International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing

Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark. 12: 135–148 (2007)

Published online 22 December 2006 in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/nvsm.284

Exploring repurchase intention in a

performing arts context: who comes?
and why do they come back?
Margee Hume1*, Gillian Sullivan Mort2 and Hume Winzar1
1
Griffith Business School, Nathan, Australia
2
Griffith Business School, Gold Coast, Australia

* Factors such as reduced government spending, increased competition from expanding

entertainment markets and shrinking audiences have all placed excess pressure on the
ability of performing arts organisations to make ends meet. Many performing arts
organisations operate as not-for-profit organisations, so rely heavily on the combined
efforts of corporate sponsors, government funds and ticket sales to support the
organisation. In order to survive in the market economy, the current strategies need to
incorporate a thorough understanding of the drivers of return purchase intent to
maximise ticket sales in this setting. The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers’
experience of a general performing arts experience to identify the predictors of positive
repurchase intention so marketing efforts can focus on drawing consumers to return.
Experiential service settings, such as the performing, arts are suggested to challenge more
traditional service marketing and management theory that repurchase intention is
driven by value, service quality and customer satisfaction alone. It is suggested that in an
experiential setting a complex anthology of predictors including the need for affect and
goal directed emotional attainment must be considered. Much of the research conducted
in this setting approaches the field from an artistic discipline. In contrast, this research
approaches the performing arts from a service marketing and management paradigm. By
doing this, a set of services strategies applicable to the performing arts will become evident.
Exploratory investigation was undertaken with 26 candidates. In-depth qualitative
interviews, using open-ended questioning, were conducted to draw thick description of
consumer opinion. The findings reported indicate that in this setting, functional factors,
especially value and service qualities, are extremely important to candidates when
deciding to repurchase. Factors such as emotional attainment and show experience, which
have been the primary focus of current performing arts organisations’ strategic focus,
were found to play a lesser role in overall intent to repurchase. The paper identifies some
conceptual target segments evolving from this research. Importantly, these findings are
applicable to the performing arts but may have implications for other non-profit service
organisations, such as fine arts and museums.
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
————
—
*Correspondence to: Dr Margee Hume, C/ 25 Lloyd Street, Camp Hill 4152, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
E-mail: m.hume@griffith.edu.au

Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
136
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to examine
consumer’s feedback on the performing arts,
to better understand this context and to
identify the predictors of repurchase inten-
tion in this setting. Little research has been
conducted in this arts setting. Other artistic
fields, such as fine arts and museums
(Rentschler, 2002) have received some atten-
tion. Irrespective of specific arts research,
recent services-marketing research would
suggest that performing arts and fine arts
and museums should be classified differently.
One service type, the fine arts and museums,
is possession-oriented and tangible in
nature—the other performing arts is people-
oriented, less tangible and consumption
occurs in a real time specific situation (Love-
lock, 1983; Lovelock et al., 1998). Fine arts
and museums could be argued to be a durable
service, as one can return to the service at a
future point in time to re-examine or re-
consume, that is a visitor can return at another
point in time and view the same painting or
exhibition, whereas live performing arts
shows are people-oriented, intangible and
perishable. Both could be argued to be
experiential and emotionally stimulating
(Addis and Holbrook, 2002; Stell and Donoho,
1996). As these issues have not been clearly
canvassed in a services marketing forum, and
given the relative paucity of performing arts
research, this paper will focus on the per-
forming arts and contain findings specific to
this sector. These findings may have applica-
tion in other segments of artistic service
delivery, however, this would require further
comparison and investigation.
It has been suggested in recent services
marketing literature that increases in custo-
mer satisfaction positively contribute to an
organisation’s financial strength and com-
petitiveness through customer retention
(Albrecht, 1992; Anderson and Sullivan,
1993; Anderson et al., 1994; Heskett et al.,
1994; Broetzmann et al., 1995; Henning-
Thurau and Klee, 1997; Kotler, 1998). Simi-
larly, performing arts research suggests that
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
M. Hume et al.
for the survival of the cultural arts in the long
term it is essential that audience retention and
growth be increased and attention is given to
audience development (Rentschler et al.,
2002). In order to do this customer satisfac-
tion and the attributes of encounter evalua-
tion to repurchase intent must be understood.
We must ask, ‘Why do customers return and
why do customers not return to performing
arts performances?’ It is important to examine
what constitutes customer satisfaction, and
the role it plays in influencing repurchase
intention, as well as determining what factors
more broadly predict repurchase intention.
Factors such as value (Patterson and Spreng,
1997; Butcher et al., 2002), service quality
(Slogland and Siguaw, 2004) and emotion
(Bagozzi et al., 1999; Lilijander and Mattsson,
2002) have been shown to influence repurch-
ase intent, and these will be evaluated in this
research.
As this setting is not clearly defined in
services research, it is fundamental to under-
stand for investigative purposes the consumer
consumption perspective of what constitutes a
performing arts experience? Researchers and
performing arts managers have shown a
tendency to truncate the experience into two
separate parts: the show and the service scape
or venue amenities (Bitner et al., 1990; Hume
et al., 2005; Bitner, 1995). Service research
suggests that customers will process the
experience in its entirety, not separating
credence qualities, tangibles and intangibles.
This is apparent in the performing arts with the
customers not separating the dimensions of the
show and the other elements of the offering
(Hume et al., 2005). Consumers have shown
they measure the subjective and objective
attributes of the service and weigh them
according to their degree of importance (Addis
and Holbrook, 2001). For instance, the con-
sumer may separately critique the show, the
venue service scape, the supplementary ser-
vices, such as refreshments, and the crowd
behaviour. However, these together make up
the complete experience (Hume et al., 2005)
and the weight placed on them makes up the
consumers’ judgement. It is for this reason the
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
Exploring repurchase intention
entire experience and service provided are
included in the description of the service.
