Conceptualising customer value in a leisure service setting: value is in the eye of the beholder.

Currently there is little research that considers value or value creation from a sport and physical activity context or from the participant’s perspective. Despite the emerging importance of value as an incentive for customers to perform desired behaviours, this study’s investigation represents the first examination of the value construct as it pertains to the consumption of sport and physical activity opportunities. Sheth & Uslay (2007:303) called for marketers to use the value creating paradigm to ‘reach beyond value in exchange and even value in use’ to think about other types of value, whilst this research was focused specifically on identifying the various dimensions of customer-perceived value in a sport and physical activity setting, insights gained from this study also question the simplicity of value being conceived as an either (value-in-exchange) or (value-in-use) concept, and this is where the paper’s significant contribution to further our theoretical understanding can be found. Whilst accepting further work is required to refine the original S&PAVAL model that is presented here, and to test it in a wider variety of settings, this paper contributes to a deeper and more meaningful investigation into customer value theory

Retired EU migrants, healthcare rights and European social citizenship

Drawing on a set of 210 qualitative interviews conducted in six European countries, this paper investigates the citizenship status and experiences of retired EU migrants at both national and European levels. The paper focuses upon the experiences of two types of respondents: ‘Retired Migrants’ (retired nationals of one EU country who moved on retirement and reside in another EU host state) and ‘Returnees’, that is, those migrants who have chosen to return to their country of origin after a period of residence abroad. In particular, this paper will attempt to explore three issues: (a) The extent to which retired migrants have access to, and make use of, the public healthcare systems of the countries in which they reside. (b) Retired migrants’ perceptions and experiences of those systems. (c) Whether or not a lack of access to and/or the quality of public healthcare is an important determinant of return migration decisions, i.e. moves back to the country of origin. By focusing on healthcare the paper combines an analysis of the formal welfare rights available to EU citizens who migrate on retirement (both in terms of their EU rights and their status in the receiving and exporting countries) with qualitative evidence that documents the substantive reality of such rights