مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد تجربه مصرف کننده (الزویر)

Authors in fields such as retailing, tourism, and services have argued that firms should provide consumers with experiential offers, in the sense that the offer should be personal, engaging, compelling, memorable, and create intense positive reactions (Bharwani and Jauhari, 2013; Iglesias et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2012; Lemke et al., 2011; Manthiou et al., 2014; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015). One main reason is that services are becoming increasingly commoditized (Lemke et al., 2011), and experiential offers are seen as an option to make services more differentiated (Walls et al., 2011). Experiential offers are also likely to produce several other benefits for the firm – such as increased consumer satisfaction, affective commitment, loyalty, and word-ofmouth (Brakus et al., 2009; Dubé et al., 2003; Iglesias et al., 2011; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Manthiou et al., 2014; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015). The experience construct is holistic and multi-dimensional (Brakus et al., 2009; Carù and Cova, 2008; Gentile et al., 2007; Lemke et al., 2011; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015; Verhoef et al., 2009), which means that many elements of an offer have to be considered by firms wishing to create experiential offers. Indeed, several such elements have been discussed in the literature (e.g., Bharwani and Jauhari, 2013; Dong and Siu, 2013; Lemke et al., 2011; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Pine and Gilmore, 1998). Yet we believe that (a) the existing experience literature has overlooked one general element, the extent to which an offer involves effort, and that (b) effort is likely to contribute to consumers’ overall evaluations of experiential offers. More specifically, we believe that effort, which we define here as the amount of energy or force put into a behavior or a series of behavior (Mohr and Bitner, 1995), is typically involved from both the consumer’s and the supplier’s point of view when it comes to experiential offers. This is particularly the case for experiential offers with a non-routine and extraordinary character. Consider, for example, river rafting (Arnould and Price, 1993), skydiving (Celsi et al., 1993), baseball games (Holt, 1995), and Burning Man (Kozinets, 2002); they demand more effort from both those who consume the offer and from the employees who produce it compared to non-experiential offers. Yet both supplier and customer effort, we argue, are at hand also for more mundane experiential offers.