The performing arts
The performing arts constitute a complex
service type from both the organisational
perspective and the customer perspective
(Hume and McColl-Kennedy, 1999). A per-
forming arts service must provide a primary
show experience but is often required to
simultaneously fulfil cultural and artistic
responsibilities and contribute to education
and overall community well-being (Cowan,
2001; Caldwell and Woodside, 2003; Reiss,
1996, 2000) as well as the long-term survival of
the organisation. Many performing arts organi-
sations operate as not-for-profit organisations
and are required to be accountable for ‘scarce’
fund allocation. Moreover, performing arts
organisations are often complex in structure
ranging from venue-based organisations, pub-
lic government sponsored venues leasing
shows to transient travelling troupes, bands
and orchestras. Each of these organisational
designs will influence the depth and breadth of
strategic options. The performing arts are also a
key contributor to tourism attraction (Moses,
2001) and play a valuable and essential role in
generating local economy. One of the major
strategic challenges for arts organisations is to
balance the economic issues and constraints
with the importance of meeting artistic and
cultural goals. Often these two tasks can be
in conflict. Ideally, by better understanding
the drivers of customer retention and
repurchase in general terms, the organisation
can design service offerings including
programmes/shows, structure alliances and
design programme delivery which best retain
and enhance audience numbers. In addition, by
understanding the rate of return and reasons in
favour of and not in favour of returning, the
performing arts organisation can begin to
provide services that assist in developing
audiences while efficiently allocating and
expending funds.
Research into this context in a service
management forum is sporadic, comparatively
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
137
limited and demonstrates limited application of
services marketing theory. In order to advance
services marketing and experiential service
research, it is important to examine specific
service contexts as the service context dictates
the environment, service scape, and the rela-
tional and physical cues (Pullman and Gross,
2004). The Australian Council for the Arts in
the 2003 report ‘Securing the Future’ identified
three key areas of concern. First, people go to a
performing arts performance but then do not
go back for many years. Second, only a small
percentage of persons who claim to be
interested in the performing arts attend reg-
ularly. Third, the young and the older segments
attend more often than the middle aged. This
research aims to begin to offer some explana-
tion for these phenomena to offer insight to
strategic development for the future. This
paper proceeds by first offering an overview
of the current theory on repurchase intention,
in particular, discussing the current relation-
ship of value, service quality, emotion and
customer satisfaction. It then discusses the
approach to enquiry and the findings of the
qualitative research. Next, the findings are
presented using comment from the rich
narrative gathered from interviews (Price
et al., 1995). Finally, the implications of the
research for theory and practice are discussed
and conclusions presented.
Repurchase intention
Repurchase intention (RI) is defined as the
customer’s decision to engage in future activity
with a service provider and what form this
activity will take. Zeithaml et al. (1996) have
suggested two types of positive repurchase
intention: first, the intent to re-buy and second,
the intent to engage in positive word of mouth
and recommend. RI is the result of customer’s
attitude to the performance of the consumed
service. Interestingly, RI and loyalty are often
confused constructs. Unlike RI, which refers to
the intended behaviour, loyalty is defined as
the customers’ commitment and preference to
repurchase a particular product or service over
time (Oliver, 1999). One can have a positive or
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
138
negative RI but not necessarily be loyal. Each of
these measures, (RI and loyalty), have been
suggested as better measures of consumer
behaviour leading to purchase, than factors
such as customer satisfaction or service quality
(Oliver). Customer satisfaction has long been
considered the predicator of RI however
several other drivers have received attention
in recent research, such as mood and past
experiences, (Lilijander and Mattsson, 2002),
affect and value and convenience (Patterson
and Spreng, 1997; Butcher et al., 2002), service
quality (Slogland and Siguaw, 2004), customer
familiarity (Soderlund, 2002), service failure
and recovery (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993).
One construct that has received attention is
value. It has been posited as a direct antecedent
of loyalty and RI (Patterson and Spreng, 1997)
and an indirect predictor and moderator of
service quality and satisfaction (Caruana et al.,
2000). These relationships suggest that custo-
mers need to feel a sense of value to repurchase
the service. Furthermore, value has been
shown to be entirely mediated through satis-
faction to RI (Patterson and Spreng, 1997).
Therefore, customers must be satisfied with
their perception of value to assess the service
as a quality and satisfying experience. As value
is an emergent construct receiving attention in
recent research, the factors comprising value
need to be developed and their relationship to
RI in the performing arts sector developed.
Pre-purchase customer familiarity has been
shown to influence the degree of post pur-
chase response by affecting both satisfaction
and RI (Soderlund, 2002). When service
performance was high and the customer highly
familiar, customers expressed high levels of
satisfaction known as delight, and a desire to
return, whereas when performance was low,
the expression of dissatisfaction from highly
familiar customers, and how it impacted RI,
depended on the nature of the failure and the
service recovery undertaken (Soderlund).
Advancing this theory, service recovery has
been shown to directly influence RI (Palmer
et al., 2000). Feelings of equity and justice have
a strong direct relationship with RI, with trust
being identified in literature recently as con-
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
M. Hume et al.
tributing to the CS, RI and loyalty constructs
(Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Performing arts
research has shown that the theatre buff
segment is the highly involved, highly com-
mitted and often familiar patron. Research has
shown that the artistic appreciation of these
patrons seems to increase with consumption
(Cavenago et al., 2002). However, whether
increased appreciation results in increased
rates of re-consumption has not been explored.
