Customer response to intangible and tangible service factors

This research investigates the question: Does the physical environment of s ervice delivery settings influence customers' evaluations of the service ex perience and subsequent behavioral intentions? Theoretical and empirical da ta from environmental psychology suggests that customer reactions to the ta ngible physical environment may be more emotional than cognitive, particula rly when involving hedonic consumption. This article integrates environment al psychology into SERVQUAL (a current measure of service quality) to enabl e a fuller assessment of the role of the tangible aspects of service delive ry. Based on consumer surveys in three leisure service settings, the findin gs are that the tangible physical environment plays an important role in ge nerating excitement in leisure settings; excitement, in turn, plays a signi ficant role in determining customers repatronage intentions and willingness to recommend. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.