EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Robust evidence indicates that the presence of music in retail stores and other service environments modulates various facets of the transactions taking place in those environments. Most prior work examines music as a single environmental parameter and regards its effects as a result of simple elicitation and transfer of positive or negative affects, in line with typical Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) models that dominate environmental psychology (Mehrabian and Russell 1974). For example, pleasant music, compared with less pleasant music, is associated with longer consumption times, shorter time perceptions, less negative emotional reactions to waiting, more favorable attitudes toward the physical environment as a whole, an increased desire to affiliate with providers and more positive attitudes toward them, and more favorable service outcomes like service evaluation, purchase intention and behaviors.

Despite evidence that music influences various service components as well as service outcomes proper, the precise mechanisms by which music operates remain under-researched. This article examines how music, as an ambient feature of the physical environment in retail stores and other services, integrates with space, functions, signs, symbols, and artifacts to shape people’s overall holistic perceptions of and responses to physical environments, or servicescapes, and ultimately, with provider perception to determine service outcomes such as service evaluation and purchase intention. The authors propose and test a dual model of environmental perception as a comprehensive theoretical framework to explain the role of music in service environments and the mechanisms by which it affects outcomes.

The dual mode of environmental perception was originally developed through the study of visual perceptions of buildings and landscapes (see Ohno 2000). Drawing from Gestalt theory, the model posits that  all experiences—smells, sounds, temperatures, textures—occur in one perceptual space, which implies that a person can experience an additional feature only after it is established as part of the person’s behavioral environment, which the person processes according to two modes of perception, ambient and focal. Ambient perception occurs in a holistic manner and deals with broader areas. It can be considered a preattentive system that warns observers of the key elements that require their attention. Focal perception selectively eliminates unwanted information while enhancing those elements to which the person pays attention and increasing their weight in order to guide the person’s responses to an environment. Although the ambient and focal modes of perception have different functions, they interact to provide a perceptual synthesis that reflects a person’s multi-sensory response to the environment. The model further borrows from Gibson’s (1966, 1979) affordances theory to propose that the same dual model processes operate not only on what the senses can perceive but also on the valence that gets attached to the environment, i.e., whether one should approach or take distance. 

On this basis, it was hypothesized that, in a service environment, the physical features that combine to form the servicescape represent the contextual background, which is perceived in an ambient manner, and against which the service provider stands out in a focal manner, thereby servicescape has direct and provider-mediated effects on outcomes like service evaluation and purchase intention. It was also proposed that the presence of music influences outcomes because it reinforces the holistic quality of the servicescape, makes the provider stand out more (compared to control no-music), and reinforces his/her contribution to the service outcomes. It was further hypothesized that when pleasant music is present, a double-mediating process fully accounts for the impact of variations in the music valence, such that music valence gets transferred into servicescape attitude, which then exercises direct and provider-mediated effects on service outcomes.

            The authors test these hypotheses in two experimental studies conducted in traditional and e-service environments. Study 1 uses video simulation of a retail banking service, in which participants imagine themselves in a bank environment waiting in line to be served. Study 2 reproduces an actual e-shopping experience in a controlled laboratory environment. In both studies, the authors manipulate the presence versus absence of music and, in the music-present conditions, use three level of music pleasantness to ensure sufficient variability in music valence. Participants report their attitudes toward the servicescape and provider, as well as their evaluation of the service episode as a whole and purchase intention to indicate service outcomes. When background music is present, participants also report its valence intensity.

The results of both studies generally support propositions derived from the dual model of environmental perception. Consistent with expectations, the servicescape has both direct and provider-mediated effects on outcomes, and the presence of music reinforces the strength of the impact provider perception on service evaluation and purchase intention. In both studies, these more differentiated processes are better able to explain how music operates than simple affect transfers do.

The results provide for the first time in the service literature a reasonable empirical account for Bitner’s (1992) early proposition that specific environment parameters, such as music, to affect consumers’ responses, must first contribute to Gestalt or holistic perceptions of the physical environment. They underscore the necessity to consider the potentially interactive contributions of single ambient parameters such as music, color, smell, and noise levels on holistic servicescape perceptions. The findings that the presence of music and its valence can significantly impact the weight that provider perception carries on outcomes such as service evaluation and purchase intention may have breakthrough implications for services design and management. They further suggest that it may be possible to bolster the customer value created by a given level of performance using an appropriate mixture of music and other physical parameters of the environment that set the stage for such performance. This research should foster more systematic and evidence-based planning of service and e-service environments based on the effectiveness of each parameter of the physical environment to create the maximum value for consumers and contribute to operational or market outcomes.