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Article
Publication date: 28 February 2022

Jay Kandampully, Anil Bilgihan and Sally Mohamed Amer

The purpose of this paper is to review what one knows – and does not know about servicescape and experiencescape. The paper provides a comprehensive conceptualization, discussion…

3503

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review what one knows – and does not know about servicescape and experiencescape. The paper provides a comprehensive conceptualization, discussion of the servicescape and experiencescape and calls for the need for a collective focus of servicescape and experiencescape for the service industry.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper analyzes multiple literature studies related to servicescape, experiencescape and other related concepts such as service quality and customer experience for building a comprehensive framework that draws knowledge from both servicescape and experiencescape in an effort to create a collective focus.

Findings

Prior research on the components of servicescape and experiencescape raises more questions than answers. The findings of this study highlight the importance of technology as one of the key components of experiencescape to motivate customers to engage in the consumption environment. Furthermore, the proposed conceptual framework provides a detailed discussion and highlights the importance of using servicescape and experiencescape concepts together as a collective framework to bring about greater benefits to the service industry. The proposed framework suggests that these concepts are not only collective but also interrelated.

Research limitations/implications

Technology is not a tool but an important partner for the firm to create the experience. It can bring together marketing, management and operations within the organization to collectively focus on the customer. Collectively designed servicescape and experiencescape will create lasting memories and emotional connections with customers.

Practical implications

Service organizations can develop smart experiencescapes that positively influence customer value cocreation and heighten customer experience by utilizing technology. Managers are advised to understand consumers' emphasis on technological personalization, aesthetics, functionality, interactivity and social presence while participating in cocreation. Technologies may improve the experience by incorporating real-time and less-restrained interactions between consumers and the service organization.

Originality/value

This paper synthesizes insights from the extant literature related to servicescape, service quality, customer experience and experiencescape. Further, it helps to extend the current understanding of experiencescape and calls for the need to incorporate technology as one of the key experience components in the experiencescape concept. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance and the need to bring these two concepts together with a collective focus to enhance value for the customer. Thus, it is argued here that the collective focus of servicescape and experiencescape in the service industry will create new opportunities for further research and practical applications.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2016

Angelo Bonfanti

The purpose of this paper is to identify customers’ needs and expectations regarding servicescape surveillance management (SSM) in order to suggest to service managers how they…

2429

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify customers’ needs and expectations regarding servicescape surveillance management (SSM) in order to suggest to service managers how they can carefully design a service environment to ensure a high level of security while concurrently enhancing the customer service experience.

Design/methodology/approach

Given that this study is explorative in nature, it is based on a specific method of qualitative data collection: focus group interviews. Three focus group sessions were organised with 24 Italian customers of retail stores, hotels and hospitals. The multi-expectation model proposed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml, which distinguishes between what customers consider acceptable (adequate service level) and what they hope to receive (desired service level), was chosen as the reference framework to investigate customers’ needs and expectations from SSM.

Findings

Servicescape surveillance must be compatible with customer satisfaction. Customers are acceptably satisfied when servicescape surveillance offers them feelings of physical safety, psychological security, economic security and the right to privacy. They desire that surveillance also allows them to live a positive service experience in sensorial, psychological, social and temporal terms. However, customers’ expectations of adequate and desired service levels are different in terms of the presence, quantity and visibility of surveillance in the three service areas examined. Interestingly, customers expect to find more visible surveillance measures inside retail stores rather than in hotels and hospitals, but they prefer to receive invisible surveillance in the servicescape.

Practical implications

Service managers should consider surveillance not as a cost or a tool for detecting and punishing inappropriate or criminal behaviour, but rather, as an opportunity for enhancing the customer service experience. They can invest in servicescape design elements, technological surveillance solutions and continuous training of security personnel to meet their customers’ adequate and desired service levels.

Originality/value

This study provides two major contributions. From the theoretical viewpoint, it extends knowledge of the hitherto under-researched area of SSM by identifying customers’ needs and expectations of surveillance and the customer service experience, which are topics usually examined separately in the literature. In terms of managerial implications, it provides store/hotel/hospital managers with recommendations on how to design a servicescape that is both secure and pleasant.

Article
Publication date: 16 August 2022

Pedro Carvalho and Helena Alves

This study aims to develop a systematic literature review of customer value co-creation in the hospitality and tourism industry and present the different views of the scientific…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to develop a systematic literature review of customer value co-creation in the hospitality and tourism industry and present the different views of the scientific community, highlighting the dimensions, antecedents and outcomes of customer value co-creation.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a systematic review process guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses protocol. Data were collected through a search for papers in Scopus, EBSCO, Web of Science and Science Direct databases. The systematic review was performed based on 216 validated articles.

