The Experience of Environmental Documentary Films

A qualitative study examining millennials values, mindsets and experiences.

Frida Bäckman & Annemari Nieminen

Culture and Creativity Management

“The truth is: the natural world is changing. And we are totally dependent on that world. It
provides our food, water and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.”
Sir David Attenborough

Term: Spring 2021

Course: SMMM20
Level: Master Thesis
Supervisor: Cecilia Fredriksson
Department: Service Management and Service Studies
Abstract
This thesis aims to investigate millennials' experience of environmental documentary films and
the experiences relation to the millennials values and mindsets connected to sustainability. The
environmental documentary films are considered as cultural products, thus contributing and
positioning itself within the field of culture and creative industries and service management. The
theoretical framework used in the thesis consists of the experience realms, value-in-use and flow
which further allows new knowledge to emerge as the understanding of experience of cultural
products is expanded. By using 14 semi-structured interviews, the experience itself, mindsets and
values unfold concerning environmental challenges. The findings indicate that for millennials the
experience of environmental documentary films is a multicontextual, fluctuating, and nonlinear
process dependent on emotions. Furthermore, the experience of viewing an environmental
documentary film relates strongly to millennials values and mindsets connected to sustainability
due its transformative nature and potential to change attitudes and behaviour.

Keywords: sustainability, global challenges, climate change, environment, CCI’s, culture and creative industries,
documentary films, values, reinforcing values, sustainability mindset, experiences, transformative experiences, the
experience economy, cultural products, value-in-use, value creation, flow, the experience realms, millennials,
learning, feelings, emotions, Seaspiracy, Cowspiracy, David Attenborough
Acknowledgements
It sure has been a rollercoaster to write this thesis. All these hours spent on reading and writing
have made us feel both confused and lost, but also a little bit wiser. Yet here we are, we made it
through the whole way and ended up with a thesis we can call our work. These last months have
brought long nights working in despair, but also much joy and happy memories.

We would love to give a special thanks to all participants that helped us with interviews. You all
had interesting reflections and made valuable contributions to the thesis. Many thanks as well goes
to our supervisor Cecilia who patiently gave us feedback, good advice and who pointed us toward
the right directions and told us what we needed to hear.

The biggest thanks however goes to ourselves.

Thank you Annemari for writing this thesis with me. I have had a great time and I am so grateful
that I have met you and I wish you all the best for the future. Your thesis partner and friend /Frida.

Thank you, Frida, for sharing this transformative experience with me! It has truly been a joy to
learn and write with you. Also, grateful that we were able to combine our forces and wish you all
the best for the future. Your thesis partner and friend /Annemari.
Table of Content
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1. PROBLEMATIZATION .................................................................................................................................................................... 4

1.2. AIM AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3. DISPOSITION .................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................................................. 8

2.1. THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY ....................................................................................................................................................... 8

2.2. DEFINING EXPERIENCES .............................................................................................................................................................. 9
2.2.1. Experiences Value Creation ............................................................................................................................................. 11
2.2.2. Facilitators of Experiences: Values and Emotions ................................................................................................. 12
2.3. EXPERIENCES AND SUSTAINABILITY ...................................................................................................................................... 13
2.3.1. A Sustainable Mindset: Values and Worldviews ..................................................................................................... 14
2.4. CULTURAL PRODUCTS: DOCUMENTARY FILMS .................................................................................................................... 15
2.4.1. Environmental Documentary Films ............................................................................................................................. 17
2.4.2. Learning through Documentary films ......................................................................................................................... 18
2.4.3. Environmental Documentary Films in Research .................................................................................................... 18

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................................ 21

3.1. THE FLOW-EXPERIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTARY FILMS ........................................................................... 21

3.2. FLOW IN THE REALMS OF EXPERIENCES ............................................................................................................................... 22
3.3. VALUE-IN-USE: PERCEIVED VALUE FROM EXPERIENCES .................................................................................................... 24
3.4. CONNECTING THE THEORIES ................................................................................................................................................... 25

4. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................................... 27

4.1. RESEARCH APPROACH AND STRATEGY .................................................................................................................................. 27

4.2. RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY: INTERPRETIVISM AND CONSTRUCTIONISM .............................................................................. 28
4.2.1. Research Method: Semi-Structured Interviews ....................................................................................................... 29
4.3. RESEARCH PROCESS .................................................................................................................................................................. 30
4.3.1. Writing the Literature Review ........................................................................................................................................ 31
4.3.2. Sampling: Process, Criteria and Contact .................................................................................................................... 32
4.3.3. The Interviewees and the Interview Guide ................................................................................................................ 33
4.3.4. Transcription and Coding Process ................................................................................................................................ 35
4.3.5. The Process of Analysing Empirical Material .......................................................................................................... 36
4.4. METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 37
 4.4.1. Ethical Considerations ....................................................................................................................................................... 39

5. FINDINGS & ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................. 41

5.1. FREQUENTLY VIEWED DOCUMENTARY FILMS ..................................................................................................................... 41

5.1.1. Streaming Platforms and Social Influence ................................................................................................................ 42
5.1.2. Insights to Filmmaking: Expert Interview ................................................................................................................. 44
5.2. REALMS OF EXPERIENCE: THE VALUE OF LEARNING .......................................................................................................... 46
5.2.1. Environmental Documentary Films: The feeling of Shock ................................................................................. 48
5.3. EXPERIENCING DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN A STATE OF FLOW ............................................................................................. 50
5.3.1. Sustainability: Millennials´ Awareness ....................................................................................................................... 50
5.3.2. Environmental Issues: Millennials´ Motivation to Learn .................................................................................... 53
5.4. PERCEIVED VALUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTARY FILMS ...................................................................................... 55
5.4.1. The Power of Reinforcing Values ................................................................................................................................... 56
5.4.2. The Value of Storytelling ................................................................................................................................................... 57
5.5. THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 59
5.5.1. IF NOT FLOW, THEN WHAT? .................................................................................................................................................... 59

6. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................................................. 65

6.1. MILLENNIALS EXPERIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTARY FILMS ....................................................................... 66

6.2. MILLENNIAL’S VALUES AND MINDSETS ................................................................................................................................. 69
6.3. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS ....................................................................................................................................................... 71
6.4. LIMITATIONS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 72

7. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................... 73

7.1. FUTURE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................................................... 73

8. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................... 75

8.1. BOOKS AND JOURNALS .............................................................................................................................................................. 75

8.2. WEBSITES AND NEWS ARTICLES ............................................................................................................................................ 84

APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................................................... 86

APPENDIX A: SOCIAL MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT FOR INITIAL CONTACT ............................................................................................ 86

APPENDIX B: MESSAGE WITH INTERVIEW INFORMATION ................................................................................................................... 87
APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR SEMI- STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS .......................................................................................... 88
APPENDIX D: GOOD RESEARCH PRACTICE ............................................................................................................................................. 92
Table of Figures

Figure 1. The four realms of experience, based on Pine and Gilmore (2011, p. 46). ................... 10
Figure 2. Our application of “Documentary Films” to the concept of “Flow”, the “Flow” figure is
based on Csikszentmihalyi (2016, p. 103). ................................................................................... 22
Figure 3. Our application of “Flow” to the concept of “The Experience Realms”, “The Experience
Realms” figure is based on Pine & Gilmore (2011, p. 46). .......................................................... 23
Figure 4. Documentary viewing applied to realms of experiences. .............................................. 46
Figure 5. (Figure 2). Our application of “Documentary Films” to the concept of “Flow”, “Flow”
figure is based on Csikszentmihalyi (2016, p. 103). ..................................................................... 60
 1. Introduction
“Well, the reason you watch any movies it's like entertainment, you can kind of relax and
enjoy yourself in this experience, but usually it's just to learn more, I think for me, it's easier
to learn from a documentary than from reading a book, because I don't know, maybe it just
caters to more of your senses like you're not just reading but you're seeing things and
hearing things, and it's somehow a more wholesome experience so at least it like leaves
more of an emotional connection to me. When I watch a documentary.” (Katniss)

