Enhancing Omnichannel Customer Experience: From a Customer Journey Design Perspective

Abstract

Customer experience is central to omnichannel marketing and is increasingly the focus of research attention. However, few studies have focused on the development of excellent omnichannel customer experiences. To fill this research gap, we examined the drivers of these experiences from a customer journey design perspective. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and partial least squares multigroup analysis (PLS-MGA) were employed to analyze 775 valid omnichannel customers’ data, which were collected through an online survey. The findings suggest that the thematic cohesion, consistency, context sensitivity, and connectivity of touchpoints play an important role in improving omnichannel customer experience. Value co-creation behavior can be significantly increased by affective, cognitive, physical, relational, and symbolic experiences, but not by sensorial omnichannel customer experiences. These results not only contribute to the knowledge of omnichannel customer experiences, customer journeys, and value co-creation behavior, but also offer useful advice for omnichannel marketers.

1. Introduction

New technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and the concept of the “digital human” have led to an increasing number of channels and touchpoints that facilitate the development of omnichannel businesses and provide more opportunities for the interaction between firms and customers [1,2,3]. This has drawn much attention from academia and the business community and, as a key business strategy, can provide firms with a competitive advantage [4,5,6]. In China, a number of retailing firms, such as JD (https://www.jd.com/, accessed on 7 April 2025), Suning (https://www.suning.com/, accessed on 7 April 2025), and Yonghui (https://www.yonghui.com.cn/, accessed on 7 April 2025), have conducted omnichannel strategies. A recent report also suggested that 70% of Chinese customers have become real omnichannel shoppers whose purchasing activity is conducted via both online and offline channels [7]. Moreover, the worldwide market for omnichannel commerce is expected to grow to USD 14.5 billion by 2027 [8]. Therefore, omnichannel business significantly facilitates economic development.

Customer experience is an important factor of any omnichannel strategy [9,10,11,12]. Therefore, the development of a superior customer experience is directly associated with the success of an omnichannel business [4]. The role of customer experience has been extensively examined in the omnichannel context. Good experiences can generate positive outcomes, such as word-of-mouth, patronage intention, and loyalty [13,14,15], which in turn improve performance. The drivers of omnichannel customer experiences, including channel integration [4], personalization [13], channel-service configuration [14], service consistency and transparency [15], and interaction [11], have also been explored. Despite substantial research on the topic, few studies have examined the factors driving omnichannel customer experience from the customer journey design perspective.

The customer journey is a critical factor in achieving service success and building a competitive advantage [16,17,18,19]. This factor aids in achieving a deep understanding of the formation of customer experience [20]. Customers interact with multiple touchpoints throughout the various stages of their journey toward completing their purchases when using omnichannel services, according to their individual preferences [1,2]. For example, a customer may search for product information on the Internet, place an order through a producer’s official site, pick up the product in a selected physical store, and comment on the shopping experience through social media. Omnichannel shopping is thus much more complicated than single-channel shopping, and the customer experience is determined by these multiple touchpoints throughout the stages of the customer journey [1]. Therefore, it is important to optimize touchpoints, as well as design a customer journey that can provide omnichannel shoppers with an excellent customer experience. However, the relationship between customer journey strategy and omnichannel customer experience has not been examined in the literature.

Given the current intense market competition, customers are considered to be operant resources for firms [21]. Their value co-creation behavior supports firms’ ability to offer a good service [18,22], which in turn increases customers’ revisit intention [23], satisfaction [18], and well-being [24]. Thus, promoting value co-creation behavior is also important for an omnichannel firm [25]. However, the effects of customer journey design and customer experience on value co-creation behavior in the omnichannel commerce context have not been thoroughly examined.

To address research gaps and the practical challenges of omnichannel marketing, we explored how positive omnichannel customer experiences can be developed from a customer journey design perspective, using the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework. Specifically, we examined two specific research questions: “How can a customer journey design strategy influence the omnichannel customer experience?” and “What is the effect of such a strategy and customer experience on value co-creation behavior in the omnichannel context?”.

This study makes three main contributions to the literature. First, although some of the factors driving omnichannel customer experience have been examined [4,13,14,15], few studies have considered the role of the design of the customer journey. We assessed the effects that a customer journey design strategy can have on customer experience in an omnichannel context, thus offering a new perspective for developing effective customer experiences and confirming the important role of customer journey design strategy.

Second, although the importance of customer experience in the omnichannel context has been widely acknowledged [14,15,26], its link with value co-creation behavior has not been examined. We not only reveal the relationship between customer experience and value co-creation behavior in the omnichannel context, but also further verify the significance of the omnichannel customer experience by exploring how its various dimensions influence value co-creation behavior.

Third, studies have demonstrated that value co-creation behavior can help facilitate customer satisfaction, loyalty, revisit intention, and well-being, thereby enhancing firm performance [18,24,25,27,28], but little research has focused on how to promote value co-creation behavior in an omnichannel environment. Through examining the effects of customer journey design and omnichannel customer experience on value co-creation behavior, this study introduces value co-creation behavior to the omnichannel context and provides novel insights that expand research on its drivers and formation mechanisms.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Omnichannel Customer Experience

Customer experience refers to customers’ internal and subjective responses to direct and indirect contact with a firm [29]. It has also been defined as “a multidimensional construct focusing on a customer’s cognitive, emotional, behavioral, sensorial, and social responses to a firm’s offerings during customer’s entire purchase journey” [20]. Thus, customer experience is a multidimensional construct that reflects highly subjective responses to stimuli created by the firm along the customer journey [30,31]. In the omnichannel context, customer experience comprises customers’ subjective evaluations of their various experiences when using omnichannel services [2]. It represents multidimensional internal responses to interactions with a firm, as initiated at various touchpoints throughout the customer’s journey across multiple channels [1,12,20].

