The purpose of the study was to develop and test and explanatory
model of how perceived crowding impacts on customer
satisfaction and what role coping behavior has. Our findings
confirmed that crowding perception is very subjective. Older guests
(38 years and over) perceive higher crowding than younger visitors;
first time visitors perceive more crowding rather than repeat
visitors. Moreover, women feel significantly much more uncomfortable
on crowded ski slopes than men. Perceived crowding
evokes coping mechanisms in some visitors, which in turn increases
the crowding perception of affected people. In our case
perceived crowding and the application of coping behavior techniques
both negatively influence customer satisfaction. With these
findings, the paper contributes to the service management literature
by; 1) identifying key factors impacting crowding perception,
such as age, gender and coping behavior in a winter outdoor
setting; 2) highlighting its influence on customer satisfaction; and
3) advocating the need for service managers to pay attention to
perceived crowding, a neglected antecedent of customer
satisfaction.
This study is the first step toward exploring how crowding impacts
on visitor satisfaction in an outdoor winter setting, and implies
three different avenues for further research.
First, demographic factors, travel behavior and other contextual
factors are likely to influence perceived crowding. This study was
conducted within a specific contextual situation; it concentrated on
crowding in an outdoor winter sport setting, and respondents came
mostly from European countries, as well as Russia. It is likely that
with a change in contextual factors, such as indoor settings,
respondent origin, and different demographics, results might vary.
Hence, further studies could replicate this study in different
countries, and/or using specific cohorts, such as Generation Y, or
senior travelers, since it would be interesting to see if different age
groups show different crowding behavior.
Second, previous research has suggested that coping behavior
moderates perceived crowding (Manning & Valliere, 2001). However
this finding was not confirmed in this study. Further research
could explore the prerequisites under which coping techniques
influence customer satisfaction and also under which circumstances
this does not hold to be true. Furthermore, research should
also explore ways to positively influence coping behavior skills,
such as through awareness and incentives. Likewise, it can be of
interest to study standards and norms of perceived crowding, social
interaction among visitors during a crowding period, or previous
experiences with crowding, and integrate those within the concept
of satisfaction or its components such as expectation, perception, or
experience. This however might rather be done by using a qualitative
research method, for example observation or guided interviews,
or the combination of both.
Third, future research could focus on the enabler’s perspective of
services (Zehrer, Muskat, Muskat, 2014). This could include deeper
investigation on the role of winter tourism operators, their
awareness and management of visitor’s perceived crowding and its
relation to reduced overall satisfaction, as well as how perceived
crowding is embedded in their customer orientation strategies.
Questions remain open, for example, how tourism operators
manage antecedents and consequences of negative crowding effect.
The essential question is ‘How to get customer oriented?’ (e.g.,
Olsen et al., 2014). In terms of antecedents, research has showed
that waiting times have significant negative influence on perceived
crowding (McGuire, Kimes, Lynn, Pullman, & Lloyd, 2010). Hence,
waiting time and resulting perceived crowding while waiting
would also be an interesting research avenue in a winter sport
outdoor setting.
Future research is needed to address various key issues on
crowding, and research avenues could consider the following
propositions. Firstly, the replication of the study in different
contextual settings, that is, in different countries, in indoor settings,
or with different visitor profiles such as Generation Y. Secondly,
studies could explore if and how marketing managers might be
able to positively influence perceived crowding, for example,
through expectation management or the active offering of coping
techniques, that is, through price incentives. Thirdly, more theoretical
work that explains perceived crowding and carrying capacity
in outdoor settings is needed. The expectancy theory needs
to be tested further and made use of more effectively in other
studies. Finally, more effective and appropriate measurements of
perceived crowding need to be developed. A multi-dimension instrument
to measure a customer’s complex experience may further
contribute to our knowledge, given that alternative measurement
approaches can res