Managing Dual Involvements in Interactions with Children: A Case Study of Service Encounters in an Amusement Park

Abstract

This study investigates how amusement park staff manage dual involvements (Raymond & Lerner, 2014) in service encounters with child visitors, focusing on their simultaneous engagement in ride operation and conversation. Staff are required to conduct service encounters under several constraints. For example, when operating a Ferris wheel, they must guide and assist visitors while handling the ride's operation at specific timing intervals. Additionally, in interactions with children, staff often initiate and expand sequences of talk to entertain and engage them. Using interaction analysis, this study examines how staff adjust their conduct under such constraints. The analysis reveals that staff deal with dual involvements by inserting and extending conversations within time-limited operation sequences, while simultaneously adjusting their bodily orientation to remain engaged in both ride operation and interaction with children.