From a multidimensional perspective, omnichannel customer experiences develop through affective, cognitive, physical, relational, sensorial, and symbolic responses to the omnichannel firm [12]. Affective customer experience involves emotions such as pleasure, enjoyment, and sadness that a customer may perceive during contact with the firm [4]. The cognitive dimension involves the intellectual stimulation and learning that customers experience when interacting with an omnichannel firm [12]. Physical customer experience involves customers’ perceptions of body position and movement when using omnichannel services [12,32]. The relational dimension involves customers’ perceptions of the relationships or connections between themselves and the omnichannel firm [12]. The sensorial dimension encompasses the sensory qualities of interactions between customers and the omnichannel firm [12,32]. Finally, the symbolic dimension involves customers’ self-affirmation and self-expression when using omnichannel services [12]. We consider the multidimensional nature of customer experiences by examining each of these dimensions of omnichannel customer experiences.

A superior customer experience can provide a firm with a competitive advantage in today’s fierce market competition [4,30,31,33]. It is thus a core element of omnichannel retailing [1,10,34]. As customer experience has been widely accepted as a key component of omnichannel services [9,34,35], it is the focus of an increasing amount of research [36,37]. Previous studies have examined how to create remarkable experiences for omnichannel customers. Integrated channel services such as interaction, information, price, and promotion can help to provide superior experiences for omnichannel customers [4,14,15,38]. The effects that omnichannel customer experiences can have on customers’ psychology and behavior have been investigated and have been found to increase customers’ satisfaction [39], loyalty [15], word-of-mouth [10], retention [11], usage intention [4], and reduced perceived risk [26].

Although the various strategies that can influence customer experience and lead to positive outcomes in the omnichannel context have been explored, few studies have focused on the antecedents of omnichannel customer experience from a customer journey design perspective, or on the relationship between customer experience and value co-creation behavior. Therefore, the role of customer experience in omnichannel services should be further clarified.

2.2. Customer Journey Design

The importance of the customer journey for achieving service excellence has gained increasing attention in recent years [17,18,19]. This new source of competitive advantage extends beyond products and services [16,17]. Firms should therefore design and provide customers with multiple touchpoints throughout their journeys [16]. Homburg et al. proposed four dimensions of customer journey design: (1) thematic cohesion, (2) consistency, (3) context sensitivity, and (4) connectivity [30]. Thematic cohesion indicates the degree to which various touchpoints provide the same experience motif or brand theme. These can then match a customer’s specific lifestyle or desires [16,30]. Consistency refers to the extent to which multiple touchpoints offer a consistent experience throughout the customer journey, through cues including communication, messages, design language, and interaction behavior [16,17]. The context sensitivity of touchpoints indicates the extent to which touchpoints are adaptive to customers’ specific preferences, activities, situational contexts, and goals [30,40]. Connectivity refers to the extent to which customers can make seamless and smooth transitions between the multiple touchpoints of a firm [17,30].

As a market-oriented concept, customer journey design uses the customer’s perspective to evaluate firms’ designing efforts to meet customer needs and preferences [30,40], and its important role has been studied. An effective customer journey design can have positive effects on utilitarian and hedonic brand attitudes and customer loyalty [16]. Such designs can also increase trust in retailers [40]. Although the design of the customer journey has been shown to be important, empirical research on this topic is limited, and the relationship between customer journey design strategies and omnichannel customer experiences remains unclear. Therefore, we explored how designing and managing touchpoints can improve the omnichannel customer experience.

2.3. Value Co-Creation Behavior

Value co-creation is the process of value creation between customers and firms [41]. In this process, customers engage in specific behaviors collectively called value co-creation behavior, which refers to customers’ behavioral performance that improves firm value through co-creation in the service process [42]. It has also been defined as customers’ involvement in the value co-creation process [43]. Gong and Yi suggested that value co-creation behavior is both voluntary and discretionary [44]. It includes information sharing, recommendation, helping, tolerance, and feedback [18,22,25]. This behavior indicates the extent to which customers actively and consciously invest individual resources in a firm’s service delivery process, which enhances the value of the firm [25].

From the perspective of service-dominant logic, customers can be viewed as operant resources for firms [21], and firms’ encouragement of co-creation behavior can help to facilitate customers’ satisfaction, loyalty, revisit intention, and well-being, thus enhancing firm performance [18,25,27,28]. Encouraging customers to devote effort to co-creation in the service process can therefore be of benefit to firms [24,27]. Research has found that channel interactivity [25], service quality [22], social interaction ties [45], and host–guest interactions [46] play important roles in enhancing value co-creation behavior. However, limited research has examined the triggers of customer co-creation behavior in the omnichannel context, or how to orchestrate the various touchpoints to drive this behavior during the customer journey. Exploring the relationship between customer journey design and value co-creation behavior is therefore necessary.

2.4. The SOR Framework

Mehrabian and Russell [47] proposed the SOR framework to explain the relationships between environmental stimuli (S), an organism’s internal state (O), and the behavioral response of an individual (R). This suggests that environmental stimuli change an individual’s internal state, which then induces a particular behavior [47]. In the purchasing context, stimuli represent the external factors that can affect customers, such as channel integration [4], convenience [48], a seamless environment [49], and service quality [22]. An individual’s (organism’s) internal state represents perceptual and physiological feelings such as consumer empowerment [50], customer experience [4], and hedonic value [51]. An individual’s responses can be manifested through purchase intentions [50], citizenship behavior [22], impulse buying [48], and word-of-mouth [49]. The SOR framework has been widely applied in the omnichannel context [4,48,49,50,51]. Thus, we regard the design of the customer journey as the environmental stimulus, the omnichannel customer experience as an individual’s internal state, and a customer’s value co-creation behavior as the response. The conceptual model is shown in Figure 1, and presents the relationships between customer journey design, omnichannel customer experience, and value co-creation behavior based on the SOR framework.

