CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 2.1 Physical Evidence and the Servicescape Physical evidence is stated clearly in chapter 11 of Services Marketing: Customers often rely on tangible cues, or physical evidence, to evaluate the service before its purchase and to assess their satisfaction with the service during and after consumption. Effective design of physical, tangible evidence is important for closing provider gap 2 which is the service designs and standards gap. (Zeithaml, 2009: 313) From the theory below, it can be seen that physical evidence is a very important thing in determining the quality of a service, because the physical evidence could enhance the customers experience and also build their satisfaction toward a service. It could also close the provider gap number 2, where the restaurant could perform their service designs and standards as the customer perceives they would have. Below is the general element of physical evidences, which includes all aspects of servicescape in a company: Servicescape Facility exterior Exterior design Signage Parking Landscape Surrounding Environment Facility interior Interior design Equipment Signage Layout Air quality/ temperature Sound/music/scent/lighting Table 2.1 Elements of Physical Evidence (Zeithaml, 2009: 313) Other Tangibles Business cards Stationery Billing statements Reports Employee dress Uniforms Brochures Web pages Virtual servicescape 2.2 Types of Servicescapes The usage of servicescape differs in terms of whom the servicescape will affect. There are three types of service organizations that differ based on variations in form and use of the servicescape. (Zeithaml, 2009: 317; Verma, 2008: 112) 7
Table 2.2 Typology of Service Organizations Based on Variations in Form and Use of the Servicescape Servicescape Usage Self Service (customer only) Interpersonal services (both customer and employee) Remote service (employee only) (Zeithaml, 2009: 317) Complexity of the Servicescape Elaborate Lean Water park ebay Hotel Restaurant Health clinic Hospital Bank Airline School Telecommunications Insurance company Utility Many professional services ATM Car wash Simple Internet services Express mail drop box Dry cleaner Retail cart Hair salon Telephone mail-order desk Automated voicemessaging services As it can be seen from the table above, there are three different types of servicescape, the first one is the self-service environment. The customer performs most of the activities and few if any employees are involved. In these primarily self-service environments, the organization can plan the servicescape to focus exclusively on marketing goals such as attracting the right market segment, making the facility pleasing and easy to use, and creating the desired service experience. (Zeithaml, 2009: 318) The second one is the type of servicescape that affects only the employees, not necessarily affect the experience of the customers. At the other extreme of the use dimension is the remote service, which has little or no customer involvement with the servicescape. Telecommunications, utilities, are examples of services that can be provided without the customer ever seeing the service facility. (Zeithaml, 2009: 318) The third type of servicescape is placed between the self-service and remote service, it is where both of the customer and employee present and active in the servicescape. In these situations, the servicescape must be planned to attract, satisfy, and facilitate the activities of both customers and employees simultaneously. Special attention must also be given to how the servicescape affects the nature and quality of the social interactions between and among customers and employees. (Zeithaml, 2009: 318) 8
From all the types of servicescape, the most common one in the service marketing world is of course the interpersonal services, where there is an interaction between the customer and employee in order to approach the objective of the service itself. 2.3 Strategic Roles of the Servicescape Teresa A. Swartz in the Handbook of Services Marketing and Management wrote that Servicescape plays a critical role in shaping customer expectations, differentiating service firms, facilitating customer and employee goals, and influencing the nature of customer experiences. (Swartz, 2000: 37) Servicescape can play many strategic roles simultaneously, An examination of the variety of roles and how they interact makes clear how strategically important it is to provide appropriate physical evidence of the service. Servicescape in fact is frequently one of the most important elements used in positioning a service organization. (Zeithaml, 2009: 319) There are four strategic roles of the servicescape: 2.3.1 Package Valarie A. Zeithaml define package in servicescape: Similar to a tangible product s package, the servicescape and other elements of physical evidence essentially wrap the service and convey to consumers an external image of what is inside. The servicescape are designed to portray the service that will be given to the customers as a particular image. The servicescape is the outward appearance of the organization and thus can be critical in forming initial impressions or setting up customer expectations. (2009: 319) It is also said that a lot of big companies, for instant, Apple, Starbucks, FedEx, spend a large amount of money in order to design an excellent servicescape to capture their brand. The package role is also knows as a role to help create the image of the company since the service itself cannot be seen directly, but with the support of the servicescape. 2.3.2 Facilitator Facilitator role of the servicescape shows how servicescape can facilitate the customers and employees to accomplish the goal in a service, and also making a well interaction between the customer and the employee regarding their own function. The servicescape can also serve as a facilitator in aiding the performances of persons in the environment. How the setting is designed can enhance or inhibit the efficient flow of activities in the service setting, making it easier or harder for customers and employees to accomplish their goals. A well-designed, functional facility can make the service a pleasure to experience from the customers point of view and a pleasure to perform from the employees. On the other hand, poor and 9
