Experiential Consumption of Augmented Reality: The Nexus between Fun, Authenticity and Self

“Imagination is more important than knowledge…Imagination circles the world.”
Albert Einstein
Experiential consumption has always received attention in consumer research literature. It can be traced back to 1955 when Abbott (1955) placed emphasis on the importance of experience in consumption, and after that the notion of consumption experience was introduced as the three “F” (feeling, fantasies, and fun) (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982). More recently, new technological advancement such as augmented reality (AR) has created challenges in creating experiential consumption. AR is a technology which mixes the real world with the virtual world to create experiential consumption (Javornik, 2016; Hilken et al., 2017). Although, the essence of AR is to create experiences (i.e., fun, feeling and fantasies) less is known about the meanings of such experiences. In addition, it is argued that AR can go beyond experiential consumption and raise issues about authenticity (i.e., what is real and genuine) (Beverland and Farrelly, 2010) and the self (i.e., the extended version of self) (Belk, 2013). This is because AR key characteristics are not meant to replace the reality as in the case with virtual reality, but rather, is to mimic or imitate the reality. Therefore, the research questions of this study are:
1) What are the meanings of AR experiential consumption?
2) How do consumers establish authenticity of reality and their own self using AR?
In total, 30 interviews were collected. The collected data used interview-diary method (24 interviews); interviews (two with senior AR industry practitioners; and four with makeup users); and online reviews (1915 reviews). Two main themes have emerged in the findings, which are, 1) Fun; and 2) (In)authentic self and reality. The findings propose three new concepts of “bewildering fun” “bewildering authenticity” and “bewildering self”. Curiosity consists of the novelty of AR and the ability to inspire imagination, whereas fun consists of frustration, joy, feeling transformed, and social intimacy. In addition, AR creates (in)authentic version of the self as well as objects in a constant comparison between the senses, the self, object, and the real shopping experience. To some extent, there is an interplay between the self and fun where AR can create a sense of harmony with the self or the object which can create a feeling of joy and transformation.
The theoretical contributions of this research are twofold. First, this research provides in-depth meaning of the experiential consumption of curiosity and fun. This not only contributes to (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982), but also to the recent extant body of research calling for research on CE on its own and CE with AR combined (Javornik, 2016; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Kranzbühler et al., 2018; Liao, 2018; Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; Chylinski et al., 2020; De Keyser et al., 2020).
Second, this research contributes to consumer research literature and shed light on the importance of symbolic experience, and in particular, the extended self (Belk, 1988, 2013) and authenticity (Rose and Wood, 2005; Beverland and Farrelly, 2010).

Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing the customer journey in tourism settings (Grunder & Neuhofer, 2021). From augmented reality (AR), mobile apps and virtual reality (VR) assistants, to chatbots, and service robots, the range and scope of interactions grows rapidly (Beck et al.,2019; Belanche et al., 2020; Pillai and Sivathanu, 2020; Serravalle et al., 2019). In tourism marketing literature, AI is viewed as key to transforming customer experiences (CX) (Hoyer et al., 2020). Indeed, new forms of CX (with AI playing an influential role) in experience formation are emerging (Buhalis, 2019), which are expected to significantly enhance the CX (Anaya & Lehto, 2020). The AI-enabled CX is thus a promising experiential context that calls for further research and exploration.

Literature on CX and new AI-enabled forms is, however, fragmented and this adds an additional layer of complexity to already divergent perceptions on CX definition, dimensions, foundations, antecedents, and consequences (De Keyser et al., 2015; Waqas et al., 2021). The contextuality of CX, however, and its role in CX formation alongside the potential transformational role of AI is also not disputed (Becker & Jaakkola, 2020).

The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive review of academic research related to customer facing AI technologies and CX in tourism. Accordingly, a systematic literature review (SLR) on the AI-enabled CX in tourism was carried out between May and July 2021. To fulfil the research aim, the SLR put forward four questions: 1)What are the identified customer-facing AI technologies in the tourism context? 2)What are the methodologies used to study the AI-enabled customer experience in the tourism context? 3)What are the theories used to study the AI-enabled customer experience in the tourism context? 4)What are the research gaps in technology research on customer experience in the tourism context? Accordingly, five online databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles from journals listed in the CABS AJG 2021 guide. In total, 68 articles matched the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The findings indicate 4 clusters for AI-technologies in tourism (immersive technologies, service robots, smart technologies, and others). Methodologically speaking, the findings show that quantitative work is very common where a reliance on questionnaires and scenarios is evident. Moreover, a wide range of theoretical frameworks are utilized with information systems and technology as well as psychology theories the most common. Findings reveal that uncertainty still exists about the notion of the AI-enabled CX, its antecedents, and its consequences. It pinpoints intriguing areas for research that remain unclear like the effect of AI effect on experience outcomes and consumer behaviour. The demand side is still understudied, for instance, consumer concerns about, motivations to accept, and perceptions on an AI enabled CX. Additionally, studies that explore the emotional aspect of AI-enabled CX are needed. There are also repeated calls to examine theoretical frameworks in real-life settings where comparisons between different contexts, types of services, regions, and stakeholder groups would bring valuable insights on the AI-enabled CX in tourism.

The way services are experienced hinges significantly on the service environment. Specifically, the social servicescape including all contextual, physical, and social elements frame customers’ experiences and the way they cocreate value. With this paper we focus on the social aspect of the servicescape, namely how firms can purposefully design social atmospheres through the facilitation of meaningful interactions among customers and staff. While extant research has devoted significant attention to the physical aspects of the servicescape, such as haptic, visual, audio, or olfactory influences, less research deals with the social influences of place and the role service providers play in facilitating atmospheric interactions among (groups of) customers (and staff) to create meaningful shared experiences.
Against this background, this research introduces the concept of service curation. That is, a service provider’s approach to selecting, organizing, and managing constellations of customers and staff to facilitate and orchestrate meaningful social interactions before, during, and after an event to purposefully create atmospheric experiences of place. This includes the delineation of the desired social atmosphere in preparation to the event, the screening, selection, and matching of customers based on their presumed cocreation potential during the event, and the formalization and mystification of service curation decisions after the event takes place. Consider, for instance, the role of the bouncers at the infamous nightclubs Berghain in Berlin or Studio 54 in New York. These bouncers act as service curators as they make essential decisions about who is allowed to enter the nightclub during the night, thereby seeking to create intentional constellations of actors that in turn are expected to perform, for instance, specific yet inconspicuous and implicit roles. Some guests might be selected for their fashion contribution, some for their beauty contribution, some for their stage potential, or based on a combination of various other factors. Bouncers in that sense curate the social servicescape by identifying and selecting promising service cocreators that have the potential to engage in social interactions to create meaningful atmospheric experiences. Stated differently, service curators such as bouncers create a ‘piece of art’ every night as they layer meaning with every individual granted access to the nightclub to form a whole that can belong together.
While introducing and delineating the concept of service curation and service curators, we build on and advance earlier conceptualisations of service orchestrators, service enablers, and service coordinators. Moreover, we expand research on social atmospheres as we explicate how such atmospheres can be purposefully designed and managed, advancing thus our understanding of service design, social servicescapes, and the creation of shared experiences of place. Thereby we consider alternative theoretical perspectives such as gestalt theory and sociological interaction ritual theory to build a foundation for future research. Managerially, our research offers important insights into potentially undervalued roles of staff who are in charge of curating human constellations to create atmospheric experiences in wide variety of contexts such as nightclubs, festivals, private members clubs, or professional career networks.