Embodied interaction: a turn to better understand disabling marketplaces and consumer vulnerability

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to extend current understanding of disabling marketplaces by substantiating embodied interaction, between service providers and disabled consumers, as interlinked multimodal activities in a material environment. The study is based on three extensive datasets on service production and provider-consumer interactions, gathered from several public sector markets containing private service providers. Using different qualitative and semi-ethnographical methods, the study makes three contributions: i) a more embodied construct of disability, materialised in a conceptual typology of embodiment and materiality, advancing research into what disables consumers from being active members of marketplaces; ii) identifying themes of disabling marketplace interactions which contribute a more fine-grained understanding of the relationship between embodiment and how consumers experience vulnerability – an explanation of how consumers with disabilities appropriate space and ascribe meanings to a place; and iii) substantiating previous research into ‘bodily dys-appearance’.

KEYWORDS:

• Embodiment
• disabling marketplaces
• consumer vulnerability
• disability
• ‘bodily dys-appearance’

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicklas Salomonson

Nicklas Salomonson is a Professor of Business Administration, specialising in Digital retail at the University of Borås. His research concerns areas such as transformative service research, consumer vulnerability, embodied interaction, customer misbehaviour/incivility, value co-creation/co-destruction, technology in services, and sustainable consumption. His research has been published in leading marketing journals such as Industrial Marketing Management, Marketing Theory, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Macromarketing, and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. Email: [email protected]

Per Echeverri

Per Echeverri has a PhD in Marketing from Gothenburg University. Since 1996, he has been a member of the Service Research Center CTF, Karlstad University. His research is oriented towards service encounter communication, group communication, organisational culture, employee and consumer behaviour, with a special interest in research areas such as multi-modal communication, gesture studies, servicescapes, professional identity, value co-destruction, video-based methodology and other micro-sociological analyses linked to service provision and experience. Over the years, he has developed a specific interest in practice theory approaches and in critical perspectives on service management theory. He has studied a wide range of industries, e.g. public transport, voluntary organisations, healthcare, and agriculture. Email: [email protected]