This exploratory study examines how the temporal aspect of service consumption impacts the emotions that are created within consumers during service encounters. The authors adopted mobile phone or 'SMS' diaries to capture the emotions that participants experienced at the very moment they were being felt or 'in-vivo'. The study suggests that the temporal perspective is a dominant cause of consumption emotions in services, influencing consumers'emotions from before the service encounter commences to its conclusion, and in some cases beyond the conclusion of the service event. Other antecedents of consumption emotions such as interactions with staff and the servicescape are influenced by, and interwoven with this temporal aspect. By capturing emotions as they were experienced, recall difficulties that might have been encountered had the emotions been measured retrospectively were eliminated, allowing the researchers to construct a comprehensive account of the chronology and contiguity of the emotions created within consumers during service encounters. While certain aspects of time such as the consequences of queuing and waiting have been addressed in the services marketing literature, a detailed understanding of how time impacts consumption emotions in services from the start to the conclusion of service encounters has not been undertaken to date. This research addresses that gap by examining how the temporal perspective influences not only consumption emotions in customers per se but how it also influences other causes of consumption emotions that customers encounter during service transactions.

In 2018, the Irish public voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which since 1983 banned abortion in the country. While this was a watershed moment in Irish history, it was not unconnected to wider discussions now taking place around the world concerning gender, reproductive rights, the future of religion, Church-State relationships, democracy and social movements. With this Forum, we want to prompt some anthropological interpretations of Ireland's repeal of the Eighth Amendment as a matter concerning not only reproductive rights, but also questions of life and death, faith and shame, women and men, state power and individual liberty, and more. We also ask what this event might mean (if anything) for other societies dealing with similar issues?

This paper examines the contemporary phenomenon of obstacle challenges and why people participate in events that result in them getting soaking wet, freezing cold, and dirtier than they have ever been while also getting shot with pellets and receiving “electric shocks.” Many participants in these challenges have taken part numerous times and keep coming back for more. Using multiple research methods including questionnaires, participant observation where the author completed one of Ireland's more well‐known and “toughest physical and mental endurance challenges,” and also depth interviews with challenge participants has resulted in a rich and detailed account of the obstacle challenge experience. These events are so much more than a few hours of strenuous and muddy physical exercise. The sense of community and camaraderie that people experience during these challenges could be described as “transformative” with participants in many cases more rewarded and moved by this collaborative aspect than the gruelling physical endeavour that they undertake. The escapism provided by the experience is also one its main rewards, relief from the quotidian and the chance to just “be.” The servicescape proves to be critically important to the experience but in ways that are largely incompatible with research in this area to date in that the comfort and cleanliness expected of more traditional servicescapes are spurned and physical hardship is welcomed. As this is an exploratory and novel research topic, suggestions for further research are plentiful.

This paper examines the methodological arguments for using ‘SMS diaries’ to capture the emotions experienced by consumers of services at the very moment they are being felt. The objective of the methodology was to capture the emotions that patrons experienced in real time, in a manner that gives them the freedom to express these feelings in their own words, without having to adhere to a predefined list of emotions, which could potentially be considered restrictive. The importance of capturing emotions as they are being experienced cannot be overstated, as previous studies (and indeed the one outlined here) have evidenced that consumers can forget the emotions they have experienced when asked to recall them in retrospect. Using mobile phones to capture consumption experiences has found some take-up in consumer research, but not in the context of the emotional ‘journeys’ that customers experience in service situations. These emotional episodes are important to understand as they can influence customer satisfaction levels and the overall evaluative judgements of service providers. The SMS diaries used here proved to be an effective and compelling way of learning about the consumption emotions that patrons experienced while using a variety of services.