Antecedents to Consumer Perceptions of Sacredness in Extended Service Experiences
以高尔夫运动为背景，调查了700多名男女高尔夫球手，发现心流和社群感对神圣感的影响存在性别差异：心流对男女均有影响，社群感仅对男性显著，而对特权地位的渴望仅影响女性。
Despite the marketing opportunities associated with consumers' perceptions of sacredness in many service consumption experiences, academic research on what drives consumers' sacredness perceptions is limited. Using the context of golf, the study investigates the antecedents to ritual experiences and perceptions of sacredness in service activities. Survey results among more than 700 male and female golfers indicate that flow and communitas impact sacredness perceptions somewhat differently between men and women. While flow impacts sacredness for both genders, the influence of communitas on sacredness is significant only among men. Desire for privileged status and its impact on sacredness, however, impacts only women. Results further indicate a strong mutually reinforcing relationship between flow and communitas. Sacredness can have powerful influences on customers in creating lasting and potentially reoccurring experiences. Managers should realize that creating welcoming environments can enable extraordinary experiences and that tactics such as increasing participation frequency are more necessary for women than men in creating sacredness.