Overview

To what extent can an understanding of post-modernism be of use in examining the theory and practice of contemporary hospitality? In this chapter I will seek to introduce the post-modern debate and demonstrate how the questions raised by the concept are critical to an understanding of theory and research within the hospitality industry, in particular those associated with marketing and consumer behaviour. In order to achieve these aims I will identify the key characteristics of post-modernism, identify post-modernism in the contemporary hospitality environment and assess the implications of this for hospitality theory and practice.

This chapter argues that as marketing reflects economic and cultural changes in society, it is to be expected that features of post-modernism will be evidenced in our choice and consumption of goods, products and services. This argument is undertaken through a consideration of the role of post-modernism in marketing and consumer behaviour within the hospitality industry. It is argued that many of the features that distinguish post-modernism are applicable to the contemporary hospitality environment. As a result the chapter argues that post-modernism offers a means of conceptualizing the changes that are taking place in the industry today. Contemporary issues such as fragmentation of markets, the growth of strategic alliances, marketing allusions to tradition and authenticity and the growth of anarchistic marketing practice can, it is argued (Foxall and Goldsmith, 1994), be viewed through the perspective of the post-modern consumer of hospitality products and services.

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