Exploring how Interactions and Responses within the Servicescape combine to form Customer Experience – A Text Mining Approach

The core research objective in this thesis is to address the ways in which Customer Experience (CX) emerges through the combinational effects of multiple customer interactions at touchpoints and their resulting CX responses. The empirical study designed in this work is positioned to build upon existing literature within the Service Management field. According to extant work, CX can be viewed from both the provider’s perspective (e.g. ‘intended’ or designed), and the customer’s perspective (e.g. ‘realised’ or subjective). The thesis integrates both accounts through the presentation of a new conceptual model which forms the basis for the design of the empirical study. Several limitations are addressed in this work. First, building on the notion that CX emerges across multiple touchpoint interactions (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016) the study explores the impact multiple interaction types, and their associated responses, have on overall CX. Extant studies have tended to view CX at single touchpoint interactions (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). CX emerges across multiple touchpoint interactions, which each induce responses in the customer. As it stands, little is known about how this process occurs, or the relationships which exist between customer interaction, customer response, and overall CX. Second, the study widens the field and its understanding of the servicescape from an ‘unbounded’ perspective (Rosenbaum and Massiah, 2011). Traditionally, studies have explored CX through the impact of provider-owned touchpoints, predominantly within bounded service sites. The study addresses requests to explore the impact of wider, non-provider-controlled touchpoints on overall CX (Kandampully et al., 2018). Relating to this aim, very little existing work deals with the impact of natural servicescape touchpoints on CX. The case studies in this work have been chosen for their suitability to address this gap. The study employs a comparative case study approach from the cultural heritage sector. Text mining (TM) and text analytics (TA) techniques are employed to capture and assess CX elements found within customer feedback data from an online review depository. Contrary to existing work in this field, the study employs a three-step annotation process to concept classification which can ensure rigour in the results. The purpose of the analysis process is to capture patterns of CX responses and customer interactions within the data and assess their relationship to overall CX ratings. Both quantitative measures (e.g. statistical analysis) and qualitative measures (e.g. verbatim text analysis) are used to explore a number of key questions relating to the core research objective. The empirical study performed in this work results in several key findings. The study finds that CX arises as a combination of customer interactions and CX responses, with each pattern impacting the overall experience in different ways. Results suggest that pattern prevalence and prominence are not core drivers of customer rating, but rather that significance measures need to be employed. From a customer perspective, negative CX responses have a stronger effect on overall CX rating than positive responses. These can be induced through touchpoint interactions beyond the control of the provider. The emotional content of the experience is key, with customer surprise, anger, and sadness significantly impacting CX to a greater degree than other discrete emotions. The findings suggest that customer expectations play an important role in the delivery of CX. Customer expectations can be used to make sense of the differences in terms of patterns and the statistical significance of their relationship to CX rating. Several potential avenues for future work to further develop these themes are put forward in the final stages of the thesis.EPSRC and University of Exeter Business Schoo

