Servicescape insights in place of birth: from restorative servicescapes to co-curated transformative places

Abstract

Purpose Servicescape is well recognized by marketing scholars as a key influence in transformative service outcomes. However, the concept of enabling transformative health outcomes through physical servicescape design is often overlooked. The purpose of this study is to integrate marketing's servicescape research with birth territory theory and the enabling places framework, conceptualizing a Co-Curated Transformative Place (CCTP) framework. Design/methodology/approach This cross-disciplinary conceptual paper uses three places of birth (POB) servicescapes for low-risk birthing women to ground the CCTP framework. Findings Positioned within transformative service research, this study shows how POB servicescapes are CCTPs. The organizing framework of CCTP comprises four key steps founded on agile and adaptive co-curation of physical place resources. Research limitations/implications This study extends the servicescape conceptualization to incorporate the continuum of terrain, introducing adaptive and agile co-curation of places. Practical implications The materiality of place and physical resources in CCTP are usefully understood in terms of co-curated substantive staging according to service actor needs. The CCTP servicescape maximizes desired value outcomes and quality experience by adaptive response to service demands and service actors’ needs. Originality/value Theoretical discourse of health servicescapes is expanded to focus on the material components of place and their foundational role in generating resources and capabilities that facilitate the realization of service value. In the CCTP, service actors flexibly select, present and adapt physical artifacts and material resources of the service terrain according to dynamic actor needs and service responsibilities, enabling transformative outcomes. Co-curation facilitates reciprocal synergy between other dimensions of place and servicescape.