Rethinking functionality and emotions in the
service consumption process: the case of
funeral services
Bernard Korai
Department of Agricultural Economics and Consumer, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, and
Nizar Souiden
Department of Marketing, Laval University, Quebec, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the service literature by investigating post-consumption evaluation in the context of
unwanted services. In particular, it intends to delineate the main characteristics of funeral services.
Design/methodology/approach – Given the lack of substantive literature on funeral services, a qualitative exploratory design was used from
in-depth interviews with ten managers of funeral services companies in Quebec (Canada).
Findings – The study shows that compared to other traditional services, funeral services are characterized by their strong emotiveness,
non-recurrence, irreversibility, uncommonness, high level of symbolism and personalization and emotion control of the service provider. The study
also argues that funeral services quality is strongly dependent on funeral houses’ integrated logistics, proximity and integrity.
Practical implications – Because of consumers’ lack of competency, funeral companies need to guide and educate consumers about the criteria
they should use to evaluate the service quality. Because funeral consumers are strongly emotion-driven at the purchase time, funeral services
providers should find the right balance of emotions to express. Thus, more staff training is needed.
Originality/value – Because funeral services are emotionally challenging and deal with grief and distressed clients, the present study contributes
in shedding light on service quality assessment in the funeral industry. Although they have some characteristics of traditional services (intangibility,
perishability and variability), funeral services are also different in many ways.
Keywords Emotion, Service quality, Service recovery, Death, Funeral services, Unsought services
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
may find it difficult to determine whether they are receiving
the best medical treatment (Grace and O’Cass, 2004). Grace
and O’Cass (2004) add that consumers’ lack of knowledge
leads them to rely on the expertise of others.
Evaluation of the service quality becomes even more
complex when emotions are involved. A number of studies
emphasize on the role of emotions in sectors such as banking,
lodging, restauration and health care (Chang et al., 2014; Hur
et al., 2015; Kozub et al., 2015; Maguire and Geiger, 2015).
Although many of these examples are not linked to hedonic
consumption, researchers succeeded in explaining the impact
of emotions on satisfaction, quality perception, loyalty,
purchase intention, etc. (Chebat and Slusarczyk, 2005;
Crittenden et al., 2014; Koenig-Lewis and Palmer, 2014;
Ladhari et al., 2011).
This study focuses on funeral services for two main reasons.
First, emotions are pervasive in funeral services before, during
and after consumption, and therefore, examining consumers’
emotions in this context may shed more light on how they
affect consumers’ purchasing decisions. In fact, when it comes
to funeral services, it would seem that emotions are differently
expressed, regulated and processed than during other services
Service quality that meets consumer expectations can lead to
positive cognition (e.g. awareness), affection (e.g. consumer
attachment) and behavior (e.g. purchase intentions)
(Al-Hawari, 2014; Anderson et al., 2008; Black et al., 2014;
Chavan and Ahmad, 2013; Choy et al., 2012; Liang et al.,
2013; Singh and Kaur, 2011). Among a myriad of factors that
determine service quality, scholars are interested in postconsumption and emotions. Post-consumption is reported to
be a major element in gauging consumers’ service experiences
(Chang et al., 2014; Chua et al., 2015; Comm and LaBay,
1996; Grace and O’Cass, 2001; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000),
but as suggested by some scholars (Du Plessis, 2009; Gelbrich
and Sattler, 2014; Lacey, 2012; Lamb et al., 2010; Oliver,
2015; Ostrom and Iaccobucci, 1995; Ottenbacher and
Harrington, 2010; Tim et al., 2010), evaluating these
experiences is not an easy task because consumers are
uncertain of how to assess the quality of the services they
purchase. For instance, in the health-care industry, consumers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm
Received 30 March 2015
Revised 14 October 2015
16 May 2016
8 November 2016
Accepted 15 November 2016
Journal of Services Marketing
31/3 (2017) 247–264
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045]
[DOI 10.1108/JSM-03-2015-0132]
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Rethinking functionality and emotions
Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
(such as banking and leisure). Second, some authors claim
that services must be consumed before the beneficiary can
assess them (Comm and Labay, 1996; Grace and O’Cass,
2004; Mortimer and Pressey, 2013). The consumers
purchasing funeral services are often the mourners. Therefore,
it is important to know how the latter evaluate unsought
services provided to the main recipient (i.e. the deceased).
Based on in-depth interviews with ten managers of funeral
services companies, this study aims to highlight the
particularities of mortuary services as a research area and also
to further the understanding of this growing industry. It
should be noted that the few marketing studies on death or
related topics (Bonsu and Belk, 2003) have focused on the
ritual and symbolic aspects of the death concept. With respect
to research on the funeral services industry, to the best of our
knowledge, only Theron and Ebersohn (2013) were interested
in the pecularities of funeral services as compared to other
types of services. However, they focused only on the unwanted
aspect of funeral services. Compared to previous studies, our
research is groundbreaking in its attempt to explore a broader
list of relevant features characterizing funeral services. Second
and when compared to Theron and Ebersohn (2013), our
study investigates the differentiating features that may affect
the management of funeral services throughout the service
delivery process: the preparation, production, delivery and
evaluation (e.g. the role of emotions). Third, this study
provides insights into the managerial implications of funeral
services. For example, given the undesirability and
unfamiliarity of funeral services, it would appear that
consumers have difficulty gauging these products and so their
evaluation of them is difficult, subjective, emotion-driven and
complex. Making the service more tangible would be one way
of
facilitating
consumers’
objective
and
rational
differentiation.
In the remainder of this paper, an overview of the funeral
services industry is provided, followed by the theoretical
background, as presented in the existing literature on death.
Then, the methodology for the qualitative study is described
and the results are discussed. The study’s theoretical and
managerial implications are discussed, as well as its
limitations. Avenues for future research are also suggested.
synonymous with the “material end of the body and the social
self” (Seale, 1998, p. 33) (i.e. a person’s identity construction
ceases upon death) (Levinson, 1978; Riley, 1983). For all
these reasons, when individuals are faced with death, they feel
powerless and hopeless (Dobscha, 2015; Levy, 2015). This
fear and vulnerability are the source of many cognitive
defenses used to alleviate death anxiety. For example, most
individuals prefer to push the idea of death aside to get more
out of life (i.e. they do not want to think about death in their
everyday lives) (Baudrillard, 1993; Bloch and Parry, 1982;
Bonsu and Belk, 2003; Hirschman, 1990). This avoidance is
quite obvious in many cultures (e.g. in some African cultures)
where anything related to death is taboo (DeSpelder and
Strickland, 2002; Leming and Dickinson, 2002; Stone and
Sharpley, 2008).
The way people perceive death in Western societies has
changed significantly in recent decades. Traditional funerals
are being replaced by more personalized death ritual
experiences that reflect a culture of individuality and a strong
interest in celebrating “the self” (Bryant-Jefferies, 2006;
Emke, 2002). A growing emphasis is now placed on the
“celebration of life” instead of “mourning the dead”. Thus,
funerals become a positive experience, a means for a
retrospective fulfillment of the deceased’s identity through a
review of his/her life (Emke, 2002). This paradigm shift in
funeral celebrations has implications for how death is
perceived as a commodity in contemporary societies. At
present, the “death world” offers a variety of products and
services before, during and after death tailored to consumers’
needs (St-Onge, 2001; Trompette and Boissin, 2002).
According to some authors Mandel and Smeesters (2008),
Radford and Bloch (2012), Rindfleisch et al. (2009),
Zaleskiewicz et al. (2013), this commodification of death
reveals individuals’ willingness to symbolically overcome their
death anxiety through consumption (i.e. death is perceived as
an obstacle to people’s unconscious desire of immortality).
