Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend conceptually the context of service beyond service encounters and servicescapes by applying a service-ecosystem approach to context and experiential view on value. Design/methodology/approach – We develop a conceptual framework of an extended service context that is based on an S-D logic, service-ecosystems view. Findings – The service ecosystem approach proposed here contributes to the advancement of “services” marketing research by extending the context of service in two ways: its emphasis on service as the basis of all exchange allows the consideration of all instances of value-in-use, in-context, to be considered as a service experience; its conceptualization of context broadens the time/place dimensions that conventionally restrain research in service encounters and servicescapes beyond physical, social, symbolic and relational dimensions to consider the multiplicity of institutions across a wider socio-historic space. Research limitations/implications...

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Extending the context of service: from encounters to ecosystems

Over the last three decades, customer experience (CE) has developed from a burgeoning concept to a widely recognized phenomenon in terms of both research and practice. To account for the complexity of consumption decisions, the CE literature encompasses both the rational information processing approach to consumer decision-making and the experiential approach, which includes emotions, feelings and sub-consciousness. The authors classify and examine CE research on two levels. Studies on static CE analyze experiences during touchpoints at one point in time, while studies on dynamic CE assess how experiences evolve over time. Furthermore, both static and dynamic CE research take place from two distinct theoretical perspectives: the organization and the consumer. As both theoretical perspectives essentially deal with the same phenomenon – the organizational perspective with the creation of CEs and the consumer perspective with the perception of customer experiences – there is potential for a productive symbiosis between them. The authors propose that connecting insights from both perspectives can contribute to a better understanding of what constitutes a CE for consumers and how firms can effectively manage it. First, the authors discuss the development of CE and argue that it has evolved into a broad and fragmented ‘umbrella construct’. Second, after distinguishing and defining static and dynamic CE, they systematically evaluate the state of knowledge in both the organizational and consumer perspectives. Finally, they develop an agenda for future research that integrates the consumer perspective into organizational CE research.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ijmr.12140

The Multilevel Nature of Customer Experience Research: An Integrative Review and Research Agenda

Customer-to-customer co-creation practices in tourism: Lessons from Customer-Dominant logic

Sharing intangibles: Uncovering individual motives for engagement in a sharing service setting*

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of other customers on consumption behavior in shared consumption environments. The proposition is put forth that, like other factors that make u...

An Expanded Servicescape Framework as the Driver of Place Attachment and Word of Mouth

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify how the mere presence of other customers in a service encounter influences customers' evaluations of restaurant services.Design/methodology/approach – Phenomenological interviews were used to reveal the dimensions of other customers and to develop hypotheses on the moderating variables that influence the effect of other customers. A scenario‐based experiment was used to test the hypotheses.Findings – The analysis reveals that “other customers” is a multidimensional construct consisting of number, age, gender, appearance, attire, and public behavior. Also, the importance of each dimension varies according to situational variables such as evaluation stages (pre‐ versus post‐encounter stages), the context of a visit (task‐ versus recreational‐orientations), and the quality‐related risks (high versus low).Practical Implications – The study provides a rationale for service providers to strategically manage their customers. It also gives guidelines of how custo...

Other customers in a service encounter: examining the effect in a restaurant setting

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a very important issue in the business and academic communities alike. However, among various activities of CSR, corporate philanthropy has not attracted much academic effort to date. Therefore, many firms find it challenging to establish the most appropriate mix of philanthropic activities. This study tries to find the most effective strategic mix of corporate philanthropy. For this purpose, three dimensions of philanthropic activities (i.e. who, what, and to whom) are examined, along with the most effective attributes of each. The results show that consumers prefer the activities in which firms, rather than employees, donate their own products to the general public. Implications of the research results are discussed from an academic as well as from a practical standpoint.

Namin Kim

Papers

Other customers in a service encounter: examining the effect in a restaurant setting

Developing an effective strategic mix of corporate philanthropy