3. Hypotheses

3.1. Effect of Thematic Cohesion

The thematic cohesion of touchpoints refers to the extent to which a firm puts effort into managing all of the available touchpoints along the customer journey, thereby providing customers with a specific theme or set of activities [30]. This indicates that the firm has a clear and coherent approach, and that all of its touchpoints share this common theme; as a result, a uniform value proposition is conveyed [16]. Thematically cohesive touchpoints therefore generate positive emotions and sensory appeal, induce intellectual stimulation, build good relationships between customers and the firm, and allow customers to find connections with the firm. Furthermore, thematic cohesion can enhance customers’ information retrieval and precise evaluation, which improves omnichannel customer experience [52]. Such coherence in terms of theme, along with the various touchpoints, also facilitates customer identification with the firm [16], which can promote customers’ voluntary behaviors that bring true value to firms. Previous studies also demonstrated that the thematic cohesion of touchpoints contributes to meeting customers’ competence needs satisfaction [53] and generating positive omnichannel customer experiences [52]. Therefore, we propose the following hypotheses:

H1. 

The thematic cohesion of touchpoints is positively related to (a) affective, (b) cognitive, (c) physical, (d) relational, (e) sensorial, and (f) symbolic omnichannel customer experiences.

H2. 

The thematic cohesion of touchpoints is positively related to value co-creation behavior.

3.2. Effect of Consistency

Consistency of touchpoints means that the various touchpoints of a firm are designed in a consistent way [16]. Through this approach, firms can ensure that customers experience the corporate identity consistently across various touchpoints along their journey [30]. This means that any touchpoint selected by a customer will lead to a similar experience of a firm’s service elements, including interaction and communication [30]. This allows customers to freely select any channel and move among all of the channels as they like, while maintaining a cohesive experience. Consistent experience cues provided across touchpoints can also help customers to quickly recognize and evaluate a firm, thus reducing their cognitive and time costs [16], enhancing their good mood, strengthening their relationship with omnichannel firms, and forming a positive sensory appeal. Moreover, conveying a uniform impression through various touchpoints along the journey can increase customers’ trust in the omnichannel firm [40], which in turn facilitates their engagement in co-creation behavior, thereby adding value to the firm. Some prior studies also addressed that the consistency of touchpoints is a critical feature of omnichannel businesses [10,26,54], and it could enhance the omnichannel customer experience [55]. Thus, we propose the following hypotheses:

H3. 

The consistency of touchpoints is positively related to (a) affective, (b) cognitive, (c) physical, (d) relational, (e) sensorial, and (f) symbolic omnichannel customer experiences.

H4. 

The consistency of touchpoints is positively related to value co-creation behavior.

3.3. Effect of Context Sensitivity

The context sensitivity of touchpoints refers to the extent to which omnichannel firms optimize their touchpoints to meet customers’ specific situations and needs [30,40]. This type of customer journey design strategy provides customers with a personalized journey based on their situational contexts and preferences and enhances the service interactions between customers and firms [16]. Touchpoints with a high context sensitivity ensure that the customer experience is flexible, customized, and convenient [30], thereby promoting the positive feelings related to using omnichannel services, establishing good personal relationships with the firm, and offering benefits and inducing sensory appeal during the consumers’ contact with the firm. Tailor-made touchpoints also increase the fit between what firms offer and what customers desire [16] and give customers more freedom to choose the services or journeys they prefer. Therefore, a customer is more likely to use the omnichannel service in their preferred way and to consider their contact with the firm to be in line with their personal values. When the touchpoints are designed in a highly customized way, customers engage in co-creation behaviors that benefit the omnichannel service provider, thereby increasing the firm’s value. In general, a high level of context sensitivity signifies that customers are able to experience personalized customer journeys and services, which improve their omnichannel experience [16,53]. In addition, the context sensitivity of touchpoints can satisfy customers’ autonomy needs, which then promotes value co-creation behavior [53]. Hence, we propose the following hypotheses:

H5. 

The context sensitivity of touchpoints is positively related to (a) affective, (b) cognitive, (c) physical, (d) relational, (e) sensorial, and (f) symbolic omnichannel customer experiences.

H6. 

The context sensitivity of touchpoints is positively related to value co-creation behavior.

3.4. Effect of Connectivity

Touchpoint connectivity refers to the extent to which customers can easily move from one touchpoint to another when using an omnichannel service [17]. Well-connected touchpoints allow for seamless transitions between them [30], making customer journeys smooth and hassle-free [17]. This renders the customers’ movement in this omnichannel system more fluent, generating positive feelings and insights when customers interact with the omnichannel service provider. Moreover, well-connected touchpoints can reduce the difficulty of using omnichannel services, which helps to decrease cognitive cost and positively affect their senses. If customers encounter no interruption in the omnichannel service when switching among the various touchpoints, they will engage in certain discretionary behaviors toward the firms, such as helping and providing feedback to reward firms. On the contrary, less connected touchpoints hinder the movement of customers among various touchpoints in the omnichannel system, which decreases their autonomy in the customer journey and reduces their tendency to perform value co-creation behavior [53]. In addition, past research demonstrated that connectivity enables the enhancement of customer experiences in omnichannel contexts. Therefore, we propose the following hypotheses:

H7. 

The connectivity of touchpoints is positively related to (a) affective, (b) cognitive, (c) physical, (d) relational, (e) sensorial, and (f) symbolic omnichannel customer experiences.

