Abstract
The South African automotive industry faces structural disruption as digital technologies, changing customer expectations, and mobility innovations reshape dealership dynamics. This study develops and validates a customer engagement model that integrates customer involvement, perceived value, satisfaction, trust, commitment, perceived risk, and purchase intention. Grounded in relationship marketing theory, service-dominant logic, and commitment-trust theory, the model further examines the moderating roles of service innovation and customer groups.
A quantitative survey of 463 customers across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape was analysed using PLS-SEM and multi-group analysis. The results demonstrate that commitment is the strongest predictor of engagement, which directly drives purchase intention. Trust reduces perceived risk and reinforces commitment, while satisfaction and value enhance relational strength. Service innovation moderates the commitment–engagement pathway but does not significantly alter trust–commitment effects. Generational analysis reveals distinct engagement mechanisms: traditionalists value personalised relationships, boomers prefer hybrid digital–physical interactions, and changers respond most to technology-driven experiences.
The study contributes theoretically by extending engagement and commitment–trust frameworks into an emerging market under digital transformation and by highlighting generational heterogeneity in engagement drivers. Practically, it offers dealerships evidence-based strategies to build enduring customer relationships, align service innovation with cohort-specific expectations, and stimulate purchase intention. This research thus advances both scholarly understanding and managerial practice by providing a holistic, contextually grounded framework for customer engagement in the South African automotive industry.