The physical environment as a

driver of customers service

experiences at restaurants
Ute Walter
School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Meal Science, O

rebro University,
Grythyttan, Sweden, and
Bo Edvardsson
CTF-Service Research Centre, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze and describe the drivers in the physical
environment that help to form customers service experiences at restaurants, as described by
customers in their own words.
Design/methodology/approach A critical incident study was conducted through 122 interviews
resulting in a total of 195 favourable and unfavourable customer service experiences in restaurants.
Data were analysed inductively in accordance with the principles of constant comparison and the
results were interpreted by regarding customers as creators of their own meaning.
Findings The physical environment has both a functional and a social dimension and it is an
important driver of customer service experiences in restaurants. Customers interact with these drivers
individually and create their own meanings and value expressed as feelings, thoughts, imagination
and behaviour.
Research limitations/implications The results develop the tenets of service-dominant logic by
offering some insight into customers own logic in value creation and the design of the physical
restaurant environment.
Practical implications Customers actively construct their own individual meanings from the
physical environment, throughout the whole service process, indicating that the customer service
experience is not controlled solely by restaurant management. As some drivers are only experienced in
their absence or when they are noticeably disturbing or pleasing, it is important for managers to
understand these dimensions in order to treat them appropriately. Both favourable and unfavourable
service experiences need to be considered.
Originality/value The physical environment can be described as a dynamic driver which includes
a social dimension and customers are regarded as active creators of their own experience.
Keywords Experience room, Servicescape, Customer service experience, Customer logic, Dynamic,
Restaurant, Customer service management, Customer services quality
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Service rms and their customers co-create value and experiences through their service
interactions (Holbrook, 2006; Vargo and Lusch, 2004; Holbrook, 1994; Gronroos, 2008,
2010). Such experiences involve customers cognitively (Cronin, 2003), emotionally
(Edvardsson, 2005), and behaviourally ( Johnston and Clark, 2005) and are formedduring
the whole service process including pre-purchase experiences, use experiences, and
remembered use experiences (Arnould and Price, 1993; Arnould et al., 2004).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1756-669X.htm
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International Journal of Quality and
Service Sciences
Vol. 4 No. 2, 2012
pp. 104-119
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1756-669X
DOI 10.1108/17566691211232864
Customer service experiences are shaped by a variety of drivers, which include social
interactions, the core service, and the physical environment (Walter et al., 2010).
The physical environment is especially important with regard to services in which
customers are present for some time (Wakeeld and Blodgett, 1996). The physical
environment is therefore an important tangible resource (or artefact) for customers to
draw upon in forming views about the intangible restaurant services that they are
about to experience (Edvardsson et al., 2010; Wall and Berry, 2007; Ward et al., 1992;
Bitner, 1992, 1990; Cherulnik, 1991). However, the focus of most research in this area
has been on the instrumental behavioural aspects of the physical environment. In
contrast, the ways in which individual customers, along with other customers, make
active use of the physical environment to construct their own value and meaning has
not been considered to any great extent in previous research.
A need for further empirical research on the physical environment of services has
been noted by several authors (Ezeh and Harris, 2007; Turley and Milliman, 2000;
Kearny et al., 2007; Bitner, 1990). However, in doing so, customers must be regarded as
active creators of their own meaning and experience (Vargo and Lusch, 2004;
Aubert-Gamet, 1997; Holbrook, 2006). The aim of the present study is, therefore, to
analyze and describe the drivers in the physical environment that help to form
customers restaurant experiences, as described by customers in their own words the
so-called voice of the customer. Both favourable and unfavourable experiences are
thus examined.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The next section provides a
theoretical framework for the present study, including a reviewof the relevant literature.
The methodology of the qualitative empirical study is then described, followed by a
presentation of the results. The paper concludes with a summary of the main ndings
and implications of the study, together with suggestions for further research.
2. Literature review and conceptual framework
2.1 Denitions and focus of the study
This study is essentially concerned with the role of the physical environment as a
driver of favourable and unfavourable customer service experiences.
Adriver is dened in the present study as a factor, activity or interaction that evokes,
gives energy to and directs the customer service experience in a certain direction
favourable or unfavourable. However, not all elements of the physical environment
available at a certain place and time that contribute to the overall restaurant experience
are drivers for every customers service experience. Thus, drivers exist in the world of
the individual customer and shape customers experiences through cognitions, emotions
and behaviours.