H8. 

The connectivity of touchpoints is positively related to value co-creation behavior.

3.5. Effect of the Omnichannel Customer Experience

The omnichannel customer experience refers to customers’ subjective evaluations of omnichannel service across the various touchpoints of the customer journey [12,20]. This is critical for the success of the omnichannel strategy [1,2,9]. A superior customer experience indicates that customers think highly of their affective, cognitive, physical, relational, sensory, and symbolic responses to the omnichannel firm [12]. Such customers are then willing to perform value co-creation behaviors, such as providing useful ideas for improving the firm’s service, recommending the firm to others, tolerating the firm’s mistakes, and helping other customers of the firm, as a result of a high level of omnichannel service. Similarly, some researchers found that improved omnichannel customer experience has a positive effect on enhancing customers’ satisfaction [39], usage intention [4], word-of-mouth [10], purchase intention [56], and engagement [57]. Therefore, we propose the following hypotheses:

H9. 

Value co-creation behavior is promoted by (a) affective, (b) cognitive, (c) physical, (d) relational, (e) sensorial, and (f) symbolic omnichannel customer experiences.

3.6. Mediation Effect of Omnichannel Customer Experience

Based on the SOR framework, outside stimuli affects individuals’ behavioral responses through their organism states [47]. In other words, organism states can mediate the influence of external stimuli on behaviors [47]. Accordingly, combining H1, H3, H5, H7, and H9, we posit that the omnichannel customer experience plays a mediating role in the relationship between customer journey design strategies and value co-creation behavior. Specifically, an omnichannel service with high levels of thematic cohesion, consistency, context sensitivity, and connectivity of its touchpoints can enhance the omnichannel customer experience, which then increases value co-creation behavior. Moliner et al. suggested that customer journey design could indirectly increase e-satisfaction through improving online customer experience [52]. Furthermore, several studies have suggested that customer experience mediates the relationship between its antecedents and consequences [4,11,58]. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:

H10. 

Omnichannel customer experience (i.e., affective, cognitive, physical, relational, sensorial, and symbolic experiences) mediates the impact of customer journey design (i.e., thematic cohesion, consistency, context sensitivity, and connectivity of touchpoints) on value co-creation behavior.

4. Methodology

4.1. Data Collection and Sample

To test our conceptual model and hypotheses, we conducted an online survey through a professional survey platform to collect data from across China. To ensure the quality of the data, in the questionnaire instructions, we introduced the respondents to the concept of omnichannel shopping and promised to protect their privacy and anonymity. Furthermore, we included a screening question at the start of the questionnaire to ensure that the respondents invited to participate in our online survey were appropriate for the study. Only those who had experience in using omnichannel services were selected to complete the questionnaire. They were asked to fill out the questionnaire based on their most recent experience using an omnichannel retailer’s service. Ultimately, we obtained 775 valid responses. The detailed demographic information of the sample is presented in

Table 1. Demographic information.

	Number	Percentage
Gender
Male	389	50.2
Female	386	49.8
Age (year)
≤20	82	10.6
21–30	343	44.2
31–40	262	33.8
≥41	88	11.4
Education
High school or below	84	10.8
Junior college	214	27.6
Bachelor’s degree	348	44.9
Master’s degree	76	9.8
Doctorate	53	6.9
Monthly income (yuan)
≤3000	102	13.2
3001–6000	260	33.5
6001–9000	221	28.5
9000–12,000	141	18.2
≥12,001	51	6.6

.

4.2. Measurements

All of the measurement items were adopted from previous studies and modified based on our research context (see Appendix A). The four-item measure of the thematic cohesion of touchpoints was adapted from Kuehnl et al., as was the four-item measure of their consistency and the four-item measure of their context sensitivity [16]. The six-item measure of the connectivity of touchpoints was adapted from Jaakkola and Terho [17]. The six dimensions of the omnichannel customer experience (affective, cognitive, physical, relational, sensorial, and symbolic dimensions) were adapted from Gahler et al. [12]. Each dimension contained three items. The six-item measure of value co-creation behavior was adapted from Cui et al. [25]. All of the items were measured with 7-point Likert scales.

4.3. Common Method Variance

As our data were collected from a single source and were self-reported, common method variance (CMV) may influence our results. To check for CMV, we followed the method suggested by Liang et al. [59]. Appendix B shows that the average variance explained by the substantive factors was 0.759, and that explained by the method factor was 0.002. In addition, all of the substantive factor loadings were significant, but most of the method factor loadings were nonsignificant. We checked for multicollinearity and found that the highest score for the variance inflation factors was 2.097, and thus less than 3. Therefore, CMV was not a serious concern in our research.

5. Data Analysis

We used SmartPLS 3 software with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in our study to test our conceptual model and hypotheses. PLS-SEM is well suited for complex models with multiple constructs and indicators and is also robust with relatively small sample sizes. In addition, PLS-SEM emphasizes prediction, which aligns well with the exploratory and practice-oriented nature of our study, which aims to explore enhancing omnichannel customer experience from a customer journey design perspective.

5.1. Measurement Model

The reliability and validity of the constructs were assessed. As Appendix C shows, all of the standard factor loading values were above the cutoff value of 0.7. The scores for Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.855 to 0.928. The values of composite reliability (CR) ranged from 0.912 to 0.943. The values of the rho_A coefficients ranged from 0.856 to 0.928. These results indicate that the variables had good reliability. The average variance extracted (AVE) values were greater than the threshold of 0.5, indicating sufficient convergent validity [60]. As Appendix D shows, the square root of the AVE was greater than the variable correlations [60]. Appendix E demonstrates that the highest value for the heterotrait–monotrait (HTMT) was 0.651, which was lower than the cutoff score of 0.850. The cross-loading analysis shown in Appendix F suggests that all of the items’ loadings on their own constructs were greater than their loadings on other constructs. Thus, all of the variables had good discriminant validity.

