Date of Award

2009

Degree Type

Dissertation

Department

Nance College of Business Administration

First Advisor

Lundstrom, William

Subject Headings

Consumers -- Research, Marketing research, Experiential marketing, Consumer value, Consumption processes, Social identification, Attitude, Hedonic experiences

Abstract

An experiential offering is as an activity, product, or service that provides valuable subjective experiences during consumption. Marketers can capitalize on this consumer value if they know which dimensions are most important to consumers. Based on a review of the literature, this study developed a framework that represents three major components of customer value in an experiential offering: social value, utilitarian value, and emotional or hedonic value. After, analyzing the data from 373 respondents, the results of this study showed that social identification with peers, utilitarian attitude toward the consumption process itself, and hedonic experiences during consumption were all dimensions of value. This study contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating the importance of both feelings of belongingness and identifying with a college peer group (value-expressive influence) in the intention to consume an experiential offering. It also validates the importance of utilitarian value, even in experiential offerings. Finally, it shows hedonic feelings were significant in the respondents' intentions to listen to music. Marketers and managers need to be aware of the subjective and symbolic aspects of consumption addressed in this study. Social identity and symbolism were significant for college students in the sample analyzed. This type of information allows marketers to reinforce important dimensions of value in experiential offerings when developing advertising themes across multiple types of media

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