COLLECTION NAME:
Graduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Service blueprinting as a means to re-conceptualize disability in retail environments
Creator:
Witter, Tucker
Subject:
Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Service Design
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Service Design
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"This paper explores the manifestation of disability in the context of interactions
between customers and employees in retail environments. In the retail environment,
people with disabilities make up a $220 billion dollar segment of the market that could
be tapped into (U.S. Census Bureau/Internet Retailer, 2007); however, their needs are
often unmet due to service personnel, store environmental factors, other customers’
behavior, and product/service assortment (Baker 2007). The phenomenon of disability has been traced back to the earliest forms of human
societies and its theorization of disability has greatly varied over time. This includes
different frameworks, such as the 'biomedical model of disability,' the 'social model of
disability,' which attribute the manifestation of disability to either physiological
limitations or poorly designed environmental factors, respectively. More recent
literature in the field of disability studies suggests approaching the concept of disability
non-dualistically, towards an 'embodied' view where disability is understood through
an phenomenological inquiry in the lived experience of individuals with disabilities
(Beudaert 2018). Service blueprinting, a popular tool within the discipline of service
design which captures the complexity of service exchanges from a holistic perspective
(Bitner 2007), has the potential to highlight the external and internal factors that affect
customers with disabilities in a retail environment and may be particularly useful in the
training of new retail employees, in order to improve their interactions with customers
of all types, and with people with disabilities more in particular. This thesis attempts to make a connection between customers with disabilities needs
and the training for retail employees. After this connection is established, a design
solution is introduced which exposes retail employees to an embodied view of
disability through service blueprinting, for the purpose of better addressing the service
delievery."
between customers and employees in retail environments. In the retail environment,
people with disabilities make up a $220 billion dollar segment of the market that could
be tapped into (U.S. Census Bureau/Internet Retailer, 2007); however, their needs are
often unmet due to service personnel, store environmental factors, other customers’
behavior, and product/service assortment (Baker 2007). The phenomenon of disability has been traced back to the earliest forms of human
societies and its theorization of disability has greatly varied over time. This includes
different frameworks, such as the 'biomedical model of disability,' the 'social model of
disability,' which attribute the manifestation of disability to either physiological
limitations or poorly designed environmental factors, respectively. More recent
literature in the field of disability studies suggests approaching the concept of disability
non-dualistically, towards an 'embodied' view where disability is understood through
an phenomenological inquiry in the lived experience of individuals with disabilities
(Beudaert 2018). Service blueprinting, a popular tool within the discipline of service
design which captures the complexity of service exchanges from a holistic perspective
(Bitner 2007), has the potential to highlight the external and internal factors that affect
customers with disabilities in a retail environment and may be particularly useful in the
training of new retail employees, in order to improve their interactions with customers
of all types, and with people with disabilities more in particular. This thesis attempts to make a connection between customers with disabilities needs
and the training for retail employees. After this connection is established, a design
solution is introduced which exposes retail employees to an embodied view of
disability through service blueprinting, for the purpose of better addressing the service
delievery."
Abstract:
*Keywords: disability, embodied view of disability, customer vulnerability, retail
environments, employee training, service design, service blueprinting, servicescape
environments, employee training, service design, service blueprinting, servicescape
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2019-09
Format:
PDF : 78 pages