Keywords

Emotions, Customer Experience, TCCM Framework, Literature Review, Bibliometric.

Introduction and Background

Customers who are engaged, knowledgeable and connected, often evaluate their experiences with business as well as their consumption and disposal of its offerings, while making choices. This experience is also found to be influencing their loyalty as well (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). Human behavior, especially choice behavior, is seen as the result of complex interaction of many elements while making choice decisions based on available alternatives (Agranov & Ortoleva, 2015, 2017; Shuman & Scherer, 2014, Edwards, 1954). They explain not just single choice making decisions, but also repeated purchases (Hoyer, 1984); word of mouth (Berger, 2014); referrals (Schmitt, Skiera & Van Den Bulte, 2011); which are seen as leading to trust (Singh et al., 2002); satisfaction (Oliver, 1980); and even show a connection with relationship commitment & continuity (Bolton, 1998), as also found to an extent in the key mediating variables (KMV) framework proposed by (Morgan & Hunt , 1994) around constructs which result in commitment, leading to outcomes such as acquiescence in a relationship, seen as connected with affective commitment, which is laden with emotional valence. All individuals, organizations, and society in an interactive community, consistently create experiences, and hence, experiences are a fundamental part of everyday life at all levels of society and arise in various forms of interactions (Kuuru & Närvänen, 2019).

The emergence of experience as a key business element evolved over three decades. Earlier studies in marketing focused on distribution and exchange of commodities and manufactured products and featured a foundation in economics (Marshall, 1920; Shaw, 1912; Higgs, 1904; Copeland, 1952). A variety of research themes is seen to have played a role in this transition.

A shift from products to the cocreation of value, and relationships, that is the shift from goods dominant logic to service dominant logic was seen initially, with the work on services as a distinct business paradigm and the sequence of events from services to satisfaction to loyalty and profitability as seen in the contributions of Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry, 1985; Berry & Parasuraman, 1993; Lovelock & Gummesson, 2004. Additionally, new perspectives emerged focussing on intangible resources like satisfaction (Oliver, 1980; Sheth & Uslay, 2007), exceeding expectations (Cronin & Taylor, 1992) to delight (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1988), where delight clearly pointed to an emotional outcome affecting consumer’s buying behaviour, and was mentioned by several authors (Grönroos, 1982; Berry & Parasuraman, 1993; Lovelock & Gummesson, 2004; Vargo & Lusch, 2014).

By the beginning of the twenty first century, there was a shift from impact of services, service quality, service satisfaction on loyalty and profitability to a new set of constructs relating to the ongoing customer journey leading to trust and commitment (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Malhotra, 2005; Vargo & Lusch, 2004; Sheth, Sethia & Srinivas, 2010; Lusch, Vargo & O’Brien, 2007; Sheth & Uslay, 2007). Though there is literature on related theme earlier (the work of Farley & Ring, 1976) research in the subsequent period focused on the customer journey (for instance, Maklan & Klaus, 2009;), and the emotional aspects of the journey coalesced into research involving the role of emotions in the journey and consequent impact on decisions, namely the customer experience (Chang et al, 2010; Maklan et al, 2011; Vargo & Lusch, 2014; Chandler & Lusch, 2014). The critical evolving focus area seen at this time in marketing was customer experience, emphasizing that what individuals truly aspire to are not goods but satisfying experiences; lending support to a much older perspective espoused by (Mulvihill & Alderson, 1958); as evidenced in extant literature such as Maklan & Klaus, (2011).

Experience itself was conceptualized as a new economic offering, and was seen to emerge as the next stage after commodities, goods and services (Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Oliver, 1980; Shaw, 1912; Carlson et al., 2017). It was seen as a critical factor in the development of products, services and engaging with consumers overall, and the organization's future success was seen to depend on the firm’s ability to build a universe of experiences around its products and services (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004; Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Berry, Carbone & Haeckel, 2002; Meyer & Schwager, 2007).

During 2004-08, customer experience focussed on experiential value from service dominant logic aspect (Vargo & Lusch, 2008). This theme of research has been rising at an exponential rate and is now seen as a fundamental concern for organizations all over the world (Imhof & Klaus, 2019; Kranzbühler et al., 2017).

It may therefore be seen that there is a multiplicity of evolutionary sequences in this theoretical area, and a variety of research streams have been connected at various stages of evolution of research on the dimensions now brought together under customer experience research and research on emotions affecting consumer choices.

The roots of research in customer experiences originated in the early 1980s, when consumer researchers began to view customers as feelers, thinkers, and doers rather than rational decision-makers, suggesting that a customer is not always rational toward consuming rather they think emotionally as well as seen from the seminal work of Holbrook & Hirschman, (1982) and others (Schmitt, 1999; 2010; Loewenstein, 2001; Epstein, 1994; Kahneman, 2003; Loewenstein, 2001; Stanovich & West, 2000). In today's environment, where customers are more in control than ever, experience is a key element that differentiates companies from competitors by creating memorable experiences for their customers (Bolton et al., 2018; Grønholdt et al., 2015; Gentile, Spiller and Noci, 2007; Pine & Gilmore, 1999). To make these experiences memorable, scholars have emphasized on the crucial role of emotions in the customer experience (Bastiaansen et al., 2018; Haeckel, Carbone and Berry, 2003; Mahr, Stead & Odekerken-Schröder, 2019). Emotions are a key aspect of consumer behavior and more so when they must make a buying decision (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2017; Gentile et al., 2007; Mellers & McGraw, 2001; Pandey et al, 2018).

The significance of emotions in order to produce these enduring experiences have been emphasized (Bastiaansen et al, 2018, Kuuru & Närvänen, 2019; Schmitt, 1999). With the changing times due to the digital evolution, individuals having emotional connect, behave differently from others, which significantly transforms the customer experience (Hoyer et al., 2020). Experiences are created through the digital as well as face-to-face interactions customers have while providing different services (Bolton et al., 2018).

Indeed, the critical work of (Rose, Hair & Clark, 2012) in proposing the online consumer experience (OCE framework) based on the flow concept, and deep engagement in the activity further drew attention to the online experience phenomenon, with its own stream of research, and highlighted the online as well as experiential aspects of the customer’s behavior vis-à-vis any offering online.

“Phygital” experience created a new integrated customer experience, using technology that is practical, enjoyable and interesting in order to ensure that customers perceive that it facilitates and expedites their shopping journey. Whether it's grocery (Peeroo, Samy & Jones, 2017), retail (Duong et al., 2022), banking (Rajaobelina et al., 2018), tourism (Agarwal & Mohan, 2022), food (Hussain et al., 2020), or any other offering, based on past and ongoing purchases experiences help in customer’s decision-making. Thus, businesses understand that the customer experience is primarily about the interactive human experience.

The customer lifetime became an important aspect for businesses hoping to retain customers (Jain & Singh, 2002; Delcourt, et al., 2016; Bolton, 1998; Oliver, 1980). The focus on retention occurs in the customer lifecycle (Berger & Nasr, 1998; Jain & Singh, 2002), also leading to business practices such as cross-selling, up-selling, wallet share, retention, renewal, etc. This also shed focus on drivers of customer lifetime value as trust, commitment and satisfaction (Borle, Singh & Jain, 2008), which would influence the customer journey over the lifecycle (Berger & Nasr, 1998). The focus on customer journey led to research on constructs such as loyalty (Mellens, Dekimpe & Steenkamp, 1996), brand love (Batra, Ahuvia & Bagozzi, 2012), word of mouth (Karjaluoto, Munnukka & Kiuru, 2016); repatronage intention (Chiu, Won & Bae, 2019) including factors affecting choices (Shuman & Scherer, 2014, Edwards, 1954), customer journey (Mele et al., 2021), customer touch points (De Keyser et al., 2020), renewals (Moser, Bloom & Akhtar, 2023), etc. This exemplified a paradigm shift from transactional marketing to relationship marketing (Berry and Parasuraman, 1993; Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry, 1985; Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Customers evaluate their total service encounter (Parasuraman et al., 1988) based on their expectations, with a positive experience being viewed as one that satisfies their expectations (Cronin & Taylor, 1992), and may be expected to lead to loyal behaviour, as mentioned above.

