This comparative study of the experiences of gay HIV positive men living in urban and rural areas explores the dynamic interrelationship between lived experience and service provision. The literature in this field has drawn on a familiar stereotype - the urban, sexually active, gay man. This man - and his community - does not exist in a rural environment in the way it is assumed nor does it necessarily fit the experience of gay men in London. By creating a link between the questions of subjectivity and the question of how we improve services, I argue that a mechanistic construction of need may follow an assumed urban model which may not hold for all men in an urban setting, nor for men in rural areas. Gay HIV positive men are faced with new psycho-social dilemmas in relation to the virus, including unpredictability of outcome, as well as the complexity and burden of the current treatment. They engage in a constant process of renegotiating their sense of themselves in space, time and relationships. Through the use of narrative methodology, my research builds a new perspective on the experience of these individuals which can help to shape the services and policies of the future. The stories of 21 gay HIV positive men were gathered and analysed in relation to five areas of focus: community/space, relationships, identity, health and services. Rural participants were less able to build and maintain a politically strong identity and rural services need to create strategies to enable gay men to draw on the strength of a collective voice. 'Doing for' services, prevalent in rural areas, may be appropriate for the very ill but can perpetuate a culture of helplessness. The healthist discourse adopted by London services promotes individualism and responsibility. Services for HIV positive men in all areas need to hold the dynamic between 'doing for' services for the sick and dying and a healthist discourse for those who can look to their future.

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) recommendations are online consumer-generated recommendations posted on the service providers' or the third-party websites, which are expected to affect consumers’ perceptions of adopting experience services. In recognition of the increasing significance of eWOM recommendations, this study delves further into this topic by proposing a research model that explains the contingency factors affecting the effectiveness of eWOM recommendations on consumers’ perceptions of adopting experience services. We contend that the effectiveness of eWOM recommendations is contingent on the task complexity of evaluating the experience services and consumers’ degree of cognitive and sensory innovativeness. We draw on the elaboration likelihood model, cognitive load theory, service adoption process theory, and the two dimensions of consumer’s innovativeness (i.e., cognitive innovativeness and sensory innovativeness), as the theoretical underpinnings, to propose nine hypotheses. These hypotheses are empirically tested based on data collected from 263 subjects. To that end, we used a controlled longitudinal laboratory experiment, based on a mixed methods (quantitative – qualitative) research methodology. The results of statistical tests of quantitative data and the content analysis of the qualitative data illustrate that the effectiveness of eWOM recommendations on consumers’ perceptions of adopting experience services is contingent on the consumers’ prior knowledge of the service context, consumers’ level of cognitive and sensory innovativeness, and the consumers’ level of experience with the service, which is determined by the stage of the service adoption process (i.e., pre-usage, initial use, and repeated use). Our findings show that the confluence of these factors creates different settings that determine the effectiveness of eWOM recommendations. These findings provide valuable contributions to the theory and practice by ameliorating important gaps in the eWOM literature. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

According to human nature of having a taste for beauty, advertisers heavily rely on physical attractive male and female models as the product spokespersons to enhance consumers¡¦ liking of the ad, and this is so-called ¡§What-is-beautiful-is-good stereotype.¡¨ Previous research focuses on the impact of physical attractiveness of models on consumer perceptions and advertising persuasion. However, service is different from products due to the high intangibility and interaction with consumers. Therefore, this research takes one step forward to examine how a service provider¡¦s physical attractiveness influences advertising persuasion. The present study uses experimental design to investigate the advertising effects of service provider¡¦s physical attractiveness (high vs. moderate), gender congruence between service provider and customer (congruent gender vs. incongruent gender), and type of service (search service vs. experience service). Thus, 2x2x2 factorial design is conducted. The ad effects are measured by attitudes toward the ad and purchase intention toward the ad to observe the responses under eight different and fictitious scenarios. The results indicate that, a highly attractive service provider is not necessarily more effective than a moderately attractive one. When promoting a service with search attributes, either gender congruence between service provider and consumer or service provider¡¦s physical attractiveness matters in advertising persuasion. When promoting a service with experience attributes, a moderately attractive service provider is more effective than a highly attractive one in the condition of the same gender between provider and consumer. The findings suggest that companies and marketers should take account of not only the match-up of service attributes and physical attractiveness but also the target customer gender to enhance their advertising persuasion.

La tesi include tre studi indipendenti che hanno come tema comune la Consumer Ambivalence nella Shopping Experience. Il punto di partenza è che la Consumer Ambivalence è sempre stata percepita come un qualcosa da evitare in quanto impatta negativamente sul comportamento del consumatore (es. soddisfazione e fedeltà). La letteratura però evidenzia come in alcune service experience questo costrutto risulti banalizzato. L’obiettivo della ricerca è quindi esplorare il ruolo della Consumer Ambivalence in diverse shopping experience attraverso le percezioni, i discorsi, le emozioni e le esperienze sia degli shopper sia del personale di contatto. Ho scelto due contesti di analisi: le esperienze di shopping di lusso e di shopping etico. Entrambi i settori sono in continua crescita nonostante il periodo di crisi economica e le emozioni negative (e positive) vissute dagli shopper e riconosciute dalla letteratura. Attraverso un approccio costruttivista i miei risultati principali dimostrano come la Consumer Ambivalence non sia sempre uno stato emotivo da rifuggire ma qualcosa a cui tendere e sfruttare. Concludo affermando come questo stato emozionale multiplo sia spesso inevitabile e parte intrinseca nelle esperienze di shopping ad elevata connotazione emotiva. / My thesis is composed by three papers that have a common theme: Consumer Ambivalence in Shopping Experience. The general starting point is that Consumer Ambivalence has always been perceived as something to avoid because it decreases relevant consumer outcomes (e.g. satisfaction and loyalty). However, some evidences in literature suggest that, particularly in some service experiences, this construct is trivialized. The main research goal is to explore the role of Consumer Ambivalence in different shopping experiences, investigating how this construct can impact on shopping behaviors, considering perceptions, discourses, emotions and experiences of both shoppers and company personnel. I chose two settings of investigation which are favorable contexts to identify different mixed emotions: luxury shopping experience and ethical shopping experience. Both industries are particular relevant because their consumer market value is still increasing despite the current period of economic crisis and literature evidences of negative (and positive) emotions felt by shoppers. Through a constructivist epistemological approach, my main findings elicit that Consumer Ambivalence can be an emotional state which has not to be rejected, but rather be something to aim for. Moreover, I argue that this mixed emotional state is essentially unavoidable and is intrinsically part of high affect shopping experiences.