Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition 
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experience economy, companies must make memories and create the stage for generating greater economic value, 
rather than simply making goods and delivering services.
 
 
LITERATURE REVIEW 
Experiences are elusive, difficult, and indistinct constructs. To stand out in this competitive environment, 
hospitality businesses need to not just deliver high quality products and services but also to create memorable 
experiences for individual guests. Thus it is important for researchers and practitioners to understand the dimensions 
of a consumer experience. Generally, an experience, while a distinct economic offering, had gone largely 
unrecognized, unstudied, and unmeasured. Although hospitality businesses increasingly have recognized the need to 
create economic value for their customers in the form of experiences, there is lack of hospitality research relative to 
identifying and measuring the dimensions of the customer’s experience. Knutson, Beck, Kim, and Cha (In press, 
2007) explained that characteristics of personal involvement/participation and individualized customization are what 
make experience marketing, measurement, and management so difficult.
Knutson and Beck (2006) proposed a holistic model that structures the complex relationship among the 
four major components of a consumer buying process: [1] expectations and perceptions of service quality, [2] the 
consumer’s experience with the organization, [3] value, and [4] satisfaction. Among these four components, they 
recognized that the dimensions of the experience construct had not been extracted, but only assumed. As a follow-
up study, Knutson et al. (2007) took the initial step in identifying the underlying dimensions embedded in the 
experience construct. They conducted empirical research using the exploratory factor analysis to develop a valid and 
reliable Consumer Experience Index (CEI). As a result, they identified the seven dimensions of the consumer’s 
buying experience. 
The seven dimensions of the consumer’s experience identified in their study are: 
•
Driving benefit – understanding how to use a product or service, as well as its consistency, benefit and 
value. 
•
Accessibility – product or service must be readily available or easy to acquire. 
•
Convenience – the entire shopping process should be fast; products or services easy to locate. 
•
Incentives – offering incentives increase the chance of buying the featured product or service. 
•
Utility – practicality is important; there should be no surprises surrounding a product or service; safety 
is a major concern 
•
Brand trust – satisfaction with a store or product or service is critical. 
•
Sales environment – surrounding should be entertaining, stimulating, educational.