Further to the constructs of familiarity,
involvement and service recovery, Jones
and Suh (2000) found that cumulative and
transaction-specific satisfaction influence RI in
different ways. Cumulative satisfaction was
found to have both a direct influence on RI and
a moderating influence on transaction-specific
satisfaction. When cumulative satisfaction was
high (as with loyal or frequent consumers)
transaction specific incidents did not influence
evaluations. This relationship is similar to that
discussed concerning customer familiarity. It
could be inferred that familiar, regular users of
a service would have high cumulative satisfac-
tion. Whereas, when cumulative satisfaction
was low, transaction-specific incidents and
satisfaction with transactional performance
would strongly influence RI. Low cumulative
satisfaction can occur in several cases such as
with customers who have low involvement
and low familiarity, but also with infrequent
users, switchers and non-relational customers
(Soderlund, 2002).
This taxonomy of repurchase drivers reflects
the complex set of drivers influencing repurch-
ase at any one time, in any given context. The
performing arts is further complicated by
the experiential nature of the service and
the factors driving the attainment of subjective
emotional goals. With services that are more
hedonic in nature, emotion attainment (feel-
ings generated by the show) and the state of
these emotions is proposed to have some
bearing on consumption, evaluation and RI.
Satisfying the subjective elements and provok-
ing the emotional reactions is regarded as the
most crucial element of determining customer
value in this type of experience (Addis and
Holbrook). It has been identified as the driver
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
Exploring repurchase intention
of consumption and repurchase for many
hedonic services (Maio and Esses, 2000). The
success of the product is considered to be
deeply embedded in the ability of the service to
evoke emotion and arouse subjective reactions
(Addis and Holbrook). This research will
examine this relationship and the influence of
emotion on the more traditional relationships
of factors, such as value, service quality, and
satisfaction to repurchase as seen by customers
in this context. The overall research question
addressed is: ‘How does a consumer decide to
go back to the performing arts?’
Approach to enquiry
This research used in-depth interviews to
investigate the drivers of re-purchase intention
in a performing arts context. The overarching
theme of the interviews focused on identifying
the roles of the constructs of value, emotion
attainment (feelings generated by the show)
and show experience, service quality, and
satisfaction in a customer’s decision and intent
to repurchase, as discussed in the literature,
and ascertain how they are applied in this
setting. The investigation has not attempted to
separate out other factors, such as genre
loyalty, venue loyalty, critic’s review, and
performer loyalty. Moreover, the research has
not attempted to look at organisational govern-
ance and design in this context. The research
has assumed a simple model of the performing
arts organisation, and aims to apply services
marketing theory to this context. The investi-
gation specifically focuses on service encoun-
ter constructs and general aspects of
involvement, such as personal relevance of
the performing arts.
A review of the extant literature in services
marketing (Iacobucci et al., 1995; Bahia et al.,
2000) including the areas of: involvement
(Lilijander and Tore, 1997), emotions (Bagozzi
et al., 1999), hedonic consumption (Hopkin-
son and Pujari, 1999) and performing arts
(Bouder-Pailler, 1998; Garbarino and Johnson,
1999) informed the open ended questions and
object of the questions and prompts used. The
interviews were allowed to flow and candi-
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
139
dates were encouraged to freely communicate
their feelings and behaviours relating to per-
forming arts consumption and more specifi-
cally re-consumption. This process of
interviewing reflective of service transaction
analysis (Johnston, 1999). It was important for
this research not to be biased by organisational
definitions of the service and not lead the
customer interviews based on this.
The aim of the research was to extract
customer views. Consistent with the overall
research question, the main question asked of
interviewees was: ‘How do you decide to go
back to the performing arts?’ This question
was then followed by sub-questions and
prompts focusing on the main antecedents of
value, emotion, service quality and satisfaction
depending on the responses given. There was
no specific sequence to the questions, how-
ever, all topics were prompted if not offered by
the candidate by the completion of the inter-
view. Some prompts included:
Repurchase intention
‘What makes you go back to see another show?
What makes you see shows more often??’
‘What factors influence how often you go back
to the performing arts?’
‘What factors do not affect your overall
perception of the performing arts?’
‘What factors are critical to you enjoying a
performing arts experience?’
Satisfaction
‘What makes you satisfied in this setting?’
‘What makes you dissatisfied in this setting?’
Value
‘How do you know if you have received a value
for money experience and what constitutes
value for money for you?’
‘What attributes do you look for in any value for
money experience?’
‘What is a value for time experience for you? Do
you get that at the performing arts’
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
140
Service quality
‘What do you think service quality is in this
setting?’
‘What is a quality night out at the performing
arts?’
Involvement
‘What is important to you about the performing
arts?’
‘Are the performing arts any different to other
leisure, fun activities. How do you rate them?’
‘What is your relationship with (interest in) the
performing arts?’
Emotion
‘How does, how you feel after, the show
influence your impression of the entire night
and the service?’
The objective of the interviews was to
disclose factors that influenced the formation
of repurchase intention for a performing arts
experience. The factors explored included
value, service quality, emotion, involvement
and satisfaction as the re-consumption drivers.
Specifically, the interviews were used to gather
thick description of the interactions with
contact employees, service scripts and tangible
and intangible service aspects that drive
performance measures, such as service quality
both technical and functional, satisfaction,
emotion, and value in a performing arts
experience.
Initial candidates were recommended from a
large performing arts organisation. Using the
principles of intensity sampling (Patton, 1990)
and snowballing technique (Patton), infor-
mants were asked to identify others with a
possible interest in the performing arts. These
referrals were then screened for interest and
attendance. As the objective was to examine
the drivers of repurchase intention, the candi-
dates were required to have attended a
performing arts experience at least once in
the last 3 years. This was identified as a
common time frame for many consumers
(www.ozco.gov.au). Those candidates who
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
M. Hume et al.
showed no interest in the performing arts or
no interest ever in attending the arts and had
not attended in this time period were rejected.
