The Staging of Contested Servicescapes

Abstract

Identifying the abundance of servicescapes whose meaning and identity can be contested by customers, and recognizing the necessity for managing these environments, this study investigates and provides theoretical understanding of the way in which service providers stage contested servicescapes. To this end, ethnographic research was conducted at the Gettysburg National Military Park as an exemplary empirical context of a servicescape that, more than a century and a half after the battle transpired, remains at the center of intense controversies. Analytical attention was focused on the performative practices of tour guides who—as frontline employees (FLEs)—are essential in practices of staging. The contribution of this research lies in (1) highlighting the politicized nature of certain servicescapes and theorizing their staging through three groups of interrelated practices, (2) viewing authenticity as a discourse employed by service providers to legitimize their claims of an undisputed “official” servicescape, and (3) shedding light on current debates on the tension between domination (structure) and resistance (agency) by introducing the strategic notion of metaperformance. Implications for practice are provided in the form of suggestive techniques that can guide FLEs in staging potentially controversial servicescapes and avoiding contestation.