A service experience is dened in the present study as the customers interaction
with the service process, the organisation, the physical facilities, the service rms
employees and other customers. These interactions in turn create the customers
cognitive (thoughts), emotional (feelings) and behavioural (actions) responses and leave
the customer with memories (in accordance with Johnston and Clark, 2005).
2.2 The physical environment in frameworks of service experiences
Several studies have recognised the importance of the physical environment in
determining customers evaluations of services. Kotler (1973) was one of the rst to refer
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to the atmospherics of the physical environment, as perceived through the customers
ve senses (visual, aural, olfactory, tactile, and gustatory). Baker (1986) not only
included the sensory aspects of the physical environment (described as ambience) in
her model, but also included design factors (aesthetic and functional aspects of
furnishings and layout) and social factors (referring to employees and customers). In a
similar vein, Bitner (1992) referred to the intangible (sensory) elements and the tangible
elements (layout, equipment, furniture, signs, decor) of the servicescape. Gustafssonet al.
(2006) in their holistic framework referring to meal experiences describe the physical
environment as one important aspect of a customer meal experience.
More recently, Edvardsson et al. (2005, 2010) developed the notion of an experience
room (including physical and intangible artefacts, technology, and various social
elements). According to Edvardsson et al. (2010), customers can infer an anticipated
service experience from the physical artefacts (such as lighting, decor, and layout) of a
pre-use environment (such as a web site homepage, a showroom, or an information
event). Moreover, social interactions associated with the experience room were found to
have a major impact on customers service experiences (more information on the
experience room is supplied later in this paper). Thus, it is apparent that several
frameworks namely, Baker (1986), Bitner (1992), Edvardsson et al. (2005, 2010) and
Gustafsson et al. (2006) have adopted a holistic viewof the physical environment by also
including social elements, albeit in different ways. In a similar vein, other studies have
additionally focused on how customers use the physical environment to create and
interpret their own meaning of the service experience (Arnould and Price, 1993;
Venkatraman and Nelson, 2008). In contrast to these holistic approaches, numerous
other studies have built on Kotlers (1973) atmospherics by focusing only on the
sensory stimuli of the servicescape such as music, odour, scent, colours, and lighting
as described in several review articles (Turley and Milliman, 2000; Ezeh and Harris,
2007; Kearny et al., 2007; Edwards and Gustafsson, 2008; Journal of Business Research,
2000). In these studies, particular behavioural outcomes (for example, customers buying
more or staying longer) have usually been attributed to a single stimulus in the physical
environment (Mehrabian and Russel, 1974). In studies of such behavioural outcomes, the
inuence of physical stimuli on customers feelings and onsocial interactions has seldom
been taken into account for instance the potential for music to inuence customers
conversations in environments such as restaurants (Ekstrom and Borg, 2006).
Studies also show that the physical environment in restaurants and hospitality
settings has a signicant inuence on customers ratings of their meals in restaurants
(Meiselman et al., 2000; Meiselman, 2003; King et al., 2007; Hersleth et al., 2005), lighting
and music affect guests ordering, purchases, and length of stay (Wansink, 2004;
Milliman, 1986), and ambient scent has an inuence on the number of social interactions
in which guests become involved (Zemke and Shoemaker, 2007). Hansen et al. (2005) in
their grounded-theory study depicted the restaurant interior as one of ve main factors
in determining customers experiences of restaurant meals.
Although theoretical frameworks and previous empirical studies have all
demonstrated that the physical environment is important for customer experiences,
relatively little attention has been devoted to the dynamic mechanisms that drive
customers service experiences in a particular direction and the role that physical cues
play in concert with other drivers (such as social interactions and the core service).
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Little attention has also been paid to delineating what the different dimensions might
mean for the customer in favourable and unfavourable situations.
2.3 The customer as an active creator of the physical environment
Most of the instrumental models discussed above do not extend the analysis beyond
the functional perspective of the physical environment, and are thus not capable of
considering the impact that the physical environment might have on customers
service experiences (Schembri and Harsvik, 2004; Aubert-Gamet and Cova, 1999;
Bonnin, 2006; Venkatraman and Nelson, 2008).
