Edwin N. Torres, Peter Lugosi, Marissa Orlowski and Giulio Ronzoni
Adopting a socio-spatial approach, this study develops a consumer-centric conception of service experience customization. In contrast to existing service customization research…
Abstract
Purpose
Adopting a socio-spatial approach, this study develops a consumer-centric conception of service experience customization. In contrast to existing service customization research, which has focused on company-centric approaches, the purpose of this paper is to examine the practices through which consumers use, abuse, subvert, transform, or complement organizational resources to construct their consumption experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical context for this study is a Meetup group: a consumer network organized around members’ shared interests and activities in theme parks. The research utilized participant observation of members’ face-to-face activities during two years and over 80 events, interviews with key informants, and content analysis of online interactions.
Findings
The findings outline how consumers interact across physical and virtual spaces utilizing technologies and material objects. The data are used to propose a new consumer-centric conceptualization of experience customization, distinguishing between three modes: collaborative co-production, cooperative co-creation, and subversive co-creation.
Originality/value
It is argued that the three modes of customization provide a way to understand how consumers mobilize and (re)deploy organizational resources to create experiences that may complement existing service propositions, but may also transform them in ways that challenge the service provider’s original goals and expectations. Furthermore, this study identifies the factors that shape which modes of customization are possible and how they are enacted. Specifically, the discussion examines how experiential complexity, governability, the compatibility of consumer and organizational practices, and the collective mobilization of resources may determine the scope and form of customization.
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Among the events of National Library Week was the opening of thenew Croydon Central Library. Describes the architecture of the building.The Library was opened by Peter Brooke…
Abstract
Among the events of National Library Week was the opening of the new Croydon Central Library. Describes the architecture of the building. The Library was opened by Peter Brooke, Secretary of State at the Department of National Heritage, who used the occasion to explain Government policy on public libraries. Reproduces this speech, clarifies his comments and to some extent corrects earlier comments made by Iain Sproat, whose speech is also outlined.
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For attendees with allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease, accessing safe, nutritious and good quality food and drink is a vital but challenging dimension of events. This…
Abstract
Purpose
For attendees with allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease, accessing safe, nutritious and good quality food and drink is a vital but challenging dimension of events. This study sought to capture and analyse the lived event experiences of individuals with a variety of food-related health, wellbeing and safety needs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted an inductive approach, using semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative data from participants with various food allergies and intolerances or coeliac disease.
Findings
Attendees had low expectations regarding food choice, quality and value, which stemmed from past event experiences. Poor information about suitable food and drink, coupled with frontline staffs' perceived knowledge, responsiveness and care were frequently seen as sources of service failures. The data stress how exposure to potentially harmful foods and food avoidance influenced attendees' experiences. The findings also help to appreciate consumers' agency, identifying various coping strategies used by affected individuals to anticipate risks, engage in compensatory behaviours and mitigate the effects of unsuitable food and drink.
Originality/value
This study is unique in examining the event experiences of individuals with food allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease. It demonstrates how practices in the crucial domain of food and drink provision can affect the overall event experience, with potential consequences at, across and potentially beyond the venue and occasion. From a theoretical perspective, the study conceptualises intersections of risk, value-creation/destruction and experiential consumption. It shows the “episodic” and “perpetual” impacts of “risk loaded” consumption, while arguing that diverse value-creation/destruction practices mediate pathways leading to different experiential outcomes.
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Junior Education Minister Peter Brooke, speaking at the Conference of Registrars & Secretaries of UK Universities at Bradford, stressed the Government's firm hope that more young…
Abstract
Junior Education Minister Peter Brooke, speaking at the Conference of Registrars & Secretaries of UK Universities at Bradford, stressed the Government's firm hope that more young people would consider carefully the advantages of spending a year in worthwhile work or other experience between school and higher education, and said the Government intended to set up a seminar for representatives from education and industry to explore ways of encouraging more young people to take some time out between studies. He said the broadening of experience of potential students could have significant benefits:
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and examine the processes through which abstract concepts, or abstractions, can be utilised in co-creating knowledge within…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and examine the processes through which abstract concepts, or abstractions, can be utilised in co-creating knowledge within “impact-focussed” organisational and business research, i.e. applied research that primarily seeks to promote change in practice rather than principally aiming to make theoretical contributions to academic debates. The paper uses the abstraction “hospitality” as an empirical example and discusses the techniques used to “operationalise” this concept, i.e. make it understandable for research participants enabling researchers to use it within data generation and the creation of practical insights in organisational enquiry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed two methods: first, participant-generated photos; and second, two interactive workshops with 38 practitioners where the abstract concept “hospitality” was used to generate practical organisational insights.
Findings
The paper distinguishes between four stages: the elaboration of abstraction, concretisation of abstraction, probing perspectives on abstraction and exploring experiences of abstraction. It is argued that utilising specific techniques within these four stages facilitates: recognisability: the extent to which organisational stakeholders understand the content and meanings of the abstraction; and relatability: the extent to which stakeholders appreciate how the abstract concepts are relevant to interpreting their own practices and experiences.
Research limitations/implications
This is an exploratory study, used to develop and refine elicitation techniques, rather than to draw definitive conclusions about the applicability of specific abstract concepts. Nevertheless, reflecting on the processes and techniques used in the utilisation of abstractions here can help to operationalise them in future impact-focussed research.
Originality/value
The paper conceptualises the processes through which abstract concepts can be made apprehendable for non-specialist, non-academic practitioners. In doing so, it discusses how various elicitation techniques support the utilisation of abstractions in generating insights that can support the development of constructive, context-specific practices in organisations and businesses.
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“The concept of the professional manager, moving from company to company during a career, rather in the manner of a medieval mercenary captain in the service of a series of…
Abstract
“The concept of the professional manager, moving from company to company during a career, rather in the manner of a medieval mercenary captain in the service of a series of monarchs, was established earlier in the USA”
States that Northern Ireland continues to be governed by Direct Rule from Westminster, with the Government in the Republic of Ireland able to influence that rule through the…
Abstract
States that Northern Ireland continues to be governed by Direct Rule from Westminster, with the Government in the Republic of Ireland able to influence that rule through the Anglo‐Irish Conference and the Secretariat located in Belfast. There are many questions emerging from the recent political history of Northern Ireland: the political implications of continued Direct Rule, the implications of any UK government withdrawal and the economic consequences of peace. The answers to many of the questions posed by its recent political history depends on the future political management of Northern Ireland.