5.2. Structural Model

The results of the structural model are summarized in

Table 2. Path coefficients.

Path	Coefficient	t-Value	Conclusion
H1a: TCT→AFF	0.173 ***	4.684	Supported
H1b: TCT→COG	0.190 ***	4.378	Supported
H1c: TCT→PHY	0.270 ***	6.113	Supported
H1d: TCT→REL	0.137 ***	3.368	Supported
H1e: TCT→SEN	0.164 ***	4.091	Supported
H1f: TCT→SYM	0.130 ***	3.257	Supported
H3a: CCY→AFF	0.198 ***	4.413	Supported
H3b: CCY→COG	0.157 ***	3.598	Supported
H3c: CCY→PHY	0.114 *	2.372	Supported
H3d: CCY→REL	0.077 +	1.661	Supported
H3e: CCY→SEN	0.154 ***	3.380	Supported
H3f: CCY→SYM	0.237 ***	5.697	Supported
H5a: CST→AFF	0.182 ***	4.640	Supported
H5b: CST→COG	0.225 ***	5.488	Supported
H5c: CST→PHY	0.183 ***	4.098	Supported
H5d: CST→REL	0.264 ***	6.545	Supported
H5e: CST→SEN	0.186 ***	4.437	Supported
H5f: CST→SYM	0.202 ***	5.329	Supported
H7a: CON→AFF	0.216 ***	4.773	Supported
H7b: CON→COG	0.196 ***	4.267	Supported
H7c: CON→PHY	0.173 ***	3.807	Supported
H7d: CON→REL	0.292 ***	6.893	Supported
H7e: CON→SEN	0.285 ***	6.538	Supported
H7f: CON→SYM	0.206 ***	4.793	Supported
H9a: AFF→VCB	0.159 ***	3.997	Supported
H9b: COG→VCB	0.086 *	2.170	Supported
H9c: PHY→VCB	0.087 *	2.095	Supported
H9d: REL→VCB	0.156 ***	4.169	Supported
H9e: SEN→VCB	0.044	1.085	Not supported
H9f: SYM→VCB	0.094 *	2.317	Supported
H2: TCT→VCB	0.041	0.974	Not supported
H4: CCY→VCB	0.066	1.499	Not supported
H6: CST→VCB	0.076 *	2.081	Supported
H8: CON→VCB	0.178 ***	3.793	Supported

Note: ⁺ p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001.

. The thematic cohesion of touchpoints had a significant and positive effect on the affective (β = 0.173, p < 0.001), cognitive (β = 0.190, p < 0.001), physical (β = 0.270, p < 0.001), relational (β = 0.137, p < 0.001), sensorial (β = 0.164, p < 0.001), and symbolic (β = 0.130, p < 0.001) dimensions of the omnichannel customer experience, thus providing support for H1. The consistency of touchpoints was found to significantly influence the affective (β = 0.198, p < 0.001), cognitive (β = 0.157, p < 0.001), physical (β = 0.114, p < 0.05), relational (β = 0.077, p < 0.1), sensorial (β = 0.154, p < 0.001), and symbolic (β = 0.237, p < 0.001) dimensions of the omnichannel customer experience, thus supporting H3. The context sensitivity of touchpoints was found to significantly promote the affective (β = 0.182, p < 0.001), cognitive (β = 0.225, p < 0.001), physical (β = 0.183, p < 0.001), relational (β = 0.264, p < 0.001), sensorial (β = 0.186, p < 0.001), and symbolic (β = 0.202, p < 0.001) dimensions of the omnichannel customer experience, thus supporting H5. The connectivity of touchpoints was found to have a significant impact on the affective (β = 0.216, p < 0.001), cognitive (β = 0.196, p < 0.001), physical (β = 0.173, p < 0.001), relational (β = 0.292, p < 0.001), sensorial (β = 0.285, p < 0.001), and symbolic (β = 0.206, p < 0.001) dimensions of the omnichannel customer experience. Thus, H7 was also confirmed. We also found that the thematic cohesion (β = 0.041, p > 0.1) and consistency (β = 0.066, p > 0.1) of touchpoints did not enhance value co-creation behavior, indicating that H2 and H4 were not supported. However, the context sensitivity (β = 0.076, p < 0.05) and connectivity (β = 0.178, p < 0.001) of touchpoints were found to have significant and positive effects on value co-creation behavior, which supported H6 and H8. The possible explanation for not supporting H2 and H4 is that value co-creation behavior often requires a higher level of emotional involvement and a sense of personal contribution, which thematic cohesion and consistency alone cannot induce. In other words, customers may recognize and appreciate a firm’s coherent and consistent presentation across various touchpoints, but such structural qualities do not inherently stimulate participatory behaviors like feedback and helping. Additionally, the subsequent mediation analysis results also confirmed that these factors may only indirectly influence value co-creation behavior through the omnichannel customer experience.

In terms of the influence of the omnichannel customer experience, we found that value co-creation behavior could be significantly promoted by the affective (β = 0.159, p < 0.001), cognitive (β = 0.086, p < 0.05), physical (β = 0.087, p < 0.05), relational (β = 0.156, p < 0.001), and symbolic (β = 0.094, p < 0.05), but not the sensorial (β = 0.044, p > 0.1) dimensions of the omnichannel customer experience. Therefore, H9a, H9b, H9c, H9d, and H9f were confirmed, while H9e was not. One plausible explanation for not supporting H9e is that sensorial experience is often more passive and hedonic in nature, providing immediate pleasure but lacking the cognitive engagement that promotes customers to actively participate in value co-creating behavior. Furthermore, sensorial stimuli may be consumed individually and transiently, thus limiting their potential to translate into sustained behavioral contributions. Therefore, the lack of support for H9e suggests that customers’ sensorial experience may not be a driver of value co-creation behavior.

