Service inclusion: the role of disability identity in retail
ISSN: 0887-6045
Article publication date: 15 October 2021
Issue publication date: 28 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to explore the role of identity for consumers with disabilities in a retail context. Understanding disability identity is critical to ensuring inclusion in service environments. Despite the growing call to understand the role of identity in consumer services, research on disability identity and the impacts of identity on service inclusion remains minimal.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative methodology generated data through personal narratives from people with disabilities revealing deep insights into the complexity of identity in a fashion retail context.
Findings
Emergent themes detail five consumer disability identities – authentic unique self, integrated self, community self, expressive self and practical self – seen when viewing service experiences from the perspective of people with lived experience of disability. Individual and collective agency also emerged as key themes that enable people with disabilities to feel a sense of inclusion.
Originality/value
This research explores the service experiences of people with disabilities in a retail context through a disability identity lens. The authors contribute to service literature by identifying five consumer disability identities that people with a disability adopt through their service experience and present a typology that demonstrates how each identity impacts on agency, with implications for service inclusion.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the participants for sharing their stories and giving us deep insights into the lives of people with disabilities. They would also like to acknowledge the reviewers’ feedback which was invaluable.
Citation
Dodds, S. and Palakshappa, N. (2022), "Service inclusion: the role of disability identity in retail", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 143-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2021-0217
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited