The Social Servicescape: A Multidimensional Operationalization

Understanding the role of the servicescape in the consumption process has become an increasingly important topic in hospitality research. However, while a consensus has been reached regarding the conceptual and operational nature of the physical environment, less is understood about the social aspects of the servicescape. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to operationalize a multidimensional construct that is reflective of the social phenomena in the consumption environment. Defined in terms of the observable characteristics of the other customers and employees in the service environment, the social servicescape is proposed as a third-order construct composed of three distinct latent factors: customers, employees, and social density. An operationalization in the domain of full-service restaurants supports the proposed specification as a reliable and valid operationalization of the social servicescape. On establishing psychometric stability, nomological validity is established via a quantitative demonstration of the construct’s effect on restaurant consumption behavior.