Findings

The study reveals that the manifestations of customer value co-creation can be understood, based on two fundamental dimensions: customer behaviours and factors that shape co-creation. However, some antecedents are closely linked to the customer, social environment, service provider and technological resources. Moreover, there are numerous outcomes resulting from customer value co-creation, grouped in customer results, perceived value and organizational performance and market outcomes.

Practical implications

This research contributes to a more informed explanation for hospitality and tourism organizations about the importance of tourist and guest involvement in value co-creation. This systematic knowledge can facilitate the design of the service, as well as the value proposition offered by hospitality and tourism organizations.

Originality/value

The study extends the literature by systematizing the empirical and conceptual knowledge, using for the first time a systematic literature review.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

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Article
Publication date: 6 March 2017

Durgesh Pattanayak, Maddulety Koilakuntla and Plavini Punyatoya

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of total quality management (TQM) on service quality (SQ), market orientation (MO) and the subsequent effect on customer…

2642

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of total quality management (TQM) on service quality (SQ), market orientation (MO) and the subsequent effect on customer satisfaction (CS) and customer loyalty (CL). The research also analyses the direct effect of TQM on CS.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from middle managers of retail banking sector in India using survey method. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data and to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that TQM is positively associated with SQ, MO and CS. SQ and MO are significantly and positively associated with CS. CS subsequently leads to improved CL.

Practical implications

Enforcing TQM practices in their organizations as a change management tool, banks can achieve a greater degree of MO, improved SQ and higher CS to gain higher CL.

Originality/value

This paper empirically demonstrates that, by proper implementation of TQM in banks, the SQ and MO can be improved. Well implemented quality management practices, better customer service and market-focused attitude of banks will elevate the CS level and improve loyalty of customers toward the banks. With a little study has yet focused on India, the paper offers knowledge to banking professionals for increasing CL by effective implementation of TQM practices.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 2024

Zhiwei (CJ) Lin, Wenjie Xiao, Baolin Deng, Changjiang (Bruce) Tao and IpKin Anthony Wong

While the rise of chain restaurants has attracted increasing research interest, few studies have taken servicescape into consideration to examine its effects on transformative…

Abstract

Purpose

While the rise of chain restaurants has attracted increasing research interest, few studies have taken servicescape into consideration to examine its effects on transformative service outcomes. This study aims to assess how social service elements can provide customers with restorative qualities, though social components are considered vital in constituting a dining locale's servicescape (AKA Social Servicescape).

Design/methodology/approach

The study fills the void above by undertaking a survey-based quantitative research method. Using online surveys with a sample of 306 diners, the study employed structural equation modeling to explore a proposed moderated mediation model. A post-hoc interview followed to provide qualitative data to complement the findings developed from surveys.

Findings

Results first point to a positive relationship between social servicescape and attention restoration. Moreover, the authors unveil that substantive servicescape has a moderating effect on the relationship of interest, suggesting the interplay of social and built servicescape in promoting restorative experiences.

Research limitations/implications

Social and built stimuli can be intertwined to offer restorative qualities for customers. Through such an intertwined network of relationships, one may derive better mental health resources from hospitality settings.

Originality/value

This research presents new nuances to the existing field of inquiry by linking social servicescape and restoration through an intertwined network of attentional recovery.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9792

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2017

David Ballantyne and Elin Nilsson

The emergence of new social media is shifting the market place for business towards virtual market space. In the light of the emerging digital space for new forms of marketing…

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Abstract

Purpose

The emergence of new social media is shifting the market place for business towards virtual market space. In the light of the emerging digital space for new forms of marketing, the traditional servicescape concept is critically examined. This paper aims to show why servicescape concepts and attitudes need to be adapted for digital media.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the authors explain how the traditional servicescape concept adds meaning to a service provider’s value-proposition by modifying customer expectations and customer experience. Second, recognising that the environment for service is no longer bound to a physical place, the authors discuss the implications of the epistemic shift involved.

Findings

The authors’ examination shows that digital service space challenges traditional concepts about what constitutes a customer experience and derived value. The authors conceptually “zoom out” into a virtual service eco-system and show with exemplar examples why the servicescape in digital space is more socially embedded and necessarily more fluid in its time-space design. In the more advanced sites, interactions between various artificial bodies (avatars) are co-created by controlling off-line participant-actors; yet, these participant-actors remain strangers to each other at an off-line level. This is entirely a new and radical development of old times.

