The Impact of Aesthetics in Embedded Service Rituals

This paper explores the ways providers’ and retailers’ strategic aesthetic decisions shape consumers’ experiences of embedded service rituals – or those that providers regard as integral to their marketplace experience, and that are therefore not optional for consumers. We highlight the specific ways aesthetic elements either enhance or detract from these embedded rituals. Using multiple qualitative methods, we also discuss how aesthetics and other elements (e.g., the skill levels of service providers) contribute to consumers’ perceptions of the atmospherics of embedded service rituals.

Citation:

Cele Otnes, Elizabeth Crosby, Mina Kwon, and Sydney Chinchanachokchai (2011) ,"The Impact of Aesthetics in Embedded Service Rituals", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 23.