Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Dissatisfaction, or at least the degree of dissatisfaction, can therefore be understood as socially
constructed and negotiated within interactional practices.
Where satisfaction is understood as possessing an affective component, then the relevance of
the social construction of emotions and the appropriate socially sanctioned response is also
pertinent. Laurier (1999: 204) argues that 'leisure is constructed around notions of appropriate
emotions, having a bad time is the ultimate failure of precious investment given over to leisure'
and in his study of yacht cruising he noted the considerable amount of effort required to keep
up the appearance of having a good time, to maintain a sense of a defi ned situation and to 'fi t'
within the constructed boundaries of appropriate behaviour. Similarly, from a constructionist
perspective Stearns (1995: 37) argues that emotional reactions change according to cultural
requirements and in relation to anger, 'people to an extent select how angry they will become
and certainly how much anger they will display, not in spontaneous response to the magnitude
of the stimulus but in keeping with the social setting'.
Stemming from the seminal work of Hochschild (1983) the concept of 'emotional labour' has
increasingly become an area of interest. The work of exotic dancers (Montemurro 2001; Wood
2000), restaurant servers (Paules 1991) and adventure guides (Holyfi eld 1999; Sharpe 2005) has
been explored, all of whom must display good cheer even when they are otherwise frustrated,
bored, or angry. Sharpe argues that adventure provides a setting for a character contest and
central to displaying the appropriate style of conduct is maintaining control over one's emotions.
As a consequence, being able to control one's emotions in adventure has become a valued
trait in our culture. Laurier's study is important in terms of highlighting the 'emotional work'
involved in leisure experiences. Yet, the study refers to the work that he himself undertook as a
participant. With the exception of Foster (2010) the work that tourists in general undertake is as
yet unknown.
However, Foster demonstrated the way in which tourists work to readjust their evaluations in
order to maintain a positive response to the experience and how notions of dissatisfaction are
'worked up' in negative accounts of holiday experiences. Sources of dissatisfaction were routinely
re-evaluated as being unimportant or presented in a way to limit their impact on satisfaction.
Additionally tourists also worked to demonstrate their ability to cope with negative elements of
the experience and they presented themselves as competent, discerning customers. In the same
way that emotional control is code for being 'professional' for airline stewards (Hochchild 1983),
appropriate control of one's emotions is a key element of the performance in the role of a tourist.
Conclusion
Customer satisfaction remains an important element of any organization's strategy and in a
competitive market the ability to assess levels of customer satisfaction is crucial to survival. This
situation has led to a quest to fi nd 'instrumentally useful' frameworks for the measurement of
customer satisfaction and it is these approaches which currently dominate the fi eld. From these
perspectives tourists are considered rational consumers that undertake a 'post consumption
evaluative judgement' frequently in relation to some standard. As yet, there remains no agreement
as to which standard should be used, nor of the attributes against which the experience should
be assessed. The product is placed at the centre of these approaches and concern turns to the
methods to measure tourist satisfaction as it pertains to performance of the product. These
approaches may be useful in terms of assessing specifi c elements of the experience, yet they also
attract much criticism.
Whilst the focus of process approaches tends to be either transactional or attribute based,
experiential approaches explore the more holistic, dynamic and less tangible features (Pearce
