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The study aims to delve into the “phygital customer journey” (PCJ), which merges physical and digital interactions in customer experiences, using a practice-based lens to reveal the underlying dynamics of these blended encounters.

Feedback from 60 individuals established the groundwork for a qualitative analysis. They chronicled customer journeys through diaries and used UXPressia software for journey mapping. This strategy enabled a detailed exploration of the PCJ, focusing on customers’ lived experiences and perceptions.

The study presents an integrative framework for the PCJ, identifying four key elements: hybrid artefacts (the melding of digital and physical tools/interfaces), blended contexts (the seamless integration of digital and physical spaces), circular actions (the non-linear paths of customer engagement) and intertwined emotions (the complex emotional responses to phygital experiences). These elements underscore the intricate and interconnected nature of the PCJ.

This study advances the field by applying a practice-based approach to unravel the complexities of the PCJ, illuminating the nuanced interplay between digital and physical realms. This innovative lens foregrounds the significance of practices in consumer experiences, thereby contributing to a deeper academic and practical understanding of phygital integration.

Due to rapid digitalization, the emergence of the “phygital” environment, which blends physical and digital experiences, creates unique challenges for researchers. This paper aims to introduce an interpretivist methodological framework designed to understand consumer behavior in phygital environments. The framework enables an in-depth exploration of the contextual factors, subjective experiences, personal emotions and social networks that influence consumer behavior in this space.

The framework was developed after a thorough literature review of the phygital environment and interpretivist research landscape. Consistent with the phygital transformation theory, this approach allows researchers to go beyond the limitations of purely quantitative methods, gaining a deeper understanding of consumer behavior in phygital environments. The framework is organized into four meticulously designed pillars, each focusing on specific aspects of research and using distinct data collection and analysis approaches.

The systematic framework facilitates exploration of various dimensions of consumer experiences in phygital settings through qualitative research techniques. Uncovering the richness of contextual factors, subjective meanings, consumer experiences and social interactions within the phygital environment yields meaningful insights into consumer decision-making and preferences. These insights help marketers craft better phygital marketing strategies.

This interpretivist framework presents a unique approach for researchers hoping to investigate consumer behavior in phygital environments. It offers deep insights and understanding of this largely unexplored space, contributing to the evolving body of knowledge in phygital studies.

This study investigated the impact of the perceived Augmented Reality (AR) social experience of restaurant menus on two types of prosocial behaviors: brand positivity and brand information sharing.

This study adopts the expectancy-value model as a framework, drawing on the cognitive load, self-determination, and media richness theories. Using a sample of 879 participants from the United States, the research model was tested using structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The findings indicate that the social experience derived from using AR menus significantly predicts brand positivity and brand information sharing. The perceived usefulness of AR mediates this relationship. Moreover, AR reality congruence acts as a significant mediator between perceived AR social experience and brand positivity but not brand information sharing. The positive relationship between AR social experience, brand positivity, and brand information sharing is sequentially mediated by AR reality congruence and AR usefulness.

This groundbreaking research pioneers a fresh perspective, delving into the impact of AR social experiences on consumers' prosocial behaviors, specifically brand positivity and information sharing. Unravels intricate mechanisms, shedding light on how and under what circumstances AR social experiences foster positive behaviors within the dynamic realm of food services and restaurant settings. This study provides valuable insights for restaurant managers and marketers to leverage AR technology to create engaging and immersive customer-dining experiences, a concept that has not been thoroughly explored in previous studies.

The purpose of this paper is, through an exploratory analysis, to identify good practices implemented by international museums in the phygital context and their classification in terms of customer experiences, in order to identify innovative cultural value creation and co-creation practices.

The authors adopt a qualitative approach of multiple case studies. The analysis conducted formed the information base through which to proceed with the classification of phygital customer experiences through the extended reality technologies framework

The analysis conducted on the selected international museums shows that the phygital formula can take on different characteristics depending on the technologies used and the purpose to be achieved and can be a useful tool for the co-creation of cultural value.

The originality of this contribution lies in the comparative analysis proposed among the case studies to intercept best practices in the phygital field, in the classification of phygital experiences through a novel frame of reference and in the identification of prospects for improvement of an emerging phenomenon in the literature on cultural sector management.

This chapter explores the gourmet tourist as a food tourist profile that seeks a fine dining experience in the context of ‘experiential luxury’. The growing role of luxury experiences in gastronomic tourism has positioned luxury restaurants as culinary ambassadors that influence food tourist behaviour. Based on the case of four Michelin-starred restaurants in Copenhagen (Denmark), results show that the gourmet tourist food experiences as seen by the restaurateurs are driven by three factors. Firstly, the source of the product and the stories behind the product. Secondly, the gourmet experience as a learning process. Thirdly, the memories embedded in the fine dining experience which rely both on people (the staff) and practices (the singularity).