5.3. Mediation Effect

We examined the mediation effect of omnichannel customer experience by performing bootstrapping with 5000 resamples. The mediation effect analysis enables us to go beyond testing whether customer journey design affects value co-creation behavior, by uncovering how and why this effect occurs. Specifically, it identifies indirect pathways and underlying mechanisms between customer journey design and value co-creation behavior. This enriches the theoretical contribution by advancing explanatory power, and it also offers practical implications by highlighting actionable strategies for omnichannel practitioners.

As

Table 3. Results for the mediation effect.

Mediation Path	Mediation Effect	95% BC-CI	Significance
TCT→AFF→VCB	0.028	[0.014, 0.049]	Yes
TCT→COG→VCB	0.016	[0.002, 0.036]	Yes
TCT→PHY→VCB	0.024	[0.003, 0.049]	Yes
TCT→REL→VCB	0.021	[0.008, 0.040]	Yes
TCT→SEN→VCB	0.007	[−0.004, 0.024]	No
TCT→SYM→VCB	0.012	[0.003, 0.029]	Yes
CCY→AFF→VCB	0.032	[0.014, 0.057]	Yes
CCY→COG→VCB	0.014	[0.002, 0.032]	Yes
CCY→PHY→VCB	0.010	[0.001, 0.028]	Yes
CCY→REL→VCB	0.012	[−0.001, 0.032]	Yes
CCY→SEN→VCB	0.007	[−0.004, 0.022]	No
CCY→SYM→VCB	0.022	[0.005, 0.046]	Yes
CST→AFF→VCB	0.029	[0.013, 0.050]	Yes
CST→COG→VCB	0.019	[0.003, 0.042]	Yes
CST→PHY→VCB	0.016	[0.002, 0.037]	Yes
CST→REL→VCB	0.041	[0.021, 0.068]	Yes
CST→SEN→VCB	0.008	[−0.005, 0.026]	No
CST→SYM→VCB	0.019	[0.004, 0.041]	Yes
CON→AFF→VCB	0.034	[0.015, 0.063]	Yes
CON→COG→VCB	0.017	[0.002, 0.038]	Yes
CON→PHY→VCB	0.015	[0.002, 0.037]	Yes
CON→REL→VCB	0.045	[0.024, 0.074]	Yes
CON→SEN→VCB	0.013	[−0.008, 0.038]	No
CON→SYM→VCB	0.019	[0.004, 0.043]	Yes

shows, the thematic cohesion of touchpoints significantly increased value co-creation through the affective (M = 0.028, 95%[0.014, 0.049]), cognitive (M = 0.016, 95%[0.002, 0.036]), physical (M = 0.024, 95%[0.003, 0.049]), relational (M = 0.021, 95%[0.008, 0.040]), and symbolic (M = 0.012, 95%[0.003, 0.029]) dimensions, but not the sensorial (M = 0.007, 95%[−0.004, 0.024]) dimension, of the omnichannel customer experience. The consistency of touchpoints had a positive and significant mediation effect on value co-creation behavior via the affective (M = 0.032, 95%[0.014, 0.057]), cognitive (M = 0.014, 95%[0.002, 0.032]), physical (M = 0.010, 95%[0.001, 0.028]), and symbolic (M = 0.022, 95%[0.005, 0.046]) dimensions, but not the relational (M = 0.012, 95%[−0.001, 0.032]) or sensorial (M = 0.007, 95%[−0.004, 0.022]) dimensions, of the omnichannel customer experience. The context sensitivity of touchpoints was found to significantly enhance value co-creation behavior through the affective (M = 0.029, 95%[0.013, 0.050]), cognitive (M = 0.019, 95%[0.003, 0.042]), physical (M = 0.016, 95%[0.002, 0.037]), relational (M = 0.041, 95%[0.021, 0.068]), and symbolic (M = 0.019, 95%[0.004, 0.041]) dimensions, but not the sensorial (M = 0.008, 95%[−0.005, 0.026]) dimension, of the omnichannel customer experience. The connectivity of touchpoints had a significant positive mediating effect on value co-creation behavior via the affective (M = 0.034, 95%[0.015, 0.063]), cognitive (M = 0.017, 95%[0.002, 0.038]), physical (M = 0.015, 95%[0.002, 0.037]), relational (M = 0.045, 95%[0.024, 0.074]), and symbolic (M = 0.019, 95%[0.004, 0.043]) dimensions, but not the sensorial (M = 0.013, 95%[−0.008, 0.038]) dimension, of the omnichannel customer experience. These results indicate that most of the mediation paths are significant and that omnichannel customer experience plays an important mediating role in the relationship between customer journey design and value co-creation behavior. Thus, H10 was partially confirmed.

5.4. Post Hoc Analysis

To further explore the relationships between customer journey design, omnichannel customer experience, and value co-creation behavior, we divided our sample into Generation Z (n = 376) and non-Generation Z (n = 399) groups. The Generation Z group included those born between 1995 and 2010. This group exhibits unique shopping needs and behaviors, as they are digital natives [54]. Specifically, people in Generation Z are curious about new technology and show great interest in using services embedded in this technology [61]. Furthermore, they value shopping convenience and unique shopping experiences [61,62]. Therefore, they are likely to prefer an omnichannel service, which is supported by a sophisticated customer journey design, as such a service can offer a superior customer experience. Thus, the relationships between customer journey design, omnichannel customer experience, and value co-creation behavior may differ between the Generation Z and non-Generation Z groups.