Theming in Experience-based Tourism: Visitor and Provider Perspectives

© Jonas Karlsen Åstrøm (2022). Avhandlingen inneholder artikler trykt i tidsskriftene International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research (https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCTHR-07-2015-0070), European Journal of Tourism Research (https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v20i.337) og Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism (https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008X.2019.1658147).I turismen og besøksnæringene har det tradisjonelle fokuset vært på produkter og tjenester som grunnlaget for verdiskaping. Imidlertid, i tråd med den opplevelsesbaserte vendingen i reiselivet, har mange aktører innenfor reiseliv nå endret fokus mot å tilby forbrukerne unike opplevelser for å unngå kommodifisering. Dette betyr at bedriftene har brukt tematisering for å skape opplevelsesrom for sine gjester. Selv om mye forskning har blitt gjort på tematiserte turistopplevelser, har det vært viet mindre oppmerksomhet til tematisering som fenomen. Hvordan kunnskap om tematisering kan forstås som en form for opplevelsesinnovasjon er også mindre kjent. Som følge av dette er det overordnede målet i denne avhandlingen å utdype kunnskapen om tematisering i opplevelsesbasert turisme, samt hvordan kunnskap om tematisering fra både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv kan fasilitere opplevelsesinnovasjon. Mer bestemt har avhandlingen som intensjon å utforske hva temaer og tematisering er, hvilke faktorer som driver tematisering, tematiseringens dimensjoner, og hvilke formål tematisering kan ha. Avhandlingens mål utforskes med opplevelsesbasert turisme som kontekst, en arbeidskraftkrevende bransje som forsøker å skape merverdi ved å tilby symbolske og hedonistiske fordeler og fremkalle sterke emosjonelle og opplevelsesbaserte reaksjoner hos de besøkende. Denne avhandlingen inkluderer tre separate artikler som undersøker og diskuterer tre forskningstemaer: (i) hvordan temafaktorer som driver opplevelsesbasert turisme kan bli bedre forstått, (ii) identifiseringen av tematiseringsdimensjonene i opplevelsesbasert turisme, og (iii) hvorfor tematisering brukes i opplevelsesbasert turisme. Det fjerde forskningstemaet, (iv) hvordan kunnskap om tematisering fra både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv kan fasilitere opplevelsesinnovasjon, ble utviklet gjennom en abduktiv prosess i avhandlingen, og blir besvart i synopsisen. Tematisering i opplevelsesbasert turisme utforskes i både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv gjennom å benytte både kvantitative og kvalitative metodologiske tilnærminger. Den empiriske analysen i den første vedlagte artikkelen er basert på data fra en spørreundersøkelse. Den andre og tredje vedlagte artikkelen bruker data fra halvstrukturerte intervjuer. Avhandlingen har fire bidrag til opplevelsesbasert turismefeltet, markedsførings- og ledelsesfeltet. Avhandlingens første bidrag omhandler temafaktorer. Temafaktorene navn, medarbeiderinteraksjon, og lyssetting er de mest sentrale direkte driverne av turistens kundeopplevelse, mens andre (design og musikk) avhengig av bruk og kontekst bidrar til oppfatningen av tematiserte omgivelser på en annen måte. At temafaktorer, særlig navn, bidrar til oppfatningen av tematiserte omgivelser er et nytt funn. Avhandlingens andre bidrag omhandler tematiseringsdimensjoner. De ti tematiseringsdimensjonene autentisitet, kronotop, kohesjon, digital teknologi, immersjon, interaksjon/samskaping, flersanselighet, nyhetsverdi, gjenkjennbarhet, og historiefortelling/narrativ er sentrale og betydningsfulle for tematiseringen i en turismekontekst. Dimensjonen interaksjon/samskaping har paralleller til dimensjoner fra forskningen på opplevelsesinnovasjon. Avhandlingens tredje bidrag omhandler formålene med tematisering i turisme: å sørge for differensiering; øke salgene av et merke eller et produkt; skape bånd mellom gjester og et tema, merke, eller produkt; tiltrekke, stanse og få besøkende til å bli; å påvirke eller endre atferden deres, og forbedre ende-til-ende-opplevelsen. Det viser seg at disse formålene er essensielle gjensidig relaterte mål for ledere i turismen. Denne avhandlingen diskuterer de dypere meningene og samspillet mellom temafaktorene, tematiseringsdimensjonene, og formålene med tematisering fra både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv. Avhandlingens fjerde og endelige bidrag er implikasjonene de empiriske funnene fra de tre artiklene har for opplevelsesinnovasjon. Avhandlingens hovedbidrag er en omfattende undersøkelse av temafaktorer, tematiseringsdimensjoner, tematiseringsformål, og hvordan disse kan fasilitere opplevelsesesinnovasjon, noe som gir en bredere forståelse basert på ny og tilgjengelig kunnskap om hvert aspekt av fenomenet som blir undersøkt, og diskuterer deres betydning. Avhandlingen argumenterer for tilbydernes betydning i å omhyggelig orkestrere temafaktorer og tematiseringsdimensjoner for å møte formålene med tematisering i opplevelsesbasert