It is interesting to note that many theorists assumed that emotions are one of the sources for the formation of consumer attitude and behavior at the same time (Banyte et al., 2007). Many researchers in recent studies have highlighted the importance of emotionally embedded experiences, which play a crucial role in consumer decision making (Cohen &Reed, 2006; Epstein, 1994; Kahneman, 2003; Loewenstein, 2001; Novak et al., 2000; Kim & Han, 2020; McColl - Kennedy et al., 2017; Balaji et al., 2017). It may be noted that Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) state that an emotionally shocking experience can also evoke an emotionally tense mood such as happiness, sadness, anger, sadness, guilt, or amazement.

Therefore, a variety of constructs and themes related to customer experiences and customer emotions have emerged in recent decades, such as brand love (Batra, Ahuvia & Bagozzi, 2012; Palusuk, Kles, & Hasan, 2019) and emotional pathways in decision making (Epstein, 1994 ; Kahneman, 2003; Stanovich & West, 2000), situational factors (Wang, Harris & Patterson, 2012); including the seminal work of Belk (1975), which incorporates antecedent states surrounding moods and arguably emotions; technological change (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000; Bilgihan et al., 2013), brand loyalty (Guest, 1944; Mascarenhas, Kesavan & Bernacchi, 2006), brand equity (Ding & Tseng, 2015), to name a few.

Research in this domain of the influence of emotions in customer behaviour and marketing strategy, may need to capture the expression of the variety of emotions in customer experience and organize a more systematic, in-depth, and structured analysis to enhance the understanding of the role and pathways of emotions in consumer choice.

There is thus a need to investigate and synthesize the role of emotions in experiences in a more comprehensive manner on this complex phenomenon to understand several factors that affect how emotions are aroused and experiences are created. This will help practitioners to focus on the significant situational factors that create favorable experiences for the customers. Additionally, this will enable discovery and more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of emotional factors for improved design of marketing strategy and its elements and implement cues for better offerings to create favorable experiences that will eventually attract and retain customers. Therefore, in the present study, extensive structured review & bibliometric analysis have been attempted. This bibliometric analysis aims to identify the theoretical and intellectual themes of the function of emotions and customer experiences research, so that all thematic areas of study in this domain may be identified. So, relationship between themes and interrelationships between various associated constructs may be examined in depth for a better insight, so that synthesis can be done to identify commonalities of constructs, interrelationships and other matters contributing to synthesis across constructs and themes. This article seeks to address following research questions:

RQ1. What is the bibliometric profile for customer experience and emotions research in the context of

1. Publication activity

2. Prominent articles

3. Top Authors

4. Top journals

RQ2. How has the literature on customer experience and emotions progressed in terms of

5. Theoretical frameworks

6. Contexts (i.e., subject areas and countries),

7. Characteristics (nomological framework i.e., independent, dependent, mediating and moderating variables), and

8. Methods employed in customer experience and emotions research.

RQ3. What are the intellectual structures using thematic analysis in terms of co-occurrence of authorship and keywords.

The following section includes construct-based methodology used in the research studies and sample data. In the next section, we then examine the general overview and results of the bibliometric analysis, followed by a detailed discussion of the theories, contexts, characteristics and methods over the course of 21 years of customer experience and emotion research. Next, we discuss the progress of customer experience and emotion research, highlight gaps, and provide directions for further research. The final section discusses the conclusions and implications of our study.

Research Methodology

Structure of The Review And Topic Selection

The study uses a combination of systematic literature and bibliometric analysis. The main agenda behind using systematic literature review is to retrospect the literature of a specific domain to identify gaps and suggest future research directions of that domain area (Paul and Rialp-Criado, 2020). It is the one of the most widely acceptable methods due to the scientific rigor behind the methodology (Gopalakrishnan & Ganeshkumar, 2013; Paul and Rialp-Criado, 2020). The main aim of the study is to synthesize 'customer experience and emotions' literature based on methods, theories, context, and characteristics of existing research and to provide future research directions.

Additionally, the study uses bibliometric analysis that sheds light on the development path and scientific research trends in a particular research field (Donthu et al., 2021), provides a structural analysis of past literature over a period of time, identifying shifts in disciplinary boundaries and identifying the most productive scholars and institutions and offers a spatial representation of research topics (Crane & Norman M. Kaplan, 1974). It records the structural and dynamic development of the defined terms and the research area and also divides the various research items such as documents, authors, journals and words into groups and thereby examines them under different structures (Singhania et al., 2022; Docampo & Cram 2019). In order to synthesize this knowledge, the conceptual, intellectual and social structures used to determine the interrelationships of the concepts within the domain must be identified (Aria & Cuccurullo 2017; Sardana & Singhania, 2022). Analyzing the co-occurrence of words within the document helps us understand the concepts behind these words (Nasir et al. 2020; van Eck & Waltman 2014). Bibliometrics tries to deduce the structural patterns and research paths of scientific literature. It examines the foundational research that serves as the basis for deducing the interrelationship between the most influential citations (Goswami & Agrawal, 2020). The creation of such bibliometric maps and networks helps researchers to assess the collective state of the art and identify hotspots in the respective research field (van Eck & Waltman 2014).

Topic Selection and Analysis Method

Topic selection is one of the essential tasks of any literature review. The study follows a two-step approach to find research topics and keywords of the search string. The searched string used in the ‘topic’ of the Scopus database were ("Customer experience*" AND "Emotion*") OR ("Customer experience*" AND "Emotion*" AND "Loyalty"). The data was extracted on 1st April 2023. The initial data corpus had 511 items, and the language “English” was considered one of the filters to extract data. The article selection process in the study consisted of four subprocesses (Figure 1): identifications, screening, eligibility, and inclusion. In the identification stage, 157 articles were excluded as they were conference proceedings, meeting abstracts, books, book chapters, editorials, and notes. After going through the abstracts of all 349 papers, forty-seven papers were discarded because those forty-seven articles were not completely in the consumer behavior domain. In the third step, after screening the 302 full articles, fifteen articles were not eligible to be taken from the years 2001-2022. The final data corpus came in 287 research articles, known as inclusion.

The main aim of this study is to scrutinize existing literature on emotions and customer experience research, that is to (a) identify structural elements of research and potential inter-relationship, (b) draw the conclusion of existing relationship and the need to experience, collate and classify all such elements as per above. Hence, the manuscript compiled a list of publications that discussed ‘emotions’ and ‘customer experience’. This research focuses on different panoramas of emotional role in customer experience and tries to find any theoretical underpinning in current literature. This focuses the study within the top-tier journals in the data corpus. Scopus is used as the database to extract data corpus for this study. Though the Web of Science database is often considered a more popular database, the Scopus database launched by Elsevier in 2004 is found to have a broader database in social sciences, significantly covering more than 16 million references dating back to 1996 (Vieira & Gomes, 2009), with wider selection of journals covering behavioral sciences and likely the one of emotions. The study considers only peer-reviewed journals and excludes conference proceedings, meeting abstracts, etc., to maintain high-quality publications in the data corpus (Meier, 2011).

