2014-2015 Colloquium Series


The Tourism Studies Working Group is pleased to announce

 
UNDERSTANDING TOURIST EXPERIENCES – JUST FOR “TOURIST RESEARCHERS”?
An intrusion from a consumer culture theory approach

Øystein Jensen
(Professor, Tourism and Marketing, University of Stavanger and University of Nordland, Norway)

Friday, April 24, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Gifford Room, 221 Kroeber Hal
University of California, Berkeley
 
Abstract:
Since the early 1980s experiences has been an important research topic in consumer research, especially among researchers who were subscribing to interpretive methodologies in opposition to mainstream quantitative approaches revealing their difficulties in the study of experiential dimensions of consumer behavior. Holbrook and Hirschman’s (1982) contribution on experiential aspect of consumption is perceived as the classical work on this topic. However, there have been many new and groundbreaking studies on experiential consumption in consumer research over the last three decades. Holbrook and Hirschman came with a quantitative psychology background and turned their focus into qualitative and interpretive perspectives on how the individual consumer consumed experiences. Later researchers with a sociological background began to study experiential consumption as a cultural and societal phenomenon. A decade ago these different perspectives were labeled “Consumer Culture Theory (CCT)”. Experiential consumption is one of the key topics in the research done from a CCT perspective and consuming experiences is now an integrated part of consumer culture theory.

This presentation purposes to offer an introduction to a discussion on to what extent perspectives within the field of CCT research can contribute to further development of the study of tourist experiences within tourism research. First, a brief recapitalization of some seminal contributions on tourist experience within tourism research, primarily from tourism sociology research with stress on Cohen (1979, 1988) and Lush & Urry (1994), is presented. Second, the basic ideas of the two main perspectives of CCT research are offered. Finally, some suggestions to a discussion on how the development and the major perspectives within CCT could contribute with new perspectives and entrances for the conceptualizing of tourist experiences. [The presentation is based on an article in Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism (2015 forthcoming) co-authored by Frank Lindberg, University of Nordland, Norway, and Per Ostergaard, University of Southern Denmark].

Speaker Bio:
Øystein Jensen is a professor in tourism and marketing at University of Stavanger as well as at University of Nordland in Norway. Two of his research interests are visitor experiences at tourist attractions and cooperation between local tourist actors and tour operators. In recent years he has taken special interest in the way local culture (in particular music and dance) could be utilized or “commodified” in visitor centers or by organized local village visitation arrangements to international tourists though local guides. He has visited the East-African countries a few times and has especially done field work in Madagascar (five visits) that resulted in a couple of publications, such as in Journal of Sustainable Tourism. He is on a research visit to the USA, including Indiana University in Bloomington for a research stay of about six weeks, and Berkeley for two weeks within the framework of a joint appointment between Norwegian Universities and the Peter Sather Center at Berkeley