Subject Guides: Experience Design & Management: ExDM 422

Selected Articles about ethnography in business

Musasa, M. (2019). A guide to understanding the importance of anthropology in B2B marketing. Cape Town: SyndiGate Media Inc Anthropology in the B2B space has seen great success over the years by helping businesses at all levels see and think differently about their business and clients...
Merrill, P. (2019, 08). A gradual build. Quality Progress, 52, 57-59. [...]Lego realized that toys don't necessarily need many features. Lego changed its design direction by reducing the number of pieces to enhance the opportunity for storytelling and enable the learning experience.2 Ethnographic researchers observe and interact with participants in their real-life environment. [...]you can identify market demand for products that don't yet exist. Tesla doesn't have a traditional dealership network and chooses to sell cars online and builds fewer stores staffed with salespeople paid a fixed salary-not commission.
O’Doherty, Damian and Neyland, Daniel. 2019. The Developments in Ethnographic Studies of Organizing: Towards Objects of Ignorance and Objects of Concern. Organization, 26(4), pp. 449- 469. ISSN 1350-5084 In this introduction to the Special Issue, we review the rich tradition of ethnographic studies in organisation studies and critically examine the place of ethnography in organisation studies as practised in schools of business and management. Drawing on the findings of the articles published here, we reflect on the need for a significant extension of the content and syllabus of our discipline to include what we call objects of concern and objects of ignorance. The articles we publish show that decision makers in organizations are not always humans, and nor can we assume the human and its groups monopolise the capacity for agency in organisation. Where we still labour in organisation theory with dualisms such as structure or agent, or subject and object, these articles trace objects and their relations which point to new forms of non-human co-ordination and agency. The organisational realities to which these objects give rise demand careful methodological enquiry, and we show that recent experiments in a genre we call ‘post-reflexive ethnography’ are likely to prove helpful for developing ethnographic enquiry in contemporary organisation.
Mamali, E. (2019). Researcher's guilt: Confessions from the darker side of ethnographic consumer research. Consumption, Markets & Culture, 22(3), 241-255 A reflexive approach to qualitative research seeks to uncover structures of inequality in the research encounter. On the surface, it would seem that ethnographic methods provide the conditions to alleviate this methodological instrumentalism. By employing a confessional account, this paper demonstrates how the paradox of asymmetrical rapport prevents ethnographic work from reaching its collaborative potential. Drawing from insights in an ethnographic enquiry in an arts charity, the author narrates the guilty experiences that arise when researchers reproduce a culture of commodifying informants. This is exemplified through impression management tactics that generate an illusion of mutuality, alternating with more authentic instances of co-participation. The implications of this self-perceived moral violation are discussed for the researched, the researcher and ethnographies of consumption more broadly. The paper contributes to the methodological literature by explaining the potential of confessional accounts as a tool to operationalise reflexive, reciprocal practice, counteracting the demands of a knowledge economy.
Jeanne, L., & Kaplan, S. (2019). How design thinking opens new frontiers for strategy development. Strategy & Leadership, 47(2), 3-10. This article explains how design thinking and practices can identify unexplored opportunities for strategic growth. Increasingly practitioners are learning about powerful ways they can work together, with design mindsets and practices improving the strategy development process in multiple ways.
Dirk, v. L. (2019). Phenomenology‐Based ethnography for management studies and organizational analysis. British Journal of Management, 30(1), 188-202. This paper introduces phenomenology‐based ethnography as a novel ethnographic approach for research in management studies and organizational analysis and describes three methods that have been developed from this approach: life‐world analytical ethnography, focused ethnography and go‐along ethnography. Phenomenology‐based ethnography has emerged from developments in sociology that draw on ‘social phenomenology’ developed by Alfred Schütz. These developments involve the use of phenomenology‐based ethnographic methods that shift the focus of research onto participants’ subjective experiences of the field further than has been required by other ethnographic approaches. This paper uses a set of dimensions that allow a comparison of these phenomenology‐based methods’ aims, techniques of data collection and analysis, and required effort. These three methods are then compared with current ethnographic methods used in organizational research and management studies. The paper concludes with a discussion that explores and addresses the critique of how phenomenology‐based ethnography conceives the relationship between the researcher and the research subject.
Garner, B. (2019). Sustainability marketing at the farmers’ market: An ethnographic analysis of ambiguous communication. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 43(1), 14-22. Garner, B. (2019). Sustainability marketing at the farmers’ market: An ethnographic analysis of ambiguous communication. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 43(1), 14-22. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12479
Editorial Commentary: Anthropologists' Contributions to Business Studies. (2016). International Journal of Business Anthropology, 6(1), IX-XIII. Applied anthropologists often need to work in cross-disciplinary teams as they are often expected to defer to colleagues from other disciplines, particularly economics and psychology, as many business anthropology case studies have demonstrated. [...]the minor role that anthropologists may find themselves in may lead to ethical conundrums. According to business anthropologist Dr. Robbie Blinkoff and his Context Based Research Group team, one of the most successful business firms that provide consultation service by using anthropological theories and methods, ethnography involves four key tenets: [...]Hunt selected the final concepts, which became products for the home office and were marketed at mass merchandisers and office stores throughout the United States. [...]the contributions that business anthropologists can make in the real business world are unlimited, and it is reasonable to expect that in the future business anthropologists will become much-in-demand professionals in the real world (Tian, 2010) .