Research limitations/implications

The research findings are based on scholarly research of the relevant literature, from practitioner reports, and evidence emerging from the examination of many digital web-sites. It has not been the authors’ intention to objectively represent current servicescape functionalities but more to indicate the major directions of change with exemplar examples. The future cannot be predicted, but their interpretive conclusions suggest major challenges in service marketing and management logic ahead. New forms of digital servicescape are still being created as technology and service imagination enables, so further research interest in virtual atmospherics can be expected.

Practical implications

Social media platforms are enabling organisations to learn more about their customers and also to engage them more. In these changing times, bricks and mortar stores would be well advised to review their servicescape presence to allow and encourage engagement with the more involved consumers. And, by integrating their digital space into their physical place, bricks and mortar stores might take on more relationship oriented process-like characteristics, both in the digital space and in their physical places, with developments on one platform leading to possible service innovations on the other.

Social implications

The digital era is changing consumer behaviour. Service managers need to take into account that many customers are already equally as engaged with digital-space social networks as they once were with bricks and mortar stores. The more time consumers as participant-actors spend in social networks, the decision on what and where to buy is decided by interactions with friends and other influencers.

Originality/value

New forms of digital servicescape are being created as technology and service imagination enables. Further scholarly research interest in virtual atmospherics can be expected, impacting on the authors’ sense of place, and self-identity.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2018

Seonjeong Ally Lee

This paper aims to explore how customer engagement behaviors and brand loyalty are enhanced through customers’ preferences of m-servicescape, based on the S-O-R model as a…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how customer engagement behaviors and brand loyalty are enhanced through customers’ preferences of m-servicescape, based on the S-O-R model as a theoretical background.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional, online, self-administered survey method was conducted to examine proposed relationships by recruiting previous users of hotel mobile apps in the USA.

Findings

Results identified aesthetics, functionality and symbolism preferences of the m-servicescape fulfilled customers’ evaluations on autonomy and relatedness needs fulfillment, which positively influenced their engagement behaviors and brand loyalty.

Research/limitations/implications

This study contributed to mobile marketing research by investigating customers’ preferences of m-servicescapes that enhanced customers’ positive responses in the hotel industry.

Practical implications

Practical implications are as follows: using a holistic approach to explore mobile service environments in fulfilling customers’ needs, enhanced customers’ engagement behaviors and brand loyalty.

Originality/value

This study proposed and empirically investigated the role of m-servicescapes in customers’ evaluations on needs fulfillment and their positive responses in the hotel industry.

研究目的

本论文以 S-O-R 模型为理论基础, 旨在探索m-服务场景如何促进客户参与行为和品牌忠诚度。

研究设计/方法/途径

本论文采用横向研究、在线问卷采样形式, 美国酒店移动 app 用户为问卷样本, 来对假设关系进行验证。

研究结果

m-服务场景的美观、功能性、和象征意义对顾客自治、相关需求满足有促进作用, 从而积极提高他们的参与行为和品牌忠诚度。

研究理论限制/意义

本论文通过探索酒店顾客m-服务场景偏好与顾客积极反馈的关系, 对移动营销研究做出贡献。

研究实践意义

本论文建议企业使用整体策略来加强移动服务场景对于顾客需求的满足, 从而提高了顾客参与行为和品牌忠诚度。

研究原创性/价值

本论文提出并且验证m-服务场景对于酒店顾客需求满足和积极反馈的作用。

关键词: 服务场景, 酒店移动 app, 顾客参与行为, 品牌忠诚度, S-O-R 模型

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9880

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 April 2022

IpKin Anthony Wong, Jingwen Huang, Zhiwei (CJ) Lin and Haoyue Jiao

Have you been to a smart restaurant, and how were its services? A common limitation of hospitality studies stems from the lack of research on how service quality is shaped within…

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Abstract

Purpose

Have you been to a smart restaurant, and how were its services? A common limitation of hospitality studies stems from the lack of research on how service quality is shaped within smart technology. This study aims to fill this literature void not merely to reiterate the importance of technology but also to recast service quality through the lens of information technology. It synthesizes the 5-S model of smart service quality (AKA SSQ) as a new conceptualization of service quality application in smart hospitality contexts such as smart restaurants.

Design/methodology/approach

This study undertook a qualitative research design based on theoretical synthesis from service quality, information technology and attention restoration. Drawing from online review comments and semistructured interviews from smart restaurants, the authors improvised the SSQ model to identify the essence of smart service in smart dining establishments.

Findings

“5-S” reflects an extension of the literature to denote a new SSQ abstraction pertinent to s-servicescape, s-assurance, s-responsiveness, s-reliability and s-empathy. A nomological network was posited to better understand the importance of smart design and consequence of SSQ.