Software and Visualization Tools

Many visualization tools have been developed for bibliometrics and here used two commonly used tools as Biblioshiny and Vos Viewer (Van Eck & Waltman, 2009). They are applications that are used to create and present networks based on bibliometric data. The most common bibliometric methods were used in this study, such as publication and citation trends, most influential articles and the most prominent contributors in this field as publishers (Paul & Benito, 2017; Paul & Benito, 2017). Keyword co-occurrence, clusters and thematic analysis were also performed to understand the intellectual structure of this domain, making it possible to visualize the progress of the field along with improving the readability of analysis results (Gaviria-Marin et al., 2019).

Descriptive Results

Trend of Publications and Citations in Time

Trend analysis shows the trends and developments in this area based on annual growth in publication volume (Singh et al., 2021; Saha et al., 2023). Figure 2 shows the year wise trends in publications of research on emotions and customer experience from 2001 to 2022.

From the data corpus, two prominent papers were published during 2001-02, focused on emotional elements between the customer and the service provider, by introducing the concept of service encounter emotional value (Bailey et al., 2001).

During 2003-04, the relationship between different service elements designed to create enhanced experience and customer loyalty was explored, suggesting that for any service, there are particular emotions that will drive loyalty behavior but the desired emotions may not be the ones that the company is currently evoking in customers through their service design (Pullman & Gross, 2004). The connection between experience and emotions emerged in literature during this period. Similarly, customers' overall experience gets influenced by sensory and emotional clues that evokes a value perception of brand preference leading to earn their loyalty (Haeckel et al., 2003).

The overall number of publications and citations increased significantly between 2007 and 2009, demonstrating the importance and value attached to this study area. An article by the design of experience-centric services leads to customer loyalty by the creation of emotional connections (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2009). By incorporating emotions and perceptual distortion over time, customer experience overcomes many problems associated with static, partial golden measures of service quality (Palmer, 2010).

There were 22 publications published during this 2013, which is nearly twice as many as the number of papers in the dataset that were published throughout the previous four years. During this period, an article by Edvardsson (2005) having the highest number of citations found that companies need to focus on the small details that make big differences to customers, and that this will truly enhance the experiences of the customers in a positive way. Similarly, competencies were identified and mapped that will enhance experiences co-created in order to make it memorable altogether (Bharwani & Mathews, 2016). People and interaction are likely to be critical here, and co-creation is highlighted as a factor, implying interactions around the

This is borne out by the most notable article during 2017-18 from the data corpus exploring consumer experiences with robotics-based dimensions as embodiment, emotion, human-oriented perception, feeling of security and co-experience for evaluating user experiences (Tung & Au, 2018).

The number of publications in 2019–22 increased in comparison to the previous two years, emphasizing the significance of emotions and consumer experience research. A total of 86 articles were published within a span of two years. The most prominent article during this duration concentrated on the use of chatbots to supplement, or even replace, humans in service interactions, which can subsequently determine the customer experience and found that there is a significant positive effect occurs for human service agents in terms of both satisfaction and purchase intention, which are fully mediated by emotion and rapport, (Sands et al., 2020).

Prominent Journal distribution

The top journals are shown in Table 1 in order of publications and citations. These journals were retrieved from Scopus database as of 1st April 2023 Table 2.

Table 1 List of Top 10 Journals where the 287 Research Papers Analyzed have been Published
Element	TC	NP	Impact factor
Journal of Service Research	1029	9	6.382
Journal of Services Marketing	525	11	5.246
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management	486	8	9.321
European Journal of Marketing	457	5	5.181
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services	440	11	10.972
Decision Sciences	418	1	4.551
International Journal of Hospitality Management	382	9	10.427
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research	371	3	2.685
Journal of Marketing	311	3	9.43
Journal of Service Management	307	6	7.47

Source: Scopus Database.

Table 2 List with the Top Ten of the Most-Cited Research as on 1st April 2023
Title	Source	Total Citations
Service Design for Experience-Centric Services	Zomerdijk and Voss (2010)	564
Ability of Experience Design Elements to Elicit Emotions and Loyalty Behaviors	Pullman and Gross (2004)	418
Customer experience management: a critical review of an emerging idea	Palmer (2010)	260
Relationships Among Experiential Marketing, Experiential Value, and Customer Satisfaction	Yuan and Wu (2008)	257
Lasting customer loyalty: a total customer experience approach	Mascarenhas et al. (2006)	232
Exploring customer experiences with robotics in hospitality	Tung and Au (2018)	191
What Is Quality? An Integrative Framework of Processes and States	Golder et al. (2012)	187
Small details that make big differences: A radical approach to consumption experience as a firm's differentiating strategy	N. Bolton et al. (2014)	186
Service quality: beyond cognitive assessment	Edvardsson (2005)	179
Experience, Emotion, and Eudaimonia: A Consideration of Tourist Experiences and Well-being	Knobloch et al. (2016)	171

The Journal of Service Research and the Journal of Services Marketing are the two most prominent journals in terms of citations. Journal of Marketing and Retailing, Journal of Consumer Services and the Journal of Services Marketing are the two most productive journals in terms of the number of publications so far. These journals mainly cover business studies and provides updated articles on services research to cope in the growing service-based economy. Some of the recent studies in these journals talked about consumers’ emotional responses to environmental concerns and their regulatory focus in order to promote sustainable consumption behaviours (Maduku, 2024), emotion’s role and their influence on the customer experience (Manthiou, Hickman & Klaus, 2020; Herrando et al., 2022).

The next set of notable journals are International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (impact factor 9.321), in which a prominent article discussed the influence of emotions that most likely to produce a satisfying experience take place while encountered with enjoying rides, dining, and interacting with others (Torres et al., 2019).

Next set of leading journals like the European Journal of Marketing (impact factor 5.181) sheds light on contributions by practitioners and researchers on marketing activity and hence useful to develop strategies, like with a better understanding of customers' ways of managing their emotions, managers and workers on the ground can create and carry out recovery strategies that cater to customers' emotions and yield better results (Balaji, Roy & Quazi, 2017)

Another leading journal is Decision Sciences having the foremost publication with international visibility and impact factor of 4.551.A very prominent article from this journal explored the relationship between different service elements designed to create enhanced experience and customer loyalty and looked at emotional responses as mediating factors between the physical and relational elements and loyalty behaviors (Pullman & Gross, 2004).

International Journal of Hospitality Management (impact factor 10.427) published nine papers till 1st April 2023 that review prominent trends and developments in the area of hospitality sector. A notable article in this journal examined how differently positive and negative emotions mediate the influence of two fundamental values of ethnic restaurant consumption on levels of customer satisfaction, suggesting that not every perceived hedonic value leads to customer satisfaction unless customers experience positive emotions from such a value (Song and Qu, 2017). Further set of prominent journals are Journal of Hospitality (impact factor 2.685) and Tourism Research (impact factor 9.43), Journal of Marketing and Journal of Service Management (impact factor 7.47).

The Theory- Context- Characteristics- Methods (TCCM) Framework

Theories

Customer experience and emotion research has applied theoretical frameworks from various disciplines to explain specific mechanisms and effects (Table 3). We identified a total of 87 studies that applied at least one theory. Further, we discussed the most tested theories in customer experience and emotions research and accordingly we tried to segregate based on Psychological and Attitudinal and Behavioral theories.

