Dining with distance during the pandemic: an enquiry from the theory of proxemics and social exchange

Abstract

Building on proxemics theory and social exchange theory, this study investigated how different levels of psychological social distancing, protective wears, and social interactions influence customers' perceived risk, social exchange with service employees and their intention to avoid dining in restaurants under the "new normal" of COVID-19. Using an experimental design with a total of 404 participants in U.S., this study shows that regardless of social distancing measures, both protective wear and social interaction levels can significantly influence customers' risk perception and social exchange quality. The study contributes to the tourism and hospitality literature by providing a timely understanding of customers' psychological perceptions, and responses of dining in restaurants during this difficult transition time. More importantly, this study adds hard empirical evidence to the current debate of restaurant re-open measures beyond widely circulating opinion pieces.

Impact of Covid19 on the development of digital service capability for value co-creation: a mediating role of service ecosystem self-adjustment

“…Results of the survey indicate a significant impact of Covid19 on developıng digital service capability. Thus, Covid19 has significantly accelerated the DD_SC for business people because it demands people to keep social distance as a preventive measure against the Covid19 effect (Song et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021). So, the most accessible means of servicing customers was by familiarizing themselves with digital capabilities that assist online businesses.…”

“…Instead, interactions were through digital means (WHO, 2022). Many people died from the flu (Song, Ma, & Cheng, 2021), and many could not access basic needs easily as they were required to maintain social distancing and isolate themselves (Kabadayi et al, 2020). Business people with digital proficiency could interact and undertake business activities with customers and those who were not proficient could not do so.…”

“…The interaction between business people and customers was limited in this way, while their interaction is inevitable for social exchange, which is substantial for the co-creation of value (Mustak & Pl e, 2020). For example, street gaming shops, street movies show shops, restaurants, gambling centers, retail shops, etc., were limited contact with customers to avoid Covid19 effects (Song et al, 2021). Limited interaction made business people endow themselves with digital service capability to assist them in interacting with customers to cocreate value, and through joining hands with other stakeholders in the ecosystem, like integrating their resources with IT experts and app developers to facilitate service provision in digital form.…”

“…Instead, interactions were through digital means (WHO, 2022). Many people died from the flu (Song, Ma, & Cheng, 2021), and many could not access basic needs easily as they were required to maintain social distancing and isolate themselves (Kabadayi et al. , 2020).…”

“My place is your place” ‐ Understanding how psychological ownership influences peer‐to‐peer service experiences

“…These actions appear aligned with the vision of peer-to-peer services such as Airbnb, which aims at creating a sense of belongingness between hosts and guests through its platform. Said actions could promote an effective use of the provider's resources and facilitate the activation of ownership feelings.On a side note, it is important to observe that the safety restrictions that many governments and health institutions have introduced to deal with the ongoing global sanitary emergence (e.g., social distancing) can significantly alter the way in which customers interact with their service providers(Song et al, 2021;C. X. Zhang et al, 2021) and create relevant barriers to the development of customers' feelings of psychological ownership toward peer-to-peer service settings.…”