inefficient design many frustrate both customers and employees. (Zeithaml, 2009: 319) 2.3.3 Socializer This role of servicescape usually helps the socialization between customers and employees better, or customers with each other. It is for the firm or companies that really target their store/ place to be a place for people to socialize, so that they build an environment (through the servicescape), where this could really be supported. The design of the servicescape aids in the socialization of both employees and customers in the sense that it helps convey expected roles, behaviors, and relationships....the design of the facility can also suggest to customers what their role is relative to employees, what parts of the servicescape they are welcome in and which are for employees only, how they should behave while in the environment, and what types of interactions are encouraged. (Zeithaml, 2009: 323) 2.3.4 Differentiator The differentiation role of a servicescape is the one that is easiest to understood, it means that the servicescape can be a distinction between one companies with another or with its competitors, especially for company that works in the same business. Moreover, changes in the environment can be used to reposition a firm and/or to attract new market segments. (Swartz, 2000: 41) An example is frozen yogurt in Indonesia. Besides making distinction in the taste of the yogurt, the concept of the product is basically the same, the frozen yogurt and its toppings. One way to really differentiate one frozen yogurt aisle with another is by differentiating the servicescape, making different signage from the other, different decoration or employees uniform, so that customer can differentiate each differently. The design of the physical facility can differentiate a firm from its competitors and signal the market segment that the service is intended for. Given its power as a differentiator, changes in the physical environment can be used to reposition a firm and/or to attract new market segments. In shopping malls the signage, colors used in décor and displays, and type of music wafting from a store signal the intended market segment. The design of physical setting can also differentiate one area of a service organization from another. Price differentiation is also often partially achieved through variations in physical setting. (Zeithaml, 2009: 323) 10
2.4 Framework for Understanding Servicescape Effects on Behavior Framework for understanding servicescape effects on behavior is required for understanding of why the effects occur and how to manage them in order to make actual decisions about servicescape design. 2.4.1 The Underlying Framework The framework of servicescape has an objective to easily understand the correlation and the influence of servicescape to customers behavior. The framework for understanding servicescape effects on behavior follows from basic stimulus-organism-response theory. In the framework the multidimensional environment is the stimulus, consumers and employees are the organism that respond to the stimuli, and behaviors directed at the environment are the responses. The assumptions are that dimensions of the servicescape will affect customers and employees and that they will behave in certain ways depending on their internal reactions to the servicescape. (Zeithaml, 2009: 325) According to Colin Shaw s The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value, stimulated means: To make a person excited and interested ; making a person pay attention; an action that causes the body and mind to be engaged or become more active or enthusiastic. (Shaw, 2007: 74) It can be seen that if stimulated by a well-designed servicescape, it could create better customers experience. The stimulus in this case is of course the servicescape that the company has, and it will affect the customers behavior in the end. 11
Below is the simple framework of servicescape, meant for managers: Figure 2.1 The Servicescape: An Integrated Framework for Managers (Swartz, 2000: 46) Below is the detailed framework that represents a comprehensive stimulus-organismresponse model that recognizes dimensions of the environment, impacts on multiple parties (customers, employees, and their interactions), multiple types of internal responses (cognitive, emotional, and physiological), and a variety of individual and social behavior that can result: 12
Figure 2.2 A Framework for Understanding Environment User Relationships in Service Organization (Zeithaml, 2009: 325) So basically the framework starts with the dimensions of physical evidences, and then the customers and employees perceive the servicescape and response it influenced by their cognitive, emotional, and physiological being, and affect their behaviors. 2.4.2 Behaviors in the Servicescape a. Individual Behaviors According to Zeithaml s Services Marketing book, environmental psychologists suggest that individuals react to places with two general, and opposite, forms of behavior: approach and avoidance. Approach behaviors include all positive behaviors that might be directed at a particular place, such as desire to stay, explore, work, and affiliate. Avoidance behaviors reflect the opposite a desire not to stay, to explore, to work, or to affiliate. In a study of consumers in retail environments, researchers found that appropriate behaviors were influenced by perceptions of the environment. In addition to attracting or deterring entry, the servicescape can actually influence the degree of success that consumers and employees experience in executing their plans once inside. Each individual comes to a particular service organization with a goal or purpose that may be or hindered by the setting. (2009: 326) 13
b. Social Interactions Besides the effects the servicescape has on individual behavior, The servicescape influences the nature and quality of customer and employee interactions, most directly in interpersonal services. It has been stated that all social interactions is affected by the physical container in which it occurs. The physical container can affect the nature of social interaction in terms of the duration of interaction and the actual progression of events. In many service situations, a firm may want to ensure a particular progression of events (a standard script ) and limit the duration of the service. Environmental variables such as physical proximity, seating arrangements, size, and flexibility can define the possibilities and limits of social episodes such as those occurring between customers and employees, or customers and other customers. (Zeithaml, 2009: 326) 2.4.3 Internal Responses to the Servicescape a. Environment and Cognition The perceived servicescape can have an effect on people s beliefs about a place and their beliefs about the people and products found in that place. In a sense, the servicescape can be viewed as a form of nonverbal communication, imparting