To explore the above difference, we conducted a partial least squares multigroup analysis (PLS-MGA) after first performing a measurement invariance of composite models (MICOM) through three steps. In the first step, configural invariance was automatically established using SmartPLS. In the second and third steps, permutation tests with 5000 permutations were performed. As Appendix G shows, the results of step 2 indicate that the original correlation was not significantly different from 1, which suggests that compositional invariance was established. The results of step 3 shown in Appendix H indicate that the means and variance of all of the variables did not differ significantly between the two subsamples. Thus, we established full measurement invariance for the variables, based on the above results.

PLS-MGA was then conducted, and the results are presented in

Table 4. PLS-MGA results.

Path	Coefficient (GenZ)	Coefficient (Non-GenZ)	Difference
TCT→AFF	0.131 **	0.225 ***	−0.094
TCT→COG	0.261 ***	0.106	0.155 +
TCT→PHY	0.265 ***	0.278 ***	−0.013
TCT→REL	0.150 **	0.124 +	0.026
TCT→SEN	0.180 **	0.147 **	0.032
TCT→SYM	0.153 **	0.111 +	0.042
CCY→AFF	0.153 **	0.230 **	−0.077
CCY→COG	0.113 +	0.221 ***	−0.108
CCY→PHY	0.124 +	0.104	0.020
CCY→REL	0.082	0.072	0.010
CCY→SEN	0.171 *	0.137 *	0.034
CCY→SYM	0.281 ***	0.191 **	0.091
CST→AFF	0.214 ***	0.149 **	0.064
CST→COG	0.195 **	0.247 ***	−0.052
CST→PHY	0.155 *	0.205 **	−0.049
CST→REL	0.241 ***	0.280 ***	−0.039
CST→SEN	0.214 **	0.169 **	0.045
CST→SYM	0.216 ***	0.194 ***	0.022
CON→AFF	0.328 ***	0.103 +	0.226 **
CON→COG	0.273 ***	0.127 +	0.146
CON→PHY	0.196 **	0.154 *	0.042
CON→REL	0.319 ***	0.274 ***	0.046
CON→SEN	0.224 **	0.339 ***	−0.115
CON→SYM	0.134 *	0.271 ***	−0.136
AFF→VCB	0.263 ***	0.067	0.196 *
COG→VCB	0.043	0.125 *	−0.082
PHY→VCB	0.124 +	0.066	0.058
REL→VCB	0.139 *	0.178 **	−0.038
SEN→VCB	0.033	0.056	−0.023
SYM→VCB	0.052	0.112 *	−0.060
TCT→VCB	0.065	0.023	0.042
CCY→VCB	0.018	0.129 *	−0.111
CST→VCB	0.076	0.078	−0.002
CON→VCB	0.154 *	0.170 **	−0.015

Note: ⁺ p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

. We found that the thematic cohesion of touchpoints (Diff = 0.155, p < 0.1) had a greater effect on enhancing the cognitive omnichannel customer experience of the Generation Z group than that of the non-Generation Z group. The effect is stronger for the Generation Z group because they are digital natives who are more sensitive to thematic cohesion across multiple touchpoints. If different touchpoints convey the same theme, it resonates strongly with their expectation of seamless integration. On the contrary, customers in the non-Generation Z group may be more tolerant of channel discrepancies because they are accustomed to less integrated shopping journeys. The connectivity of touchpoints (Diff = 0.226, p < 0.01) for the Generation Z group exhibited a greater positive impact on the affective omnichannel customer experience than that of the non-Generation Z group. This result indicates that Generation Z customers like the fluid transitions between various touchpoints, and they derive emotional satisfaction from experiences that feel uninterrupted. Compared to older generations, Generation Z customers achieve a stronger affective omnichannel customer experience through connectedness. The affective omnichannel customer experience (Diff = 0.196, p < 0.05) was also found to increase value co-creation behavior more effectively in the Generation Z group than in the non-Generation Z group. This reflects the Generation Z customers’ tendency to engage more actively when emotionally connected to a firm which provides omnichannel service. Compared with non-Generation Z customers, Generation Z customers see emotional resonance as a catalyst for collaboration, making affective experience a powerful driver of their willingness to co-create value with the firm. In general, we identified various differences in terms of the impacts of customer journey design and omnichannel customer experience between Generation Z and non-Generation Z groups.

6. Discussion and Implications

6.1. Discussion

This study investigated the relationships between customer journey design strategy, customer experience, and customers’ value co-creation behavior in the omnichannel context. First, our findings reveal the impact of customer journey design strategy on omnichannel customer experiences. The empirical findings suggest that four types of customer journey design strategies, namely thematic cohesion, consistency, context sensitivity, and connectivity of touchpoints, can significantly improve different kinds of omnichannel customer experiences (i.e., affective, cognitive, physical, relational, sensorial, and symbolic). This corroborates the notion that customer journey design strategy plays a vital role in managing the customer experience [30]. These results also align with those of Wu and Tang [40], Gao et al. [9], and Chang and Li [10], who found that omnichannel services with the characteristics of thematic cohesion, consistency, context sensitivity, and connectivity were likely to achieve competitive advantages.

