Engaging customers in service creation: a theater perspective

Jacqueline Williams · Helen H. Anderson

65 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Services Marketing

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Service and Product Innovation Customer Service Quality and Loyalty Digital Marketing and Social Media

Abstract

Purpose A theater/drama perspective is used to gain insights into the participatory nature of service creation and to assess the relative importance of service elements across service scenarios. Design/methodology/approach Drama production principles are applied to situations where customers co‐create the service offering. Using a theater arts model, elements in service settings can be delineated into director, lead actor, set designer, scriptwriter, supporting cast member, and/or traditional audience roles. To understand the relative importance of the service provider, the customer, and other service encounter elements, three variations of a service setting (educational services) in which the consumer's participatory role moves from passive to proactive are compared. Findings As the service context became more participatory‐based, service provider roles significantly decreased in importance rankings while customer roles significantly increased, supporting the paper's hypotheses. The ranking of other service setting elements followed a similar pattern with greater importance being placed on elements as they became more central to the participatory experience. Research limitations/implications The model is tested in only one service setting and the procedure for assigning theater roles to a service setting needs further refinement. Originality/value By merging theories from theater and services literature, a means of assessing the relative importance of service components across service scenarios is illustrated. Principles in theater arts provide the tactical detail needed to fit service creation elements into analogous roles in a drama setting. The model provides insights on the importance of service creation elements when transitioning from a spectator‐based to a participatory‐based service environment.

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References

1996The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality 1992Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension 1990Evaluating Service Encounters: The Effects of Physical Surroundings and Employee Responses 1990The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents 1985A Role Theory Perspective on Dyadic Interactions: The Service Encounter 2012The Experience Economy 1994The Nature of Customer Value: An Axiology of Services in the Consumption Experience 1991Perceived Control and the Effects of Crowding and Consumer Choice on the Service Experience

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