The Smart Event Experience

: A Many to Many Co-creation

Abstract

The use of information communication technology (ICT) by consumers in event contexts with the aim to enhance the event experience has increased significantly in recent years. This study serves to explore how such experiences are evolving in an era driven by ubiquitous connectivity, the search for more personalised experience and through the conduit of smart and social technologies. The paradigm shift toward customer co-creation is particularly emphasized in the service marketing and management disciplines, through service dominant (SD) logic as a means of competitive advantage but remains critically under-researched in the context of many to many (MTM) co-creation enabled by technology.

At its heart, this study adopts interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as a generative approach and is part of an overall research design classified as mixed methods phenomenological research (MMPR). It focuses on exploring and evaluating value co-creation in the event context as an MTM enabled experience through ICTs within the digital event experience. Exploration in the first phase is developed through projective reflective analysis and findings from an events context are evaluated over a 2-year period and underpinned with findings from event stakeholder and specialist interviews. The research focuses on exploring and evaluating value co-creation through ICTs within the digital event experiences of event fans at Ireland's largest outdoor sports event.

This study provides an original and significant contribution to service marketing theory and SD Logic in particular, by generating new knowledge around MTM technology enabled co-creation in the event context. The study is the first to develop frameworks around these dimensions in emerging experience contexts, where connectivity and interoperability, through smart tourism destination strategy offer new strategic opportunity. The conceptualisation of the Multiphasic Digital Event Experience provides a new theoretical framework from which knowledge can be derived and applied. This new knowledge has wider implications which have both academic and industry impact, particularly in new contexts such as the emerging smart event experience.

Date of Award	May 2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Karise Hutchinson (Supervisor), Peter Bolan (Supervisor) & Adrian Devine (Supervisor)