Structuring food and wine pairing experiences in an emerging economy – Implications for food and wine pursuits, recreation, and tourism

ABSTRACT

By embracing the underpinnings of the structured experience and the experience economy literature, this study explores wine and food consumers in an emerging economy, where change and evolution are distinctive features. Despite a growing literature emphasising the value of food and wine pairings, this leisure activity continues to receive scant academic attention, including in emerging economies where still wine consumption is not an established phenomenon. A questionnaire administered online and targeted to wine and food consumers in various cities in Vietnam elicited 442 valid responses. An exploratory factor analysis revealed the importance of the ‘encompassing’, ‘engaging’, ‘intrinsically rewarding’, and ‘status-oriented’ dimensions. Strong relationships emerged between these dimensions, the structured experience and the experience economy literature. In addition, numerous inter-group differences were confirmed, including the finding that higher levels of income do not determine how consumers perceive their wine and food experiences. The dimensions and associated relationships helped develop a framework that guides the conceptual and practitioner understanding of structured consumer experiences. For instance, the engaging dimension highlights customers’ desire to gain knowledge associated with their experiences, while the intrinsically rewarding dimension points to aspects, including new products, that can address customers’ needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Food and wine pairings
• the theory of structured experience
• the experience economy
• emerging economy
• consumers

Acknowledgment

There is no conflict of interest and no funding was provided for this research.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abel Duarte Alonso

Abel Duarte Alonso, Ph.D. (Corresponding author) is Senior Lecturer at the School of Business and Management, RMIT University, Vietnam. Research interests include international business, micro, small and medium enterprises, family enterprises, innovation, and community development.

Oanh Thi Kim Vu

Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Ph.D, is Lecturer at the School of Business and Management, RMIT University Vietnam, Vietnam. Research interests include tourism, hospitality, community-based tourism, culture, and local entrepreneurship.

Thanh Duc Tran

Thanh Duc Tran, MTM, is Lecturer at the Faculty of Tourism, Phenikaa University, Vietnam. Research interests include tourism, hospitality, community-based tourism, women entrepreneur, and entrepreneurship.

Luong Ngoc Tran

Luong Ngoc Tran, MBA, is Lecturer and Researcher at the Faculty of Tourism, Hoa Binh University Vietnam. His research interests include travel, hospitality, gastronomy, community-based tourism, culture, and local entrepreneurship.

Trung Thanh Nguyen

Trung Thanh Nguyen, MBA, is Lecturer at the Faculty of Tourism, Hanoi Open University, Vietnam. Research interests include tourism, hospitality, community-based tourism, culture, and local entrepreneurship.