Academic and practical interest in customer experience has grown in recent years. However, most existing studies define it as a response to a specific stimulus and lack a holistic understanding of this phenomenon. This study introduces the Critical Incident Technique to identify the characteristics of the experience from the customer's perspective and factors influencing its formation. We chose the food-related behavior as a slice of the customer's lifeworld and conducted a descriptive questionnaire survey. Using deductive and inductive analytical methods, we found that incidents that evoke emotions through actions that make people aware of their novelty create customer experience. Additionally, contextual factors (other people, individuals, and the environment) and service provider-relevant factors (direct and indirect interaction) influence the formation of customer experience. Other people and indirect interactions with service providers have the most significant impact. These findings indicate that managing the context in the consumption process in the customer’s lifeworld could be more effective in forming the customer experience.

The sharing economy market has grown in recent years, and consumer interest in accommodation-sharing services has increased. However, the tourism industry has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some travelers have been reluctant to use accommodation-sharing services because of the possible increased risk of infection. Another major change during this period has been the emergence of new social norms, with people being expected to engage in preventive behaviors to curb the spread of the virus. This study examined the influence of new social norms during the pandemic on consumers’ subjective ambivalence toward accommodation-sharing services. The proposed hypotheses were tested using survey data of 664 Japanese consumers. The results showed that injunctive norms have a positive indirect effect on subjective ambivalence, mediated by social norm compliance and fear of COVID-19. Additionally, descriptive norms have a positive indirect effect on subjective ambivalence, mediated by social norm compliance. These results confirm that the social norms that emerged during the pandemic indirectly led to consumers’ ambivalence toward accommodation-sharing services through two routes and clarify the psychological mechanisms involved in those relationships. The managerial implications of these results are discussed.