turisme. Design av opplevelser krever ofte at tilbyderen kritisk bruker temaer og tematisering for å skape innovative, lønnsomme og minneverdige omgivelser av høy kvalitet for besøkende. Tidligere forskning har kun satt søkelys på at tilbyderne iscenesetter tematiserte produkter og tjenester i omgivelsene. Imidlertid er ikke iscenesettingen av omgivelsene tilstrekkelig for tilbydere av tematiserte omgivelser. I stedet gjør disse omgivelsene det nødvendig for tilbyderne å skape fasiliterende tematiserte omgivelser som legger til rette for at de besøkende gjennom interaksjon kan samskape verdien i sine individuelle opplevelser—noe som leder til opplevelsesinnovasjon. Ledere anmodes til å forbedre sine tematiserte omgivelser for å sørge for kontinuerlig differensiering og økt salg. Ansatte bør få kontinuerlig opplæring og lederveiledning for å kunne oppføre seg og snakke konsistent med det valgte temaet, og de ansattes interaksjon med besøkende bør oppmuntres. I tillegg bør ledere søke å forbedre koherens og systematisk sammenheng mellom alle elementene i tematiserte omgivelser for å kunne kommunisere et positivt harmonisk inntrykk. Ledere bør vurdere tematiseringsdimensjonene nyhetsverdi, historiefortelling, og digital teknologi, og bruke disse i tilstrekkelig grad for å forbedre unikheten, tilhørighetsfølelsen, og en opphøyd virkelighetsopplevelse. Følgelig er ikke hovedbidraget i denne avhandlingen knyttet til tradisjonell tjenesteinnovasjonsforskning. I stedet undersøker avhandlingen temafaktorene og tematiseringsdimensjonenes rolle i turistenes opplevelse, og hvordan organisasjoner kan bruke disse for opplevelsesinnovasjon. Resultatet av dette har implikasjoner for innovasjon i opplevelsesbasert turisme. I denne avhandlingen forstås tematisering som en prosess som kan føre til opplevelsesinnovasjon. Denne formen for opplevelsesinnovasjon kan kalles tematiseringsinnovasjon, en interaktiv prosess hvor besøkende gir tilbydere informasjon om hva som er verdifullt for dem, og hvor tilbyderne bygger prototyper, evaluerer og tester konsepter gjennom å bruke temafaktorer for å samskape nye eller forbedrede opplevelser, noe som skaper tematiseringsdimensjoner som rammer inn og støtter utviklingen av temafaktorer. Videre understøtter denne prosessen tilbyderens oppnåelse av tematiseringsformål, og helst bedre enn sine konkurrenter. Opplevelsesinnovasjon fokuserer mer på omgivelser enn produkter og tjenester som kan fungere mer som rekvisitter i iscenesettelsen av en opplevelse. I stedet for en leverandørkjedesentrert stage-gate-prosess hvor firmaer skaper verdi gjennom å tilby ulike produkter og tjenester, så vektlegger opplevelsesinnovasjon verdi som er interaktivt samskapt i stadig mer oppslukende, ofte teknologisk forbedrede omgivelser. Dermed fokuserer denne avhandlingen på verdien i å skape ny og dypere kunnskap om tematisering i innovasjonsprosesser/design som fører til opplevelsesinnovasjon. I et utvidet perspektiv handler opplevelsesinnovasjon om å holde seg relevant og overleve i fremtiden.Abstract: In tourism and hospitality, products and services have been the traditional foci and bases of value. However, in line with the experiential turn in tourism, numerous tourism businesses have changed focus toward providing consumers with distinctive experiences to avoid commoditization. In turn, this means businesses often employ theming as a method and practice to create experiencescapes for and together with their visitors. Although much research has been conducted regarding themed tourism spaces, less attention has been given to the phenomenon of theming. How knowledge about theming can be understood as kind of experience innovation is also less understood. The overall aim of this thesis is to deepen knowledge of theming in experience-based tourism, and how knowledge about theming from both a visitor and provider perspective can facilitate experience innovation. More specifically, this thesis intends to explore what themes and theming are, what factors drive theming, the dimensions of theming, and the purposes of theming. These aims are explored in the context of experience-based tourism, a labor-intensive industry that seeks to provide symbolic and hedonic benefits and evokes more robust emotional and experiential responses from visitors. This dissertation includes three separate papers that investigate and discuss three research topics: (i) how the theme factors that drive experience based tourism can be better understood, (ii) identifying the dimensions of theming in experience-based tourism, and (iii) why theming is used in experience-based tourism. The fourth research topic (iv), how knowledge about theming from both a visitor and provider perspective may facilitate experience innovation is developed during the abductive process with the dissertation and is answered in the synopsis. Using quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches, theming in experience-based tourism is explored from both a visitor and a provider perspective. The first appended paper’s empirical analysis uses survey data. The second and third