Several authors have posited the customers as active creators of the physical
environment in the sense that it is they who experience the physical environment and
give meaning to their experience of it (Vargo and Lusch, 2004; Aubert-Gamet and Cova,
1999; Venkatraman and Nelson, 2008). According to this view, it is not the service rm
who makes the ultimate decisions about how the physical environment should be
shaped and experienced; rather, it is the customers who interact with the environment
and by so doing create their own meaning (Venkatraman and Nelson, 2008). This
perspective makes it clear that it is not just the elements of the physical environment
that make the experience, but what these elements evoke in the customers (the drivers
of customer experiences) in interaction with other drivers in any given context and at
any given time. The customer is an active contributor in these interactions, thus
leading to customer experiences and customer value.
Customer value thus emerges through the customer experience (Holbrook, 2006),
whereby all actors involved (the customer, other customers, employees) co-create their
experiences through continuous interactions in the physical environment of the
restaurant. Co-creation of value occurs when operant resources (actors knowledge and
skills) act on other operant or operand resources (goods and physical resources)
resulting in value-in-context. Value in context or the customer experience is determined
and continuously judged by a customer throughout the service process (Normann and
Ramirez, 1994; Holbrook, 1994). Customers are thus no longer seen as external and
passive (Hunt and Morgan, 1995). Rather, they are seen as active actors who interact
with the available resources in a specic context in a process of service co-creation with
the service rm.
At different stages of the service process, the types of interactions vary. Whoever
initiates these interactions, customers and employees act as resource integrators
(Baron and Harris, 2008; Lusch and Vargo, 2006; Payne et al., 2008) by actively using
their personal resources (knowledge and skills) in varying degrees (Arnould et al.,
2006). This process of resource integration is the dynamic aspect of value creation as
resources are linked together through customer employee interactions.
2.4 The physical environment as an experience room
In the current study the physical environment is treated from the customers point of
view during the entire service process. The physical environment is thus dened as
the elements of the physical environment, both outside and inside the restaurant, with
which customers interact throughout the process of their service experience.
Edvardsson et al. (2005, 2010) developed the concept of the experience room to
describe the customers anticipated experience of the co-creation of services before this
actually occurs. The authors described six dimensions of the experience room:
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(1) Physical artefacts which include signs, symbols, products, and the
infrastructure necessary to create the physical attributes of the experience
room and sensory elements.
(2) Intangible artefacts which include the images, brand reputation, themes,
culture, and strategy that make up the non-physical infrastructure.
(3) Technology the technical equipment with which the customers interact,
either passively or actively.
(4) Customer placement which refers to the customers placement in the
experience room as a precondition for social interactions.
(5) Customer involvement which refers to the customers active involvement in
services and situations.
(6) Interaction with employees which refers to interaction between customers
and employees.
The model includes dimensions describing the static part of the physical environment
(physical and intangible artefacts, technology, customers placement) as well as
dimensions describing the interactive part of the experience room (customers
involvement and interaction with employees). Thus, the framework reects a more
dynamic approach compared to other models discussed earlier in this paper. The model
is summarised in Figure 1.
3. Methodology
3.1 Data collection and sample
In accordance with the principles of critical incident technique (CIT) (Flanagan, 1954),
the empirical study utilised personal interviews to collect qualitative data in the form
of short narratives about customers favourable and unfavourable service experiences
at Swedish restaurants (Grove and Fisk, 1997, p. 67; Olsen, 1992; Czarniawska, 2004).
Inclusion criteria for incidents were:
.
a discrete, remembered episode from a Swedish restaurant that the interviewee
can describe;
.
the interviewee should be part of the story told;
.
a very favourable or unfavourable incident as evaluated by the interviewee,
which was accepted; and
.
sufcient detail to be fully understood (by the interviewer).
Figure 1.
The dimensions of
the experience room
framework according to
Edvardsson et al.
(2005, 2010) Physical artefacts Intangible artefacts
Customer placement
Customer involvement
Customer service experience
Technology
Customers interaction
with employees
Customer service experience
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In total 206 persons were asked to participate, 65 of whom did not join the study,
leaving a total of 141 interviews to be conducted (in the Swedish language) with actual
hotel and/or restaurant customers (hotel and airport restaurants) at three different
locations (Miles and Huberman, 2007, p. 10) during spring 2008. Among the
141 interviews 19 were unusable (the interviewee could not remember anything, the
narrative had insufcient details), resulting in 122 usable interviews. Each interview,
which lasted from a few minutes to 20 minutes, collected data in accordance with the
recommendations of Stauss (1993, p. 412) and contained one or more critical incidents.