Objects of consumption surrounding death celebration
therefore appear to be symbolic vehicles consumers use to
preserve their self-identity after death (Baudrillard, 1993;
Gentry et al., 1995; Kates, 2001; Mandel and Smeesters,
2008; Metzcalf and Hutington, 1991; Radford and Bloch,
2012; Rindfleisch et al., 2009; Zaleskiewicz et al., 2013). An
extensive literature highlights the symbolic role of
consumption objects in preserving consumers’ identity (Belk,
1988; Foster, 2007; Gobe, 2010; Hirschman, 1990; Holt,
2004; Klein, 2010). Urien (2003, 2007) shows how, through
the consumption of end-of-life products (pre-arranged
funerals, death insurance, etc.), consumers personally engage
in a quest for symbolic immortality by purchasing generative
(green products) or self-extending goods (time capsules).
These products are deeply imbued with signs, meanings and
symbols that allow individuals to shape their aspirational
identity or pursue their post-mortem self-identity project
(Bonsu and DeBerry-Spence, 2008; Douglas, 1992; Holt,
1995; McCraken, 1986).
Bonsu and Belk (2003) argue that individuals’ need for
self-immortality after death can also be analyzed at a collective
level. In their examination of Asante death-ritual behaviors in
Ghana, they show how funeral rituals are imbued with
symbolic representations that allow the living to confer on the
1.1 The commodification of death
Death is undoubtedly one of the flagship topics in social
sciences, drawing a tremendous amount of attention from
anthropologists, philosophers, sociologists and other
academics. For example, googling the word “death” brings up
over 800 million references (Levy, 2015). The keen interest in
this phenomenon can be explained by its ubiquitous and
disturbing nature. Indeed, death is the only certainty in life
(without exception, everyone dies), and it generally brings the
cessation of our dreams and hopes (Wong, 2002).
In many cultures, death is still perceived as a traumatic
experience involving negative perceptions, such as fear,
anxiety, pain and sadness (Bonsu and Belk, 2003; Burris and
Rempel, 2004; Castano and Dechesne, 2005; Galloni, 2012;
Levy, 2015; Lynch, 2004).
As Wong (2002) argued, death challenges our sense of
control because we do not know what happens after death.
Consistent with the theory on identity, death is also
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Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
dead a timeless status and extend their identity beyond death.
In Asante society, funerals are a lavish display of wealth and
families spend great sums on food, drink, music, expensive
clothes, etc. to symbolically pay their last respects to the
deceased (in fact, the more expensive the funerals, the more
the deceased is honored). This idea is consistent with
Malinowski’s work (1954), which stipulates that although
death is theoretically perceived as a private act when it occurs,
it remains, through ritual celebration, a public event replete
with collective and social representations and meaning.
Numerous scholars (Austin, 2009; Berthold, 2009; de
Witte, 2003; Hunter, 2007; Jindra and Noret, 2011; Lee and
Vaughan, 2008; Reeves, 2011; Shabanowitz, 2013) report the
importance of ritual as a social and symbolic marker. Across
cultures, people need rituals to mark the occurrence of
significant events (such as birthdays, births, school
graduations and marriages). Ritual is all the more essential
when it comes to death, given this latter’s high level of
symbolism and emotiveness.
Some death sociologists (Déchaux, 2001; Thomas, 1978;
Vernant, 1989; Volant, 1996) perceive funerals as a symbolic
space of sociability and communication between the living and
the dead. Indeed, as stipulated by Durkheim (1912), funeral
rituals are “a duty imposed by the group” through which
individuals provide a collective response to the phenomenon
of death. They is also a space where the bereaved can express
their emotions and their love and respect for the deceased
(Doka, 1984; Lynch, 1977). According to Kastenbaum
(1977), funerals maintain social order as they function as
physical markers of community solidarity. Richmond (1990)
takes this idea further, showing that funeral rituals, through
different forms of communication (prayers, verbal expression,
music, telling stories, etc.) and practices (the care given to the
appearance of the deceased, securing a place for the burial or
cremation, etc.), enable individuals to face death and accept
its reality, thus allowing community members to challenge
their death anxiety while immortalizing the deceased in the
collective memory.
Despite the symbolic importance of funeral rituals, they
have long been handled by people with little or no competence
(Emke, 2002). For time immemorial, funerals rituals (the
washing, dressing, visitation and burying of the deceased)
were executed by friends, relatives or community members.
Since the emergence of a professionalized funeral services
industry, these tasks are relinquished to the “true experts” (i.e.
funeral homes).
(interviewing relatives to discuss the style of the funeral
tributes to the deceased, producing administrative documents,
etc.) the dead for burial or interment (IbisWorld, 2015).
Given the lack of official data, it is difficult to properly
estimate the scale of this market. However, the little available
information seems to suggest a growing industry. For
instance, in 2012, French customers spent over $2bn in their
funeral arrangements (Silbert, 2012). In the past 15 years, the
French funeral services sector has experienced sustained
growth, increasing by 2 per cent in volume and 50 per cent in
value (Le Nouvel Economiste, 2012). This market in the UK
is presently worth about 1bn, and the industry is expected
to record 3.3 per cent growth in coming years
(CompaniesandMarkets.com, 2013). These performances are
also observable in North America where some funeral
markets, such as that in the USA and the province of Quebec
(the geographical context of this study), show unprecedented
growth. According to a study conducted by Forbes (2014), the
US funeral market is currently estimated to be worth around
$20bn annually. In the same vein, a recent report released by
the Institut National de la Statistique du Québec (2011) reveals
that the Quebec mortuary market is estimated at $348m, and
it is expected to double by 2050 because of the funeral
market’s captive demand (people die regardless of all other
events) and the aging population.
2. Theoretical background
2.1 Some particularities of funeral services
The death industry shares many similarities with other service
sectors (banking, lodging, restauration, etc.). Indeed, funeral
services are also characterized by intangibility (i.e. funeral
services are immaterial by nature, and families cannot hold or
touch the delivered experience), inseparability (i.e. funeral
rituals are produced, executed and consumed simultaneously,
and generally in the same place), perishability (i.e. the
proceeding of funeral services is expected to take place in a
defined period of time. Even when a pre-arrangement funeral
is contracted, the latter ends once the deceased contractor is
buried or cremated), heterogeneity (i.e. as funeral services
delivery is essentially an experience, it is difficult for funeral
homes to make each ritual identical because individuals
consume death in various cultural, religious and symbolical
ways) and lack of ownership (i.e. the bereaved families will
temporarily hire funeral homes’ competencies, expertise and
logistics for managing the mourning of their loved one)
(Edgett and Parkinson, 1993; Zeithaml et al., 1985). Despite
these points in common, funeral services differ substantially
from traditional services in many others aspects.
1.2 The funeral service industry
After cars and homes, funeral rituals are the third-highest
monetary investment of Western households (Pilon, 2012). In
North America, for example, an average funeral costs between
$8,000 and $10,000 (Forbes, 2014). Elsewhere in the world,
particularly in Ghana, it is not uncommon for people to spend
up to $20,000 to celebrate the dearly departed (CNN, 2014).
By definition, the funeral services industry encompasses all
the activities related to transporting (escorting mourners to the
funeral chapel, transporting the casket from the service to
cemetery, etc.), preparing (grooming and keeping the corpse
for viewing, organizing the after-service reception, serving as
liaison with clergy or celebrants, etc.) and managing
2.1.1 Unwanted services
Given their nature, many authors (Badger, 2008; Fam et al.,
2004; Lynch, 2004) consider funeral services as a separate
type of service to which consumers do not want to be attracted
(i.e. consumers generally tend to avoid all advertising stimuli
related to the death industry) or express a strong reluctance to
commit to them. Xu et al. (2004) refer to death services as
“unwanted services” (such as medical services, pornography
and abortion) because, for reasons that include delicacy,
decency, morality and even fear, death services tend to elicit
reactions of aversion, pain or disgust from customers.
