Purpose

Actor engagement (AE) literature shows inconsistent understandings of engagement intensity. However, a holistic picture of the nature of AE intensity is foundational to advance empirical AE models and measurement frameworks. This paper provides a nuanced understanding of what engagement intensity is and how it unfolds on different network levels.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual study draws from a literature review and offers a comprehensive classification scheme of AE intensity. The literature review extends beyond marketing and service research and draws from the etymology of AE intensity in management and social science, specifically, the fields of student, employee and civic engagement.

Findings

The classification scheme clarifies that AE intensity at the individual level refers to actors' affective and cognitive tone and varying magnitudes (i.e. efforts, duration, activeness) of resource investments. At the dyad level, AE intensity represents relational strength, and at the network level, it refers to the degree of connectedness in the network.

Research limitations/implications

The research reconciles conceptual inconsistencies in the AE literature. Our classification scheme goes beyond the individual actor and actor–actor dyad and offers a holistic overview of possible ways to operationalize AE intensity in networks.

Practical implications

The classification scheme can be used as a strategic checklist to include AE intensities of individual actors (e.g. customers and employees), relationships between these actors and network connectedness, when further developing engagement measurement tools and benchmarks.

Originality/value

This is the first study providing a comprehensive understanding of AE intensity from an individual, dyadic and network perspective.

中文翻译：

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演员参与强度的本质：分类方案

目的

演员参与 (AE) 文献显示对参与强度的理解不一致。然而，全面了解 AE 强度的本质是推进经验性 AE 模型和测量框架的基础。本文对什么是参与强度以及它如何在不同的网络级别上展开提供了细致入微的理解。

设计/方法/途径

这项概念性研究借鉴了文献综述，并提供了 AE 强度的综合分类方案。文献综述超越了市场营销和服务研究，并借鉴了管理和社会科学中 AE 强度的词源，特别是学生、员工和公民参与领域。

发现

分类方案阐明了个人层面的 AE 强度是指行为者的情感和认知基调以及资源投资的不同程度（即努力、持续时间、活跃度）。在二元层级，AE强度代表关系强度，在网络层级，它指的是网络中的连通程度。

研究局限性/影响

该研究调和了 AE 文献中的概念不一致。我们的分类方案超越了个体演员和演员-演员二元组，并提供了在网络中操作 AE 强度的可能方法的整体概述。

实际影响

在进一步开发参与测量工具和基准时，分类方案可用作战略清单，以包括单个参与者（例如客户和员工）的 AE 强度、这些参与者之间的关系和网络连通性。

原创性/价值

这是第一项从个人、二元和网络角度全面了解 AE 强度的研究。