Best thesis in Service Management
As is tradition, we awarded the prize for the best thesis in Service Management. This year's winners were Elizaveta Striuchkova & Simas Vaitkus for their thesis The willingness to accept risk: value creation in unconventional tourism.
The jury's motivation:
Travel typically involves spending, as tourists move to and within destinations and engage in place-related activities. The tourism industry offers a wide range of services to meet these needs, But travellers can also find alternative ways to meet their travel needs. This study explores the dynamics of unconventional tourism, examining how travellers exercise agency and navigate risks in processes of value co-creation and identity transformation. It conceptualises risk as a distinguishing factor between institutionalised and unconventional tourism and analyses empirical findings through a high level of analytical abstraction. The study is highly original and grounded in the authors’ deep theoretical, methodological, and empirical expertise.
The thesis can be read here: LUP Student Papers.
More photos from the event will be available later.