Table 3 List of Prominent Theories and their Sources in Emotions and Customer Experience Research
Theories	Examples
Cognitive Appraisal theory	Moraleda et al., 2020; Delcourt et.al,2017; Torres et.al, 2017; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2017; Min & Kim, 2019; Batat, 2022; Santos & Basso, 2012
Theory of Reasoned Action	Drinkwater et.al, 2022; Fuentes-Moraleda et.al, 2020; Manthiou 2020; Cachero-Martínez 2021; Bawack 2021; Pandey 2018
Grounded theory	Letto et.al, 2021; Zulauf et.al, 2021; Christodoulides et.al, 2021; Chang et.al, 2014; Barnes et.al, 2013
Stimulus-Organism-Response	Loureiro et.al, 2018; Aziz et.al, 2017; Cachero-Martínez et.al, 2021; Wei et.al, 2022; Hlee et.al, 2022
Theory of Engagement	Chepur et.al, 2022; Hussain et.al, 2021; Meire et.al, 2019
Theory of Planned Behavior	Ali et.al, 2021; Drinkwater et.al, 2022; Manthiou et.al, 2020; Prentice et.al, 2020
Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance	Loureiro et.al, 2018; Koklič et.al, 2019;
Technology Acceptance model	Etemad et.al, 2022; Ali et.al, 2021
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance	Ittamalla et.al, 2021; Keiningham et.al, 2017
Social Exchange theory	Hussain et.al, 2020; Samsa et.al, 2022

Within the domain of psychological theories, cognitive appraisal theory (Moraleda et al., 2020; Delcourt et.al,2017; Torres et.al, 2017; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2017; Min & Kim, 2019; Batat, 2022; Santos & Basso, 2012), suggesting that emotions are a result of an individual's evaluation or appraisal of a situation, that is how we think about a situation determines how we feel about it. The cognitive appraisal theory (Moraleda et al., 2020; Delcourt et al., 2017; Torres et al., 2017; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2017; Min & Kim, 2019; Batat, 2022; Santos & Basso, 2012) is a psychological theory that suggests that an individual's assessment or appraisal of a situation determines their emotional response to it. These cognitive assessments then result in the emotional reaction. When a situation becomes threatening and there are not sufficient alternatives available, feelings like fear, worry, or powerlessness arise. Emotions such as excitement, resolve, or enthusiasm are more likely to arise if a situation is perceived as a challenge with sufficient resources to overcome. When a circumstance is deemed to be a loss or harm, emotions such as sadness, grief, or disappointment can emerge.

Cognitive dissonance theory (Ittamalla & Kumar, 2021; Keiningham et al., 2017) emphasizes the profound impact of emotions in customer interactions (Kuuru and Närvänen, 2019). When customers experience a difference between their expectations and the actual service or product received (Oliver, 1997), cognitive dissonance arises, leading to emotional discomfort (Kim, 2011). Emotions play a pivotal role in shaping how customers reconcile this dissonance, influencing their overall satisfaction and perception of the interaction (O’Shaughnessy & O’Shaughnessy, 2003). In the context of cognitive dissonance, organizations that recognize and control their emotional reactions can better handle customer complaints, increase satisfaction, and cultivate positive connections (Bolia, Jha & Jha, 2016). Businesses looking to manage and maximize client interactions must comprehend the emotional component of the cognitive dissonance framework (Bolia, Jha & Jha, 2016).

Furthermore, the field of Attitude and Behavioral Theories offers significant perspectives via the theory of planned behavior (Drinkwater et al., 2020; Manthiou et al., 2020; Prentice & Nguyen, 2020); theory of reasoned action (Moraleda et al., 2020; Cachero-Martínez & Vázquez-Casielles, 2021; Bawack et al., 2021; Pandey & Mookerjee, 2018); technology acceptance model (Etemad-Sajadi & Sturman, 2021) and social exchange theory (Hussain et al., 2020; Samsa, 2022). These theories clarify the crucial role that emotions play in influencing consumer decision-making processes (Figure 3). The theory of planned behavior and the theory of reasoned action provide insights into the role of emotions in perceived behavioral control by influencing the individual's confidence in their ability to perform the behavior. Positive emotions can reinforce perceived control, while negative emotions can undermine it. Furthermore, emotions can directly influence intentions by affecting the motivational aspect of decision making. In the context of customer decision-making, Social Exchange Theory underscores the emotional aspect of social exchanges, where positive emotions can lead to favorable customer decisions (Kemp, Briggs and Anaza, 2020).

The Technology Acceptance Model focuses on how consumers perceive, and feel about embracing new technologies, emphasizing how important emotional reactions are in determining how people embrace and intend to use technology (Venkatesh, Thong & Xu, 2012). Emotions can influence users' perception of technology and their intention to use it. It also recognizes that emotional reactions can be the result of technology adoption and suggests that designing positive emotional experiences can increase adoption and acceptance. Users' experiences with technology may produce various kinds of emotional responses once they start using it. Recognizing experiences, such as doing a task successfully or experiencing interest in the technological connection, may increase their resolve to stick with it. On the other hand, unfavorable experiences may cause people to reject or give up on technology.

Overall, these theories show how significant emotions are in influencing the attitudes, intentions, and behaviors of consumers. Understanding the emotional aspects present in these theoretical frameworks offers organizations significant perspectives for understanding and influencing customer choice making decisions. Organizations can more effectively create strategies that promote pleasant emotional experiences, increase customer satisfaction, and encourage technology adoption by taking into account the influence of cognitive appraisals, cognitive dissonance, perceived behavioral control, and social interactions. Emphasizing the emotional aspects of interaction with customers enhances the customer experience and encourages long-term engagement and loyalty for success of the organization.

Context

The section discusses the major subject areas and countries in which the customer experience and emotions articles have been published (Figure 4). Using the systematic review, it has been noted that more than 50% studies were conducted in Business, Management and Accounting; followed by Social Sciences consisting of 12% studies; and then further articles were from the areas like Economics, Econometrics and Finance, Computer Science, Psychology, Engineering, Decision Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Energy, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Health Professions and Medicine.

The USA is one of the most prominent nations on the map and continues to lead all other nations in the number of publications in the fields of business, management, and accounting, followed by social sciences. The highest number of publications ever were published in 2022, surpassing the previous record, demonstrating how crucial it is for the nation to comprehend how emotions affect the consumer experience. Some of the prominent researchers of this region like Gremler et al. (2017), Torres et al. (2017), Zaki et al. (2020), are focusing more publications in themes like customer experience journeys impacted by emotional value.

The second top country in terms of publications is the United Kingdom, having 36 articles published during 2001-2022. Researchers have focused various stimuli leading to customer experiences while concentrating on emotional aspects that create value for organizations. A customer's evaluation of the stimulus as a source of meaningful experience can trigger either of two cognitive or affective states Gupta et al. (2019). Australia and India also have approximately 20 publications in this area of customer experience. It also shows that European nations, particularly France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain, who are members of the European Union (EU), account for a substantial number of publications.

In order to keep themselves updated and competitive in today's business scenario, brands require understanding and catering to customer emotions through integrated and personalized experiences, whether in the banking (Chepur & Bellamkonda, 2022), airline (Ko, Choi & Kim, 2021), B2B (Mangus et al., 2022), tourism (Wei, Baker & Önder, 2022), robotics (Huang et al., 2021), food services (Liu, Sparks & Coghlan, 2017), e-commerce (Chen & Gao, 2019), healthcare (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2017), hospitality (Bharwani & D. Mathews, 2016), insurance (Méndez-Aparicio et al., 2020), or renewable energy (Hengboriboon, Sayut, Wutthiya Aekthanate Srisathan, et al., 2022b) sectors.

These results show that there is a need to step into more nuanced subject areas for future research studies. Therefore, a future gap lies in working with areas like Neurosciences (Herrando et al., 2022) on the empirical foundations of the subject domain. As it is evident that two areas—Business, Management and Accounting and Social Sciences — have penetrated the customer experience and emotions research for the subject. Hence, the gap lies for some areas to focus on broadening their research domain for other domain contexts.

