This research aims to explore and theorize the role of embodied practices – orchestrated by service providers – in the social production of servicescapes. It is claimed that the…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to explore and theorize the role of embodied practices – orchestrated by service providers – in the social production of servicescapes. It is claimed that the social character of the servicescape is shaped not only by narratives and materialities but also through the body. Bodily physical behaviors like physical movements in space, gestures, facial expressions, postures and tactile engagements with the surrounding materiality constitute a body language that conveys information and expresses meanings. In this kinetic capacity, the body becomes a building agent in the social constitution of the servicescape. As the author empirically demonstrates in the context of city tourism with diverse experiential opportunities, it is due to the body’s discriminatory orientation, walking, looking, pointing and acting in selective ways that the city emerges as a servicescape of particular kind.
Design/methodology/approach
Market-oriented ethnography was conducted in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where the author observed the guiding practices of tour guides leading international tourists during two-day city excursions.
Findings
This research identifies and unpacks three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers as they guide customers at the servicescape: spatializing, emplacing and regulating. The role of the body and its association with narratives and materialities is identified in each cluster.
Practical implications
A number of embodied practices are provided for use by contact employees as they guide customers in the servicescape. Specific guidelines are also offered to service providers for the strategic employment of body language, their training is navigational skills and the coordination of body, narratives and materialities.
Originality/value
This study extends current materialistic and communicative approaches on the construction of servicescapes by claiming that the servicescape in not only a physical and narrative construction but something that is also configured through the body; provides three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers; theorizes the intertwined nature of narratives, materiality and the body; defines servicescapes as dynamic socio-spatial entities emerging from the constant {narrative-material-body} arrangements orchestrated by service providers; and sheds light on the mediating role of the body in the social production of servicescapes.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers' attraction to the past and the experiential benefits associated with past‐related consumption practices.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers' attraction to the past and the experiential benefits associated with past‐related consumption practices.
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretive study was undertaken using a heritage exhibition in Greece as an appropriate context. A total of 49 interviews using the central premises of phenomenological research were conducted in which 82 individuals participated. Informants were asked to elaborate on their consumption experience. Verbal data were analyzed and interpreted using theoretical guidance by Lowenthal's pioneering work on people's attraction to the past.
Findings
Six experiential benefits are found that are prevalent among consumers in their contact with the past: the experience of knowledge, cultural identity, cultural values, escape in time, aesthetic appreciation, and narrative connection. These benefits are embedded on existing cultural narratives that are further enriched through consumption practices. Moreover, the beneficial consumption outcomes of the past are mediated by imagination that functions as a “linking glue” and a “creative force” in the construction of narrative vignettes.
Research limitations/implications
Although this discovery‐oriented study provides insight into the consumption of the past, its exploratory nature does not guarantee generalizability beyond the convenience sample employed and the specific context. Further research should also investigate the extent to which the specific consumer benefits are prevalent in other consumption experiences.
Practical implications
This research provides orientation for the management of experiential products. Marketers can facilitate consumer experiences through the appropriate staging of the servicescape in both substantive and communicating ways. Specific direction can be taken by paying attention to each of the identified experiential benefits.
Originality/value
As experiential consumption rises in consumer research, it is of paramount importance to elucidate what drives consumers in participating and enjoying various consumption experiences. This study provides theoretical guidance to researchers in the area of experiential consumption by elaborating on the benefits associated with the consumption of the past. It also offers suggestions to practitioners for the appropriate management of an experiential servicescape.