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New thesis regarding the phygital tourist experience

Bild på Micol Mielis avhandling i publicerat format
The cover to the thesis is AI-generated.

The 14th of October Micol Mieli defended her doctorate dissertation, Smartphoned Tourists in the Phygital Tourist Experience. The thesis explores the smartphones role in the tourist experience, how the experience become phygital (both physical and digital) and the concept of planned serendipity.

About the thesis

The thesis aim is to explore the smartphones role in the tourist experience, in particular the role in mediating tourists’ information behaviour and the spatio-temporal dimensions of their experience.

Mieli used qualitative studies in the form of interviews and Experience Sampling Method, where the tourists daily got questions sent to their phone to capture the experiences in close time. She used millennials as a specific demographic group.

– Millenials are in between the analog and digital world. Millenials are born in a world without internet but has adapted and are more aware of their use and has an attitude of “the information will find me”. This group was interesting to study because they have more experience of travelling alone than younger generations and more experience from the digital society than older generations, Mieli says.

In the thesis Mieli presents two research questions: 1) What is the role of smartphones in mediating tourists’ information behavior, and 2) What is the role of smartphones in mediating tourists’ experience of phygital worlds? The questions raised in the thesis are answered through four papers written by Mieli. She concludes that 1) channels of information can be objects of consumption; their choice is a consumer choice and their value is mediated by a background relationship with the smartphone. But also that smartphones mediate tourists’ behaviour by causing an amplification and a reduction of both planning and serendipity creating a paradoxical effect that can be termed planned serendipity. Planned serendipity does not only mean that tourists use the smartphone to be more flexible and spontaneous, but also that tourists conduct more information searches during the trip, reducing the spontaneity that the smartphone enables. And 2) The boundaries between everyday life and tourism has been eroded, by the tourist conducting everyday activities on-site, and the time and space is phygital due to tourists’ experience being influenced and affected by the smartphone mediating role.

By the daily snapshots of events the industry can see how people act and react on-site.

– I think it can be very useful for marketers and in creating products. With more focus on on-site experience. It can be useful for destination development and understanding the relationship between planning and serendipity.

The faculty opponent was Maria Lexhagen, professor at Mid Sweden University.

The thesis can be read here.

Maria Lexhagen och Micol Mieli under disputation
Maria Lexhagen and Micol Mieli before the defence.
Publiken applåderar under Micols disputation
The audience applauding after the defence.
Mat, dryck och människor som samlats för att fira
Many gathered at the department to celebrate Micol.
Bilden visar kommitéen och opponenten Maria Lexhagen.
The committee announces their decision.
Malin Zillinger, kommittéen och Micol Mieli skålar
A toast for the new doctors title in service studies.
Bilden visar personer framför mat, Micol Mieli och Mattias Wengelin
Mattias Wengelin, Head of Department, hand over the traditional gift of a pen.
Micol Mieli står framför en rad uppspikade doktoravhandlingar
As a final part of the ceremony, Micol nailed her dissertation in public.