Immersive services like healthcare, eldercare, education, and travel embed consumers in structured environments, often shaping their life experiences. A new Journal of Marketing study reveals how these services can both challenge and empower consumer agency—the freedom to make independent choices.
Authored by Laurel Anderson (Arizona State University), Catharina Von Koshull (University of Vaasa), Martin Mende (Arizona State University), and Johanna Gummerus (Hanken School of Economics), the study explores the structural characteristics of immersive services and their impact on consumer wellbeing.
“Our research identifies key challenges to consumer agency in immersive services,” says Anderson. “But it also highlights how consumers creatively navigate these environments to regain control and autonomy.”
Key Findings
The study identifies four structural characteristics of immersive services that can limit consumer agency:
- Encapsulation: Consumers are deeply embedded in the service, often isolated from other aspects of life.
- Positionality: Hierarchies and power dynamics influence interactions between consumers and service providers.
- Protocolization: Rigid rules and routines shape consumer behavior.
- Multivocality: Conflicting voices and perspectives within the service create uncertainty about how to act.
These factors are becoming increasingly relevant in today’s polarized society and as AI-driven decision making expands in service settings.
“From rigid protocols to power imbalances, immersive services can limit consumers’ freedom to act,” says Von Koshull. “However, we found that consumers aren’t passive—they actively work to reclaim their agency.”
Consumer Pathways to Agency
The study identifies five strategies consumers use to regain agency:
- Expanding their world by exerting control over time and space.
- Voicing concerns to challenge rules and advocate for change.
- Taking on meaningful tasks to assert independence.
- Pushing back against rigid protocols to co-create better service experiences.
- Using play and imagination to reframe experiences and celebrate life.
“These improvisations are critical,” explains Mende. “They show how consumers creatively navigate constraints to find meaning and autonomy in immersive services.”
Managerial Implications
The findings offer actionable insights for managers seeking to empower consumers while maintaining service structures. Two key strategies stand out:
- Leverage technology to enhance consumer freedom: Digital tools can help address encapsulation and protocolization by offering more flexible and personalized experiences.
- Develop empathy-driven relationships: Strengthening interpersonal connections helps address power imbalances and conflicting perspectives, making consumers feel valued and heard.
“To truly enhance consumer wellbeing, managers must balance structure with opportunities for freedom and self-expression,” says Gummerus.
The study also recommends a two-step approach for evaluating and addressing gaps in consumer agency:
- Assess how encapsulation, positionality, protocolization, and multivocality impact consumers.
- Evaluate how well the service supports consumers’ pathways to agency, including voicing and challenging protocols.
“Services that embrace agency don’t just benefit consumers—they create stronger, more loyal relationships,” says Anderson. “It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”
Full article and author contact information available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429251319312
About the Journal of Marketing
The Journal of Marketing develops and disseminates knowledge about real-world marketing questions useful to scholars, educators, managers, policy makers, consumers, and other societal stakeholders around the world. Published by the American Marketing Association since its founding in 1936, JM has played a significant role in shaping the content and boundaries of the marketing discipline. Shrihari (Hari) Sridhar (Joe Foster ’56 Chair in Business Leadership, Professor of Marketing at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University) serves as the current Editor in Chief. https://www.ama.org/jm
About the American Marketing Association (AMA)
As the leading global professional marketing association, the AMA is the essential community for marketers. From students and practitioners to executives and academics, we aim to elevate the profession, deepen knowledge, and make a lasting impact. The AMA is home to five premier scholarly journals including: Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Interactive Marketing. Our industry-leading training events and conferences define future forward practices, while our professional development and PCM® professional certification advance knowledge. With 70 chapters and a presence on 350 college campuses across North America, the AMA fosters a vibrant community of marketers. The association’s philanthropic arm, the AMA’s Foundation, is inspiring a more diverse industry and ensuring marketing research impacts public good.
AMA views marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. You can learn more about AMA’s learning programs and certifications, conferences and events, and scholarly journals at AMA.org.
Marilyn Stone is Director, Academic Communities and Journals, American Marketing Association.