In total, 26 semi-structured, open-ended depth
interviews (Minichiello et al., 1999) were
conducted with referrals ranging in age from
21 to 60 years. This sample reflects the desired
audience demographics identified by the
Australian Arts Council research in the 2003
report ‘Securing the Future’. Interviews were
conducted until theoretical saturation was
achieved and no new information was pre-
sented (Arnould and Price, 1993).
Each candidate was asked to offer a self-
description to enhance his or her demographic
profile. These profiles assisted in the manage-
ment, analysis and presentation of responses.
Further to this, the data were organised using a
conceptual map (Miles and Huberman, 1994)
and analysed based on understanding of the
extant literature of RI, service quality, value,
emotion, involvement (including subscription
behaviour) and customer satisfaction into
categories and sub-categories. The scripts and
responses were examined for frequency and
strength of responses. These categories were
then organised into themes. Question prompts
and narrative have been used to reflect thick
descriptions derived from the consumer inter-
views, consistent with Arnould and Price
(1993). Unlike many other arts studies con-
ducted in-situ (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999)
in performing arts venues, the purpose of this
study was to access general current and
potential consumers to examine both why
they have chosen to return and or not to return
to the performing arts and why they have
chosen to consume other activities instead of
the performing arts.
Findings of exploratory research
The interviews identified several discussion
points. The areas identified corresponded to
the antecedents of RI and RI. As one of the
complexities of performing arts is embedded in
the experiential nature of the context, the
issues were then sub-divided into utilitarian
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
Exploring repurchase intention
attributes and experiential attributes cate-
gories and related categories. Furthermore,
the issues of subscription and attendance
frequency and how these impact consumer
judgements, are discussed. Finally, specific
comment related to RI is discussed. The
frequency and richness of comments dictated
their contribution to the findings. The narrative
and rich comments have been included from
candidates (Arnould and Price, 1993) to reflect
the construct descriptions and responses
gathered.
Antecedents of RI: experiential and
utilitarian drivers
It was anticipated that a high number of
informants’ responses would support the
proposition that, ‘the performing arts is an
experiential hedonic service and experiential
fundamentals drive satisfaction’ (Holbrook and
Hirschman, 1982) and subsequently RI. More-
over, it was anticipated that achieving specific
goal directed emotions would be the promi-
nent driver of customer satisfaction and in turn
RI. As expected, two-thirds of informants
suggested that the need for emotional out-
comes, such as laughing at a comedy, was an
important driver of satisfaction. However, only
a small portion of these informants (3) identi-
fied the emotional experience of the arts as the
most important or crucial measure of satisfac-
tion and a driver to RI. After further discussion
these candidates were found to have a high
need for emotion (Maio and Esses, 2001) and
subsequent high level of hedonic involvement
(Broderick and Mueller, 1999) with the per-
forming arts.
Question prompt: What is important to you
about the performing arts?
Michelle, 33, professional, single, self-confessed
art obsessed.
It is about feeling the music in your
soul . . . . . .
Paul, 41, inner city dweller, single, in-vogue.
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
141
It is a spiritual thing . . . . . . money can’t
buy that
Andrew,55, divorced and partnered, well-
educated, adult children, professional, pro-
fessed music dedicate.
You must be stimulated and moved and
feel it otherwise there is no point . . . . . .
To these candidates their need for emotion
drove their strong weighting of subjective
and experiential aspects of the service. In a
performing arts context the experiential
aspects refer to the technical quality of the
show (Gronroos, 1990) therefore, these candi-
dates weighted the show’s technical quality as
the crucial driver to return. In the context of
the performing arts, the ability of the show to
stimulate emotion is intrinsic to its technical
quality. The informants (3) who required an
emotional effect also had a high level of
attachment to the arts or enduring involvement
(Broderick and Mueller, 1999).
Question prompt: ‘What is your
relationship with the performing arts?’
Michelle, 33, professional, single, self-confessed
art obsessed.
The performing arts are my thing. I do not
do sport or TV, I attend something at least
once a week.
Paul, 41, inner city dweller, single, in-vogue.
I have been a regular for over 10 years . . . I
have not missed a show of interest for
years . . . I would call it more than a hobby
This suggests a strong relationship between
emotion, customer satisfaction, involvement
(Hume et al., 2003) and RI for this consumer
type. This is supported by current emotion
research which posits that the more relevant
the goal or situation, the stronger the emotion
and outcome (Nyer, 1997). It is possible that
these consumers perceive the performing arts
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
142
as a low contact service. A low contact service
occurs where the consumers do not perceive a
need for contact points such as interactions
with personnel (Lovelock et al., 1998).
Moreover, emphasis on technical quality as a
driver of satisfaction is evident in low contact
services (Mittal and Lassar, 1998). The percep-
tion of a low contact service could be a result of
frequent attendance and customer familiarity
generating a flatter learning curve. This con-
cept should be pursued further as it may have a
direct impact on service delivery for long-term
highly involved and familiar patrons, especially
in areas of ticketing, seating, and amenities.
The remaining consumers identified them-
selves as having a lesser or transient need for
emotion, while others suggested satisfaction
with other utilitarian aspects, such as accessi-
bility, interactions with personnel and ame-
nities, as stronger determinants of RI. These
aspects were more reflective of functional
quality aspects of delivery. Functional quality
refers more to how the entire service has been
delivered (Gronroos, 1990).
Question prompt: What is important
to you about the performing arts?
Lindsay, 44, public servant, male, married with
child, subscriber.
Sure I want to get a good laugh but it is
more that . . . . . .
Mick, 41, architect, in vogue, inner city
dweller, married, no children.
It’s about the overall experience being out
and amongst it . . . . . .
Caroline, 34, fashionable mother of four.