A total of 195 narratives were thus collected. The narratives refer to all types of
restaurants, as chosen by the interviewees.
The interviewees were evenly distributed between the sexes. The overwhelming
majority (83 per cent) were between 31 and 65 years of age, with smaller proportions
being aged between 18 and 30 years (11 per cent) and older than 65 years (5 per cent).
Most of the interviewees (52 per cent) stated that they dined at restaurants more than
twice a week, with smaller proportions dining out more than twice a month (42 per cent)
and less than twice a month (4 per cent).
3.2 Data analysis
All interviews were audio-recorded and subsequently transcribed verbatim in writing.
The data were then analysed inductively in accordance with the principles of constant
comparison (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The process of data analysis, which was
supported by the qualitative data-analysis software Maxqda, is summarised in
Figure 2 (Walter et al., 2010; Walter, 2011).
The rst two steps of data analysis resulted in eight main categories of drivers of
customers service experiences. Then the analysis was rened to include consideration
Figure 2.
The empirical study and
different steps in data
analysis
A critical
incident
technique study
122 interviews,
resulting in
195 short
narratives

Data analysis
According to constant
comparative
principles
Eight main categories
emerged
The service process
was mapped out
Analysis of drivers
-Examination of driver
main and sub-
categories of
un/favourable
customer service
experiences

The frequent and
less frequent
drivers emerged
123
72
The physical
environment as a
driver
1) The process
2) The drivers
4) Comparison of the
results with the
dimensions of the
experience room
framework
3) Interpretation of
the personal meaning
of the drivers of the
physical environment
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
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of the different temporal stages of the experience for every narrative and the main
categories referring to the frequent drivers.
In step 3, the frequency of occurrence of each driver category was calculated, thus
enabling frequent drivers to be identied. In the nal phase of the analysis, the
emerging ndings were further interpreted by focusing on the meaning the elements of
the physical environment have for customers in a specic situation. Finally the results
were compared with the dimensions of the experience room model (Edvardsson et al.,
2005, 2010).
Data analysis (as described above) was assessed by two additional experts from
different research backgrounds (Buttereld et al., 2005; Gremler, 2004). In general there
was good agreement between these experts and the primary analyst; any divergent
views that did arise were discussed until agreement was reached. The interview
questions were pre-tested to ensure appropriateness of data. Closeness to the data was
maintained by one person being responsible for the conduct of all interviews,
transcription of all data, and performance of data analysis.
4. Results
4.1 Role of the physical environment at various stages of service experience
The following temporal stages of the restaurant-service experience were identied
from the data:
.
before arrival at the restaurant;
.
beginning of the restaurant visit;
.
during dining;
.
end of the visit; and
.
after leaving the restaurant.
In terms of frequency of occurrence, the most important stages during which the
physical environment played a prominent role in the narratives were while the
interviewees were actually present in the restaurant (that is, beginning of the visit;
during dining; and end of the visit). Nevertheless, in the other stages (before arrival and
after leaving) the physical environment did have some inuence on the customers
experiences, especially when the experience of the physical environment included some
unexpected moments. As one interviewee remembered:
[. . .] we were standing in this little elevator [. . .] bringing us up to [the restaurant], and
I thought that I had chosen the wrong place. It was a shaky elevator, and [. . .] we were a little
concerned when we were rattling in this elevator, and I thought [. . .] why didnt we check the
restaurant more thoroughly? [After all], we only heard [. . .] that this was a good restaurant.
Before arrival, the physical environment outside the restaurant is important often in
combination with social interactions. During the stay at the restaurant all drivers are
available for customer value creation (Normann and Ramirez, 1994) in the physical
environment of the restaurant. In the stages before and after the visit, there is a low
level of employee involvement in interactions. In the other stages, all actors are
involved in a dynamic interplay with drivers. For a detailed description of the physical
environment as a main category and its subcategories (Walter et al., 2010).