Databases to Find articles

ProQuest One Business This link opens in a new window An intuitive and comprehensive business library containing millions of full-text items across scholarly and popular periodicals, newspapers, market research reports, dissertations, books, videos, and more.
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Selected Resources related to Experience Economy

Wood, E. H. (2009). Evaluating event marketing: Experience or outcome? Journal of Promotion Management, 15(1), 247. Retrieved from https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/195452378?accountid=4488 The research presents a critical evaluation of the current methods used to measure the effectiveness of experiential marketing techniques. The article begins by reviewing the literature relating to event and experiential marketing and existing appropriate evaluation techniques. Secondary research is then used to highlight specific tools and methods currently being used in the experiential marketing industry. This secondary research is explored further through interviews with four experienced providers of marketing events. The findings indicate that current methods do not appear to be comprehensive or reliable due largely to the intangibility of the event experience. Based on these findings a framework is developed to guide future research, both academic and practitioner, into measuring the effectiveness of experiential marketing events.
Renaud, L., & Ponsignon Frédéric. (2020). Achieving immersion in the tourism experience: The role of autonomy, temporal dissociation, and reactance. Journal of Travel Research, 59(7), 1151-1167. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0047287519878509 In the past two decades, research in tourism has explored the shift to the experiential economy in which consumers (visitors) seek memorable experiences. While prior studies converge toward the idea that immersion is a critical dimension of the tourism experience, research on immersion remains scarce, particularly the conditions under which immersion is achieved and its consequences on visitor evaluations. To fill this gap, this research builds on the experiential and flow literature to propose a model where immersion derives from autonomy and leads to greater visitor satisfaction through the underlying mechanism of temporal dissociation. Additionally, it is proposed that reactance moderates the relationship between autonomy and temporal dissociation. Two empirical studies—a field study in an experiential wine museum and an experiment involving a zoo visit—provide robust evidence of these effects, fostering theoretical progress on immersion and subsequent temporal dissociation as important dimensions of the tourism experience.
Rizvi, W. H., Memon, S., & Abdul, S. D. (2020). Brand experience clustering and depiction of brand satisfaction, brand loyalty and emotional confidence. Foundations of Management, 12(1), 111-124. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/fman-2020-0009 Brand experience (BE) is essential to depict long-term consumer brand relationships; this study investigates the influence of brand experience on emotional confidence (EC) and subsequent impact of brand satisfaction (BS) and brand loyalty (BL) in the context of car buying. Structural equation modeling was used to affirm the hypothesized relationships. This study further explores dimensions of brand experience: sensory, affective, intellectual and behavioral concerning EC, BS, and BL. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to depict the relationship as a consequence, and four clusters were identified. The results of the structural model suggest that there is a positive and statistically significant influence of BE on EC, there is a positive and statistically significant influence of EC on BS, and there is a positive and statistically significant influence of BS on BL. When the direct path from EC to BL was added to the model, it increased the variance explained in BL and coefficient of EC was higher than the coefficient of BS suggesting that EC is an important construct within the formwork. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis identified four clusters; the relationship among EC, BS and BL showed interesting patterns; there were higher correspondents between EC and BL than between BS and BL; the pattern was consistent with the results of the structural model. The data was collected from car showrooms across Karachi city; the respondents were users of the brand.
