Value Co-creation and Co-destruction in Connected Tourist Experiences

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become a key resource that has transformed travel and tourist experiences. Due to the increasing ubiquity and mobility of ICTs, they have become integral in creating connected experiences that interlink travel with everyday life. While recent studies have investigated value co-creation and the enhancement of experiences through ICTs, there is less knowledge about potential value co-destruction when ICTs come into place. This paper provides a first exploratory study to examine technology resource integration by looking at the dichotomous relationship of value co-creation and value co-destruction in connected tourist experiences. By adopting a qualitative in-depth methodology, this study has identified six dimensions, which highlight how value can be created and destroyed through connectedness. The paper contributes to service-dominant logic, resource integration and value creation discourses in a tourism and technology context, for which several theoretical and practical limitations are discussed.

Mobile technology and the tourist experience: (Dis)connection at the campsite

“…It is arguably no longer normal to be disconnected and Wang et al (2014) found that tourists were influenced by subjective norms, specifically peer mobile use patterns, and that routines of smartphone use from everyday life pervaded the tourist experience. However, there are questions about whether this is desirable (Brooks & Longstreet, 2015;Llamas & Belk, 2013;Neuhofer, 2016), for example, Paris et al (2015) found remaining connected to work while a tourist can be a blessing, but also cause anxiety and sociologists have explored in general whether technology weakens, reinforces or supplements co-present sociability (Fortunati, Taipale, & de Luca, 2013).…”

“…The separation requires both physical travel and also a state of mind which depends on how much cultural baggage comes with the tourist (Jafari, 1987). This is captured by the escape motive in tourism literature (Dann, 1981;Hall, 2003;Krippendorf, 1987) however, mobile connectivity alters the idea of escape (Neuhofer, 2016). Though tourists who travel to other places clearly physically escape their home and work surroundings, they can now easily remain connected and interact with the home environment.…”

“…Similarly Ruth describes her enjoyment of being in the countryside and a sense of relief that she is not so contactable: "I actually enjoy not being so dependent … waiting for it to ring or trying to sort things out, it is just nice to think, this is my time-out". Here technology can form a barrier to experiencing the natural environment (Garst et al, 2009;Neuhofer, 2016) and these issues reflect the selective use of mobile devices (Eden et al, 2013).…”

“…Much of this research has focused on enhancing technological solutions for the tourism domain (see for example, Neuhofer et al, 2014) and tends to assume mobile technology use will continue to grow, be widely embraced and add to the tourist experience. A second strand of research has taken a more critical stance to understand how mobile technology reconfigures tourism (see for example, Germann Molz & Paris, 2013;Gretzel, 2010;Hannam, Butler, & Paris, 2014) and even de-values the experience (Neuhofer, 2016). While tourists' use of mobile technology has grown rapidly, there is less research taking a critical view of the value of this technology and questioning the often implicit assumption that mobile technology is a desirable contribution to the tourist experience, though there is recognition of the potential for exclusion due to digital divide (Gretzel, 2010;Hannam et al, 2014).…”

Socialinių medijų poveikis renkantis vietos turizmo organizatorių keliones

“…augmented reality) įtaka vartotojams (Chung ir kt., 2015) renkantis keliones. Be to, vis labiau orientuojamasi į visapusišką ir subjektyvų / asmeninį / autentišką šiuolaikinio išmanaus keliautojo patyrimą (Neuhofer, 2014;2016), analizuojamos sumaniojo turizmo ekosistemos (Gretzel ir kt., 2015;Boes, 2016) ir jų perteikimas turizmo organizatorių veikloje.…”