The edifying body: the role of embodied practices in the social production of servicescapes

IF 3.9 3区 管理学 Q2 BUSINESS Journal of Service Theory and Practice Pub Date : 2024-08-14 DOI:10.1108/jstp-09-2023-0259
Athinodoros Chronis
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Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to explore and theorize the role of embodied practices – orchestrated by service providers – in the social production of servicescapes. It is claimed that the social character of the servicescape is shaped not only by narratives and materialities but also through the body. Bodily physical behaviors like physical movements in space, gestures, facial expressions, postures and tactile engagements with the surrounding materiality constitute a body language that conveys information and expresses meanings. In this kinetic capacity, the body becomes a building agent in the social constitution of the servicescape. As the author empirically demonstrates in the context of city tourism with diverse experiential opportunities, it is due to the body’s discriminatory orientation, walking, looking, pointing and acting in selective ways that the city emerges as a servicescape of particular kind.

Design/methodology/approach

Market-oriented ethnography was conducted in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where the author observed the guiding practices of tour guides leading international tourists during two-day city excursions.

Findings

This research identifies and unpacks three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers as they guide customers at the servicescape: spatializing, emplacing and regulating. The role of the body and its association with narratives and materialities is identified in each cluster.

Practical implications

A number of embodied practices are provided for use by contact employees as they guide customers in the servicescape. Specific guidelines are also offered to service providers for the strategic employment of body language, their training is navigational skills and the coordination of body, narratives and materialities.

Originality/value

This study extends current materialistic and communicative approaches on the construction of servicescapes by claiming that the servicescape in not only a physical and narrative construction but something that is also configured through the body; provides three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers; theorizes the intertwined nature of narratives, materiality and the body; defines servicescapes as dynamic socio-spatial entities emerging from the constant {narrative-material-body} arrangements orchestrated by service providers; and sheds light on the mediating role of the body in the social production of servicescapes.

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寓教于乐的身体:体现性实践在服务景观的社会生产中的作用
目的 本研究旨在探索由服务提供者精心策划的身体实践在服务景观的社会生产中的作用,并将其理论化。研究认为,服务景观的社会特征不仅是由叙事和物质形成的,而且是通过身体形成的。身体在空间中的移动、手势、面部表情、姿势以及与周围物质的触觉接触等身体行为构成了一种传递信息和表达意义的肢体语言。在这种运动能力中,身体成为服务环境社会构成中的建设者。正如作者在具有多种体验机会的城市旅游中通过经验所证明的那样,正是由于身体的辨别取向、行走、观察、指向和选择性行动,城市才成为一种特殊的服务景观。设计/方法/途径在俄罗斯圣彼得堡进行了以市场为导向的人种学研究,作者在那里观察了导游在两天的城市游览中带领国际游客的引导实践。研究结果这项研究发现并解读了服务提供者在服务景观中引导顾客时所采用的三组体现性实践:空间化、安置和调节。在每个集群中都确定了身体的作用及其与叙事和物质性的关联。 实际意义为联络员工在服务场所引导顾客时提供了一些体现性实践。本研究还为服务提供者提供了具体指导,帮助他们战略性地使用肢体语言,培训他们的导航技能,以及协调肢体、叙事和物性。原创性/价值 本研究扩展了当前关于服务景观构建的物质和交流方法,认为服务景观不仅是一种物质和叙事构建,也是通过身体配置的;提供了服务提供者部署的三组体现性实践;将叙事、物质性和身体的相互交织性质理论化;将服务景观定义为动态的社会空间实体,它产生于服务提供商精心策划的持续{叙事-物质-身体}安排;并阐明了身体在服务景观的社会生产中的中介作用。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
8.00
自引率
15.20%
发文量
29
期刊介绍: Formerly known as Managing Service Quality – Impact Factor: 1.286 (2015) – the Journal of Service Theory and Practice (JSTP) aims to publish research in the field of service management that not only makes a theoretical contribution to the service literature, but also scrutinizes and helps improve industry practices by offering specific recommendations and action plans to practitioners. Recognizing the importance of the service sector across the globe, the journal encourages submissions from and/or studying issues from around the world. JSTP gives prominence to research based on real world data, be it quantitative or qualitative. The journal also encourages the submission of strong conceptual and theoretical papers that make a substantive contribution to the scholarly literature in service management. JSTP publishes double-blind peer reviewed papers and encourages submissions from both academics and practitioners. The changing social structures and values, as well as new developments in economic, political, and technological fields are creating sea-changes in the philosophy, strategic aims, operational practices, and structures of many organizations. These changes are particularly relevant to the service sector, as public demand for high standards increases, and organizations fight for both market share and public credibility. The journal specifically addresses solutions to these challenges from a global, multi-cultural, and multi-disciplinary perspective.
期刊最新文献
Does employee intervention encourage or discourage the spread of dysfunctional customer behavior? Determinants of customer buying behaviour in omnichannel retailing: a systematic literature review and future research directions Unlocking emotional labor: how organizational control systems shape frontline service employees’ emotional labor The edifying body: the role of embodied practices in the social production of servicescapes Occupational stress as a mediator between organisational intelligence traits and digital government service quality: a triangulation design approach
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