I like to be swept away but I also like to have
money left in my wallet!
These customers suggested their primary
goal was not to satisfy their need for affect, but
to satisfy their overall evaluation of service
delivery and customer service, and how this
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
M. Hume et al.
related to their perception of value for money
and convenience. Therefore, the majority of
candidates identified that they were not driven
to return by emotional outcomes or the show
but by the perceived successful execution of
the entire experience.
Interestingly, after further discussion these
candidates defined the performing arts as an
entertainment service rather than an artistic
service and tended towards a lower level of
enduring involvement (Broderick and Mueller,
1999). These consumers raised the issues that
the performing arts were just one player in the
leisure entertainment market, and value and
equity were stronger drivers of choice for
consumption and RI than artistic content
and emotional outcomes. These customers
required a higher degree of contact with
performing arts personnel and perceived the
performing arts as an interactive service rather
than a low contact, self-service. This theme
supports the proposition that in high contact
services functional quality is a stronger deter-
minant of satisfaction (Mittal and Lassar, 1998)
and in turn drives RI for this customer type.
Question prompt: are the arts any different
to other leisure, fun etc activities . . . do you
rate them differently?
Mick, 41, architect, in vogue, inner city
dweller, married, no children.
It is an Outing!! If you think cultural arts
are hand on heart, tear in eye stuff you are
kidding yourself . . . . I appreciate the skill
and talent but it is still just an outing like
any other and I look at it the same
way . . . how I am treated’
Margaret, 57, professional, adult children,
grandmother.
I will go because of the show . . . but I won’t
return if I can’t park and can’t get a drink
and don’t feel looked after
Consumers suggested that merely being
satisfied with altruistic and artistic objectives
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
Exploring repurchase intention 143

was too simplistic and that satisfaction with the managers must understand the way the service
performing arts and the desire to return was a is perceived by customers and segment audi-
multi-perspective evaluation of the value of ences accordingly.
entertainment alternatives versus the value of
the consumed performing arts activity. In these
cases value-for-money and value-for-time were Subscription and frequent attendance as
the most important determinants of satisfac- indicators of RI
tion with the performing arts and resulted in a
Arts research has tended to focus on levels of
strong desire to return or conversely, not to
commitment, attachment and interest, and
return. These consumers identified several
subscription and the inter-relationship of these
specific factors of service quality and delivery
(Garbarino and Johnson, 1999; Lilijander and
that were antecedent to value and satisfaction
Tore, 1997). We found conflicting views
measures. These factors included: ease of
from our respondents, suggesting a weaker
attendance; accessibility and parking; flow
relationship between these constructs, that is
and signposting of venues; access to value food
involvement and attachment and repurchase
and beverage; staff friendliness and price. This
intention. Many respondents identified them-
suggested service quality as antecedent to
selves as supportive of, and committed to, the
value in this context with satisfaction moderat-
arts, indicative of high enduring involvement
ing the relationship to RI.
(Lilijander and Tore), but at this time, due to
social reasons, saw their attendance as irregular
and infrequent. These candidates suggested
Question Prompt: what factors influence that when the ‘social reasons’, such as children
how often you go back to the performing and babysitting, financial issues, and illness,
arts were rectified they would increase their
attendance and maintain an arts relationship
Margaret, 57, professional, adult children, for a long period. Some subscribers identified
grandmother. themselves as marginally involved and unin-
terested in the arts, citing accompanying a
. . . What makes an outing to a show a
partner or friend as the driver for subscription
failure or not so successful experience is the
and attendance. These candidates suggested
whole thing . . . everything from parking to
that should this scenario change their atten-
play . . . .
dance patterns and repeat patterns would also
change. Moreover, some subscribers suggested
It is evident from these findings that some
reduced price ticketing as the only reason for
consumers seek out affect and emotion and
subscription. Should the value dimension of
other customer segments do not (Maio and
subscription also change, these candidates
Esses, 2001), and this drives their service
suggested their desire to return would also
evaluation. Furthermore, the way in which
diminish.
the service is defined and perceived by the
customer-will also influences their judge-
ments. Some customers define the performing
Question prompt: what is your relationship
arts as high contact service requiring many
with the performing arts?
interactions, and some define it as low contact.
Some perceive the performing arts as an Lindsay, 44, public servant, male, married with
entertainment activity and some as an artistic child, subscriber.
pursuit (Andreasen and Belk, 1980), with each
of these factors influencing the way in which In fact I have no interest in the arts I attend
the service is evaluated and the drivers of because my wife wants to and it is cheaper
satisfaction. It is evident from this that arts this way!

Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
144
Mary-Jane, 35, Single mother, four children,
frequent attendee.
I go to amuse the kids. Subscription is about
cheap seats . . . .I’m no arts lover
These themes suggest involvement, sub-
scription and attendance may not be as
strongly related to strong repurchase patterns
as has been previously assumed, and may in
fact only be providing a short-term false sense
of loyal purchase patterns. This phenomenon
requires further investigation and should
impact the way in which loyalty and subscrip-
tion programmes are managed.
RI: the perception of value
As previously discussed, several candidates
clustered the performing arts experiences with
other entertainment selections and suggested
that the decision to consume and return was
dependant on the perception that the perform-
ing arts was ‘the best value’ alternative,
satisfying the aspects and attributes of an
outing that they saw as important. These
candidates suggested that satisfaction with
their perception of value was the key driver
of repurchase. This finding supports the
current theory in RI research that satisfaction
moderates the relationship or value to repurch-
ase intent. Alternatively, the candidates who
felt a strong need to satisfy emotional need
suggested the show and the communication of
the show was the strongest driver of repurch-
ase and increased frequency of repurchase.
