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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative importance of dimensions of experience value in four different hedonic- and utilitarian-dominated services.

The proposed hypotheses are tested by an experimental design. Altogether, four different service experiences, taking place during a tourist weekend trip, were studied using a scenario-based approach. In total, 938 members of a nationally representative online panel in Sweden participated in the research.

Both hedonic and utilitarian value dimensions are present for the different experiences. However, the structures of the value dimensions differ between hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant services. Surprisingly, functional value and value for money influence satisfaction most for both categories of services.

The design of the experiment allowed the authors to test different experiences within the same travel setting. The paper shows that all services include both hedonic and utilitarian elements, indicating awareness of what attracts tourists during the whole process of experiencing a journey. Findings suggest that further studies on different hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant firms within the different tourism service categories should be performed.

Theoretically, the paper only partly confirms the two structures of consumer service value, hedonic and utilitarian, revealed in earlier studies. The paper also reveals that functional value affects satisfaction more strongly in both hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant services. Several explanations for this are suggested. For the tourism industry to enhance experience value and tourist satisfaction, they should, therefore, focus on delivering functional value during the stay and probably more on emotional value in attracting visitors to travel. Results of the paper reveal that services are a part of a continuum between what is mostly utilitarian at the one end and mostly hedonic at the other end.

Greater attention should be paid to the emotional aspects of the service experience. In this context, this paper aims to propose that emotions will have a different impact on customers’ complaint behavior and satisfaction depending on the hedonic or utilitarian nature of the service and for this purpose a valence-based approach is followed.

A sample of 809 service users was analyzed through multi-group structural equation modeling, including both hedonic (bars and cafeterias, n = 210) and utilitarian services (bank and public transportation services, n = 599).

Research findings show the different influence of emotions on customers’ complaint behavior and satisfaction depending on the service nature. Further, the negative affect does not influence behavioral outcomes in hedonic services, whereas positive affect exerts a slight lower influence in utilitarian services. Finally, the service nature plays a moderating role in the emotions–satisfaction and emotions–complaint behavior relationship.

This research shows the important role of the service nature, reporting different results for hedonic and utilitarian services in the influence of emotions in behavioral outcomes.

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of ethnically targeted ads in developing consumer–brand relationships through an application of social identification theory and elaboration likelihood model among African American consumers in the service sector.

Study 1 used a 2 (service type: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (strength of ethnic identification: high vs low) between-subjects experimental design. Study 2 used the same experimental design, procedure and ads as Study 1.

Taken together, the findings from these two studies demonstrate how ethnically targeted advertising, in conjunction with service type, can influence consumer–brand relationships. The results showed that those with high strength of ethnic identification had more brand love, as well as higher intentions to spread positive word-of-mouth, purchase intention and brand loyalty for hedonic services, but that this effect was not significant for utilitarian services.

The environments in which advertisements appear (e.g. in an in-store display or a magazine advertisement) is important, and consumers’ reactions to targeted ads in various environments should be considered in future research. Future studies should also examine the role of individuals’ personality traits and level of acculturation in determining their relationships with brands.

Across two studies, the authors demonstrated that ethnic ads are more effective for African American individuals with high level of ethnic identification especially for hedonic services.

The purpose of this paper is to study the drivers of service provider switching intention other than satisfaction and, additionally, analyse the moderating role of the type of service (utilitarian vs hedonic). Specifically, the authors study the effects of alternative attractiveness, post-purchase regret, anticipated regret and past switching behaviour.

A representative survey with 800 consumers of mobile phone services (utilitarian) and holiday destinations (hedonic) was carried out.

Satisfaction is not a significant antecedent of switching intention in the hedonic service and its effect is marginal in the utilitarian service. In the utilitarian service, the main predictor of switching intention is post-purchase regret, whereas in the hedonic service, the main determinants of switching intention are past switching behaviour and anticipated regret.

The main contribution of this study is the analysis of the determinants of provider switching behaviour that may explain abandonment by satisfied customers, to see if their influence is greater or smaller than that of satisfaction itself, which has been the most analysed variable. Furthermore, there are expected to be differences between utilitarian and hedonic services, an aspect which is also studied in this work.

Drawing on person–environment fit theory, this study aims to investigate how the relationships between service task types (i.e. utilitarian and hedonic service tasks) and perceived authenticity (i.e. service and brand authenticity) differ under different conditions of service providers (human employee vs service robot). This study further examines whether customers’ stereotypes toward service robots (competence vs warmth) moderate the relationship between service types and perceived authenticity.

Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, Study 1 examines a casual restaurant, whereas Study 2 assesses a theme park restaurant. Analysis of covariance and PROCESS are used to analyze the data.

Both studies reveal that human service providers in hedonic services positively affect service and brand authenticity more than robotic employees. Additionally, the robot competence stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services, service and brand authenticity, whereas the robot warmth stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services and brand authenticity in Study 2.

Restaurant managers need to understand which functions and types of service outlets are best suited for service robots in different service contexts. Robot–environment fit should be considered when developers design and managers select robots for their restaurants.

This study blazes a new theoretical trail of service robot research to systematically propose customer experiences with different service types by drawing upon person–environment fit theory and examining the moderating role of customers’ stereotypes toward service robots.

This study aims to investigate the impacts of service category (utilitarian vs hedonic) on chosen degree of uniqueness (CDOU) and consumers' willingness to pay more (WTPM), as well as the moderating roles of consumers' narcissism trait (high vs low) and processing mode (rational vs experiential) on the relationship between service category and CDOU.