appended papers use semi-structured interviews. The contributions of this thesis to the fields of experience-based tourism, marketing, and management literature are fourfold. The first contribution of this thesis relates to theme factors. The theme factors name, employee interaction, and lighting are the most central direct drivers of the tourist customer experience, while others (design and music) contribute to the perceived themed environment differently, depending on usage and context. The fact theme factors in particular, name, contribute to an environment’s theme perception is a novel find. The second contribution of this thesis relates to theming dimensions. The 10 dimensions of theming, authenticity, chronotope, cohesion, digital technology, immersion, interaction/co-creation, multisensory, novelty, relatability, and storytelling/narrative are crucial to and significant for theming in a tourism context. The dimension interaction/co-creation parallels dimensions from experience innovation research. The third contribution of this thesis relates to the purposes of theming in tourism: ensure differentiation; increase sales of a brand or a product; create bonds between the guests and a theme, brand, or product; attract, stop, and make visitors stay; or influence and modify their behavior and enhance the end-to-end experience. These purposes are revealed to be essential interrelated business objectives for managers in tourism. This thesis discusses the more profound meaning and the interplay of the theme factors, theming dimensions, and purposes of theming from both visitor and provider perspectives. The fourth and final contribution in this thesis is the implications of the empirical findings from the three papers for experience innovation. The thesis’ overall contribution is a comprehensive examination of theme factors, theming dimensions, theming purposes, and how they can facilitate experience innovation, which provides a broad understanding based on new and available knowledge on each aspect of the studied phenomena and deliberates their significance for theming innovation. This thesis argues for providers’ importance in carefully orchestrating theme factors and theming dimensions to fulfill the purposes of theming in experience-based tourism. Designing an experience often requires providers to critically use themes and theming to create innovative, high-quality, profitable, and memorable environments for visitors. Previous research has focused solely on providers staging themed products and services in an environment. However, staging the environment is not sufficient for providers of themed environments. Instead, the experience environment necessitates those providers facilitating themed environments that accommodate interaction with visitors to co-create value in their individual experiences—leading toward experience innovation. Furthermore, managers are urged to enhance their themed environments to ensure differentiation and increased sales. Staff should receive ongoing training and managerial direction to act and speak often around the chosen theme, and staff interaction with visitors should be encouraged. Also, managers should strive to improve cohesiveness, fit, and orderliness between all elements in the themed environment to convey a positive impression of harmony. The theming dimensions of novelty, storytelling, and digital technology should be assessed and used adequately by managers to improve uniqueness, a sense of connectedness, and a heightened sense of reality. The main contribution of this thesis is not towards traditional service innovation research. Instead, this thesis examines the role of theme factors and theming dimensions in tourists’ experiences and how organizations can use them for experience innovation. These results have implications for innovation in experience-based tourism: Thus, the focus of this thesis is on theming as a process that may lead to experience innovation. This kind of experience innovation can be called theming innovation, an interactive process in which visitors deliver providers with information about what is valuable to them, and providers prototype, evaluate, and test concepts with the use of theme factors to co-create new or improved experiences, creating theming dimensions that frame and support the theme factor development, in turn fulfilling the providers’ theming purposes, and does this better than their competitors. Experience innovation centers more on environments than products and services, which may act as props in staging an experience. Rather than a supply-chain-centric stage-gate process where firms create value through offering various products and services, experience innovation emphasizes value as interactively co-created in ever more immersive, often technologically enhanced environments. Thus, this thesis focuses on the value of creating new and more profound knowledge of theming in innovation processes/design, leading to experience innovation. By extension, experience innovation is about staying relevant and surviving in the futurepublishedVersio