This finding supports the notion that high
involvement and high customer familiarity
reduces the need for transactional satisfaction
(Soderlund, 2002).
Question prompt: what makes you go back
to see another show? What makes you see
shows more often?
Patrina, married, three children, artist.
I love live shows and performances but I
only have so much money and time and
make my decision based on the best
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
M. Hume et al.
alternative. I sometimes find the arts
venues all too hard and going to the footy
or movies much easier
Tom, 36, married, children, professional.
They all compete for the same dollar and all
have to provide what the patron is looking
for. A bad game of cricket, footy . . . , a badly
performed play or ballet are simply all the
same-they just don’t cut it . . . .. However
due to my bias I might be more forgiving to
Rugby!
Michelle, 33, professional, single, self-confessed
art obsessed.
The show, the critics review, the need to be
fulfilled artistically
Paul, 41, inner-city dweller, single, in-vogue.
If it’s on I am there for the experience
especially my kind of stuff . . . . . . ..
Andrew, 55, divorced and partnered, well-
educated, adult children, professional pro-
fessed music dedicate.
The arts, the thrill, the pleasure . . . . . .
Discussion and implications
Researchers of hedonic and experiential con-
sumption posit that satisfying the emotional
requirements of the customer will lead to
satisfaction (Addis and Holbrook, 2001). How-
ever it is evident from this study that the nature
of RI in the performing arts is not one-
dimensional, rather, it is a multi-dimensional
equation of antecedents further complicated
by consumer definition of the context. Con-
sumers have shown in this research that they
define the service through their own needs and
measure subjective and objective experience
attributes accordingly, related to the percep-
tion of what the experience is and what it
means to them. This research discovered that
the desired service level was dependant on
whether the customer perceived the service as
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
Exploring repurchase intention
high or low contact entertainment, or artistic
or emotionally charged. Satisfaction was
derived from a measurement of the technical
qualities of the show; with the overall show
experience being strongly related to emotion,
and/or the functional quality of the service
delivery, venue quality and the level of
satisfaction with the ‘performance’ of the
desired factors. These relationships then lead
to RI. Thus, the desire to repurchase was then
decided on the degree of satisfaction derived
from desired level of performance with func-
tional and/or technical quality.
The implication of these findings is that the
need to understand the customer’s definition
and perception of the service on offer. Under-
standing definition and description is tanta-
mount to identifying primary expectations of
the service and important to reducing gap
conflict (Zeithaml et al., 1996) between the
service(s) expected and the service(s)
delivered. Is a performing arts experience a
cultural outlet? Or is it merely entertainment?
Using gap analysis and service transaction
analysis (Johnston, 1999) will assist managers
in developing new service developments
required to deliver the service as it is perceived.
The performing arts manager can use this
information to more adequately segment the
current and potential customers and design
offerings according to these needs. Gaining
understanding of the expectations and percep-
tions of the service on offer assists in unravelling
the consumption and reconsumption beha-
viours of all potential target markets.
Moreover, a further implication of the
research is that service transaction analysis
and understanding of customer definition of
the service will assist in identifying the
competitive nature of the marketplace.
Managers can ask: where else are our custo-
mers spending their money? Who are our
competitors? Once it is understood, how the
customers segment views the performing arts,
the impact of specific aspects (such as the
technical quality of the show and the emotion
derived or the functional service delivery
elements, such as crowds, queues and ame-
nities) can be assessed. Designing and custo-
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
145
mizing service offerings will be more effective
if the drivers of service satisfaction and RI are
known. Moreover, expenditure on new pro-
duct development and innovative functions to
improve service delivery will be more effec-
tively allocated if the drivers of success are
transparent. Furthermore, in highlighting the
fact that customers compare functional quality
aspects among alternative services and base
their choice on maximising utility or value, this
research further cements the importance of
positioning and designing the service to fit the
target segment.
The final implication raises the issue of more
comprehensive segmentation in the sector to
fully capitalise on more potential users of
performing arts. Adopting a multiple branding
approach for each of the segment types could
assist in positioning the service directly to the
needs and desires of the consumers and satisfy
more potential users. Each group identified in
this research, such as the emotionally driven,
the highly involved, the entertainment seeker
and the value consumer, requires different
marketing collateral, technical quality, func-
tional process and aspects and marketing
communication. Multiple branding strategies
are designed to accomplish this. The primary
objective of this research corresponds with the
need of the performing arts to expand their
market and the return on audience numbers.
To grow, these organisations need to consider
the dimensions of service design and delivery
required by each segment to capture their
interest and satisfy the desired attributes of
repurchase. Hume et al. (2005) suggest this
after extensive discussion with CEOs and
consultant customers. It was evident in this
research that performing arts managers envi-
saged a truncated service description with a
restricted set—a target segment. The target
groups focussed primarily on degrees of artistic
appreciation rather than offering including
broader psychological profiles.
Conclusion
This qualitative research has identified several
interesting facets of audience behaviour facing
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
146
performing arts management today, and has
contributed to theory development in this area.
Importantly, these findings are applicable to
the performing arts, but are likely to have
implications for other non-profit service orga-
nisations that offer highly emotive and experi-
ential services, such as fine arts and museums.
For performing arts managers, the relationship
between attendance, subscription and involve-
ment, and the relationship of factors such as
functional quality (service and venue quality)
and technical (show) quality to an audience
members’ desire to repurchase are potentially
very useful in competitor analysis, segmenta-
tion strategy and service design. From a
theoretical perspective, the findings of this
research support experiential aspects as
motivators of consumption in certain cust-
omer segments, but challenge them as the
key drivers of satisfaction and RI in others.
