Using ethological approaches to understand skiers’ behavior in cable cars queues in order to improve overall satisfaction: an empirical study conducted in the swiss alps

Emmanuel Fragnière, Valentine Gaillet, Benjamin Nanchen, Randolf Ramseyer

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter in a published conference proceeding

2 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

In a service quality perspective, the animal behavior of humans (e.g. human ethology) in queues has, to our knowledge, never been observed. This paper provides an empirical exploratory enquiry with the scope to understand skiers’ behaviors in cable cars queues in order to improve their overall satisfaction. We carried 82 immersions and 43 semi-directed interviews in the Swiss Alps (Valais), during the scholar vacations of February 2016. Along with the literature review, this research provides hypotheses to better understand the interface between a human queue and a mechanical transportation system. To adjust to the rigid system of the cable cars, our results show that a queue’s regulation is mostly based on ethological behavior.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationExploring Services Science - 8th International Conference, IESS 2017, Proceedings
EditorsM. Drăgoicea , M. Cavallari
Place of PublicationGermany
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages421-430
Number of pages10
ISBN (Print)9783319569246
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event8th International Conference on Exploring Service Science, IESS 2017 - Rome, Italy
Duration: 24 May 201726 May 2017

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Business Information Processing
Volume279

Conference

Conference8th International Conference on Exploring Service Science, IESS 2017
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityRome
Period24/05/1726/05/17

Keywords

  • Cable cars management
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Emotional temperature
  • Exploratory study
  • Human behaviors
  • Human ethology
  • Preventive control
  • Queuing theory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Management Information Systems
  • Business and International Management
  • Information Systems
  • Modelling and Simulation
  • Information Systems and Management

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