Characteristics

The key constructs over the last 21 years are presented in Figure 5. In the context of customer experience research, it explores the antecedents, mediators, and consequences of emotions and incorporates existing concepts with a more rigorous theoretical framework. The network's main objective is to illustrate the relationships between the significant antecedents and consequences of the importance of emotions in the customer experience. This network also includes the important mediators and moderators that influence these relationships. Thus, the framework described here can give marketers and academicians a rapid overview of the key factors and how they show the relationship between emotions and customer experience.

Independent Variables

First, the authors extracted antecedents from the reviewed articles and divided them into two categories: those that were linked to customers and secondly those that were related to organizations. The main drivers under customer-related factors that affect experiences are touch points (Grønholdt et al., 2015, Slåtten et al., 2011) or trigger events (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2017) or situations (Godovykh & Tasci, 2020, Slåtten et al., 2011), ease of doing, interaction with other customers, and information processing (Kawaf & Tagg, 2017). These factors highlight the importance of strategic engagement, seamless interactions, and situational elements throughout the customer journey.

Another set of antecedents can be labeled as organization-related, these factors like personalized offering (Tyrväinen et al., 2020) or customization (Wei et al., 2022), reputation (Loureiro & Sarmento, 2018), interaction with staff (Terblanche, 2018), employee technical competence (Delcourt et al., 2017) and maintenance & safety or security (Kim & Han, 2020; Terblanche, 2018) affect customer experience. These factors emphasize the significance of tailored products/services, a strong reputation, competent staff interactions, and ensuring a sense of security and worth for customers.

Mediating Variables

According to our study, there is a mediating relationship between customer experience and its antecedents or between customer experience and related consequence(s). The most crucial factor is the emotions (Balaji et al., 2017) that mediate relationships between antecedents and customer experience, considered as a differentiating factor in creating positive experience with a different emotion (Oliver, 1997). These emotions influenced by factors such as personalized offerings, reputation, staff interactions, and safety measures, intricately shape the overall perception of customer experience. Also, customer engagement has a mediating role (Moliner-Tena et al. 2019), emphasizing that actively involving customers in various aspects further impacts their experience as a whole. Many research studies have found that satisfaction (Balaji et al., 2017) and trust (Hengboriboon et al., 2022) mediate the relationship between customer experience and related consequence(s). This is because satisfied customers are more likely to buy again or refer a business to others if they have a positive experience that builds trust. Organizations looking to build and maintain great, unique client experiences must comprehend and control these mediating variables.

Moderating Variables

The outcomes of this study indicate that the moderating effect between customer experiences and their antecedents is shown by the impact of channel (Brun et al., 2017) and past experiences (Nguyen & Nham, 2021). Customers' responses to current stimuli can be influenced and affected by past interactions and perceptions, as shown by the ability of past experiences to reduce the impact of different organizational antecedents on current customer experiences. Furthermore, Brun et al. (2017) have suggested that the influence of channels is another important moderator. Online, offline, and multichannel communication channels all influence how different factors and client experiences are correlated. Organizations may alter their strategy based on the moderating effects of prior experiences and communication channels on the link between antecedents and customer experiences by identifying these moderators, which offers a more comprehensive view of the dynamics at work.

Consequences

The main consequences that have been further summarized from the studies are word of mouth (Choi & Choi, 2014)), willingness to pay (Yang & Xia, 2021), loyalty (Moliner-Tena et al., 2018), repatronage intention (Terblanche 2018), switching intention (Santos & Basso, 2012), purchase intent (Chang et.al, 2014) and brand equity (Bilgihan et al., 2013), which will help in understanding the positive customer experiences to better differentiate themselves from the competition and strengthen customer loyalty. These serve as valuable indicators of the impact of positive customer experiences for a successful relationship between a brand and a consumer. Collectively, these consequences underscore the multifaceted benefits of fostering positive customer experiences, providing organizations with valuable insights to differentiate themselves from other brands.

So, drawing this conceptual comprehension, customer experience can be designed, delivered, and managed from a variety of perspectives that is from the organization's perspective (Berry et al., 2002), where the focus lies on designing, delivering, and managing an magnificent experience for customers (Bolton et al., 2018; Kranzbühler et al., 2017); or from the customer's perspective (Schmitt, 2010), where customers are receivers of the organization’s goods and services; or from a co-creation perspective (Berry et al., 2002; Stuart & Tax, 2004), where customers play an important role in co-creating an experience with a variety of determinants such as staff, firms, and other customers (Kim & Han, 2020; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2018). Experiences have a subjective nature and are also socially and culturally formed, reflecting its importance at individual, relational element, and social system level (Meyer & Schwager, 2007; Vargo & Lusch, 2015). Hence, customer experience is an ongoing element of interaction at the individual, relational, and system levels (Vargo & Lusch, 2015). Experiences are created in various forms of interactions in which values are anchored and emotions are embedded (Kuuru & Närvänen, 2019).

Both theoretical and empirical research has found that expected emotional outcomes are simple but useful guides driving decision processes (Mellers & McGraw, 2001). The role of emotions has been noted as a distinguishing feature of customer experience. A stimulus that has a positive affective outcome for one consumer may have a negative outcome for another consumer with a different emotional predisposition (Oliver, 1997). The significance of emotions in customer experience is supported and illuminated by the application of several prominent theories.

Methods

This section discusses the methods used in the papers for the study of customer experience and emotions. The majority of the prominent research has been conducted through statistical analysis (Choi & B. Choi, 2014; Ludwig, Barnes & Gouthier, 2017), followed by mixed-method analysis (Wei, Baker & Önder, 2022; Chan, Wan & Tam, 2019; Lao, Vlad & Martin, 2021; AlJanahi & Parahoo, 2022) and experiment methods (Karabas & Joireman, 2020) in the area of customer experience and emotions.

In statistical analysis, a maximum number of studies were carried out through factor analysis (González et al., 2022; Yang & Xia, 2021; Busser et al., 2022); structural equation modeling (Balaji, Roy & Quazi, 2017, Brun et al., 2017, Hussain et al., 2020); regression analysis (Balaji, Roy & Quazi, 2017); path analysis (Leri & Theodoridis, 2019), meta-analysis (Kranzbühler et al., 2017), sentiment analysis (Sýkora et al., 2022), content analysis (Pacheco & Azevedo, 2022) and thematic analysis (Wu & Gao, 2019; Liu, Sparks & Coghlan, 2017; Grewal & Roggeveen, 2020). Through statistical analysis, researchers were able to explore the role of emotions in customer experience. The reactive and significant impact on various outcomes were also determined and calculated with the help of statistical analysis (Ye et al., 2017). Structural equation modeling (SEM) remains the most widely used technique among studies that have adopted quantitative methods for investigating the ways the variables related to customer experience and emotions interact with one another. This review indicates that partial least square SEM (PLS-SEM) (Rajaobelina et al., 2018; Ihtiyar, Barut & Ihtiyar, 2019) and IBM SPSS AMOS (Hengboriboon, Sayut, Wutthiya Aekthanate Srisathan, et al., 2022) are the most widely used SEM tools, taking into account all the studies on the SEM technique. Maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard errors (MLR) (Xiao et al., 2018); LISREL (Alhidari et al., 2015; Cheung, 2014) has, however, not been widely employed in research. Because SEM is a potent scientific multivariate methodology helpful for assessing or testing relationships between exogenous and endogenous (independent and dependent) variables, it is the most popular method in social science research investigations (Babin and Svensson, 2012; Ali et al., 2018). While the PLS is based on a variance-based approach, SEM tools such as AMOS, MLR (Filieri et al., 2022), and LISREL are based on covariance SEM (CB-SEM) (Hair et al., 2011; Ong and Puteh, 2017; Henseler et al., 2016).