The role of emotion in consumption, and
the nature of appraisal emotions, warrant
further attention in this setting to fully
appreciate their role in consumption and re-
consumption. Performing arts management
has tended towards the delivery of artistic
value and content, often minimising the
importance of service and venue quality. This
study suggests that it is a strategically impera-
tive for performing arts managers to better
segment and understand customer percep-
tions of the service offering and appreciate
the complexity of the RI equation. This will
ensure that service delivery and venue quality
is given the appropriate emphasis in strategic
development and implementation as artistic
content. This research has identified the
appropriate and targeted emphasis on both
artistic content and functional service ele-
ments as the key to maximising repurchase
intent and market potential.
Biographical notes
Dr Margee Hume teaches, consults and
conducts research in the areas of service
marketing, service operations and inn-
ovation in nonprofits, marketing strategy and
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
M. Hume et al.
internal marketing. She is a lecturer at the
Griffith Business School, Griffith University,
Queensland Australia. She has published in
scholarly journals and regularly presents peer
refereed papers at the Australian and New
Zealand Marketing conferences. Before mov-
ing to academia, Margee pursued a career as a
marketing and sales manager in several global
pharmaceutical and media companies. Dr
Margee Hume was awarded the 2006 EMFD
award for outstanding doctoral research in
International Service Industry management.
Gillian Sullivan Mort teaches, consults and
conducts research in the areas of social
entrepreneurship and innovation in nonpro-
fits, m-marketing/m-commerce, international
marketing and consumer behaviour. She is an
Associate Professor at the Griffith Business
School, Queensland, Australia and holds a PhD
in the field of management focusing on country
of origin/country image effects in the APEC
region. She has published in many scholarly
journals and regularly presents peer refereed
papers at the American Marketing Association
conferences. Before moving to academia,
Gillian pursued a career as a human services
manager and as a developmental and commu-
nity psychologist.
Dr Hume Winzar teaches, consults and
conducts research in the areas of research
methods and marketing. He is a senior lecturer
at the Griffith Business School, Queensland,
Australia and holds a PhD in the field of
management. Before joining academia, Hume
Winzar worked in outdoor education, banking,
public relations, advertising, and product
management. Over the last 18 years he has
taught the full range of marketing courses in
universities across Australia, SE-Asia, Eastern
Europe, Canada and the USA. His early exper-
tise lies in marketing research techniques, data
analysis and consumer behaviour, a combina-
tion that prompted an interest in how con-
sumers and business adapt to new technology
and the Internet. Dr Winzar established Aus-
tralia’s very first undergraduate course in
Electronic Marketing in 1994. He is a regular
at both Australian and international marketing
conferences.
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
Exploring repurchase intention
References
Addis M, Holbrook M. 2001. On the conceptual link
between mass customisation and experiential
consumption: an explosion of subjectivity. Jour-
nal of Consumer Behaviour 1(1): 50–66.
Albrecht K. 1992. The Only Thing That Matters,
Bringing the Power of the Customer into the
Centre of Your Business. Harper Business:
New York.
Anderson E, Fornell C, Lehmann D. 1994. Customer
satisfaction, market share, and profitability: find-
ings from Sweden. Journal of Marketing 58(3):
53–66.
Anderson EW, Sullivan M. 1993. The antecedents
and consequences of customer satisfaction for
firms. Marketing Science 12(2): 125–143.
Andreasen A, Belk R. 1980. Predictors of attendance
at the performing arts. Journal of Consumer
Research 7(2): 112–117.
Arnould E, Price L. 1993. River magic: extraordinary
experience and the extended service encounter.
Journal of Consumer Research 20(1): 24–45.
Australian Council for the Arts. 2003. Securing
the Future, www.ozco.gov.au Visited 16 May 5
2004.
Bagozzi R, Gopinath M, Nyer P. 1999. The role of
emotions in marketing. Academy of Marketing
Science 27(2): 184–206.
Bahia K, Paulin M, Perrien J. 2000. Reconciliating
literature about client satisfaction and perceived
service quality. Journal of Professional Services
Marketing 12(2): 21–41.
Bitner MJ, Booms BH, Tetreault MS. 1990. The
service encounter: diagnosing the favorable and
unfavorable incidents. Journal of Marketing
54(January): 71–84 found in Lovelock, Christo-
pher & Patterson Paul & Walker Rhett (1998)
Services Marketing Australia and New Zealand
Prentice Hall Australia Pty Ltd.
Bitner MJ. 1995. Building service relationships: it’s
all about promises. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science 23: 246–251.
Bouder-Pailler D. 1999. A model for measuring the
goals of theatre attendance. International Jour-
nal of Arts Management 1(2): 4–15.
Broderick A, Mueller R. 1999. A theoretical and
empirical exegesis of the consumer involvement
construct: the psychology of the food shopper.
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 7(4):
97–109.
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
147
Broetzmann SM, Kemp J, Rossano M, Marwaha J.
1995. Customer satisfaction—lip service or
management tool? Managing Service Quality
5(2): 13–18.
Butcher K, Sparks B, O’Callaghan F. 2002. Effect of
social influence on repurchase intention. Jour-
nal of Services Marketing 16(6): 503–515.
Caldwell M, Woodside A. 2003. The role of cultural
capital in performing arts patronage. Interna-
tional Journal of Arts Management 5(3): 4–49.
Caruana A, Money A, Berthon P. 2000. Service
quality and satisfaction- the moderating role of
value. European Journal of Marketing 34(11/
12): 1338–1356.
Cowan D. 2001. The art of business. Accountancy
127(1293): 68.
Cavenago D, Francesconi A, Santuari A. 2002. The
shift in cultural management from government
agencies to non-for profit organizations: an Italian
case study. International Journal of Arts Man-
agement 4(2): 16–24.
Garbarino E, Johnson MS. 1999. The different roles of
satisfaction, trust, and commitment in customer
relationships. Journal of Marketing 63(2): 70–87.
