Using Pragmatic Concepts for Exploring Interactivity in Service Encounters

Abstract

A service encounter is conceived as an interactive process between a service provider and a service receiver. It has however largely been analyzed as a non-interactive phenomenon which leads to a superficial and incomplete understanding of the dynamics of service encounters as an interactive process. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether a pragmatic approach could form a foundation for the conception of service encounters as an interactive phenomenon. The results show that in order to capture the essence of interaction in service encounters from a pragmatic view, researchers should turn to the concept of action. In order to avoid a one-side view (the customer or the company/company representative) of the service encounter, the inter-related actions need to be taken into consideration.