Second, this study examined how customer journey design and omnichannel customer experience affect value co-creation behavior. The findings show that context sensitivity and connectivity of touchpoints drive customers to engage in more value co-creation behavior toward omnichannel firms, which further substantiates the important role of customer journey design in inducing positive outcomes for firms [16,17]. Omnichannel customer experience has been found to promote value co-creation behavior, indicating that the customer experience plays an important role in the success of omnichannel businesses [10,11,12]. Furthermore, dimensions of the omnichannel customer experience mediate the effect of customer journey design on value co-creation behavior. These findings align with those of Gao et al. [4] and Yin et al. [11], who found that customer experience linked the relationship between omnichannel environmental stimuli and customer response behavior.

Third, this study conducted post hoc PLS-MGA by dividing our sample into Generation Z and non-Generation Z groups based on customer age. The results indicate that in the Generation Z group, compared with the non-Generation Z group, the thematic cohesion of touchpoints can better improve the cognitive omnichannel customer experience, the connectivity of touchpoints can better facilitate an affective omnichannel customer experience, and the affective omnichannel customer experience has a greater impact on value co-creation behavior. These findings answer the call of Ryu et al. to examine and compare omnichannel shoppers of different age groups [54], and confirm that customer age is a vital moderating variable and significantly shapes their attitudes and behaviors [28,33].

6.2. Theoretical Implications

This research makes several contributions to the omnichannel and customer journey literature. First, it enhances our understanding of the drivers of customer experience in the omnichannel context. Although studies have found that channel integration [4], personalization [13], channel service configuration [14], service consistency and transparency [15], and interaction [11] can improve the omnichannel customer experience, limited research has focused on such improvements from a customer journey design perspective. We examined the effects of various customer journey design strategies, including thematic cohesion, consistency, context sensitivity, and connectivity, on the omnichannel customer experience and found that these strategies significantly improve the omnichannel customer experience. Our study thus both reveals the critical role of customer journey design and provides a new perspective for developing a superior customer experience in the omnichannel context.

Second, this study offers new insights into the important role of customer experience. As a central aspect of omnichannel services, customer experience has received extensive research attention [36,37]. Studies have found that customer experience can increase satisfaction [38], patronage intention [14], loyalty [15], repeat purchase intention and word-of-mouth [13], and customer retention [11]. However, few studies have addressed the effects of the omnichannel customer experience on value co-creation behavior. In this study, we explored how customer experience affects customers’ value co-creation behavior, and we examined the mediating role of customer experience in the relationship between the customer journey and value co-creation behavior. The results not only enrich our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of the omnichannel customer experience but also confirm its importance in omnichannel businesses.

Third, this study offers a new perspective from which to understand how to encourage value co-creation behavior in the omnichannel context. Although other studies have clarified the critical role of value co-creation behavior in increasing firm performance [25,27], limited research has focused on the antecedents of value co-creation behavior in the omnichannel context. Research has shown that channel interactivity [25], service quality [22], social interaction ties [45], and host–guest interactions [46] can improve value co-creation behavior. However, the facilitators of value co-creation behavior remain unclear. Specifically, the effects of customer journey design and customer experience on value co-creation behavior in an omnichannel environment have not been examined. Hence, our novel perspective provides further insights into ways of prompting value co-creation behavior by considering the roles of customer journey design and omnichannel customer experience.

6.3. Practical Implications

This study also provides practical implications for omnichannel marketers. First, our findings suggest that the thematic cohesion of touchpoints not only fosters an omnichannel customer experience but also promotes value co-creation behavior indirectly. Therefore, managers should design omnichannel systems to promote a certain lifestyle or activity in all touchpoints to establish a specific theme. For example, the various touchpoints of a firm should share a common brand theme and display a unified brand image to customers.

Second, our results show that the consistency of touchpoints can also enhance the omnichannel customer experience, which in turn prompts value co-creation behavior. Therefore, omnichannel retail managers should integrate various touchpoints to provide customers with consistent content across the touchpoints. For instance, an omnichannel firm should offer customers the same products with the same prices in both its online and offline channels. Moreover, the touchpoints of the omnichannel firm should conduct consistent promotional campaigns and provide customers with the same services, such as repairs and returns.

Third, the findings imply that the context sensitivity of touchpoints not only facilitates omnichannel customer experience but also increases value co-creation behavior, both directly and indirectly. Accordingly, the omnichannel manager should take each customer’s specific activities, interests, and/or needs into account. Specifically, the personalized customer journey should be designed for customers based on their individual features. Therefore, firms must first understand omnichannel shoppers’ interests and then provide them with highly customized product assortments, advertisements, pickup locations, webpages, and product recommendations accordingly.

Fourth, our results indicate that the connectivity of touchpoints significantly promotes the omnichannel customer experience and plays a significant direct and indirect role in increasing value co-creation behavior. As such, omnichannel business managers should reduce barriers between touchpoints to create a smooth and fluent journey for customers moving from one touchpoint to another. Specifically, an omnichannel service provider could create a unified and unique account for each customer, helping the different touchpoints to understand and share customers’ information and facilitating customers’ seamless experiences.

7. Limitations and Future Research

This study also has certain limitations that should be addressed in future research. First, we used cross-sectional and self-reported data to test our hypotheses. Future studies could apply long-term research designs and collect data from multiple sources to verify the conceptual model and hypotheses. Second, this study was conducted in the Chinese context. To increase the generalizability of the research findings, future research could be conducted in other countries and examine the impact of various cultural backgrounds. Third, we only compared the effects of customer journey design and omnichannel customer experience with respect to two age groups. Future research could consider other moderating variables, such as customer gender, product category, brand involvement, and industry. Fourth, to further reveal the effects of customer journey design strategy, future research could consider other outcomes, such as shopping value, customer inspiration, and channel choice. Fifth, future research could strengthen understanding of the formation mechanism of value co-creation behavior in the omnichannel environment by exploring other driving factors, including cross-channel integration, digital capabilities, and dynamic capabilities.