Gronroos C. 1990. Relationship approach to
marketing in service contexts: the marketing
and organizational behaviour interface. Journal
of Business Research 20(1): 3–11.
Hennig-Thurau T, Klee A. 1997. The impact of
customer satisfaction and relationship quality on
customer retention: a critical reassessment and
model development. Psychology & Marketing
14(8): 737–764.
Heskett JL, Jones TO, Loveman GW, Sasser WE Jr.,
Schlesinger LA. 1994. Putting the service-profit
chain to work. Harvard Business Review 72(2):
164–172.
Holbrook M, Hirschman E. 1982. The experiential
aspects of consumption: consumer fantasies,
feelings & fun. Journal of Consumer Research
9(2): 132–140.
Hopkinson G, Pujari D. 1999. A factor analytic study
of the sources of meaning in hedonic consump-
tion. European Journal of Marketing 33(3/4):
273–294.
Hume M, McColl-Kennedy JR. 1999. Episodic,
extended and continuous service encounters: a
theoretical framework. Conference Proceedings
ANZMAC Conference 1999 Nov 30th–December
4th, Sydney, Australia.
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm
148
Hume M, Sullivan Mort G, Liesch P, Winzar H. 2006.
Understanding service experience in non-profit
performing arts: implications for operations and
service management. Journal of Operations
Management. Special Issue, Not for Profit,
Government and Voluntary Sector Management
24(4): 304–324.
Iacobucci D, Ostrom A, Grayson K. 1995. Distin-
guishing service quality and customer satisfac-
tion: the voice of the consumer. Journal of
Consumer Psychology 4(3): 277–303.
Johnston R. 1999. Service transaction analysis:
assessing and improving the customers experi-
ence. Managing Service Quality 9(2): 102–109.
Jones M, Suh J. 2000. Transaction-specific satisfaction
and overall satisfaction: an empirical analysis.
Journal of Services Marketing 14(2): 147–168.
Kotler P. 1998. Marketing Management (9th edn).
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
International Inc.
Lilijander V, Mattsson J. 2002. Impact of customer
preconsumption mood on the evaluation of
employee behaviour in service encounters.
Psychology & Marketing 19(10): 837–857.
Lilijander V, Tore S. 1997. Emotions in service
satisfaction. International Journal of Service
Industry Management 8(2): 148–169.
Lovelock C. 1983. Classifying services to gain
strategic marketing insights. Journal of Market-
ing 47(Summer): 9–20 (American Marketing
Association Chicago).
Lovelock C, Patterson P, Walker R. 1998. Services
Marketing: An Asia-Pacific perspective (2nd
edn). Prentice Hall: Sydney.
Maio G, Esses V. 2001. The need for affect:
individual differences in the need to approach
or avoid emotion. Journal of Personality 69(4):
583–616.
Miles M, Huberman A. 1994. An Expanded Source-
book: Qualitative Data Analysis (2nd edn). Sage
Publications International: London.
Mittal B, Lassar WM. 1998. Why do customers switch?
The dynamics of satisfaction versus loyalty. Jour-
nal of Services Marketing 12(3): 177–191.
Minichiello V, Aroni R, Timewell E, Alexander L. 1999.
In-Depth Interviewing: Principles, Techniques,
Analysis (2nd edn). Longman: Melbourne.
Morgan R, Hunt SD. 1994. The commitment-trust
theory of relationship marketing. Journal of
Marketing 58(3): 20–38.
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
M. Hume et al.
Moses N. 2001. Have a plan, and make the most of arts
and culture. Public Management 83(11): 18–21.
Nyer P. 1997. A study of the relationships between
cognitive appraisals and consumption emotion.
Journal of Academy of Marketing Science 25(4):
296–304.
Oliver R. 1999. Whence consumer loyalty? Journal
of Marketing 63(Special Issue): 34–38.
Patterson PG, Spreng RA. 1997. Modeling of the
relationship between value, satisfaction and
repurchase intention in a business-to-business
professional services context: an empirical inves-
tigation. International Journal of Service Indus-
try Management 8(5): 414–438.
Patton QM. 1990. Qualitative Evaluation and
Research Methods (2nd edn). Sage Publications:
Newbury Park, CA.
Price LL, Arnould EJ, Tierney P. 1995. Going to
extremes: managing service encounters and
assessing provider performance. Journal of
Marketing 59(2): 83–97.
Pullman M, Gross M. 2004. Ability of experiences
design elements to elicit emotions and loyalty
behaviours. Decision Sciences 35(3): 551–578.
Reiss A. 2000. Arts groups throughout the world
face similar problems and prospects. Fundrais-
ing Management 31(5): 27–48.
Reiss A. 1996. Arts program aims at audience of
tomorrow—today. Fundraising Management
27(7): 36.
Rentschler R. 2002. Museum and performing arts
marketing: the age of discovery? Journal of Arts
Management, Law and Society 32(1): 7–14.
Rentschler R, Radbourne J, Carr R, Rickard J. 2002.
Relationship marketing, audience retention and
performing arts organisations viability. Interna-
tional Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary
Sector Marketing 7(2): 118–130.
Slogland I, Siguaw J. 2004. Are your satisfied
customers loyal? Cornell Hotel and Restaurant
Quarterly 45(3): 221–234.
Sonderlund M. 2002. Customer familiarity and its
effects on satisfaction and behavioural inten-
tions. Psychology & Marketing 19(19): 861–871.
Stell R, Donoho C. 1996. Classifying services from a
consumer perspective. Journal of Services Mar-
keting 10(6): 33–44.
Zeithaml V, Berry L, Parasuraman A. 1996. The
behavioral consequences of service quality.
Journal of Marketing 60(2): 31–47.
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., May 2007
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm