Journal Article


Consumer-led experience customization: A socio-spatial approach

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, this study examines the practices through which consumers use, abuse, subvert, transform or complement organizational resources to construct their consumption experiences. Design/Methodology: 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 consumercentric 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.

Attached files

Authors

Torres, Edwin N.
Lugosi, Peter
Orlowski, Marissa
Ronzoni , Giulio

Oxford Brookes departments

Oxford Brookes Business School\Oxford School of Hospitality Management

Dates

Year of publication: 2018
Date of RADAR deposit: 2018-02-21


Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License


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