How to facilitate immersion in a consumption experience: appropriation operations and service elements

TLDR

The growing consumer demand for immersive experiences has become a focus of research, yet empirical analysis of the immersion process remains scarce. This study aims to introduce and develop the subjective operations consumers use to immerse themselves in consumption experiences. The authors collected introspective reports from participants attending classical music concerts to empirically examine these operations. Results indicate that immersion is a progressive rather than immediate process, and that service elements influencing appropriation operations should be managed to facilitate this progression. © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract An entire research current has taken on the mantle of analysing the growing quest on the part of contemporary consumers for immersion into varied experiences. But there has been little empirical analysis of this process of immersion and the experience it produces. This paper introduces and develops the subjective operations that consumers undertake in their efforts to be submerged in the consumption experience. It uses empirical research based on introspective reports filed by consumers who attended a series of classical music concerts. The results suggest that, rather than being an immediate process, immersion in a consumption experience is more progressive. To facilitate this progressive process, greater attention must be paid to the management of those service elements that will have an impact on the so‐called operations of appropriation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.