meaning through what is called object language. (Zeithaml, 2009: 327) b. Environment and Emotion The environment created by the servicescape can also influence the emotion of the people, customers or employees, and result in them being pleased or displeased by it. In addition to influencing beliefs, the perceived servicescape can directly elicit emotional responses that, in turn, influence behaviors. Just being in a particular place can make a person feel happy, lighthearted, and relaxed, whereas being in another place may make that person feels sad, depressed, and gloomy. The colors, décor, music, and other elements of the atmosphere can have unexplainable and sometimes very sub consciousness effect in the moods of people in the place. Any environment will elicit emotions that can be captured by two basic dimensions: (1) pleasure/displeasure and (2) degree of arousal (amount of stimulation or excitement). Servicescape that are both pleasant and arousing would be termed exciting, whereas those that are pleasant and non-arousing, or sleepy, would be termed relaxing. Unpleasant servicescapes that are arousing would be called distressing, whereas unpleasant, sleepy servicescapes would be gloomy. (Zeithaml, 2009: 329) c. Environment and Physiology Physiology could also be affected by the servicesape, The perceived servicescape may also affect people in purely physiological ways. Noise that is too loud may cause physical discomfort, the temperature of a room may cause people to shiver or perspire, the air quality may make it difficult to breathe, and the glare or lighting may decrease ability to see and may cause physical pain. (Zeithaml, 2009: 329) 14
d. Variations in Individual Responses The variations is due to different emotions or behaviors the individual has, In general, people respond to the environment cognitively, emotionally, and physiologically, and their responses influence how they behave in the environment. However, the response will not be the same for every individual, every time. Personality differences as well as temporary conditions such as moods or the purpose for being there can cause variations in how people respond to the servicescape. (Zeithaml, 2009: 330) 2.4.4 Environmental Dimensions of the Servicescape According to Valerie A. Zeithaml, there are hundreds potential elements but could be categorized into three dimensions: a. Ambient Conditions It includes background characteristics of the environment and affects five senses. b. Spatial Layout and Functionality It is the ways in which machinery, equipment, and furnishings are arranged. c. Signs, Symbols, and Artifacts It serves as explicit or implicit signals that communicate about the place to its users. Signs: can be used as labels, for directional purposes, and to communicate rules of behavior. Symbols and artifacts: giving implicit cues to users about the meaning of the place and norms and expectations for behavior in the place. 2.5 Customers Motivation According to An Empirical Investigation into the Effects of Shopping Motivation on Store Environment Value Relationship, Shopping motivation: Shopping motivation measures the general predisposition of consumers toward the act of shopping. There are six attitudes towards shopping: Adventure shopping - referred to shopping for stimulation, adventure, and the feeling of being in another world; Gratification shopping - involved shopping for stress relief, shopping to alleviate a negative mood, and shopping as a special treat to oneself; Convenience shopping - involved shopping to save time and effort ; Idea shopping -referred to shopping to keep up with trends and new fashions, as well as to see new products and innovations; and Social shopping - referred to the enjoyment of shopping with friends and family, socializing while shopping, and bonding with others while shopping. (Singh, 2006: 44) 15
It can be seen that customers have different motivations when they come to shop, in this case, dine at a restaurant. This is what based the customers motivation to come to the restaurant. According to Hedonic Shopping Motivations, Supermarket Attributes, and Shopper Loyalty in Transitional Markets, Generally, shopping motivations have been categorized into two key aspects: utilitarian and hedonic. The utilitarian shopping behavior is characterized by task-related, product oriented, rational, and extrinsic motivations. The hedonic shopping behavior refers to recreational, pleasurable, intrinsic, and stimulationoriented motivations. This study focuses on the hedonic aspect of shopping motives by examining various hedonic reasons that people go shopping. (Nguyen, 2007: 227). Moreover, Nguyen also writes about the underlying motives of customers as a part of hedonic shopping motivation, HSM can be conceptualized to have six dimensions: adventure; social; gratification; idea; role; value (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003). Adventure shopping (ADV), grounded in stimulation, and expressive theories of human motivation, refers to shopping for stimulation, adventure, and the feeling of being in another world (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003, p. 80). The adventure aspect of shopping can provide hedonic value for shoppers (Babin et al., 1994). Social shopping (SOC), grounded in affiliation theories of human motivation, reflects socializing aims of shoppers while shopping (Reynolds and Beatty, 1999). Gratification shopping (GRA), grounded in tension-reduction theories of human motivation, involves shopping for relieving stress (Lee et al., 2001). Idea shopping (IDE), grounded in categorization theories, and objectification theories, refers to shopping with the purpose of learning about new trends and fashion, styling or innovations (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003; Tauber, 1972). Role shopping (ROL), grounded from identification theories of human motivations, reflects the enjoyment that shoppers derive from shopping for others (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003). Finally, value shopping (VAL), grounded in assertion theories of human motivation, reflects the enjoyment of shoppers in bargaining, looking for sales, and finding discounts (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003). These components of HSM are conceptually related but are distinct concepts (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003;Westbrook and Black, 1985). (2007: 230) From these six dimensions, the factors of customers motivation is developed for this research into product, guarantee, stress-free, enjoyment, responsive, and word-ofmouth. 16