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Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
Customers’ avoidance of this type of service may explain why
very little is known about the “ins and outs” of the funeral
business. Indeed, this industry operates away from high
visibility arenas and under a strict code of silence about its
practices. In their seminal study, Schwartz et al. (1986) point
out other specificities of funeral services as “unsought”
services. According to these authors, the purchase of mortuary
services cannot be avoided and takes place under time
pressure constraints. These services are also confronted with
negative demand (i.e. no one goes to funeral homes unless
there is a death). For all of these reasons, it is often difficult for
funeral homes to manage their relationships with their
customers.
effect on the bereaved consumers’ decision-making. Grief and
other emotions make consumers less sensitive to pricing as
they are in an altered state and less apt to process information
on cost and other decisions. Families generally assume the
funeral bill without question.
2.1.3 Service recovery
The literature shows that, although all service companies
strive for “zero defect” service (Berry and Parasuraman,
1991), this goal is unrealistic because failures often occur in
service delivery (Fisk, 2009; Orsingher et al., 2010; Weun
et al., 2004). Services managers resort to recovery actions for
repairing inequities and frustration caused to consumers
(Bitner et al., 1990; Smith et al., 1999; Tax et al., 1998). For
example, a restaurant might offer a free meal to a disgruntled
consumer to make up for its poor service. Many scholars agree
on the benefits service providers can reap if they offer good
service recovery, including building ongoing relationships with
customers who were initially unhappy at their first encounter
(Goodwin and Ross, 1992; Maxham, 2001; Smith et al.,
1999), greater satisfaction (Boschoff, 2005; McCollough
et al., 2000; Miller et al., 2000; Weun et al., 2004), trust (Tax
et al., 1998, Weun et al., 2004), commitment (Tax et al., 1998;
Vazquez-Casilles et al., 2010) and positive word-of-mouth
(Maxham, 2001; Ruyter and Wetzels, 2000).
A service recovery strategy, however, is less straightforward
in the case of funeral services. In this industry, errors in the
service delivery process are not easily reversible and may have
a negative impact on the bereaved family’s overall evaluation.
For instance, a very benign incident, such as playing the wrong
piece of music or forgetting to display certain mortuary flowers
at the calling hours, might have a very harmful consequence
on the service provider’s overall reputation and image. The
irreversibility of funeral services and their high degree of
emotiveness make consumers inclined to systematically
exaggerate the importance of even very small failures in the
delivery of funeral services, perceiving them to be great and
severe. When such a service failure occurs, even the most
adequate service recovery hardly might mitigate the emotional
and symbolic loss of the bereaved, as funeral rituals are
generally their last memories of their loved ones. This is
consistent with prospect theory and mental accounting
principles, which state that losses from service failure are
weighted more strongly than potential gains likely to be
received during service recovery (Kahneman and Tversky,
1979; Smith et al., 1999; Thaler, 1985).
This places a heavy burden on funeral service staff,
especially for back-office employees such as embalmers who
give the deceased an attractive last look (make-up, repairing
damaged skin, etc.) when families have opted for a viewing. As
Guay (2002) points out, the aim of this work is to give the
deceased an appearance of someone who is sleeping in the goal
of easing the pain of the bereaved. Embalmers are constantly
under pressure to remove all physical marks (wounds, burns,
open fractures, etc.) that could remind the bereaved of death.
2.1.2 The role of emotions
Because mortuary services are intangible and experiential by
nature, funeral service customers tend to define their
satisfaction by the emotional attributes of the consumption of
the purchased service. Extensive literature in service research
also emphasizes on the benefits to service providers of
delivering emotional experiences to consumers (Gardner,
1985; Kraiger et al., 1999; Mano and Oliver, 1993; Oliver,
2015; Palmer, 2010). For instance, arousing positive emotions
in a service encounter may lead to positive consumer
satisfaction (Brown and Sulfer-Azaroff, 1994; HenningThurau et al., 2006; Lin and Lin, 2011; Mattila and Enz,
2002; Menon and Dubé, 2000). In fact, the role of emotions
in service management is so important that in most services,
front-line employees are regularly trained and required to
display positive emotions during service delivery through
pleasant facial expressions and voice tones (Hochschild, 1983;
Tsai, 2001). Employees displaying positive emotions can
influence consumers’ initial or pre-consumption moods,
making them more positive during or after the service
experience (Hatfield et al., 1992; Henning-Thurau et al.,
2006; Mattila and Enz, 2002; Palmer, 2010).
In the context of funeral services, however, the service offer
usually occurs when the bereaved has experienced the loss of
a loved one. The suffering caused by death is intense because
it generally breaks social bonds, symbols and memories shared
with the deceased (Colombel, 1994; Lofland, 1982; Mettayer
and Lemieux, 1985) and causes psychological and physical
suffering (Lifton, 1975). Therefore, contrary to findings for
other service sectors, arousing positive emotions in a funeral
service encounter might not lead to positive consumer
satisfaction. This requires particular effort of funeral services
providers. Because of their specific context, funeral services
providers must know how to regulate their own emotions in
their interactions with their distressed and grieving
consumers. Confirming this view, Bernard (2006) reports that
funeral employees must convey the image of someone able to
maintain control over delicate situations, act in an emotionally
safe way and inspire trust to act appropriately, empathetically
and unhesitatingly.
Bacqué (2007) adds that funeral arrangements play an
important psychological role because they allow the bereaved
to channel their pain while also maintaining symbolic and
cultural connections with the deceased. The decision to use a
funeral home tends to be made very quickly, given the negative
and painful perceptions associated with death (Bertrand et al.,
2006). This context of high emotiveness has a destabilizing
2.1.4 Symbolism
In many cultures, death rituals are sacred and imbued with
strong symbolism (Durkheim, 1912; Gentry et al., 1995;
Malinowski, 1954). Hertz (1960, p. 27) describes death as a
symbolic representation that holds “specific social meaning for
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Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
the social consciousness”. In their study, Bonsu and Belk
(2003) show that rituals surrounding death celebration have a
high level of symbolism and cultural meanings involving the
dead and the living. They add that these rituals are also
explicit means used by the bereaved to reinforce the dead’s
individuality within the group identity:
how emotions are managed within it may provide a new
avenue for better understanding the intricacies of this type of
service.
2.2 Post-consumption evaluation and emotions
management in mortuary services
In the majority of traditional services, post-purchase
evaluation is usually done by consumers themselves. Because
they directly receive or use the service, consumers have, to
some extent, the necessary expertise to evaluate experiential
attributes associated with the service consumption (Comm
and Labay, 1996; Grace and O’Cass, 2004). By contrast, in
the funeral industry, although the service is often purchased by
the bereaved, it is consumed by the deceased (e.g.
embalming). Even when the purchase is made by the
consumers themselves (i.e. pre-arrangement contracts),
funeral services are likely to be evaluated by the bereaved and
relatives. In addition, as mourners are not very familiar with
this type of service (e.g. a first-time encounter), it is difficult
for them to objectively assess it. Indeed, because of their
undesirability, funeral services are a kind of service that
consumers cannot evaluate once consumed (i.e. experiential
attributes) (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000). It may even be
difficult for consumers to evaluate the quality of the services
even a long time after purchase or consumption (i.e. credential
attributes) (Hsieh et al., 2005). For example, the bereaved
cannot know whether the injected formalin solution to
conserve the body was done properly or whether each aspect
of the care and hygienic treatment of the deceased’s body
before inhuming was appropriate.