Few studies have looked at qualitative analysis in addition to quantitative analysis to look into the factors influencing customer experience. The method most often used to analyze the textual data obtained from respondents in all qualitative studies is content analysis (Huang, Chen & Gao, 2019).

The challenge among future researchers lies in the development of more studies with mixed-method and experiment approaches for studying the antecedent and consequences of customer experiences and emotions research.

Intellectual Structure

We have undertaken the co-authorship and co-occurrence of author keywords analysis as a novel approach to understanding the progression of research.

Themes Emerging From Co-Authorship

Co-authorship analysis helps to interpret the collaborations and intellectual networks formed amongst authors of numerous countries, origins and organizations in a field of study (Cisneros et al., 2018). As the literary curiosity for research is progressing around the globe, interactions among scholars are ubiquitous (Donthu et al., 2021). Through co-authorship analysis, explored how authors have worked together over time to explain the course of academic advancement and draw attention to the social structure. These groupings also shed light on intellectual focus, and thematic intertwining of different authors’ areas of research, constructs, and theoretical underpinnings and frameworks that are used to explain a particular phenomenon. It shows how such groupings have led to certain themes and how these themes have evolved and meshed with others. While there are numerous clusters depicting groupings of collaborations, the majority of the authors in these groups are from the same nation or close by, which somewhat restricts the exchange of knowledge. An overview of the organization of academic collaboration across nations is given in Table 4. An effort to identify the most significant authors within the network collaborations and analyze the degree of collaborations between them in this section.

Table 4 List of Prominent Authors, their Co-Authorships and their Collaborations
Prominent authors	Co-authors	Year	Authors with affiliations	Key Research areas	Key Themes
McColl-Kennedy J.R.	McColl-Kennedy J.R., Zaki M., Lemon K.N., Urmetzer F., Neely A.	2019	McColl-Kennedy, J.R., University of Queensland Business School, Australia; Zaki, M., University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Lemon, K.N., Boston College,United States; Urmetzer, F., University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Neely, A., University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom	Value creation elements of CX at touchpoints having cognitive responses and discrete emotions.	Importance of emotions aroused during different stages of customer experience
	McColl-Kennedy J.R., Danaher T.S., Gallan A.S., Orsingher C., Lervik-Olsen L., Verma R.	2017	McColl-Kennedy, J.R., The University of Queensland, Australia; Danaher, T.S., Monash University, Australia; Gallan, A.S., DePaul University, United States; Orsingher, C., University of Bologna, Italy; Lervik-Olsen, L., Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), Norway; Verma, R., Cornell College of Business, United States	Managing emotional responses aroused by triggering events.
	Surachartkumtonkun J., McColl-Kennedy J.R., Patterson P.G.	2015	Surachartkumtonkun, J., Griffith University, Australia; McColl-Kennedy, J.R., The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Patterson, P.G.,University of New South Wales, Australia	Negative emotions arose due to service failure and recovery.
	Tombs A.G., McColl-Kennedy J.R.	2013	Tombs, A.G., The University of Queensland, Australia; McColl-Kennedy, J.R., The University of Queensland, Australia	Impact of other customers' emotions on customer experience.
Brun I	Rajaobelina L., Brun I., Line R., Cloutier-Bilodeau C.	2021	Rajaobelina, L., ESG–University of Quebec, Canada; Brun, I., University of Moncton,Canada; Line, R., ESG UQAM, Canada; Cloutier-Bilodeau, C., University of Quebec, Canada	Customer experience (cognitive, affective, sensory, behavioral and social) on trust, commitment and loyalty.	Role of customer experience on trust, commitment and loyalty
	Rajaobelina L., Brun I., Prom Tep S., Arcand M.	2018	Rajaobelina, L., ESG–University of Quebec, Canada; Brun, I., University of Moncton,Canada; Prom Tep, S., University of Quebec, Canada; Arcand, M., University of Quebec, Canada
	Brun I., Rajaobelina L., Ricard L., Berthiaume B.	2017	Brun, I., University of Moncton,Canada; Rajaobelina, L., ESG–University of Quebec, Canada; Ricard, L.,ESG–University of Quebec, Canada; Berthiaume, B., ESG–University of Quebec, Canada
Gremler, D.D.	Delcourt C., Gremler D.D., De Zanet F., van Riel A.C.R.	2017	Delcourt, C., Management School of the University of Liege, Belgium; Gremler, D.D., Bowling Green State University, United States; De Zanet, F.,Management School of the University of Liege, Belgium; van Riel, A.C.R., Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Netherlands	Understanding, and regulating customer emotions during a discrete service encounter affecting their service evaluations and loyalty intentions.	Antecedents of customer experience regulating emotions on loyalty
	Delcourt C., Gremler D.D., van Riel A.C.R., van Birgelen M.J.H.	2016	Delcourt, C., HEC-Management School, University of Liege, Belgium; Gremler, D.D., Bowling Green State University, United States; van Riel, A.C.R.,Radboud University, Netherlands; van Birgelen, Radboud University, Netherlands
	Bailey J.J., McCollough M.A., Gremler D.D.	2001	Bailey, J.J., University of Idaho, Moscow, United States; McCollough, University of Idaho, Moscow, United States; Gremler, D.D., Bowling Green State University, United States
Gustafsson A	Bolton R.N., Gustafsson A., Tarasi C.O., Witell L.	2021	Bolton, R.N., Arizona State University, United States; Gustafsson, A., BI Norwegian Business School, Norway; Tarasi, C.O., Central Michigan University, United States; Witell, L.,Linköping University, Sweden, CTF, Karlstad University, Sweden	Focuses on customers emotional, cognitive, sensory and behavioral responses to the catalog experience.	Role of customer experience while understanding consumer emotions that create competitive advantage
	Caruelle D., Gustafsson A., Shams P., Lervik-Olsen L.	2019	Caruelle, D., BI Norwegian Business School, Norway; Gustafsson, A., BI Norwegian Business School, Norway; Shams, P., Karlstad University, Sweden; Lervik-Olsen, L., BI Norwegian Business School,Norway	Companies need to focus on the small details that make big differences to customers.
	Bolton R.N., Gustafsson A., McColl-Kennedy J., Sirianni N.J., Tse D.K.	2014	Bolton, R.N., Arizona State University, United States; Gustafsson, A., Karlstad University, Sweden, BI - Norwegian Business School, Norway; McColl-Kennedy, J., The University of Queensland,Australia; Sirianni, N.J., D'Amore, Northeastern University, United States; Tse, D.K., Hong Kong University, Hong Kong	Emotional arousal activities impacting CX
Mahr D	Stead S., Wetzels R., Wetzels M., Odekerken-Schröder G., Mahr D.	2022	Stead, S., RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Wetzels, R., Radboud University (Nijmegen School of Management), Netherlands; Wetzels, M., EDHEC Business School, France; Odekerken-Schröder, G., Maastricht University, Netherlands; Mahr, D., Hanken School of Economics,Finland, Maastricht University, Netherlands	Investigate multisensory stimuli, their integration, and perception, as well as the link between multisensory customer experiences and emotions.	Impact of stimuli on customer experience
	Stead S., Odekerken-Schröder G., Mahr D.	2020	Stead, S., RWTH Aachen University, Germany; Odekerken-Schröder, G., Maastricht University, Netherlands; Mahr, D., Maastricht University, Netherlands	Role of schemas in shaping customer experiences in new servicescapes, across the customer journey.
	Mahr D., Stead S., Odekerken-Schröder G.	2019	Mahr, D., Maastricht University, Netherlands, Stead, S., Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands; Odekerken-Schröder, G., Maastricht University, Netherlands	Senses are especially important in forming perceptions within servicescapes that are typically rich in sensory stimuli.

