The interactive effect of Gestalt situations and arousal seeking tendency on customers' emotional responses: matching color and music to specific servicescapes

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the interactive effect of Gestalt versus non-Gestalt situations, and arousal seeking tendency (AST) on customers' pleasure and arousal with matching color and music to hotel bars and hotel guest rooms; thereby providing guidance for service providers. Design/methodology/approach - This is an experimental design study with four treatments. Fictitious hotel bar and guest room video clips were created with the appropriate manipulation of color schemes and music as independent variables. After the video clip was shown, subjects were asked to complete a survey instrument. The hypothesized model was then tested. Findings - The results showed that the interactive effect of Gestalt versus non-Gestalt, and AST on an individual's pleasure and arousal are both positive and statistically significant. As an individual's AST increases, both the arousal score and pleasure score increased in Gestalt situations (dynamic bar and tranquil guest room) and decreased in non-Gestalt situations (tranquil bar and dynamic guest room). Research limitations/implications - Only jazz music and a specific type of hotel bar and hotel guest room settings with a limited target market were utilized. Similarly, the color schemes that were included were the two extremes (dynamic and tranquil). Results can be generalized to other similar settings only with caution. Practical implications - Hospitality firms should design spaces taking into account the holistic or Gestalt effect of objective elements of a servicescape. Managers should understand that individual uses of a servicescape and reactions to objective servicescape elements will be different depending on a specific type of servicescape. Originality/value - No research has been done investigating the effects of the color and music combined in two distinct service settings. The value of assessing effects of different settings is demonstrated.