Recently, leading scholars suggested that firms should align strategic and tactical human resource management efforts to cope with growing turnover rates, and that the human resource management field should broaden its scope by embracing the views of all stakeholders. In this research paper, the authors aim to present a study inquiring about the influence of the implementation of an employee experience strategy on employee loyalty and the effect of employee loyalty on customer loyalty in a firm operating in the service sector.

The authors used longitudinal data collected yearly from 2020 to 2022. Overall, 766 employees participated in the longitudinal study. The authors also analyzed cross-sectional data from 166 employees and their customers.

The study’s results suggest that implementing an employee experience strategy increases employee loyalty. The study’s findings also indicate that organizations implementing such a human resource management strategy reach employee and customer loyalty.

There is a lack of evidence about the positive effect of the alignment of an employee experience strategy and tactics on different organizational stakeholders. This study provides insights for scholars and practitioners willing to use the employee and customer experience framework to positively impact organizations.

The purpose of this study is to hypothesize that tailored multimedia interventions using the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Behavior Change Techniques via social media platforms have the potential to effectively disseminate scientific information regarding food sustainability to food professionals. The objective is to evaluate the extent of the influence of these interventions on social media in enhancing the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of food professionals about food sustainability, with a specific focus on next-generation professional chefs.

A total of 121 students majoring in gastronomy and culinary arts volunteered to participate in the study. A 5-min multimedia intervention was explicitly tailored for their backgrounds and designed for social media platforms. It covered food sustainability topics and related factors using a diverse range of multimedia elements, such as video, still images, text and audio narration. Furthermore, researchers developed a validated questionnaire that covered the same topics as the multimedia intervention. In a quasi-experimental design, participants were administered the questionnaire both before and after watching the tailored multimedia intervention.

The results of this study revealed significant improvements in participants’ knowledge and attitudes of key concepts, including greenhouse gases and their relation to climate change, climate change and meat-based menu items relation, inequality in the distribution of natural resources, primary sources of food loss, the significance of implementing new technology in agricultural activities and the role of the next generation. The multimedia shifted participants’ attitudes, prioritizing climate change as the most critical and strengthening the perception of local food production as the least critical factors. Moreover, it strengthened participants’ attitudes toward the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as the primary actor in sustainability.

Although culinary students may be seen as a subset of a targeted food professional group, they are the future leaders of the global food system. Chefs have substantial influences in a broad range of settings and sectors, including institutional food service, chain restaurants, the food and beverage industry and home cooking via books and television programs, among others. Chefs increasingly adopt sustainable menus and business practices to promote sustainable food systems and reduce climate change associated with the food sector. In addition, they use their community power to advocate for legislation that promotes the long-term sustainability of food systems.

Chefs and restaurant owners can use the results to tailor multimedia about food sustainability topics for their staff training programs and daily sharing on their social media platforms. Government organizations and policymakers can use the results to develop effective communication plans with food professionals. Non-governmental organizations dedicated to the environment and food sustainability can tailor multimedia campaigns on social media that address the food professionals directly to encourage them to adopt sustainable practices. Professional teams producing content on social media platforms can use the results to create engaging and informative scientific multimedia interventions targeting food professionals.

In a broader societal context, enhancing the scientific knowledge, attitudes and behavior of the professional chefs toward food sustainability will, in turn, lead to widespread adaptation of sustainable practices, not only within their professional domains but also in wider community settings. This will significantly contribute to the major goal of advancing food sustainability and addressing global challenges like food inequality and food insecurity.

The impact of various variables and the roles of different food sectors and their actors in food sustainability have been extensively studied. Furthermore, a wide range of research has examined diverse consumer groups’ food sustainability knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. However, developing an effective method for communicating and advocating scientific facts about food sustainability-related topics has been a challenge. Traditional environmental education is insufficient for fostering sustainable change. As social media are the fastest-growing science communication tool, this pioneering research suggests multimedia interventions on social media to improve food professionals’ food sustainability knowledge, attitudes and behaviors to fill the literature gap.

The primary objective of this study is to explore the nuanced interplay of conspicuous consumption, ethical label purchasing and the ensuing dynamics of civic virtue and cynicism within the luxury foodservice context.

Grounded in a theoretical understanding of solidarity within the context of product consumption, this research employs a two-pronged approach involving secondary data analysis and scenario-based experimental studies. The initial phase involves analyzing firm-level data from the Euromonitor database in 2019 and 2021. The main study employs a between-subjects experimental design with a cohort of 316 participants sourced from an online panel.

The results reveal a consistent pattern in the consumption of luxury foodservice and underscore a distinct upward trajectory in consumer demand for ethically labeled food. Notably, these findings underscore the moderating role of ethical label purchasing in the relationship between conspicuous consumption and consumers civic virtue. Additionally, ethical label purchasing moderates the impact of conspicuous consumption on consumer cynicism, both directly and indirectly through emotional solidarity related to both communal and equitable principles.

This study holds significance for both luxury food service researchers and market design practitioners. It provides valuable insights into how ethical labeling interacts with consumers conspicuous consumption, all facilitated by emotional solidarity.