McColl-Kennedy J.R. from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia has the most collaborations with prominent co-authors. These collaborations are from countries like the UK, USA, Australia and Italy. They have focused on the importance of emotions aroused during different stages of customer experiences. Understanding emotions during or after the consumption is a very crucial aspect for any organization as there are different emotional reactions to the same action under the same circumstances or situations (Kuuru & Närvänen, 2019). Emotions play a significant role in determining behaviors and actions (Carlson & Wang, 2007). There are different value creation elements of experiences at various touch points or triggered at different events or situational factors which customers look for, having cognitive responses and discrete emotions (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2017, 2018). The researcher also explored how negative emotions aroused due to service failure and recovery, impacting loss, or a threat of loss, of personal resources like self-esteem, etc. and hence forming negative emotions (Surachartkumtonkun et al., 2014).

Table 4 shows that the number of collaborations among the seasoned authors is somewhat limited. For instance, two of the most influential authors, Brun, affiliated with University of Moncton, Canada; and Rajaobelina, affiliated with ESG–University of Quebec, Canada are part of a close group of collaborators. They have examined the five dimensions of customer experience framed by Schmitt (1999) that impact trust, commitment and loyalty. This will help in the effort to give customers memorable, satisfying experiences. The studies pertaining with Gremler, D.D from Bowling Green State University, United States, having collaborations with other authors, mainly focused on understanding, and regulating customer emotions during a discrete service encounter that can affect their service evaluations and loyalty intentions.

It highlights the fact that the US leads the world in terms of publications and quality as well as in advancing social structure and intellectual knowledge through collaborations with other countries. Gustafsson A from Karlstad University, Sweden having collaborations with authors of countries belonging to Norway, USA, China and Australia. These authors and co-authors investigated how companies could concentrate on small details that matter to customers. They concentrate on the emotional values, which will produce a competitive advantage by focusing on the emotional, cognitive, sensory, and behavioral responses of customers to the experience. Mahr from Maastricht University, Netherlands has worked together with many co-authors from Germany & Netherlands. Their research examines how multisensory stimuli affect customer experiences and emotions across the customer journey in emerging servicescapes.

Thus, it has been seen that the co-authorship analysis reveals a dynamic landscape of global collaboration in customer experience research, showcasing diverse collaborations across nations. The prominent publications signify its leadership in advancing social structures and intellectual knowledge. Overall, the analysis emphasizes the importance of emotions and sensory elements in understanding and enhancing customer experiences on a global scale.

Themes Emerging From the Co-Occurrence of Keywords

The keyword co-occurrence analysis postulates that two terms appearing in a paper together often have some conceptual relation to one another, form thematic clusters and indicate the temporal developments (Sharma et al., 2022; Kumar et al., 2021). Academicians also use this method of scientific mapping to predict forthcoming concepts in their field of research, which helps in formulating various theoretical implications for the future (Donthu et al., 2021). As a result, the co-occurrence of keywords gives us insight into the field's future intellectual direction. Initially created a thesaurus for VOSviewer in order to make sure that terms with different words and plurals of the same word are combined to prevent duplication before performing a keyword co-occurrence analysis. A bibliometric map for co-occurrence was shown using the default threshold of 5 Figure 6.

Situational Factors Encountered During Experiences

Experiences occur as a result of encountering, undergoing or living through events or things, which provide sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and relational values (Schmitt, 1999). Organizations usually evaluate customer emotions to influence customer decisions during the encounters (Delcourt et al., 2017). These emotionally laden encounters (Mattila, 1999) help to identify events and situational factors or contextual factors during which customers look for experiences to feel emotions. Customer experience is having interactions with customers and the organization and or other actors (Vargo & Lusch, 2004; Jain et al., 2017). Experiences are events which are personal and are not self-generated, but occur in response to some staged situation and involve the entire being, classified as objective characteristics (location, time of day, etc.) as well as subjective characteristics (time pressure, moods, etc.) of a given situation (Belk, 1975).

Managing Emotional Competence during Service Encounters To Improve Customer Experience

This explores all facets of managing the services by an organization. Customer experience plays a crucial role in understanding the needs of customers and delivering high-quality service while understanding emotional intelligence. This helps marketers to promote and create awareness of the services offered. In order to manage service delivery and ensure customer satisfaction, it is crucial to consider customer service, service failure, and service recovery. This involves understanding and managing all aspects of the service delivery process, from analyzing customer needs to delivering high-quality service, to creating positive customer experiences and managing service issues effectively, which will lead to trust, commitment and loyalty. They explain not just single choice making decisions, but also repeated purchases, word of mouth, referrals, leading to trust (Sirdeshmukh, Singh & Sabol, 2002), satisfaction (Anderson & Sullivan, 1993; and Oliver, 1980) and relationship commitment & continuity (Bolton, 1998; Morgan & Hunt, 1994).

Creating Experiential Value for Customers

Concepts such as the experience economy (Pine & Gilmore, 1999) stress the importance of providing positive memorable experiences. The concept of the customer experience developed from the increasing commodification of services, which gave the need to provide value through more than just price and availability to build customer loyalty and keep them coming back. Many elements are considered very crucial for the consumer behavior that contributes to memorable experiences (Chandralal & Valenzuela, 2013; Farber & Hall, 2007; Kim et al., 2010) by emphasizing on the roles of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain in consumer’s lives (Higgins, 1997). The role of emotions has been identified in differentiating the customer experience, and a stimulus that has a positive affective outcome for one consumer may have a negative outcome for another consumer with a different emotion (Oliver, 1997).

Effect of Customer Experience on Loyalty

With ever-increasing competition and ever-broader shopping opportunities, businesses are better advised to focus on creating positive customer experiences to better differentiate themselves from the competition and strengthen customer loyalty (Brun et al., 2017). The importance of examining the impact of customer experience, based on its dimensions like sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and relational values (Schmitt, 1999) to highlight differences and better understand the factors that really impact customer retention and to develop more targeted strategies (Brakus et al., 2009; Srivastava & Kaul, 2016). The impact on consumer loyalty is indeed being explored for global or integrated customer experiences. As a result, the significance of each experience dimension highlights all aspects of the customer experience that service organizations can effectively prioritize in order to foster customer loyalty.

Role of Digital Transformation in Experiences Embedded With Emotions

Technology developments related to augmented reality, virtual reality, blockchains, automation, artificial intelligence and robots have changed the landscape of service industries by transforming service system competencies and changing customer experience (Law et al., 2014). It is critical to evaluate how technology-based service delivery systems impact the customer experience because they are increasingly a component of purchasing In-store technology including tablets, smartphones, WiFi, augmented reality (smart mirrors), apps, screen films, virtual catalogs, and smart tags, (H. S. Kim et al., 2016), that focus on creating a new integrated customer experience, using technology that is practical, enjoyable and interesting in order to ensure that customers perceive that it facilitates and expedites their shopping journey. Technology redefines store experience and store layouts through click and collects services or more advanced technology such as interactive fitting rooms that connect with social networks. Thus, it is important for the organizations to understand their customers’ experiences so that they can make changes as necessary in order to survive in this digital era. The emergence of technology has transformed the methods in which consumers feel for and acquire goods and services. As a result, firms are constantly looking for new and creative ways to enhance customer satisfaction and customer experience by integrating emerging technologies into their shopping processes (Pantano et al., 2017). Technology has changed customer experiences and revolutionized service system competencies, changing the face of the service industry.

