Does Europe still represent a healthy deal in times of increased global challenges and reduced levels of growth? A market,service and social perspective of European healthcare

This paper analyses the challenges faced by European healthcare providers in an increasingly competitive world economy. It does this by providing the servicescape framework for analysis, as well as using supportive data on the current situation of European healthcare provision. Evidence suggests that there is much to be done to find the best ways of providing better healthcare provision for the EU citizens of the future.     

Music,markets and consumption

ABSTRACT

Recognised as intangible cultural heritage, the tradition of the Viennese coffeehouse culture attracts tourists. This study examines how the intangible heritage tourism of the Viennese coffeehouse culture has been developed and mutually constructed through the relational network of social practice and how it has functioned as a significant legacy for the development of Viennese cultural tourism. The results reveal that five groups of significant actors/actants have impacted the development of the intangible heritage tourism of Viennese coffeehouses: celebrities, pastries, indoor settings, recommendations, and servicescapes. These actors/actants have become collectively embedded into the relational network of Viennese coffeehouse culture.     

Servicescape,positive affect,satisfaction and behavioral intentions: The moderating role of familiarity

This study is the first to assess the relationships between substantive and communicative servicescape, positive affect, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in a highly substantively staged hotel setting, as well as the moderating effects of brand and architectural familiarity. One hundred fifty online responses were obtained from guests who stayed at a hotel in the Rioja region of Spain, designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, famous for creating architectural landmarks that disrupt the local landscape. Data were analyzed utilizing Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings show that both substantive and communicative servicescape positively influence hotel customers’ positive affect, which has a positive impact on satisfaction, and which in turn significantly increases behavioral intentions. Brand familiarity moderates the relationship between substantive servicescape and positive affect, with the influence being greater for participants with low familiarity than for those with high familiarity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail.     

Aisles of life: outline of a customer-centric approach to retail space management

The article argues that well-established principles of urban design are highly relevant for retail management and applicable in regards to a much needed customer-centric turn in space management within retailing management. In particular, supermarkets, hypermarkets and larger retail chains are governed by a space management tradition that heavily draws on principles of utilitarianism and instrumental rationality. Yet, any physical retail space accommodates a separate and distinctive, but not independent, social space which must equally be addressed if attractive retail spaces are to be grasped, created and maintained. In fact, the standardized and repetitive design of many larger retail environments such as supermarkets appears to build on uncontested traditions of space management and tenacious myths about consumer behaviour and preferences that are challenged as urban design studies are consulted. In reference to current urban design research, the article concludes by suggesting five propositions and measurements for the customer-centric quality of retail spaces that take as a starting point the appreciation of the social space that any retail space management presupposes.     

Red Palm: exploring service quality and servicescape of the best backpacker hostel in Asia

The Red Palm was voted the best backpacker's hostel in Asia for 2006. This study explores the reasons behind this phenomenal achievement by examining service quality and servicescape of the establishment. Using NVIVO software, data from 192 website comments and eighteen in-depth interviews were content-analysed. The results show that the most important dimension of service quality experience with the Red Palm is tangibles, followed by empathy and assurance. The most important tangible elements of the Red Palm are facilities and equipment, location and the atmosphere of friendliness, welcome and homeliness, and cleanliness. The excellent staff elements include their courtesy, individualised attention and willingness to help. The paper also presents the illustration of Bitner's [(1992). Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees. The Journal of Marketing, 56(2), 57–71] servicescape framework in relation to the Red Palm.     

Impact of customer-to-customer interactions on overall service experience: A social servicescape perspective

Utilizing the appraisal theory, this study proposes a dynamic and sequential customer future interaction intention model that deconstructs customer-to-customer interactions and illustrates how customer-to-customer interaction experience perceptions are formed and how those perceptions may influence customers overall experience evaluation and their future interaction intentions. The model was tested using data from a sample of 460 casual restaurant consumers. Of the three dimensions of interaction, functional interaction only exerts influence on RELATE; hedonic interaction impacts both SENSE and RELATE; expressive interaction influences THINK, SENSE and RELATE. Further, SENSE and RELATE are positively related to FEEL, while THINK has no significant effect on FEEL. FEEL impacts customers’ overall experience evaluation, which has positive influence on approach ACT and negative influence on avoidance ACT.     

Service Quality Perception and Satisfaction: Buying Behaviour Prediction in an Australian Festivalscape

The study was conducted on 358 attendees at a major wine festival in Australia. A positive relationship between quality perception and overall satisfaction constructs exists. New insight to festivalscape knowledge is provided through the first‐time and repeat visitor dynamic as predictor of actual buying behaviour. Higher percentage of repeat visitors correlates with higher likelihood of (wine) buying. Overall satisfaction is a stronger predictor of buying behaviour than any individual service quality dimension and of these quality dimensions overall. Repeat visitors, 35 years and older, are the highest yielding visitor group from a financial viewpoint. First‐time visitors are more short‐term oriented in their planning when making the final decision to attend the event. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regional destination image perception of tourists within a winescape context

This study's purpose is to conceptualise a wine regional destination's perceived image, in the process integrating multiple theories such as servicescape, place-based and destination choice. The research (n?=?334 respondents) outlines the conceptualisation of a wine region destination's image in the form of a winescape framework as perceived by visitors. The winescape construct is identified within a framework of eight dimensions for a well-known US wine region. The most important winescape dimension is the natural beauty/geographical setting. The first-time and repeat visit dynamic impacts upon visitors' wine tourism behaviour and perception of the region's winescape. For in-state and out-of-state-based visitors there are pronounced differences in their perception of the region's winescape dimensions. Increasing distance from the destination region is pivotal in the perception of the winescape dimensions. The decision to engage in wine tourism is seemingly impulsive from a timing viewpoint, and the motivations guiding the visitors' behaviour are mainly of a hedonic nature.     

Social Servicescape: The Impact of Social Factors on Restaurant Image and Behavioral Intentions

While most previous research has focused on the physical service environment, research on the social aspect in the service environment is scant. This study examined how social factors (employees, other customers, social crowding, and rapport) in the service environment influence restaurant image and customers’ behavioral intentions. Based on past research, a theoretical framework was developed and the data collected from online surveys was analyzed through structural equation modeling. Our findings, based on a survey of 500 participants, suggest that social factors influence restaurant image and, consequently, behavioral intentions.     

Servicescape and shopping value: the role of negotiation intention,social orientation,and recreational identity at the Istanbul Grand Bazaar,Turkey

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the influence of negotiation intention, recreational shopper identity, and social shopping orientation on both servicescape and visitors’ overall shopping value in the Istanbul Grand Bazaar, Turkey. We developed and tested a conceptual model using a sample of 300 international visitors to the Bazaar. The results demonstrate that bargaining intention, recreational functions, and social interactions influence servicescape. This implies that, when tourists are motivated by bargain hunting, recreation, and socialisation, their attitude towards the shopping environment is more positive, which subsequently results in increased overall shopping value. Implications for managerial practice are also presented alongside suggestions for future research.