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4.2 The physical environment as a driver of customers service experiences
Overall, the physical environment was generally reported in favourable terms. Drivers
referring to the interior (tangible and intangible artefacts and people) and the exterior
(the view, the landscape, the location of the restaurant, the facade and type of the
building) of the restaurant were the most frequent. In these descriptions it became
apparent that people present at the restaurant were a part of the physical environment,
experienced as the murmur of other customers, for example. Among the few
unfavourable scenarios mentioned, interviewees reported drivers referring to the
interior environment, customer placement and to sensory perceptions of the physical
environment (lighting, sound level and colour). The results indicate that the exterior,
both seen from inside as the view and described as the building or the landscape for
example and people present at the restaurant are part of the physical environment. In
contrast the exterior and people as a part of the interior are not included in the experience
room model (Edvardsson et al., 2005, 2010). The elements of the physical environment
that interviewees identied as drivers of customers favourable and unfavourable
experiences are presented in Table I. The table also shows the corresponding
dimensions of the experience room model (Edvardsson et al., 2005, 2010) and the
frequency of occurence of drivers.
4.3 Customers make the physical environment their own in different ways
The data show that interviewees in a specic situation made the physical environment
their own by integrating the elements of the physical environment in various ways.
One interviewee told about how she enjoys the murmur of other peoples conversation
and how she wanted to leave her rural identity at home and become a part of the
urban environment at Stockholm and the airport:
It is the atmosphere, the environment as a whole: First that there are people sitting there,
eating at their tables [and] murmuring to one another. Even though I do not know the people
Dimensions of the
experience room model
(Edvardsson et al., 2005,
2010)
Elements of the physical environment as
drivers
Favourable
freq.
Unfavourable
freq.
Physical and intangible
artefacts
Interior
Interior elements of the physical
environment including furniture and
decoration, the room, the table and the
seating, people, and the theme
20 1
Sensory perception of lighting, music and
colour
1 4
Customer placement Placement of customers
Placement of guests in comparison to other
guests
0 2
? Exterior
Descriptions of the place, the landscape, the
building and the facade, the view
7 0
Total frequency of occurrence 28 7
Source: Edvardsson et al. (2005, 2010)
Table I.
The elements of the
physical environment as
drivers of customers
favourable and
unfavourable service
experiences, their
frequency of occurrence
and corresponding
dimensions of the
experience room model
Customers
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who are here, it means a lot to me that ordinary people go out and eat, talk to each other not
like the bawling where we come from. We cant go out and eat were we live.
Others wanted to feel as if they were at someones home having a good conversation
with friends. The theme of the physical environment of the restaurant played an
important role and seemed to help interviewees to remember details from the
restaurant environment. As one interviewee told:
[. . .] the armchairs and sofas [are] soft and comfortable. This is like being at someones home.
You dont feel stressed [. . .] and you dont feel that the next guests are arriving and that you
have to leave [. . .] And the waiters [. . .] know their job [. . .] They know about the food they
serve [and] they are welcoming, attentive, pleasant and respectful [. . .] It feels like being at
home, in someones living room [. . .] very nice. There are a lot of things to look at [. . .] plants,
paintings, a lot of Hemingway [. . .] a lot of impressions.
The tangible artefacts helped interviewees to imagine that they were in places or
countries even places that were unknown to them. As one interviewee commented:
[. . .] a Thai restaurant [. . .] bamboo trees everywhere [. . .] sitting in small huts, very nice and
cosy. And they have sounds in the background [. . .] feels like being in the rainforest [. . .]
sometimes raining [. . .] sometimes getting dark [. . .] then it is night [. . .] They invested a lot in
their physical environment. I have never been to Thailand, but it feels as though I am in
Thailand.
4.4 Music and lighting
The results show that music had a signicant inuence on interviewees experiences
(both favourable and unfavourable). If music is too loud, this can inhibit conversation;
conversely, if it is too soft, it can fail to have any positive inuence. As one interviewee
noted:
The rst impression was that the music was a little too loud, but [. . .] they seemed to have
planned the room in a way that [. . .] enabled us to have a conversation [. . .] Often when I go
out to a restaurant the music is too loud, which makes it impossible to talk. However, if it is
too soft it can be uninteresting.
One interviewee and his father felt that increasing the volume of the music evoked a
feeling of being turned out by management:
At about 10 pm they started to play very loud music. We felt that we were supposed to leave
the restaurant [. . .] they wanted to get in a new clientele. We felt turned out of the restaurant.
With regard to colour scheme, an interviewee and her husband perceived that too much
white colour in the interior design made them feel uncomfortable and unwelcome:
[. . .] the experience when we arrived was too much white and plastic [. . .] it felt quite sterile
and cold [. . .] no cosy feeling [. . .] far too open. The ceiling was high, a lot of white [. . .] bright
[. . .] very bright [. . .] the atmosphere did not feel good. It was not relaxing and we didnt feel
quite welcome.
