Experience psychology – a proposed new subfield of service management

Abstract

Purpose – In their seminal book, The Experience Economy, Pine and Gilmore point out that customers buy experiences and are willing to pay a steep premium for them and hence service organizations should try to make them more fun. The purpose of this paper (and the premise of the recent book) is that services can be redesigned using psychological principles to deliver positive experiences for any kind of service, not just those that lend themselves to fun; by definition, satisfaction with a subconscious aspect of a service cannot be explained by the customer; and the psychological aspects of service interactions have to be approached with the same level of rigor as that are used to design processes that deliver the technical features of the service. Design/methodology/approach – A point of view on the gap and opportunities in the field. Findings – The authors show that there is an opportunity to extend the service operations field. Practical implications – Enables managers and researchers to think about new approaches for designing experiences. Social implications – Valuable in a number of areas including healthcare. Originality/value – Presents a new point of view.