Revisiting the effects of tourism and hospitality servicescapes on customers: A complexity approach

The critical role of built environment (servicescape) on customers' psychological and behavioral responses has been extensively documented in tourism and hospitality. Researchers, however, have relied on a variety of ways to operationalize the servicescape effects on customers' responses, none of which accounts for the subjectivity governing how customers perceive and interact with the servicescape. Through a qualitative and a quantitative study across full-service restaurants, this study demonstrates that customers perceive servicescape components in configurations rather than in isolation, ad hoc groups, or holistically. Moreover, contrary to what past research has declared, customers' future behavioral responses (i.e., approach/avoidance) emerge not in a sequential/linear mode but rather through a complex/combinatory process. On the basis of these findings, the study showcases a set of methods and analytical techniques for helping researchers and practitioners gauge customer-generated servicescape configurations and identify the complex pathways through which such configurations shape customers’ behavioral intentions.