Because of these characteristics, funeral services would
appear more risky for consumers or, in other words, the
purchase is generally made without the bereaved having
enough information about how the service works. In the
literature, many authors suggested that consumers reduce
their perceptions of risk and uncertainty toward credenceoriented services by spending a significant amount of time
researching information (Mitra et al., 1999; Mortimer and
Pressey, 2013; Girard and Dion, 2010). However, the funeral
services industry is generally less suited to this approach
because the decision is made quickly (at least in the case of
sudden death, not when consumers pre-arrange their own
funerals). Moreover, delaying funeral rituals to look for the
best deals, for example, may be socially or culturally
unacceptable, given that this would reflect on the deceased
and his/her family image (i.e. a cheap funeral might be
perceived as a dishonor to the deceased).
To compensate for their lack of technical knowledge or
resources about the service, the bereaved rely on other cues or
heuristics, such as the service provider’s expertise (Fragale and
Heath, 2004; Mortimer and Pressey, 2013; Ngamvichaikit
and Beise-Zee, 2014). Juain and Posavac (2001) have noted
that for credence-oriented services, such as funeral services,
professional experts are considered to be a highly credible
source and a reliable cue of quality. Yet, as funeral homes
often fail to provide adequate information for informed
choices, the bereaved tend to focus their service evaluation on
peripheral routes, such as the feelings, affects and emotions
that result from their consumption experience. Emotion
management during the funeral experience delivery therefore
[. . .] Death-ritual consumption choices may facilitate mobility toward
consumer identity aspirations as they provide evidence to self and others
that the mourner is caring, sentimental, or from an illustrious family. As
material possessions have become markers of identity and social status,
consumption has become an effective vehicle for refining identities through
social symbolic dialogue (Bonsu and Belk, 2003, p. 42).
Many scholars have shown that individual consumption
behaviors are strongly influenced by their beliefs about death
and the afterlife (Alden and Cheung, 2000; Dechesne et al.,
2003; Landau et al., 2004). Christopher et al. (2007) find that
people cope with death through symbolic forms of
consumption, such as displaying a luxurious lifestyle that
enables them to convey an impression of immortality both to
themselves and to observers.
In Ghana, people bury their dead in “fantasy” coffins in the
shape of airplanes, pineapples, fish, eagles, etc., designed to
symbolize and express certain personal attributes of the
deceased. The coffin of a successful businessman might be
made to look like a Mercedes-Benz to express his social status
and standing within the community (deWitte, 2003). Some
people who believe in afterlife (reincarnation or spiritual
paradise) purchase products that are generative (e.g. green
products) or creative (e.g. arts and crafts) to immortalize their
self-concept among the living (Alden and Cheung, 2000).
Through these consumption patterns, people want to
communicate to others that they are still members of social
groups and that they symbolically survive beyond death. This
quest of symbolism is a strong sales argument used by funeral
homes to convince the bereaved to spend more money on
mortuary objects (e.g. caskets, flowers, the grave, the hearse,
etc.). By playing on their sense of guilt and gratitude, funeral
managers push the mourners into believing that spending
lavishly on funerals is the final measure of the esteem and
honor they hold for their dearly departed.
It is important to note that these characteristics are more
appropriate for bereaved and relatives purchasing funeral
services for the deceased. When the purchase is made by the
consumer himself in the case of pre-arrangement contract,
funeral services are perceived as desirable services. Indeed, the
consumer contracts the pre-arranged funeral services because
he/she does not want to saddle his/her loved ones with onerous
and last-minute organization. As he/she enters the contract
him/herself, he/she takes time to make a rationale and more
informed purchase. Hence, the impact of emotions on
purchase is less intense, which reduces the risk to be
financially abused by unscrupulous funeral organizations.
Pre-arranged funeral contract also offers the advantage to be
less demanding for funeral organizations in terms of service
recovery strategy as their staff has time to cope perfectly with
consumer’s expectations upon his/her death occurs.
Although the above-mentioned characteristics (unwanted
services, service recovery and symbolism) are the most cited in
the literature for differentiating the mortuary industry from
other service industries (e.g. banking, restauration and health
care), the way the funeral services experience is evaluated and
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Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
becomes a key factor in understanding of consumers’
post-consumption satisfaction. In light of this particularity of
this industry, this study attempted to delineate the main
features of funeral services related to the quality assessment of
post-consumption experience in the mortuary industry and
the strategies used by funeral services providers to satisfy their
consumers’ needs.
the consumer of funeral services?”; “Are there any market
segmentation criteria used by funeral services companies and
what is (are) the profile(s) of funeral consumers?”; “How do
consumers select a funeral service provider over another?”;
and “How do consumers assess the quality of a funeral
service?” The last section of the interview guide addressed the
strategies funeral service providers adopt to cater to specific
consumers’ needs. This section was comprised of 11
questions, such as: “Do you think that religious and cultural
values are (still) relevant to the offering of funeral services?”;
“What are the key elements of personal training in the funeral
services business?”; and “How funeral homes adapt their
offerings?”
3. Methodology
3.1 Qualitative study and interview guide
Except a few studies (Blayac et al., 2012; Bonsu and Belk,
2003; Gentry et al., 1995; Williams, 2012), service research
rarely covers funeral services (Theron and Ebersohn, 2013).
Given the lack of marketing literature on funeral services, a
qualitative exploratory approach is the most appropriate way
to shed light on this service industry (Doyon et al., 2006;
Whiting and Williams, 2013). As stated by Merriam (2002,
p. 6), exploratory research is indicated when the researcher “is
interested in understanding how participants make meaning of
a situation or phenomenon [. . .] In conducting a basic
[exploratory] qualitative study, you seek to discover and
understand a phenomenon, a process, the perspectives and
worldviews of the people involved, or a combination of these”.
Most studies dealing with death as a consumption object in
consumer research (Bonsu and Belk, 2003; Bonsu and
DeBerry-Spence, 2008; Darmody and Bonsu, 2008; Gentry
et al., 1995) use qualitative research as their methodology.
Instead of collecting data from consumers of funeral
services, this study opted to interview managers of funeral
homes. Two main reasons explain this choice. First, directly
asking bereaved consumers about their funeral consumption
experience might raise ethical concerns by reviving their
sadness and painful memories. Additionally, directly asking
bereaved consumers might have raised the issues of
consumers’ consent or availability to participate in the study.
Second, managers of funeral homes provide us with richer and
deeper information on this particular service industry. As field
experts, they are frequently in contact with consumers who
display various expectations and decision-making processes.
Interviewing these experts provides us with a better
understanding of funeral consumers (Okoli and Pawlowski,
2004). To control potential biases related to the sample
selection, only funeral managers with more than five years of
professional experience were contacted (according to
experienced funeral directors, a manager has only gained
thorough knowledge of the industry after five years).
Respondents had between 8 and 20 years of professional
experience.
The interview guide was composed of three main sections
(Appendix). Section 1 was intended to understand the
characteristics of the funeral industry and its key actors. In
total, 14 questions were covered in this section. Examples of
questions are “According to you, what are the particularities of
the funeral services industry when compared to other
industries (banking, insurance, education, etc.)?”; “Who are
the key players and what are their main tasks in the funeral
services industry?”; and “What are the key skills needed to
enter the funeral industry?” Section 2 was composed of 11
questions and aimed to understand funeral consumers’
behavior. Examples of questions are “How can you describe
3.2 Study context and the funeral homes interviewed
The study took place in Québec, the capital of the Canadian
province of Quebec. According to the Fédération des
Coopératives Funéraires du Québec (2001), we can
distinguish three main types of funeral organizations:
cooperatives, nationally or internationally owned consortiums
and family businesses; 60 per cent of these are family
businesses; 15 per cent are cooperatives; and 15 per cent are
nationally or internationally owned consortiums (Lessard,
2014). Family businesses generate the most profit, at about 70
per cent of market profit, compared to 16 per cent for
cooperatives and 14 per cent for consortiums (Baril, 2013).
