Memetic pool as a new approach in service quality analysis

This paper attempts to decompose, as well as perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the way to externalize the perception of the accommodation service. The research material consisted of the opinions of users of accommodation facilities, located in the vicinity of the twelve selected national parks in Poland. It was assumed that the reflection of the perception of the quality of the service process is the transfer of intangible content related to the service itself, which can be externalized, among other things, through entries in social networks.

The study was conducted based on the theory of memes as cultural information carriers. According to this theory, in such a transmission, it is possible to distinguish certain components, which can be defined as memes. Therefore, it is possible to analyse and track their presence, transfer, as well as incidence. A memetic pool was constructed using the assumptions of the perceptual-cognitive model of the formation of the tourism image. It was a direct expression of the mental changes of the recipient, resulting from the use of the service.

Studies of this type are intended to optimize the design of services in terms of building positive relationships on the line service provider-customer. At the same time, they allow for a slightly different, evolutionary approach to analyses, concerning the formation of the image of the service provider, as well as forming the expectations of service recipients.