The determinants and effects of slot servicescape satisfaction in a Las Vegas casino

Scales representing ambient conditions, ability to navigate the slot floor, cleanliness, interior decor and seating comfort all produce a significant effect on slot servicescape satisfaction. Scales representing slot servicescape satisfaction and gaming value produce significant effects on overall satisfaction with the slot experience. Collinearity conditions prevented the measurement of staff friendliness and service promptness on overall satisfaction. Both servicescape satisfaction and overall satisfaction produce significant effects on behavioral intention variables related to loyalty and desire to remain in the casino environment. Simultaneous multiple regression analysis was used to test all one-tailed hypotheses at the .10 alpha level (n = 195); This exploratory study was designed to determine the effects of variables theorized to influence both slot servicescape and overall satisfaction levels of slot players. Additionally, this research examined the effects of the servicescape and overall satisfaction variables on behavioral intentions (loyalty and desire to stay in the casino)

Investigating British customers’ experience to maximize brand loyalty within the context of tourism in Egypt: Netnography & structural modelling approach

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The concept of ‘customer experience’ has evolved as an imperative area of study within the marketing discipline. Despite its importance and the positive attention this concept has received during the last few years, the explanation of customer experiences have remained vague and lack a thorough theoretical foundation. Furthermore, practitioners across many industries claim that there is a connection between customer experience and loyalty, yet there is a paucity of research to validate this theoretical assumption. This study aims to address this gap in the literature and to facilitate better understanding of the concept of 'customer experience' and its antecedents and focus on brand loyalty as consequence from the consumer perspective. Accordingly, a mixed-method research design was adopted that consisted of two phases. The first phase involved a netnography study to gain better understanding of the notion of customer experience and refine a conceptual framework that has been developed on the basis of the existing literature. In the second phase this framework was tested by means of a survey of British customers to examine their experience with resort-hotel brands in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the survey responses. The structural model showed a very good fit to the data and good convergent, nomological and discriminant validity and reliability stability. The findings of this study identified four aspects of customer experience in the resort-hotels in Egypt; i.e. educational, aesthetics, relational and novelty. Those aspects are congruent with prior work in the tourism literature. Additionally, the study found that customers rely on some service cues such as: price, core service and WOM to predict and assess their experiences. The findings also indicated that perceived service quality has a mediating role in the relationship between customer-contact employees and core service and customer experience. A key contribution of this research is offering a robust model that explains the nascent phenomenon of customer experience and demonstrating that experience has a definite positive impact on brand loyalty. The use of netnography to identify customer experience dimension is also considered as a methodological contribution in the area of marketing research. Moreover, the present study adds novel perspective to the growing body of brand literature (particularly service brand) and suggests directions for future research. Finally, the study provides managerial implications for service managers to identify the experiential needs of their customer and properly design the customer experience

Cultural influences on recruitment : a comparative study of four-star hotels in Sydney and Singapore

