Relationship marketing in the fitness field : a Bourdieu-inspired study

• The purpose of the study is to explore the usability of Bourdieu’s theories for describing relationship marketing in the health and fitness industry. A multiple case study involving fifteen companies in the health and fitness sector has been carried out. In depth interviews with 55 company staff and 71 customers provided data that was first analysed unconditionally inspired by the constant comparative method from the grounded theory methodology. Afterwards, they were related to Bourdieu’s theories in a conceptual analysis. A framework that relates Bourdieu’s different concepts to the empirical findings contained in the categories and assesses their relevance has been elaborated. This study is limited to the health and fitness sector. The possibilities of generalising the findings to other industries are uncertain. Nevertheless, the way of using some of Bourdieu’s concepts that has been developed in this study should be relevant for studies in other areas a well. Novel ways of assessing return on relationships are proposed as well as means of depicting the industry in the form of fields on three different levels. This should be valuable for managers in the health and fitness industry as well as for advancing the theoretical conceptualisation of services marketing.

Nyckelord

Relationship marketing

health and fitness

Bourdieu

capital

field

habitus

Marknadsföring

Marketing

Publikations- och innehållstyp

pop (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)