Accounting for Temporality in Servicescape Effects on Consumers' Service Evaluations

Service organizations realize that the physical environment in which a service is provided has important effects on a consumer's service evaluation. This paper disassembles and traces the differential effects servicescapes have on consumers' service evaluations. First, consumer evaluations are placed on a temporal continuum. Next, the effects of the servicescape on such evaluations at various points on the continuum are described. Arguments are also presented in this paper suggesting that servicescapes influence consumers' service exchange evaluations differently depending on whether they are first time or repeat service exchanges. It is suggested that future studies exploring the relationships between servicescapes and consumers' service evaluations should account for the differential effects highlighted in this paper.