Consortiums focus on higher-income market segments
compared to the other two types of providers. In addition, they
have more financial resources, allowing them to offer a wider
range of funeral services (chapels, florists, crematoriums,
reception rooms, caskets, cemeteries, etc.) at the same
location.
In Quebec, there are about 300 funeral organizations
(Lessard, 2014). We selected the 20 largest in the industry,
and 10 agreed to participate in our study (Table I). They are
the region’s industry leaders (in terms of cooperatives,
nationally or internationally owned consortiums and family
businesses) and/or have an established reputation. Most
organizations that chose not to participate in this study were
funeral cooperatives. These funeral services providers usually
have the same management strategy, regardless of their size or
volume. Funeral cooperatives group several funeral companies
adhering to a network and the same management guidelines
for production, delivery, etc. As they work like franchises,
interviewing one or many cooperatives would not affect the
nature or quality of the gathered information. Except for one
funeral company (a cooperative) whose manager was
physically unavailable and therefore emailed the interview
responses, all other interviews were conducted in person in the
funeral home offices. Interviews lasted 1.5 h on average.
Following recommendations by several qualitative scholars
(Ahrens and Chapman, 2006; Heung et al., 2008), the funeral
companies’ managers received a copy of the interview
questions before the interview so that they might familiarize
themselves with the research questions, validate the interview
guide content and question any potential ambiguities.
Because of the interpretative approach advocated in this
study, data codification has been done using an on-going
process. All coding was conducted by one of the authors from
a phenomenology perspective. The main codes emerged
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Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
Table I Sample characteristics
Funeral organization
Identification Contact
Gender
National/international-owned consortiums
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
M
F
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
Family businesses
Funeral cooperatives
Director
Marketing and sales manager
Marketing and sales manager
Director-owner
Director-owner
Director-owner
Director
Director
Director
Director of operations
during successive interviews with respondents (i.e. funeral
managers). Given the recency of research in funeral services,
there is no doubt that our subjectivity was involved in the
identification of the categorization scheme (Gendron and
Spira, 2010; Huberman and Miles, 1991). High-order codes
were determined from cross-transcript comparisons between
respondents’ discourses. When an idea or thought recurred in
respondents’ transcripts, it was chosen as a new category.
Given the relatively small sample size, the categorization
process was limited to a first-order coding. As suggested by
Gendron and Spira (2010), to reinforce the trustworthiness of
analysis, all codes and their interpretations have been sent to
respondents for validation or modification. No major
comments were made by the five funeral managers when
contacted by phone the following week. Seven codes are
identified and are presented in detail in the results section.
No. of years of professional experience
10
8
6
14
9
15
8
12
18
10
Mourners are seeking emotional connection with funeral
services companies through empathy, caring and
individualized attention. One funeral manager reports that
relationships are strongly valued by bereaved families. These
later seek a trusted funeral home to guide them through the
mourning process and alleviate their pain. The importance of
intangible criteria in funeral services evaluation is summed up
by the director of H funeral cooperative:
When people come to us, they are looking for someone to welcome,
comfort, and guide them.
The funeral service staff must meet the bereaved family’s
needs for psychological assistance and support. But,
employees of funeral homes often have little or no expertise
in psychological assistance and must “learn on the job” to
cope with consumers’ emotions. Because of the centrality of
emotiveness in funeral service encounters, the interviewed
managers perceive themselves not simply as vendors
but as suppliers of technical solutions and emotional
know-how and providers of a supportive environment
where people can say goodbye to their loved ones. These
reasons explain why commercial concerns, such as price
and payment, are at first overshadowed or ignored during
the service encounter between funeral staff and the
bereaved families.
Because of the particular context of funeral services,
emotions seem not to have a linear relationship with consumer
attitudes and behavior. According to the interviewees,
emotions are a delicate issue in funeral services management
because of the state of mind of the service buyer. The
marketing director of B internationally owned consortium
comments:
4. Results and discussion
Although, currently, death is gradually being commoditized
(e.g. the opening of funeral hypermarkets in France), our
informants say that it remains an atypical product or service in
the way it is produced, delivered, consumed and evaluated.
4.1 The strong emotiveness of the service recipient
and the emotion control of the service provider
Based on our interviews, one of the main features of funeral
services is the context of the service itself and the role
emotions play in this context. When death occurs, funeral
homes become the main point of contact for families.
Generally, the bereaved and the funeral services providers are
in contact just hours after death. Thus, their first meeting
occurs in a deeply emotional time, and one of the first tasks is
to remove the deceased’s body from a private home, hospital
or perhaps an accident scene. Funeral services employees have
both complex and delicate tasks; indeed, the way they deliver
these services and manage people’s suffering can help the
bereaved overcome their grief:
Expressing any positive feelings (e.g. crying in empathy with the bereaved
family) or negative emotion (e.g. laughing unintentionally at the sight of the
deceased’s clothing) can have immediate and irreversible consequences on
the perceived quality of the delivered service. Funeral services employees
must control their emotions by adopting appropriate emotional attitudes
and behavior during service delivery: not too distant and cold but not too
compassionate or fake.
Buying a funeral is not like going to the store to buy a refrigerator. In our
industry, people come to us because they are experiencing grief and deep
loss (Director, H funeral cooperative).
This is a quite the challenge. Moreover, the perception of what
constitutes appropriate behavior may differ from one
employee to the next and from one member of the bereaved
family to another. Therefore, funeral services employees must
regulate their emotions and neutralize any action likely to
hinder their ability to properly deliver the service.
We do not only focus on organizing the funeral rituals. However, we need
also to be experts in emotional management of grief. Knowing what to say
to the bereaved to alleviate their suffering and sorrow and ensure them about
our ability to provide the best experience possible for the final good-byes to
their loved ones (Director and owner, E family business).
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Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
4.2 The unusual nature of the service
The unusual nature of the service is strongly emphasized on by
funeral managers. Unlike other services, such as restauration
and lodging, where consumers can cancel, change, renew or
return the offer, in the funeral services, there is almost no
return point once funeral services are offered or consumed.
This is perhaps because of two main reasons. First, consumers
are not familiar with this type of service and therefore are not
confident in their assessment of the service quality (e.g. unable
to know whether the injected formalin solution to conserve the
body was done properly). This may withhold them from
contesting the service, rejecting it and asking for a substitute or
a refund. Second, consumers want the process to end as
quickly as possible. Thus, the faster the funeral process is
wrapped up, the greater the consumers’ relief.
Because the services are non-recurring and consumers want
the painful process to end quickly, post-purchase evaluation is
often neglected. For some authors, services in this industry are
like “fast-food funerals” characterized by the willingness of
bereaved families to quickly process their grief (Lessard, 2014;
Lévesque, 2009). A growing number of families are choosing
to forego some ritual ceremonies, such as opting for cremation
often within 24 h of death instead of laying out the deceased
for viewing and burial. The faster the service, the quicker the
deceased go to their final resting place and life for the bereaved
moves on:
one of the interviewed funeral managers, error is unacceptable
because incidents are automatically and severely accentuated:
Compared to other conventional services, the margin of error in the funeral
services is zero. This is because once the delivery process begins, it is not
possible to go back and start over (Director and owner, E family business).
