Explaining participation in the self-service economy

Colin Williams, Sara J. Nadin and Jan E. Windebank

The Service Industries Journal, 2011, vol. 32, issue 11, 1811-1822

Abstract: To explain participation in the self-service economy, competing theorisations have variously depicted participants as rational economic actors, dupes, seekers of self-identity, or simply doing so out of economic necessity or choice. To evaluate motives for self-servicing in the home improvement and maintenance sector, a survey of 120 households in an English locality is reported. This will reveal that all theorisations are valid to differing degrees, and through a process of induction, will offer a typology that combines the existing theorisations by differentiating between ‘willing’ (rational economic actors, choice, identity seeking) and ‘reluctant’ (economic and market necessity, dupes) participants in self-servicing. The outcome is a call to evaluate the broader applicability of this typology when explaining the wider self-service economy.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2011.574284

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The Service Industries Journal is currently edited by Eileen Bridges, Professor Domingo Ribeiro, Ronald Goldsmith, Barry Howcroft and Youjae Yi

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