Conference paper
Contextualising ‘entertainment value': A qualitative inquiry of shopping centre managers' perspectives
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution, pp.44-45
International Conference on European Association For Education And Research In Commercial Distribution, 18th (Rennes, France, 01-Jul-2015–03-Jul-2015)
European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution
2015
Abstract
Shopping centres stage entertainment events (e.g. children workshops, mini concerts, and mini festivals) to add ‘entertainment value’ to the retail experience and in turn to enhance their customers’ loyalty to the retail space (e.g. extended stay and increased spending). Despite the apparent relationship between entertainment value and retail entertainment events, there are gaps in the extant literature, including: i) existing definitions of entertainment value have been mostly examined in retail contexts outside of entertainment events; ii) prior studies have primarily opted for a one-dimensional definition to statistically or quantitatively analyse this customer value concept in a structural model. The extent to which a multidimensional definition may exist and be more relevant for understanding the entertainment value of a retail entertainment event remains unknown; and iii) the shopper group has been the prominent unit of analysis and other stakeholders’ perspectives about entertainment value and its dimensionality are rarely considered. To address those aforementioned gaps in the extant literature, this study opted for the relativism paradigm and conducted in-depth interviews with eight shopping centre marketing managers who were highly experienced with staging entertainment events. The qualitative results contribute to the extant literature on three groups: i) a multidimensional definition is proposed to be more insightful and practical for examining the entertainment value of shopping centre entertainment events; ii) this definition potentially consist of affective, activity, aesthetic dimensions (which are prominent in extant literature), as well as, functional, social, and altruistic dimensions (which are not apparent in extant literature); and iii) altruistic value identified in this study reflects the increasing use of entertainment events for cause-related purposes by retailers, echoing the ‘selfish altruism’ phenomenon (Fairnington, 2010). Theoretical and managerial implications arising from the qualitative findings are discussed together with opportunities for future research.
Details
- Title
- Contextualising ‘entertainment value': A qualitative inquiry of shopping centre managers' perspectives
- Authors
- Jason Kokho Sit (Author) - Bournemouth UniversityDawn Birch (Author) - Bournemouth University
- Publication details
- Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution, pp.44-45
- Conference details
- International Conference on European Association For Education And Research In Commercial Distribution, 18th (Rennes, France, 01-Jul-2015–03-Jul-2015)
- Publisher
- European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution
- Date published
- 2015
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; USC Business School - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99513771802621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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