This is consistent with prospect theory and mental accounting
principles, which state that during service recovery, losses
from service failure are weighted more strongly than potential
gains (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979; Smith et al., 1999;
Thaler, 1985). This places a heavy burden on the funeral staff
(front- and back-office employees) in charge of providing a
good mortuary experience. However, the irrelevance of the
service failure should not characterize the whole funeral
service process because it is highly dependent on the stage
of service delivery. For instance, in the final stages of the
funeral service delivery process (i.e. when the family and
relatives come to pay the last tribute to the deceased before
burial or cremation), “service recovery” may be less possible
because emotions are at their most intense. However, in the
early stages of the process, error might be more easily
recoverable because the emotional impact of the failure is less
intense and does not directly affect the physical appearance or
the dignity of the deceased. For example, during a first visit to
the funeral home, the bereaved family members might wait for
a long time before meeting the funeral manager. This “error”
can be repaired by presenting excuses, giving discounts, etc.
Many families prefer funerals without viewing the deceased as a means of
denying death. For them, moving on quickly imply to get to the end of the
funeral process as fast as we can (Director, A international-owned
consortium).
4.5 A high level of symbolic and personalized services
Funeral services are characterized by a high level of symbolism
and personalization. As stated by the director of I funeral
cooperative:
Today, there is much more cremation than embalming because families are
increasingly anxious to quickly put an end to their grief (Director and owner,
D family business).
The funeral ritual becomes a symbolic means of emotional attachment to
the deceased person. Bereaved families express this by writing anecdotes,
bringing photos and telling stories of times shared with the deceased.
4.3 The consumers’ inability with the service
In most cases, consumers go to funeral homes without fully
knowing what service they want. This lack of familiarity is
accentuated by the fact that the number of substitute products
and services to mortuary services is very limited or even absent
(i.e. demand becomes inelastic) because of the unusual nature
of the purchase. Thus, there is asymmetrical competency
between the funeral service provider and consumers, with the
latter tending to completely rely on the expertise of the former
to shape their expectations and decisions. For example, when
a funeral company sets the price of a service, many consumers
are unequipped to evaluate the fairness of the price-quality
ratio simply by lack of experience with these services and of
point of comparison. This confirms Hoffman and Bateson’s
(1997) words that the inability of consumers to really know
the various aspects of the service renders them less sensitive to
price:
Currently, traditions are being replaced by new forms of
secular rituals that express individuals’ need to reinvent
funeral ceremonies to reflect their personality, tastes, hobbies
and lifestyle. This is no exception in Quebec, where the
ceremony location (not in funeral homes), décor, look (the
deceased’s preferred clothing and make-up), music and
audio-visual presentations (more photos, videos collages, the
deceased’s preferred tunes, etc.) of mourning rituals are
increasingly tailored to individual preferences (Service
Canada, 2013). According to the Corporation des
Thanatologues du Québec, funerals now feature ice skates,
golf clubs and motorcycles exhibited near the coffin to reflect
the earthly life of the deceased (Verville, 2009).
The interviewees add that since the “Quiet Revolution” of
the 1960s that brought sweeping economic, social and cultural
changes, Quebec society has become more secular, and the
result is a dramatic drop in the number of priests, nuns and
public religious symbols involved in funeral provision. Church
attendance has dropped from more than 90 per cent before
1960 to 6 per cent in 2008, the lowest of any Western society
(Yakabuski, 2009). This social revolution has certainly
affected funeral practices, which up until 1960 were defined
by Catholicism.
Given these huge changes in the mortuary sector,
consumers’ perceptions, expectations and evaluations of
funeral services have changed. Consumers are more
Because mortuary services are an atypical consumption, consumers are
generally unfamiliar with their functioning. Whether a pre-arranged funeral
contract or not, consumers are inclined to fully rely on the competency and
expertise of funeral services providers to explain or guide them through the
various steps leading up to the burial or cremation of the deceased (Director
of operations, I funeral cooperative).
4.4 The irreversibility of the service
Funeral services are generally the last consumption of the
deceased. For this reason, mourners tend to attribute great
importance to every detail of the funeral rituals. As noted by
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Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
demanding and seek more value from their investment
(O’Rourke et al., 2011). Realizing that they must be more
driven by their customers than by their products, funeral
service companies are now offering bereaved families more
personalized value packages. One interviewee stated that the
funeral services industry is in a new era in which traditional
ways of mourning are being reinvented. In this new context,
funeral services companies and bereaved families alike are
using a “trial and error” approach to define the best way to
offer and receive customized services, all the while respecting
funeral rites.
The ability of funeral services companies to offer
personalized funeral services aligned with the bereaved
family’s expectations and contemporary lifestyle is now an
evaluation criterion. In fact, to stay competitive, companies
must innovate and adapt their offerings. “Extras”, such as a
space for children to play, handicapped access and shelters for
burial in the case of inclement weather, are now commonplace
and longer considered special.
Green funeral rituals is another such example, according to
the interviewed funeral managers. As bereaved families may
now ask for eco-friendly cremation and burial, the alkaline
hydrolysis technique is increasingly offered as an alternative to
conventional cremation. In the same vein, many funeral
services companies now offer biodegradable coffins. The
interviewed managers of funeral cooperatives added that in
response to consumers’ demand for eco-friendly funerals, they
began the “heritage project” to plant trees to compensate
greenhouse gas emissions caused by funeral vehicles, mortuary
processions, etc.
The interviewees also emphasized on the importance of
funeral services companies performing funeral rites aligned
with the values, culture and customs of the bereaved families
who want these strictly respected by funeral staff. This makes
the work of funeral managers and staff difficult, as specific
training and preparation are needed to properly respond to the
wide spectrum of needs in a multicultural society, such as in
Quebec where customers adhere to Buddhist, Christian,
syncretic traditions or other religions. One director-owner of
the F family funeral business said:
Furthermore, as the death of a loved one often occurs
suddenly (except, of course, for palliative care patients), the
family members may not be prepared to face this change and
may be overwhelmed by the number of decisions to be made.
Offering a service package is considered to be a competitive
advantage and a value-added feature in the mortuary industry.
Thus, offering extensive logistics eases the bereaved families’
task and saves them time. To meet mourners’ needs for
convenience, practicality and time saving, funeral services
companies make substantial investments to integrate a variety
of funeral services, including chapels, crematoria, reception
rooms and caskets, available under one roof.
Providing logistical support can affect the funeral home’s
reputation and is considered a competitive advantage. Indeed,
logistics was perceived by our interviewees as an important
source of differentiation in the fiercely competitive market of
the funeral industry. Usually, these logistics are assessed
during or after the purchase of the service, but they are
increasingly taken into account in the pre-purchase stage. For
example, nationally or internationally owned funeral
consortiums (those with the greatest financial resources in this
industry) have built their communication strategies on
“all-in-one” services management. As described by one of the
funeral directors of A internationally owned consortium:
Our funeral home’s expertise is built on our ability to offer the whole range
of funeral services under one roof. We collect the deceased from the hospital
morgue, bring him/her to our business premises, and perform the inhuming.
A period of visitation is offered, followed by a religious ceremony. All this
occurs in our facilities.
All the interviewed funeral managers agreed that vertical
integration (“upstream” partnerships with manufacturers of
funeral products, such as coffins or cremation urns, and
“downstream” partnerships with cemeteries) and horizontal
integration (partners or subcontractors who expand their
funeral services offering) will be key to future success in the
industry. These business models will allow them to respond
more quickly and efficiently to consumer needs and maintain
profitability.
4.7 Integrity
Making a careful and informed decision can be difficult for the
bereaved, as they are unprepared in their role of consumer of
funeral services. In the past, funeral companies have been
criticized for their untrustworthy and unethical practices in
making money at the expense of the bereaved (Bowman,
1959; Davidson, 1951; Mitford, 1963; Simons, 1975).
