The Impact of Virtual Worlds on Word-of-Mouth: Improving Social Networking and Servicescape in the Hospitality Industry

Bitner (1992 Bitner, M. J. 1992. Servicescape: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees. Journal of Marketing, 56: 57–71. Crossref, Web of Science ® , Google Scholar) provided an important contribution to the hospitality literature by extending the discussion of environmental psychology to the field of service marketing research. Her study introduced the importance of viewing service marketing through an environmental psychology lens. Our study extends her work through the application of environmental psychology to better understand how hospitality companies can deliver virtual world social networking and servicescape opportunities. This study develops a research model proposing specific propositions describing the relationship between virtual world social networks and the creation of positive word-of-mouth (WOM), through improved customer-to-business interaction, and customer participation in servicescape opportunities. Practical implications and future research are also discussed.