Smartphone use during the leisure theme park visit experience: The role of contextual factors

Recent studies indicate the increasingly important role of smartphones in the customer experience. This research proposes and empirically validates a conceptual framework capturing the influence of five contextual factors on the types and intensity of smartphone use and therefore on the leisure experience during a theme park visit. A mixed research protocol combining an ethnographic approach, leisure experience narratives, and phenomenological interviews is constructed. Because of the secluded nature of theme parks, smartphones play a key role during downtime periods and thus allow visitors to enhance their leisure experience through relational and hedonic use.