Aesthetic Work as Cultural Competence: Chasing Beauty in the Coproduction of Aesthetic Services

Date

2022

Authors

Vlahos, Aphrodite
Hartman, Anna
Ozanne, Julie L.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sage Publications Inc

Abstract

Prior research stresses the importance of consumer participation in service coproduction. We examine the coproduction of aesthetic services, which are services in which beauty is a critical outcome. Consumers face challenges communicating their aesthetic tastes because of technical constraints that are understood by service providers but that consumers do not fully understand. To fill this gap, consumers do aesthetic work in communities of practice. Service providers also face challenges, as they must coproduce with consumers whose aesthetic tastes are formed amid shifting social standards. In this qualitative study, we highlight aesthetic work as a different type of consumer work that involves developing cultural competence. We identify four types of aesthetic coproduction in which cultural competence is distributed differently within the service dyad: aesthetic codesigning, aesthetic consenting, aesthetic yielding, and aesthetic reigning. We explore the managerial implications that arise as consumers increasingly use online social resources that shape and increase aesthetic expectations. We examine the unintended consequences of aesthetic service coproduction in which providers’ technical and aesthetic expertise is difficult for consumers to understand often leading to disappointing outcomes.

Description

Keywords

aesthetic services, aesthetic work, cultural competence, breast augmentation, well-being

Citation

Source

Journal of Service Research

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

Restricted until

2099-12-31