According to our interviewees, integrity and ethics in funeral
services companies are important criteria in service quality
assessment. Consumers are no longer reluctant to question
prices or to comparison-shop among funeral services
providers. They expect funeral services companies to give
them accurate information on which to base their decisions:
Death is now approached on a case-by-case basis. The walls of our funeral
celebration room are decorated with many religious symbols. If families ask
us to replace certain symbols with those of their faith, we do it.
4.6 Service proximity and logistics
As individuals do not purchase funeral services frequently,
most bereaved families have only two criteria at the beginning
of the purchase decision process: finding the most
conveniently located funeral services and making the purchase
decision as quickly as possible. According to a study released
by the Fédération des Coopératives Funéraires du Québec, 41
per cent of respondents who face the sudden death of a loved
one say that they generally choose the funeral services
company nearest to their home (Le Soleil, 2013). Once
contacted, funeral services companies must respond quickly to
the demand of the bereaved. Bertrand et al. (2006) confirm
that funeral services generally occur under time constraints
because death, especially in Western cultures, is an event
people want to forget quickly; indeed, they wish to finalize the
funeral and move on.
When people come to a funeral home, they expect to be well guided and
informed by the service provider throughout the process. They also expect
to pay the right amount for what they get (Marketing manager, B funeral
consortium).
The relationships between the main characteristics of funeral
services, their challenges/opportunities and the strategies
funeral homes must take to meet consumer expectations are
presented in Table II below.
255
256
Mourners tend to attribute great importance to all
operation details related to funeral rituals
Any margin of error is unacceptable because any
incident is automatically and severely accentuated
The consumers are looking for funeral rituals in
accordance with accordance with their values, culture,
and customs
Consumers are willing to pay more and became price
insensitive if funeral rituals are manage according to
their symbolic perception of death
Irreversibility of the
service
High level of
symbolism and
personalized services
“The funeral ritual becomes a symbolic means of
emotional attachment to the deceased person
which is expressed through words when the
bereaved families have the desire to write about
the deceased or bring photos and tell about past
events shared with the deceased” (Male, Director
of funeral cooperative I)
“Because death is an atypical consumption,
consumers are generally unfamiliar with the
functioning of funeral services. Be it a
prearrangement funeral contract or not, consumers
are inclined to fully rely on the competency and
expertise of funeral services providers to explain or
guide them through the various steps leading to
burial or cremation of the deceased” (Male,
Director of operations funeral cooperative I)
“Compared to other conventional services, the
margin of error in the funeral services is zero
because once the delivery process begins, it is not
possible to go back and start over” (Male, Director/
owner of family business E)
Funeral homes must train employees on the most important
and critical processes in the service delivery in order to avoid
potential malfunctions during the service encounter
Laying down clear procedures and scripts for employees
Integrating the bereaved (gather frequently their opinion and
suggestions) in the various stages of funeral rituals execution
Specific training for funeral staff in order to better prepare
them to properly respond to a multicultural expectations of
consumers
Innovation by catching new trends in the industry (e.g.
green trend) and offering extra services such as space for
children, access for disabled people, and shelters for burial
in case of inclement weather are not considered special or
extra anymore
Funeral services companies want to create more objective and
rational sources of differentiation by increasingly “tangibilizing”
their offerings, including the design of the funeral home,
mortuary vehicle cleanliness, carriers dressing, comfort of
waiting room, funeral certification label, etc.
Demystifying the profession and offering more tangible criteria,
consumers will be able to easily assess funeral services
Offering under one roof a bundle of services (e.g. the chapel,
crematorium, reception room, daycare, and caskets) through
extensive logistics eases the task of the bereaved families and
saves them time
Funeral homes must avoid untrustworthy and unethical
practices by demonstrating their integrity through providing
to consumers accurate information for making decisions
Providing more objective criteria to consumers in order to
better “tangibilize” service offer
Funeral companies need to guide and educate them about
the criteria they should use to evaluate the service quality
“Today, there are much more cremation than
embalming because families are increasingly
pressed to quickly put an end to their grief” (Male,
Director/owner of family business D)
The number of substitute products/services to death
services is very limited or absent
There is asymmetric competency between the funeral
service provider and the consumer where the latter
tends to completely rely on the expertise of the former
to shape his expectations and decisions
Funeral homes must organize training sessions for their staff
in customer relationship marketing to better them for all
aspects including psychological support, empathy and
customer relationship management
Funeral services staff needs to regulate their emotions and
neutralize any actions likely to hinder their ability to
properly deliver the service
“The funeral world – it’s not like going to the shop
to buy a refrigerator. In our industry, people come
to us because they are experiencing grief and a
deeper loss” (Male, Director of Funeral cooperative
H)
The task of funeral services employees is both complex
and delicate. The way they deliver services while
managing people suffering can help the bereaved
overcome the grief
Mourners are seeking emotional connection with
funeral services companies through empathy, caring
and individualized attention
The perception of what is considered as appropriate
emotions may differ from one employee to another and from
one member of the bereaved family to another
Consumers are not familiar with this type of services
and therefore they are not confident in their
assessment of the service quality
Consumers want to end the process as quickly as
possible because the more the funeral process is faster
and closer to be wrapped up, the more they feel
released
Strategies
Referred quote
Challenges/opportunities
Consumer’s inability
with the service
Unusual nature of the
service
Strong emotiveness of
the service recipient
and emotional control
of the service
provider
Funeral services
characteristics
Table II Synthesis and strategic implications for funeral services
Rethinking functionality and emotions
Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
Rethinking functionality and emotions
Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
5. Research implications
●
This paper contributes to the scarce marketing literature on
funeral services (Bonsu and Belk, 2003; Bonsu and
DeBerry-Spence, 2008; Darmody and Bonsu, 2008; Gentry
et al., 1995). Because of the sensitivity of issues surrounding
death, the mortuary market is a very difficult industry to
understand. The undesirability of funeral services greatly
complicates the evaluation of experiential attributes (i.e.
verified only during or after use of the service) and credential
attributes (i.e. verified after use of the service). Additionally,
because of consumers’ unfamiliarity with funeral services,
quality assessment is a complex issue. According to the
interviewed funeral services managers, mourners tend to rely
on tangible and intangible criteria as proxies for service quality
evaluation. Because of consumers’ lack of competency,
funeral companies must guide their customers and educate
them about criteria for evaluating service quality.
Our exploratory study shows that even if cognitive factors,
such as proximity and logistics, are involved when evaluating
funeral services, decision-making is strongly emotion-driven.
Because the evaluation of the funeral providers’ emotional
attributes remains highly subjective and therefore their
empathy can be differently interpreted by the bereaved
families, it is difficult for funeral services providers to strike the
right balance of emotion. For this reason, funeral services
companies want to create more objective and rational sources
of differentiation by increasingly “tangibilizing” their
offerings, including the design of the funeral home, the
cleanliness of the mortuary vehicle, the comfort of the waiting
room, the funeral certification label (e.g. NF service), etc. By
demystifying their profession and offering more tangible
criteria, funeral experts will allow consumers to more easily
assess funeral services.
In the past, staff training was neglected in the mortuary
industry because funeral homes were mostly family-owned
businesses. Currently, the market is highly competitive and
consumers are demanding customized services. Funeral
companies must adapt to these new requirements through
staff training. For instance, in Australia, the Funeral Industry
Development Australia organizes training sessions for funeral
staff in customer relationship marketing. In Quebec, the
Collège Notre-Dame de Foy has a curriculum in funeral
advisor training and offers a Diploma of College Studies in
thanatology to prepare students and professionals for all
aspects of funeral work, and training covers the marketing of
funeral services, customer relationships, accounting and
psychology.
