Exploring Appropriation of Global Cultural Rituals

Adolescents, as a consequence of identification with popular culture, have been described as having homogenous consumption patterns. More recently, however, it has been recognised that ‘glocalisation’ (global practices reworked to fit local contexts) affords an opportunity for differentiation. This paper considers a recent UK phenomenon, namely that of the US high school prom, and seeks to explore the ways in which this ritual has been adopted or adapted as part of youth culture. The method employed here was mixed methods and included in-depth interviews with those who attended a prom in the last three years as well as a questionnaire distributed amongst high school pupils who were anticipating a high school prom. The findings illustrate that the high school prom in the UK is becoming increasingly integrated into the fabric of youth culture although, depending on the agentic abilities employed by the emerging adults in the sample, there is differing appropriation of this ritual event particularly in relation to attitudes towards and motivations for attending the prom. A typology of prom attendees is posited. This paper contributes to our understanding of this practice in a local context

Internal marketing: service quality in leisure services

Purpose – It has been accepted that enhancing the satisfaction of employees, especially customer-contact employees is important as they can significantly and positively influence customers' satisfaction. In order to improve satisfaction of customer contact employees – caddies in Chinese golf clubs, this paper explores the internal service quality of caddy managers' encounters with caddies from a dyadic perspective (the view of caddy managers and of caddies). Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative multiple-case study methodology was adopted; using critical incident interviews to collect the data. In order to make sense of the data, narrative analysis is used to interpret favourable and unfavourable stories that are related by participants and why the storytellers told the stories in such a way. Findings – Nine dimensions were found to construct the internal service quality of caddy mangers in internal service encounters between caddies and caddy managers. They are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, communication, consideration, fairness, recognition and flexibility. Practical implications – The outcome of this research can help the management team to better manage the internal service encounters between managers and caddies in order to improve caddies' satisfaction during service encounters. It can assist Chinese golf clubs in recruiting and training caddy managers. Originality/value – This research extended the service quality framework to the Chinese golf industry. There have been no previous studies conducted in this sector

Performance and the service encounter: an exploration of narrative expectations and relationship management in the outdoor leisure market

This study of rockclimbers and outdoor leisure consumers, manufacturers and retailers, sets out to discover the nature and outcomes of the consumer/producer relationship centred around the retail setting. Initial theoretical views on the self, participant role, performance and communitas are explored as a background to the discussion. Data collection involved participant observation, in-depth interviews and a study of both commercially and consumer generated secondary materials (climbing club literature for example). The researchers identified an environment in which temporary leisure identities were supported and at times modified by the retail relationships and were embedded in a rich sub-cultural narrative. Postmodern concepts pertaining to the consumption of place and space corresponded with the observational data, to the extent that recommendations for retailers are less overtly managerial, and more about facilitating the consumer’s ownership of the spaces and relationships within them

Relational, interactive service innovation : Building branding competence

Original article can be found at: http://mtq.sagepub.com/ Copyright Sage [Full text of this article is not available in the UHRA]In this paper we discuss how to develop service innovation through building branding competence. We demonstrate that using relationships in a process of sharing adds value to the service innovation process. We draw upon two distinct perspectives in the literature. We agree that value in new service development comes from incorporating the consumer. Yet we also deduce that it is the firm's core competencies that provide optimal resources for innovation. We then conceptualize how these two perspectives on service innovation can be integrated around relationships incorporating the 'customer resource'. This process is relational, interactive service innovation. The conceptual framework we have developed offers a different approach for companies to view the new service development process in general and the building of branding competence in particular. We suggest that organizations may be able to improve their new service development process by emphasizing the internal and external linkages within the management of innovation.Peer reviewe