This thesis profiles how culture influences the employment of frontline staff in 4-star hotels in two multicultural but culturally divergent cities: Sydney and Singapore. Conceptual and theoretical frameworks used to interrogate the data are drawn from organisational and leadership disciplines, and refer to the work of Shalom Schwartz, Geert Hofstede and Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness) instigated by Robert House et al. (2004). Concepts examined include the range of national value dimensions and Schwartz’s revised theory of basic human values to inform the investigation. This study analyses the cultural distance of not only the two cities but also that of various stakeholders involved in the recruitment process and the business of hotels, which constitute a major core of the hospitality and tourism industry. Recent studies indicate that hotels have a characteristic culture of their own and when overlaid with national, cultural and ethnic identity among staff recruitment approaches there is a proclivity to hire young, aesthetically pleasing frontline staff. However, research on cultural aspects and a deeper understanding of the impact of “hotel culture” was limited, leading to the primary research question in this thesis – “How does culture and values, embedded at country, organisational, occupational and individual levels influence practices for recruitment of entry-level frontline staff in 4- star hotels in Sydney and Singapore?”. This thesis concludes that from a methodological standpoint, the study demonstrated that culture and employment were instrumental in the metaphorical actor-audience interactive setting. Culture at various levels either directly or indirectly influenced recruitment of young, aesthetically pleasing frontline staff. Country-level cultural dimensions and personal motivational values also played an important role during the recruitment process. While there was considerable rhetoric extolling the benefits of mature staff, this was not very observable on the frontline. One recommendation is that older employees be offered a more flexible roster to lure a mature workforce that would benefit the business. While it is important to employ frontline staff who represent the hotel brand and fit into the organisation, national and organisational culture are intricately linked and are reflected in most aspects of the recruitment process

Snow design from Lapland : initiating cooperation

acceptedVersio

Training Program for New Chinese Casino Players

Las Vegas offers unique experience to visitors through nonstop entertainment. New data collected primarily from office of travel and tourism industries (OTTI), international tourism administration under U.S.Department of Commerce (OTTI, 2011) suggested the international visitors now contributes more to Las Vegas’s bottom than ever before. Based on a report from Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority (LVCVA, 2011), visitation from China increased by 38% in 2010, and OTTI data projected Chinese visitors to the US would increase by 219 % by 2015. With the new loosen policy on foreign tourist Visas, more foreign tourists would boost the whole tourism industry in the United States. Providing better entertainment experience for affluent Chinese visitors, it would be a win-win for both parties. This paper reviewed the literatures on Chinese visitors’ profiles including their gaming attitude and behavior, potential gaming interests, and their learning style. By researching the literatures of Chinese learning style, this study would adopt the finding to apply the best instructional strategy and medium to educate the new Chinese casino players