To put it up, an in-depth study of the customer experience uncovers a variety of facets that call for efficient administration of the firm. The clusters highlight the significance of situational elements, emotional intelligence, the production of experiencing value, and the far-reaching effects of digital transformation. The encounters with customers show how important it is for businesses to offer services and to consider sensory values, emotional intelligence, and technological integrations. By highlighting pleasant and memorable experiences, realizing the power of emotions, and embracing the digital age, businesses cultivate client loyalty and set themselves apart from their rivals. The depth of understanding provided by these clusters is a priceless asset for companies hoping to thrive in the dynamic world of consumer choice (Chen et al., 2016; Kashyap & Ponnam, 2019).

Research on customer experience and emotions has many interesting possibilities, one of which is the combining of modern technologies like augmented reality and artificial intelligence to provide comprehensive and personalized consumer experiences. This effortless change between digital and real encounters is an exciting way to think about how businesses may design an effective experience. Further study could delve into the changing inclinations of diverse cohorts, encompassing Millennials, Gen Z, and older generations, revealing the ways in which distinct generational traits impact anticipations and various encounters (Hopping, 2000). New insights and practical lessons may be gained by looking at customer loyalty strategies from a global perspective and taking into account the connection between neuroscience and consumer behavior. These potential themes provide an exciting future in understanding and optimizing customer experiences suggesting exciting directions for both research and business practitioners Table 5.

Table 5 Future Research Directions Based on TCCM Framework
Theory Development	• Theories related to Cognitive behavior and Neurosciences together can be applied to examine the role of emotional aspects in customer experience.
Context	• Less research has been conducted on the subject of how emotions affect consumer experience in a phygital context that is having both physical and digital worlds in combination together.
Characteristics	• Many organizations are keeping in consideration to have an updated technological environment so that it is easier and convenient for customers to experience journeys during and after consumption, but they still need to be fully adapted by all age groups. So, future researchers can work on the existing models of customer experience and emotions and may develop robust, modified, effective, and operational models that can be considered by all age groups. Generation Z and generation X have different views on experiencing the offerings having different emotions in the phygital arena.
Methodology	• Very few studies have used experiment methods in order to understand the role of emotions in customer experience. This can further be examined in a more robust and emerging way by future researchers. • There are not many significant case studies available in the phygital context showing interaction effects between emotions and experience; for that reason, it is always recommended for future researchers to work more on case study-based approaches. So, future research in this area could be fruitful for coming researchers and practitioners.

Conclusion and Limitations

In conclusion, organizations considering and engaging with the emotions of customers at different touch points more effectively throughout the gamut of experiences across the customer journey, are more likely to win loyalty. Emotions are the core of customer experience as an arousal during the touchpoint encounter, and appropriate measures to manage the means of arousing emotions is very crucial for a brand to gain trust, satisfaction and relationship commitment & continuity. The peculiar characteristic of customer experience research brought out in this study is how the relationship of emotions and customer experience literature has grown in the last twenty years. So, this is an emerging field for future researchers. The bibliometric analysis identifies the theoretical and intellectual evolution of the role of emotions in experiences impacting loyalty, there is growing research and empirical evidence of the linkage between emotions contextual or mix or touchpoint related factors, customer experience and loyalty, scholars interested in this topic may therefore reviews, studies that have been published in the most prestigious journals of various genres like, Journal of Service Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, European Journal of Marketing and Decision Sciences. Researchers from different parts of the world like the US, UK, Australia and India have made significant contributions to this area and recognized the importance of emotions in customer experience.

The concept of customer experience has developed beyond in-store encounters to now include all consumer interactions, from the first point of contact to developing a loyal following, across all channels. This article explores literary performance using science mapping and performance analysis, contributes to the literature by identifying widely used theories, constructs, methodologies and, finally identifies the themes. With the help of these analyses, this study also sets the future research agenda because in the upcoming years, customer experiences will continue to change as a result of new technology and evolving modes of emotions.

This study presents a few limitations, although providing insightful information. Scopus was used to retrieve the study's data corpus and other databases like PubMed or Web of Science (WOS) were not used. However, Scopus is the most prominent and widely accepted database for scientific and bibliometric studies. The study considers only articles in the English language and excludes non-peer-reviewed journals, review articles, books, and articles written in different languages. The quality of the research articles as a targeted sampling based on all selected article titles, abstracts, and keywords to conduct qualitative content analysis is the second restriction. Although the objectives, key concepts, and findings of the study are briefly summarized in these three sections, full-text papers may be used in future work to uncover larger facets of the customer experience. Hence, the research articles' quality and content may not be up to the expected standard.

Future Research Directions

Through a synthesis of diverse theoretical perspectives, this comprehensive exploration unravels how emotions intricately influence customer experiences, offering invaluable insights for businesses seeking to foster effective customer engagement and establish enduring connections.

Following this, more and more organizations are recognizing that managing customer experiences is a powerful way of differentiating from competitors, establishing emotional connections, and increasing customer loyalty. Technology enables integration of channels and gives new relevance to experiences. With telecom and related technological advances, the Internet has deeply penetrated society and businesses around the world, leading to the generation of product reviews even for products with a mediocre level of awareness.

Technological innovations have the potential to dramatically modify the retail landscape. The mobile revolution transformed the ways consumers search for, and purchase goods and services, and is now characterized by exploration of innovative methods to amplify the consumer experience and consumer satisfaction through emergent technology integration into the entire retail process. Organizations fueled with strong technology solutions provide emotional cues as having a mentally stimulating, enjoyable, and interesting and aesthetically pleasing experience to the user. Despite the growth, there are a number of emotional aspects of the customer experience where the literature is still not explored much. Future research directions and various research arenas through the TCCM framework will be established through this study.

Implications

This study's extensive literature reviews of 287 research articles provide in depth coverage of existing studies on emotions and customer experience research, and help identify different themes which have been critical in shaping the discourse in this area. It also highlights the lesser quantum of research on how emotions affect consumer experience in a phygital context, that is having both physical and digital worlds in combination together. The coming world will see a major evolution of technology integrated online consumer experiences blended with their physical world, their activities and lifestyles, and leading to emotionally significant events and decision-making. This evolution will surely require a much deeper and more comprehensive understanding of its various dimensions. By tying together various streams of research on emotions and experiences as in this study, such gaps may be more easily filled.

Based on this study of a retrospective review of extant literature on emotions and customer experience, the diversity of theoretical frameworks employed in the field, have been brought together to provide a more thorough understanding of the antecedents, moderators, and mediators used for the research of consumer experiences and emotions. Additionally, this study puts together publications based on the most researched industries, highly published nations, and also the compendium of studies in the context of developing retail platforms in both physical and digital contexts. It has taken some steps towards categorization of studies according to theoretical research, empirical analysis, and qualitative studies. An overview of common methods and approaches used in the research in the customer experience and emotions domain will aid those looking for a comprehensive description of methodology.

For a seamless customer journey across various touch points that impact loyalty, businesses will be benefited if they take proactive steps such as prioritizing comprehensible technological investments in emotionally intelligent and user-friendly interfaces, aligning phygital experiences with human emotions, managing multi-channel and omni-channel experiences, and incorporating neuro-inclusive design principles. Together, these managerial implications steer companies toward a future that is customer-centric, promoting customer pleasure, loyalty, and favorable brand perception. These considerations collectively guide businesses toward a customer-centric future, fostering loyalty, satisfaction, and positive brand perception.

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Received: 30-Sep-2024, Manuscript No. AMSJ-24-15307; Editor assigned: 31-Sep-2024, PreQC No. AMSJ-24-15307(PQ); Reviewed: 26-Oct- 2024, QC No. AMSJ-24-15307; Revised: 06-Nov-2024, Manuscript No. AMSJ-24-15307(R); Published: 07-Jan-2025