Exploring internal mechanisms forming customer servicescape experiences
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore customer interactions with servicescapes and to explain in more depth the internal mechanisms that form the customer service experience. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on an empirical study of customers using Swedish public transport systems. Data collection is based on a microethnographic approach, using think‐aloud protocols and video documentation. Findings The results from the empirical study contribute with a framework of three constellations of activities and interactions: namely, identifying, sense‐making, and using, which, depending on the empirical context, form two main customer process practices – navigating and ticketing. These constructs are theoretical and have implications for service research in the sense that they explain how customer experiences are formed. Research limitations/implications While the conceptual framework is arguably applicable also to other servicescape processes and thus has the capacity to explain how a wide range of customer experiences are formed, the study is based on one industry. Consequently, it would be worthwhile to verify this framework in different service settings. Practical implications Managers should focus on making the servicescape design intuitive, meaningful and easy to use for their customers and, depending on the empirical context, support the customer processes of finding one's way and ticketing. Originality/value The study is novel by applying a microethnographic research approach in order to provide a systematic empirical analysis of how constellations of activities and interactions in servicescape processes create customer responses and thus form the customer's service experience.
Source: Journal of service management
Authors: Jörg Pareigis, Per Echeverri, Bo Edvardsson
Institution: Karlstad University
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2001079258