Work

How is social capital formed across the digital-physical servicescape?

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: This study examines how consumers create social capital in interactions with other customers and service personnel while shopping in retail stores that consist of both physical and digital locations. We draw on servicescape literature to explore the role of social capital in determining the social realm in digital-physical servicescapes using data from focus group discussions. We demonstrate how customers utilize both the digital and physical servicescapes in a convergent manner to form the social realm of the servicescape with the other people in service encounters. The implications provide guidelines on how the integration of digital and physical channels facilitates trust, human contact, interpersonal relationships, and networks of social exchange that are termed ‘social capital’.

Source: Digital Business

DOI: 10.1016/j.digbus.2022.100047

Authors: Jussi Nyrhinen, Outi Uusitalo, Lauri Frank, Terhi-Anna Wilska

Institution: University of Jyväskylä

Language: English

Topic: Consumer Retail Behavior Studies

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,500

Funder: Strategic Research Council