Bauman, A. A. (2020). How do entrepreneurs use social media? Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 14(2), 40-48. Retrieved from https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2432563124?accountid=4488 The role of social media in business growth is important as social media helps to spread information exponentially very quickly at a relatively affordable cost. However, entrepreneurs are struggling with how to utilize the potential of social media in an efficient way. This paper investigates how small businesses use social media. Results and conclusions would help entrepreneurs to develop their companies' dynamic capabilities.
Siebert, A., Ahir, G., Lindridge, A., & Simões Cláudia. (2020). Customer experience journeys: Loyalty loops versus involvement spirals. Journal of Marketing, 84(4), 45-66. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022242920920262 Customer experience management research is increasingly concerned with the long-term evolution of customer experience journeys across multiple service cycles. A dominant smooth journey model makes customers’ lives easier, with a cyclical pattern of predictable experiences that builds customer loyalty over time, also known as a loyalty loop. An alternate sticky journey model makes customers’ lives exciting, with a cyclical pattern of unpredictable experiences that increases customer involvement over time, conceptualized here as an involvement spiral. Whereas the smooth journey model is ideal for instrumental services that facilitate jobs to be done, the sticky journey model is ideal for recreational services that facilitate never-ending adventures. To match the flow of each journey type, firms are advised to encourage purchases during the initial service cycles of smooth journeys, or subsequent service cycles of sticky journeys. In multiservice systems, firms can sustain customer journeys by interlinking loyalty loops and involvement spirals. The article concludes with new journey-centered questions for customer experience management research, as well as branding research, consumer culture theory, consumer psychology, and transformative service research.
Experience economy and co-creation in a cultural heritage festival: consumers’ views The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of the experience economy and co-creation concepts on cultural heritage festivals (CHFs) and to examine the process of the on-site (co-)creation of experience of the festival participants. To fulfill this aim, empirical data is collected through 26 qualitative interviews within the context of a single case study. The Medieval Town of Rhodes (MTR) (Greece) -as a cultural heritage consumption setting- constitutes the case study. The Medieval Rose Festival (MRF), an annual cultural, re-enactment event taking place in the MTR serves as the case’s unit of analysis. The attendees’ views of their MRF-experience were investigated and it was examined whether they were consistent with any of the three generations of the experience economy emphasizing co-creation of experience. The analysis of the data shows that the characteristics of all three generations of the experience economy are found in the CHF services in the MTR. Based on the findings, the CIF model (C: ‘Context-, I: ‘Interactions,’ F: ‘Feelings) was formed. This model illustrates the intertwining, multi-faceted dimensions of the optimal CHF-experience that festival organizers should provide to their customers. Such a model has not yet been reported.
Machala, J. (2020). Customer experience in shared economy: Recommendations for companies. Trendy Ekonomiky a Managementu, 14(35), 73-78. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.13164/trends.2020.35.73 Purpose of the article: This article aims to identify the perception of customers in the shared economy, specifically their customer experience with Uber, Bolt and Airbnb, and then evaluate what these companies stand out for or what their deficiencies are, and formulate recommendations for them. Methodology/methods: The secondary research from an article in Web of Science and primary research conducted through an online questionnaire. Scientific aim: Find out customers' views on shared economy services. Findings: Shared economy services are rated very positively, however, there is still a possibility for the development of new services. Conclusions: Customers are satisfied with the services of the shared economy and feel that these services save them time and money and make it easier to solve their problem. They are also willing to recommend these services. However, they are not very loyal to a particular brand. Businesses should focus on building a positive relationship with the brand to build more loyal customers. Companies could also do this by building a community in which their custodians feel good and proud to be part of that community. The limitations of this research are mainly in the narrow focus on three companies in the field of shared economy and also the age of respondents, as the majority of respondents were in the range of 18-34 years.