Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

experience inside the servicescape of the bank is also a symbolically mediated experience; notjust a result of the direct influence of the servicescape – its dimensions and artifacts that arewithin the dimensions.Thus as suggested by Hightower (2010) we modify and expand his International ServicescapeConstruct to incorporate C.S. Peirce‘s Icons, Indexes and Symbols (as depicted in Figure 2).Upon concluding the questions regarding the dimensions of the servicescape our open endedquestions (based on this model) therefore delves more deeply and enquires what the specificitems of the dimensions symbolize to the retail banking customer. For example with reference tothe ambient dimension what does brightly lit interior and spotless waiting area meanssymbolically to the customers. What meaning does the prominently displayed logo convey? Whatdoes the consumer read about the socio-economic background of the retail banking customersthat queue up in front of the tellers? What culture does the interior design and layout make thecustomers think about? This model is more comprehensive as it takes into cognizance thesymbolic facet of the servicescape and the consumers‘ (or the interpreters‘) reaction to the signsand their transmission through the social environment (Umiker-Sebeok, 1976; Mick, 1986). Thismodel also captures the consumers‘ past experience- his tendency to compare and contrast in linewith his socioculturally learned habit and memory as he interprets the symbolic side of theservicescape.