Customer Value for Places: A Case Study of Singapore Botanic Gardens

Sammanfattning: The objective of this research thesis was to enrich customer value theories with a place-related concept, using a case study of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. In conjunction with this, 2 research questions were created, namely, (i) In what ways do park visitors ascribe meaning of place?, and (ii) how can meaning of place contribute to the customer value conceptualization? Theories for review were mainly customer value and meaning of place concepts. In particular, there was heavy reliance on Gustafson’s (2001) 3-pole model on how customers ascribe meanings to places for the research and analysis. It was argued that the more meanings customers ascribed to a place, the stronger their connection with the place. A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. Field observations and survey questionnaires consisting of both close and open-ended questions provided the data to answer research question (i). Subsequently, research question (ii) was answered through argumentation, literature research and empirical analysis. The answer to research question (ii) was the final outcome of the thesis: a customer value framework for places, merging the 2 concepts of meaning of place and customer value. The main conclusions were that emotional, cognitive, experiential (activity) and environmental values helped customers to ascribe meanings to places, leading to a higher commitment / loyalty / attachment to places. The necessity to infuse place-related concepts into customer value lies in a better understanding of the customer values that would encourage place attachment, and henceforth, enables place managers to build amenities and design the place / service in a way that create value for visitors.