4.5 Summary
In summary, the data showed that in most instances, there were multiple drivers
involved in the process of a customer service experience, leading to favourable or
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unfavourable experiences. In favourable cases the physical environment is described
as a whole and in unfavourable cases the single elements that are drivers are dominant
in the descriptions. Most of the drivers of the physical environment were remembered
and described as forming more or less favourable experiences and could thus be
regarded as one-sided favourable drivers (in line with Olivers (1997)
categorisation of satisers). However, one type of drivers, namely sensory elements
such as lighting, music or colours, was most often named in unfavourable cases, and
could thus be described as a one-sided unfavourable driver. These elements are
essential but almost never cause extreme favourable experiences; rather, they cause
unfavourable experiences when they are missing or when they are perceived as
disturbing or not tting the situation (for example interviewees perceiving the volume
of music as being too loud or the colour scheme being too white). However, the level of
music (as a part of tangible artefacts or as an ambient condition) would seem to be
worthy of further study as it was also mentioned to support customers experiences in
a favourable and unexpected way. It should be mentioned that the categorisation
according to Oliver (1997) and narratives in the present study only refer to extreme
favourable and unfavourable but not normal experiences.
5. Conclusion and implications
5.1 Major conclusions
This study has analyzed and described the drivers in the physical environment that
help to form the restaurant experiences of customers by using the customers own
words, the voice of the customer. The elements of the physical environment that
acted as drivers have been discussed and are summarised in Table I.
The results have shown that the customers made inferences from tangible artefacts
to draw conclusions about their service experience or they imagined something they
never have really experienced. In most instances, these tangible elements of the
physical environment contributed to favourable experiences. However, one category of
elements, sensory elements included in tangible artefacts in Edvardsson et al. (2005,
2010) and described as ambient conditions by Bitner (1992) or atmospherics by
Kotler (1973), sometimes provoked unfavourable experiences, for example when
customers felt unwelcome at the restaurant because it was too bright.
5.2 Empirical contributions
Previous empirical studies of the relationship between customer experiences and the
physical environment (Hansen et al., 2005; Bitner, 1990) have tended to provide a rather
static picture bydescribingdifferent dimensions or factors. Incontrast, the present study
has sought to describe how customer-environment interactions, from the customers
point of view, play an important role in customers experience formation in restaurants.
Both the social dimension of the physical environment and the service process were
discussed, which is in contrast to previous empirical studies. This move froma static to a
dynamic approach is part of the current debate in service research in general and in
service logic in particular where there is a stated need to examine customer service
experiences by considering their real nature in terms of being dynamic wherein
interactions, activities and processes are central (Lindquist and Persson, 1997; Schembri
and Sandberg, 2002; Edvardsson, 2005; Vargo and Lusch, 2008; Gronroos, 2011).
Customers
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Comparing the results of the present study with previous studies of ambient
conditions in the physical environment (as discussed by Turley and Milliman, 2000;
Meiselman et al., 2000; Hersleth et al., 2005; Ezeh and Harris, 2007; Kearny et al., 2007;
Edwards and Gustafsson, 2008), the present study makes a signicant contribution by
focusing on the customers holistic experience of the physical environment and its
elements. In addition, customers in the present study have been regarded as active
creators of their meaning in a specic situation which helps in understanding of the
customers own logic. The study has focused on what the elements in the physical
environment mean for customers as they make inferences from physical details to
abstract emotional states and imagination.
5.3 Theoretical contributions
With regard to the experience room framework (Edvardsson et al., 2010), only three
dimensions of that framework were apparent in the present data:
(1) physical artefacts;
(2) intangible artefacts; and
(3) customer placement.
The exterior was important for customer experiences in the present study and thus
should be given some thought in the experience room model. People (often described as
actors) present in the experience room have, in this study, been described as an
important precondition for interactions andsocial interactions and are thus suggested as
an additional dimension of the experience room framework. This suggestion is
somewhat obvious as there can be no interactions or social interactions in the absence of
actors. Furthermore, it was shown that the mere presence of other actors could have an
inuence on individual customers experience of the physical environment. The
experience room dimension customer interaction with employees should be
reformulated, as customers not only interact with employees but also with other
customers and elements of the physical environment. It is possible that the present
ndings differed from the dimensions of the experience room framework because the
contexts fromwhich the original framework was derived (furniture retail, a web site, and
higher education in a pre-use environment) were quite different fromthe present studys
restaurant service context. For example, technology plays little role for customers in
restaurants because there are always employees available to serve customers.