Research limitations/implications

The emergence of smart dining gives rise to smart restaurants, which puts technology at center stage. As consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with self-service technology, auto-payment and ordering systems and robotic services, technology in foodservice will continue to play an essential role to better serve diners. Geared with advanced innovations and intelligent devices, smart restaurants are now more than mere eateries. It is a trend and a lifestyle.

Originality/value

This novel SSQ concept adds new nuances to the literature by acknowledging the technological essence in today’s hospitality industry. By integrating smart technology into the service quality paradigm, the authors are able to observe several interesting behaviors exhibited during smart dining, including tech-induced restoration, which opens a new avenue to understand how attention restoration could be attained through immersion in a technologically advanced setting. By synthesizing theoretical essence from service quality, attention restoration and information technology, the authors are able to create a new dialog that should warrant a forum of discussion in future studies.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 34 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2008

Sven Tuzovic

The purpose of this research is to examine the concept of “potential quality” – that is, a company's tangible search qualities (such as the physical servicescape and virtual…

1984

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to examine the concept of “potential quality” – that is, a company's tangible search qualities (such as the physical servicescape and virtual servicescape) – within the context of the real‐estate industry in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study collects data by conducting personal in‐depth interviews with 34 respondents who had been recent buyers or renters of property. The data are then coded and themed to identify quality dimensions relevant to this industry.

Findings

The results indicate that a buyer's perception of the overall service quality of real‐estate service consists of two components: the interaction with a realtor (process quality); and the virtual servicescape, especially the firm's website design and content (potential quality). The study concludes that existing scales (such as SERVQUAL and RESERV) fail to capture the tangible component of service quality sufficiently in the real‐estate industry.

Research limitations/implications

The study uses data from only one industry (real estate) and from only one demographic segment (professionals in higher education).

Practical implications

Service providers of intangible, high‐contact services must appreciate the importance of the virtual servicescape as a surrogate quality indicator that can help to reduce information asymmetries and consumers' uncertainty with regard to initiating a business relationship. Real estate firms need to pay attention to the training of agents and the design and content of their e‐service systems.

Originality/value

This study integrates potential quality, process quality, and outcome quality in a comprehensive proposed model. In particular, the study identifies “potential quality” as a combination of the attributes of the virtual service environment and the physical service environment.

Details

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-4529

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 December 2021

Ahir Gopaldas, Anton Siebert and Burçak Ertimur

Dyadic services research has increasingly focused on helping providers facilitate transformative service conversations with consumers. Extant research has thoroughly documented…

Abstract

Purpose

Dyadic services research has increasingly focused on helping providers facilitate transformative service conversations with consumers. Extant research has thoroughly documented the conversational skills that providers can use to facilitate consumer microtransformations (i.e. small changes in consumers’ thoughts, feelings and action plans toward their well-being goals). At the same time, extant research has largely neglected the role of servicescape design in transformative service conversations despite some evidence of its potential significance. To redress this oversight, this article aims to examine how servicescape design can be used to better facilitate consumer microtransformations in dyadic service conversations.

Design/methodology/approach

This article is based on an interpretive study of mental health services (i.e. counseling, psychotherapy and coaching). Both providers and consumers were interviewed about their lived experiences of service encounters. Informants frequently described the spatial and temporal dimensions of their service encounters as crucial to their experiences of service encounters. These data are interpreted through the lens of servicescape design theory, which disentangles servicescape design effects into dimensions, strategies, tactics, experiences and outcomes.

Findings

The data reveal two servicescape design strategies that help facilitate consumer microtransformations. “Service sequestration” is a suite of spatial design tactics (e.g., private offices) that creates strong consumer protections for emotional risk-taking. “Service serialization” is a suite of temporal design tactics (e.g., recurring appointments) that creates predictable rhythms for emotional risk-taking. The effects of service sequestration and service serialization on consumer microtransformations are mediated by psychological safety and psychological readiness, respectively.

Practical implications

The article details concrete servicescape design tactics that providers can use to improve consumer experiences and outcomes in dyadic service contexts. These tactics can help promote consumer microtransformations in the short run and consumer well-being in the long run.

Originality/value

This article develops a conceptual model of servicescape design strategies for transformative service conversations. This model explains how and why servicescape design can influence consumer microtransformations. The article also begins to transfer servicescape design tactics from mental health services to other dyadic services that seek to facilitate consumer microtransformations. Examples of such services include career counseling, divorce law, financial advising, geriatric social work, nutrition counseling, personal styling and professional organizing.

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