Physical Environment And Service Experience: An Appropriation-Based Model | Ga’l Bonnin

A lot of research has been dedicated to the study of the physical environment?s influence on consumers? behaviours. These studies have shown that a store or a service?s atmosphere can influence the consumers? experience, emotions, purchase behaviours, evaluations and decision processes. But most of these studies draw from the atmospheric model and overlook an important process in the consumerphysical environment relationship: the appropriation process. Moreover, recent works have illustrated that the use of atmospherics tools is not always profitable. The aim of the paper is to show how the appropriation process gives an improved understanding of the consumer-physical environment relationship. The first part of the paper is dedicated to an analysis of atmospherics and appropriation literature. Limits of the atmospheric model are shown and the appropriation process and its implications are detailed. In the second part of the paper, based on empirical works on appropriation, an appropriation-based model of the influence of the physical environment on the service experience is suggested. In the conclusion, managerial insights are provided.