One of the basic tenets of service-dominant logic is that value creation is always
uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneciary (Vargo, 2008, p. 213).
The present studys customer focus has contributed to the development of this view by
offering insights into how customers actively create their value in the physical service
context by turning resources (elements of the physical environment) into drivers, which,
in turn direct the experience throughout the service process most often in interaction
with other drivers and actors. The study offers some insights into the customers own
logic of value creation in a restaurant context. The results provide empirical content to
the experience room framework.
5.4 Managerial implications
The ndings have some implications for managers. It has been shown that customers
are not only users of the physical environment, but also creators of it because they draw
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their own conclusions about it. For example, loud music can be not only disturbing, but
also potentially a driver of customers feelings of being unwelcome in some way or could
be a driver of a favourable experience when the level of music is just about right.
Managers should be aware that besides a functional dimension, there is also a social and
emotional dimension to be considered, which is more difcult to design. Moreover, some
drivers are only experienced in their absence and others when they disturb or delight.
Therefore, both favourable and unfavourable service experiences need to be considered
when designing restaurant services. In addition the process of a customer service is
central, as customers may already have drawn conclusions from the physical
environment before arrival.
With reference to drivers that relate to actors as a part of the physical environment it is
important for managers to bear in mind that other actors are an important driver for
customer service experiences. Who likes to sit alone in a restaurant? Nevertheless, different
customers could viewthe same driver in different ways. One customer might feel disturbed
by other customers sitting in too close proximity, for example when a group of other
customers at the next table is too big. Some customers describe the presence of other
customers as very important for the atmosphere. However, restaurants often plan their
physical environment according to their own practical needs of service, without customers
experiences in mind. The data fromthe present study showthat besides facilitating service
to the restaurant customers, the physical environment also facilitates customer feelings
such as simulating the feeling of being at someones home where they can sit and talk for
several hours. The physical environment should therefore be regarded as an arena where
employees and customers interact with each other and by these interactions the restaurant
company is able to facilitate and support customers individual value creation.
5.5 Limitations and future research
The present study has certain limitations. The use of CITas research method means that
only exceptional experiences were reported by the interviewees. The narratives collected
refer to all types of restaurants (from luxury ne dining to simple self-service
restaurants) as chosen by the interviewees. Only a small number refer to hotel and
airport restaurants. This supports the conclusion that the location of the various
interviews did not cause any overt bias in the nature of the incidents reported in the data.
Moreover, CIT has been criticised for not taking the process character of services
into consideration. However, by treating critical incidents as narratives and analysing
them in detail and holistically and seen from the customer point of view, helped to
identify the service process. Moreover, the drivers in relation to their context could be
identied and the emotional, behavioural and cognitive nature of customers reactions
could be distinguished.
Despite being based on relatively short interviews, the narratives collected give a
rich and nuanced picture of customer service experiences (Gremler, 2004; Edvardsson
and Strandvik, 2000). Future studies using a broader theoretical framework and
different methodology such as observations and/or video-based methods illustrating
real service processes could consolidate and deepen the evidence of the ndings in the
present study. The results of this study thus provide a useful basis for understanding
customer experiences of the physical environment and for planning future studies
involving a variety of methodologies and including other drivers such as social
interactions and the core service.
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About the authors
Ute Walter is a Senior Lecturer in Culinary Arts and Meal Science at the School of Hospitality,
Culinary Arts and Meal Science at O

rebro University, Grythyttan, Sweden. She has an MSc in

Business Administration from Stockholm University and substantial practical experience from
the eld of Culinary Arts in different positions. Her research area is customer service experiences
at restaurants focusingon drivers of customer experiences andthe dynamic process of interactions
in restaurant services. Ute Walter is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:
ute.walter@oru.se
Bo Edvardsson is Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Service Research
Center (CTF) at the Karlstad University, Sweden. He is the Editor of the Journal of Service
Management. He is author/co-author of 15 books and has published 90 articles in scientic
journals. His main research areas are service quality, service development, service infusion in
manufacturing, service experience and relationship dynamics.
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