of action with respect to a target object (Pham and Avnet, 2009; Schaufeli et al., 2002; van Doorn et al., 2010). It is an important element in an interpersonal interaction (Smith and Gallicano, 2015). During an interaction, when focal participants proactively contribute to the relational activities and engage in the interaction, more positive perceptions and interaction outcomes may result (Jang et al., 2004; Runhaar et al., 2013). Similarly, as service interactants take...