Line Mathisen ved Universitetet i Tromsø har skrevet doktoravhandling om hvordan historiefortelling kan være et kommunikativt redskap for opplevelsesaktører  som ønsker å tilrettelegge for økt aktivitet gjennom å involvere sine gjester emosjonelt og kognitivt. Gjennom fire artikler diskuterer den historiefortelling som konsept og illustrerer tre ulike måter å fortelle historer på: promosjon, guiding og staging. En integrasjon av de ulike måtene vil kunne gi aktører et styrket grunnlag for historiefortelling med historier som er forankret i både destinasjonen, guiden og turisten (gjennom skapt forventning).

Veileder har vært Nina Prebensen.

Line Mathisen disputerer 1. april i Alta - (UiT, campus Alta). Hun jobber ved Norut, Alta.

About the thesis:

Storytelling and story staging: Co-creating value in tourism

The main argument in my thesis is that storytelling is important operant resource for tourism firms seeking to co-create value with their guests. Research in the field of marketing suggests that stories are a powerful way of communicating because of their capacity to influence attention, spur interest and initiate action through the creation of meaning. In addition, the interest in the staging of consumption experiences in the era of “the experience economy” brings forth storytelling as a way of staging a tourist offering, in terms of using stories to define and communicate an offering.

Through one theoretical article, one quantitative study and two qualitative studies, this thesis has explored different ways of storytelling in light of Service Dominant Logic. The thesis contribute with insights the area of storytelling pertaining to the creation of tourist activities. The most important findings are linked to storytelling as flexible resource and the possibilities this creates for destination tourism stakeholder in terms of being able to use the moments of interaction to enhance value co-creation. The findings emphasize the role of the tourism firms, in particular the role of storytelling as an integrative and dynamic operant resource and the guide as a key operant resource integrator. Stories told in various marketing communications are effective during the tourists visit at a destination and tourism firms can use those stories to initiate and adjust social interaction and tourists interaction with natural environments. By focusing on the moment of interaction to establish a connection, stories rooted in the destinations core values can serve as a catalyst for enhancing value co-creation.