●
the irreversibility of the service, its high level of symbolism
and the personalization, service proximity and logistics of
the service; and
provider’s integrity.
Scholars should extend this exploratory investigation of the
mortuary industry. A potential research avenue might focus on
culture, as grief and death rituals vary by culture. In Western
societies, death is increasingly defused to the point that it is
now perceived by many individuals as a normal transition in
life for which we must be well prepared. Consumers may make
arrangements for their funeral in advance or shop at funeral
hypermarkets to reduce their feelings of uncertainty and lack
of control. In many non-Western cultures (e.g. those in
African and Latin American countries), death is still taboo.
Another research avenue might be the co-creation of funeral
services. For example, in other cultures, such as in Ghana,
funeral providers allow the deceased’s family to participate in
certain stages of the service process, such as the deceased’s
personal care (washing, dressing, etc.). It could be relevant to
analyze the impact of this co-creation strategy on the quality
and post-consumption service evaluation.
Like other helping professions (nursing, medicine,
midwifery, etc.), funeral service provision is a very stressful
and emotionally demanding field. Constantly faced with
people’s suffering, funeral service staff is under the pressure of
managing various positive and negative feelings that directly
affect their professional and private identities. To the best of
our knowledge, there is very little research on how funeral
service staff copes with emotions in “unsought” services and
how this affects these funeral service providers’ perception of
the quality of the services they must deliver to the bereaved.
Although the present research has many managerial and
academic contributions, it also has some limitations. The
qualitative design used in this study restricts our findings to
the Quebec funeral industry. Although some of our study
conclusions can be applied to other geographical contexts
because of the fact that death is a universal phenomenon (i.e.
the bereaved in Quebec experience the same painful emotions
as anyone elsewhere in the world), how people cope with
death varies from one culture to another (Clark and Szmigin,
2003). We sought to meet ethical and methodological
requirements by choosing experienced funeral managers as
respondents in this study. However, when asked directly,
bereaved consumers who had been involved in funeral service
delivery at least once would have presented a global view of
factors (related to consumers’context and service itself)
affecting the way consumers’ expectations and evaluation
criteria are formed in the funeral industry. Although relevant
for this research, the qualitative approach does not make it
possible to determine the respective weight of each criteria in
the post-consumption evaluation of funeral services.
Therefore, a quantitative design might better guide funeral
managers in their understanding of the most important criteria
to consider.
This study also suggests areas of future research. In Quebec
and other Western societies, such as the UK and the USA, a
new type of consumer is looking for low-cost funerals.
Low-cost funeral homes offer services from half to four times
cheaper than industry average. They do so by cutting out the
“superfluous” (e.g. reasonably priced coffins or sending the
6. Conclusion, limitations and research avenues
Because it is an emotional challenge and stirs clients’ grief and
distress, the evaluation of funeral services is a relevant concern
for both academics and practitioners. Although these services
share some characteristics of traditional services (intangibility,
perishability and variability), funeral services are also different
in many ways. Their unique properties are:
●
the strong emotiveness of the service recipient;
●
the emotional neutrality of the funeral service provider;
●
the unusual nature of the service;
●
the consumer’s inability to assess the service;
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Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
body for cremation overseas) by co-creating the service
experience with the bereaved (e.g. family members performing
the washing, dressing and visitation of the deceased) and by
offering minimum services (e.g. the coffin, hearse and
cremation only) (The Guardian, 2014). Exactly how the
expectations and assessment of the post-consumption
experience of this new type of funeral consumer differs from
consumers of “conventional” funerals might be a good avenue
for future research.
For our sample, we chose funeral services managers and not
the bereaved. Interviews conducted with these professionals
revealed consumers’ expectations and how consumers’
emotions influence their decision-making process during
funeral service delivery. These emotions vary greatly
depending on the deceased’s age before death (child, teenager,
adult or senior). For example, the death of a child or teenager
might activate more painful emotions in consumers and
therefore more intensely influence their expectations during
the delivery of the funeral experience than would the death of
an adult or senior. Researching these issues by directly
interviewing consumers themselves might provide further
understanding of how consumer expectations are shaped
according to the previous stages before the service encounter.
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Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
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2
Appendix. Interview guide
1
If yes, what factors are at the origin of this
differentiation/specialization?
●
Many studies claim that the market of funeral services
is underexploited. What could be the reasons?
●
Do you think that managers of funeral services have
the necessary skills (training, expertise, etc.) to meet
the current market requirements? If yes (no), why?
What should be their basic skills/expertise? What are
their motives to work in this particular industry?
●
Are there any support activities/sectors for the funeral
services?
●
According to you, how will the relationship between
funeral services and the support sectors/activities
evolve in the future? (merging, ceasing of some
activities).
Theme 2: the behavior of consumers of funeral services:
●
How can you describe the consumer of funeral
services?
●
Are there any market segmentation criteria used by
funeral services companies and what is (are) the
profile(s) of funeral consumers?
●
What are the specific needs of today’s consumers of
funeral services? How these needs have evolved over
time and what could be the main reasons?
●
What are the different offerings available in the market
of funeral services and how they are adapted to the
needs of consumers?
●
How do consumers select a funeral service provider
over another one? What are the determining factors in
his choice?
●
How to determine the pricing policy of a funeral
service? What can be the key factors that influence
pricing?
●
Which factors (service component) do funeral homes
employ to reduce the psychological effect of high
prices on consumers?
●
How do consumers assess the quality of a funeral
service?
●
What are the relevant criteria (tangible and
intangible) used by consumers to assess their level
of satisfaction?
●
Are there any after-sales services in the funeral
market? If yes, for how long are they offered and
what factors determine their duration?
●
How should we understand the concept of “loyalty”
in the context of funeral services?
Theme 3: strategies to cope with specific consumers’
needs:
●
How do environmental concerns influence the funeral
services industry?
●
How do funeral homes adapt their offerings to these
changes (offering of the service, after-sales services,
etc.)?
●
Do you think these concerns are increasingly taken
into account in consumer choice criteria?
●
What market segments are most conscious of these
concerns?
●
Do you think religious and cultural values are (still)
relevant to the offering of funeral services?
●
Theme 1: an overview of the funeral market and the key
players:
●
According to you, what are the particularities of
funeral services compared to other services (banking,
insurance, education, etc.)?
●
Who are the key players and what are their main tasks
in the funeral services industry? Are they all essential
to the delivery of funeral services? Who are the most
and the least important in the delivery chain?
●
How has the funeral services industry evolved over
time? What factors have contributed to the growth of
this industry?
●
What are the particularities of the funeral services industry
in Quebec compared to the rest of Canada? What are the
particularities of the funeral services industry in Canada
compared to that of the USA or Europe?
●
How funeral services managers define (or perceive) their
profession (job tasks) nowadays compared to old days?
●
What are the prospects of the funeral services industry
and what contextual factors are likely to influence its
future direction?
●
How structured is the market of funeral services (e.g.
competition)?
●
What are the key skills to enter the funeral industry?
●
Are there any differentiating attributes (specialization)
distinguishing some funeral homes from others?
3
263
●
●
●
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Rethinking functionality and emotions
Journal of Services Marketing
Bernard Korai and Nizar Souiden
Volume 31 · Number 3 · 2017 · 247–264
What role does spirituality play in the context of
funeral services?
How do religious and cultural rituals influence the
delivery of funeral services?
How do funeral homes adapt their offerings to
religious and cultural rituals?
What are the key elements of personal training in the
funeral services business?
●
●
How and by whom is this training offered?
According to you, in the future, what professional skills will
be most considered in the industry of funeral services?
Corresponding author
Bernard Korai can be contacted at: Bernard.Korai@
fsaa.ulaval.ca
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264