Antecedents and Consequences of Customer Experience in Beverage Establishments

It is estimated that there are approximately 42,000 beverage establishments in the U.S. whose annual revenue surpasses $20 billion (First Research, 2014). To facilitate discussion of beverage establishments, it is essential to recognize beverage establishments as businesses whose majority of sales come from alcoholic drinks (Moss, 2010a). In this research, beverage establishments are divided into beverage-only bars, bar/entertainment combinations, and food and beverage combinations. Even though they are a well-established industry, beverage establishments have received little academic attention (Moss, 2010b). For example, previous studies have given little attention to the development of the model that examines the relationships between quality attributes, convenience, perceived price fairness, customer experience, and customer loyalty in beverage establishments. However, current research in other service sectors has showed that quality, pricing and convenience have a strong effect on customer experience and behavioral intentions (Baker & Crompton, 2000; Cronin et al., 2000; Taylor & Baker, 1994; Tian-Cole, Crompton, & Willson, 2002; Woodside et al., 1989). Quality is tightly related to customer experience since it positively affects customer satisfaction and therefore company\u27s profitability (Hallowell, 1996). This study has the following objectives: (1) to develop an instrument to measure the antecedents of customer experience in beverage establishments; (2) to examine the relative importance of different antecedents of customer experience in different types of beverage establishments; and (3) to build a model of various antecedents of customer experience in beverage establishments. This study was conducted in six phases. The first phase was the analysis of previous literature regarding quality attributes, convenience, perceived price fairness, customer experience, customer loyalty, and beverage establishments. The second phase was a development of mixed methodology research design. The third phase was the data collection based on interviews with management of beverage establishments, customer focus groups, and a survey of customers of beverage establishments. The fourth phase was a pilot study that involved a refinement of the study instrument. The fifth phase was a main quantitative study based on the survey design. The results from each qualitative and quantitative phase of the study were integrated and analyzed. The results from the instrument development part of the study identified the following eleven antecedents of customer experience in beverage establishments: (1) service quality, (2) product quality, (3) physical environment design, (4) physical environment layout, (5) music quality, (6) social environment, (7) information convenience, (8) location convenience, (9) parking convenience, (10) entrance fee fairness, and (11) perceived price fairness. Additionally, the second instrument development study was used to recognize different customer experiential state dimensions. The factor structure included two customer experiential states: (1) the affective experiential state and (2) the cognitive experiential state. A comprehensive theoretical model that integrates different dimensions of antecedents of customer experience, customer experiential states, customer loyalty and the moderating affect of the type of the beverage establishment was developed. One of the most important findings of the study is the relationship between the social environment and the affective experiential state. The results of the study indicate that the majority of other antecedents of customer experience did not have a significant effect on two experiential states or that effect was relatively weak. However, social environment was the strongest predictor of customers\u27 positive emotions and therefore customer loyalty and behavioral intentions. Finally, the study results confirmed Oliver\u27s (1997) theory of customer loyalty by providing support for the sequential relationship between cognitive, affective, and conative loyalty. This study has several important theoretical contributions. Different antecedents of customer experience in beverage establishments were recognized and an instrument that measures these dimensions was developed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scale specifically developed to measure experience in beverage establishments. Additionally, the importance of each of the antecedent of customer experience was examined in regards to their effect on customer experience. Additionally, an instrument that measures cognitive and affective experiential states was developed and was a foundation for the study model. Finally, this study integrates different customer experience and customer loyalty dimensions into a comprehensive theoretical model that could be applied and retested in other service settings

Managing the service experience: a study of young people's managed outdoor adventure leisure

The provision of outdoor adventure leisure experiences for young people is a complex service task and it requires the careful management of participants' heterogeneous needs in a physically demanding and dynamic risk environment Research into the quality of this experience and its management is limited. It typically presents an adult perspective of young people's needs, without reference to the young people themselves. Practitioners and researchers alike acknowledge that the few studies conducted with young people to date suffer from the lack of clear theoretical and empirical underpinning, therefore this thesis, which draws on the conceptual basis for SERVQUAL, has a clear theoretical foundation. Also, many extant studies are quantitative and do not elicit richer, qualitative data from these young people and thus there is little deep understanding of their experiences to guide management. The literature on service quality links to that on customer satisfaction: in this thesis, the two are explicitly conjoined as a precursor to the field research here. A key contribution made by this thesis is to demonstrate that the main drivers of participants' satisfaction are based on elements not previously identified with clarity. These elements are their interactions with staff, their interactions with one another in their own peer 'socialscape' and their own performance in developing skilled leisure consumption. The explicit identification of a 'socialscape' is a particular feature of the research findings here. This thesis analyses qualitative perceptions of service quality from participants, employees and management, and evaluates how service quality and customer satisfaction are managed in a specific organisational context in outdoor adventure leisure. Firstly, watersports participants were interviewed before, observed during, and interviewed after their courses, to establish whether they felt their expectations were met and how this might have been achieved. Secondly, staff were interviewed to establish their perceptions of young people's experiences of the service, and the critical aspects of managing these experiences appropriately. The critical aspect of managing these experiences is that instructors must have specific personal qualities, summarised in this thesis as 'intrinsic service values', and be able to work in an empowered culture, where the changing physical service environment requires them to make flexible, autonomous decisions to ensure participants have an appropriate experience. There are additional findings, which conclude that the ADVENTUREQUAL Conceptual Gap Model is a more appropriate reconceptualisation of the SERVQUAL Conceptual Gap Model, to inform this study of young people's outdoor adventure leisure. This thesis thus provides both conceptual development and understanding, and managerial insight in a specific context