This study conducts one online experiment-questionnaire study and one between-subject lab experiment to test the hypotheses.

This study finds that consumers are more likely to choose unique choices in hedonic service customization. Consumers' CDOU has a positive effect on their attitudes toward WTPM. In addition, consumers' processing mode moderates the relationship between service category and CDOU.

The findings provide new insights into better understanding the factors affecting the choice of service customization and have significant practical implications. First, consumers' different desire for uniqueness of different service should not be neglected when examining the values of service customization. Second, high-level CDOU is quite prevalent for hedonic (vs utilitarian) service customization, especially for consumers with experiential processing mode.

While previous studies state “need for uniqueness” as a key characteristic of product customization in general, we extend it to intangible service customization and connect it with consumers' WTPM. In addition, the moderating role of individual trait and decision-making processing mode is also checked. Thus, the findings refine the existing understanding of the relationship between uniqueness and service customization.

A distinct view of customer participation in services classifies the characteristics of the participation process as experience- versus outcome-oriented, each of which affects customer participation success uniquely for different types of services (utilitarian vs hedonic). This study aims to investigate if service managers should differentiate and focus on distinct characteristics according to the service types.

Two consumer experiments serve to assess the potential moderating effect of service type on consumer preferences for experience- versus outcome-oriented forms of customer participation.

The two empirical studies affirm the proposed moderating effect of service type on the effect of experience- and outcome-oriented customer participation characteristics. Experience-oriented characteristics work better for hedonic than for utilitarian services, and one study confirms a stronger positive effect of outcome-oriented characteristics for utilitarian services.

Further research should replicate the experimental findings with a field study. Furthermore, continued research could analyze the mediators of the interaction of co-production characteristics with the service type in greater detail.

Managers can design the characteristics of the customer participation processes according to the nature of the service (hedonic vs utilitarian) and, thus, maximize customers’ willingness to pay.

This study offers a new perspective on customers’ reactions to customer participation in services: depending on the service type or situation in which a service is being consumed, different customer participation characteristics lead to (financial) success.

The purpose of this paper is to gain some insight into the effectiveness of different types of tangible compensation strategies for two different types of services: utilitarian and hedonic.

The hypotheses are investigated using a 2×2 between‐subject experimental design and two factors: service type (utilitarian vs hedonic) and compensation type (utilitarian – a price reduction vs hedonic – a free gift).

The results show that customers prefer to receive a form of compensation that matches the type of service involved. For example, customers who receive a utilitarian compensation (e.g. a price reduction) after experiencing a failure in utilitarian service (e.g. at a bank) report higher levels of satisfaction and repurchase intention than they would after experiencing a failure in hedonic services (e.g. at a restaurant), but that the reverse is true for a hedonic‐type compensation (e.g. a free gift).

The offering of either a price reduction or a free gift cuts into company profits. Organizations should, therefore, tailor their service recovery efforts, focusing on those resources in the bundle that will have the greatest positive impact and create the most favorable customer response.

The primary contribution of this paper to the service marketing literature is that it provides empirical results, which shed light on the interplay between the type of compensation and the type of service on the customer's post‐recovery judgment of that service.

As an alternative explanation of incongruent findings in the literature, the purpose of the present study is to introduce the concept of hedonic versus utilitarian service context as a moderating variable in the relationship between the affect (pleasure and arousal) and perceived service quality and satisfaction.

A consumer survey was conducted to test moderation hypotheses, which was analyzed with hierarchical regression equations.

The results show that pleasure had stronger influences on perceived service quality and satisfaction in the hedonic service context than in the utilitarian service context. Arousal is found to influence perceived service quality and satisfaction in the hedonic service context but not in the utilitarian service context.

It is likely that in hedonic related services, consumers will often use some affective criteria to evaluate service quality, in addition to the traditional service quality measures.

Companies providing hedonic services should modify the content of their services or add novelty stimulus into their services from time to time in order to evoke the most desired consumer emotions and enhance satisfaction.

The proposed moderating effect of service contexts improved predictions and explanations of the theoretical relationship between affect and perceived service quality/satisfaction. It specifies the conditions under which affect will or will not impact perceived service quality and satisfaction.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of atmospherics on consumer symbolic interpretations, and various psychological outcomes in a purely hedonic service environment.

Field data were collected from 500 respondents in Florida across four hedonic service attraction sites and then analyzed using MANOVA in SPSS. A mediation method proposed by Baron and Kenny is utilized to determine the mediating role of consumer symbolic interpretations in the nomological network.

There were four major findings. First, similar to other service sectors, environmental factors do play a critical role in determining behavioral intentions in hedonic services. Second, patrons conceptualize hedonic attractions/services in terms of both utilitarian and hedonic components. Third, consumer symbolic perceptions (meanings) do affect behavioral intentions. Finally, consumers do evaluate their service environments (ambient, design and layout and social factors) differently depending on the meanings they attach to a service environment.

Managers can tailor service environments to match the symbolic interpretations and behavioral outcomes they would like to foster in order to maximize monies spent on physical upgrades. Additional work is needed in the area of consumer meanings and symbolic interpretations.

The study indicates that the service environment can be used as a differentiating tool to perpetuate brand meaning and uniqueness in the minds of the consumer, thereby creating a competitive advantage for the hedonic facilities and by extension ensuring repeat patronage.