The interplay of reificative and participative processes of customer knowledge creation: An exploratory study of commercial lending

A key competency in commercial lending is the ability to generate information about customers in order to separate the credit-worthy from those who are not. Traditionally, this was performed through proximal, face-to-face interaction. Nevertheless, in order to rationalise the process and in an attempt to overcome information asymmetries, credit-scoring systems are increasingly being used. A common assumption has been that these systems are replacing proximal customer evaluations with distal ones. Some researchers have suggested, however, that proximal interaction and contextual, non-standardiseable elements will be of continued importance for assessing customers. In the light of this, the role of credit-scoring systems as a way of overcoming proximal interaction may be questioned. The aim of this paper is to explore the customer knowledge creation process in commercial lending. Departing from an approach inspired by phenomenology, this paper argues that customer knowledge is created through an interplay of proximal, embodied participation and reification. Reified knowledge generated from credit-scoring and documentation is instilled with meaning through participative knowledge created in proximal face-to-face meetings, which include discursive practices (dialogue, negotiation, joint meaning-making) as well as non-discursive practices (atmosphere, artefacts, perceptual cues).