An Investigation of Casino Service Experience

Abstract

Managing customer experience can be particularly challenging, as there is no existing framework that can offer managers the exact experiential attributes customers are looking for. This study fills the void in the literature by exploring the criteria of customer experience in the increasingly experience-oriented hospitality context of casinos in two studies. In the first study, the author first identified six categories of experiential attributes pertaining to the service environment: employee service, value, hedonic and novelty appeal, brand, and perceived luck. In addition, the roles of customers? Socio-demographics and spending patterns on the experiential attributes were also examined through a series of logistic regressions. The author then investigated the position of a set of 11 casinos in Macau based on the experience of the respondents. In the second study, the author conceptualized service experience equity (SEE) as customers? Functional and emotional evaluation of their experiences when they acquire services from, and interact with, service providers. Next, the author examined the customer equity model and replaced value equity with SEE. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the effect of the three customer equity drivers: SEE, brand equity, and relationship equity on customer satisfaction and loyalty intention among casino customers. The results provide scholars and practitioners alike with a better understanding of the role of customer experience in shaping the positioning of casino services. In fact, this is the first study that incorporates experiential attributes in understanding the position of service providers. Implications for theory and practice are presented below. This study is also the first study to reconceptualize the customer equity model by replacing value with experience as a more relevant measure in today?