Above quote illustrates several important aspects related to documentary films, from its
entertainment value to embracing the experience and recognizing its ability to teach. Documentary
films are argued to go beyond purposes of pure entertainment (Nisbet & Aufderheide, 2009), and
they have the power to educate and inform in authentic and entertaining ways (Billinge, 2017).
The elements of entertainment have been discussed in relation to experiences since the initial
thoughts of experiences (Pine & Gilmore, 2011).

Documentary films contain symbolic value, and they are identified as cultural products located in
the experience economy and in the culture and creative industries (CCI’s) (UNCTAD Creative
Economy Report, 2010; Kong, 2014). Moreover, documentary films are considered to impact pro-
environmental behaviours and those who are more concerned about the environment are as well
more prone to watch documentaries, since these films may contribute to further information about
the topic of interest (Holbert, Kwak & Shah´s 2003). Environmental themes in media and films
have further been increasing along with growing awareness of the ecological crisis (Terry, 2020).
In the 2000’s, environmental documentaries in particular started to gain greater importance in
society. For example, the release of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 2007 led to
worldwide attention toward environmental protection and encouraged the public and policy
makers to address global warming urgently (Lin, 2013). Other documentaries as well, such as Food
Inc., Supersize Me and Fahrenheit 9=11, caused attention to the way documentaries shape the
discourse of policy and social issues (Nisbet & Aufderheide, 2009). Today the environmental
documentaries trend still remains. For example, the documentary film My Octopus Teacher

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recently won an oscar for being the best documentary film, being described by The Guardian
(2021a) as an “heartwarming story of human-octopus friendship”. Moreover, the recent Netflix
release Seaspiracy, a documentary film regarding the impact of commercial fishing, has become
popular in multiple countries and brought up discussion of sustainable fishing (The Guardian,
2021b).

Research has applied both quantitative and qualitative approaches in order to explore and
determine the link between documentary films and environmental attitudes. Documentary films
have traditionally been studied within the educational field and reported positive effects on
learning. Attitudes, connectedness to nature, environmental sensitivity, and environmental
behaviour are common themes researched on environmental documentary films, and Braun,
Cottrell and Dierkes (2018) highlights that environmental education is needed to raise awareness
and to motivate the action of change. Addressing environmental challenges is a step in the right
direction toward a more sustainable society.

Sustainability is a widely discussed topic and in this thesis the concept of sustainability is defined
as per The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987), also known as
the Brundtland definition, which defined sustainable development as:

“…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.” (WCED, 1987, p. 35)

Hence, sustainable development refers to the process of movement from an unsustainable society
towards a sustainable society (Robèrt, K-H et al., 2019). Governance and new technology alone
will not be able to solve the impacts of climate change, thus a cultural shift is needed (Wamsler &
Brink, 2018). Hence, researchers have gained increased interest in the role of humans’ inner
workings and associated transformation, such as individuals’ emotions, values, beliefs,
worldviews, and mindsets (ibid.). These elements however have to date been widely disregarded
in research (ibid.). Nevertheless, research on the sustainability mindset is growing. The
sustainability mindset has been researched in the contexts of management and leaderships studies

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as well as in pedagogical studies, regarding teaching sustainable mindsets (Paxton & Van Stralen,
2015; Griswold, 2017; Hermes & Rimanoczy, 2018; Moon, Walmsley & Apostolopoulos, 2018;
Salovaara, Pietikäinen & Cantell, 2021). Sustainability in management education has originally
been focused on technical perspectives of skills, however Hermes and Rimanoczy (2018) point
out the aspects of “emotions'' and “being” as vital features in developing a new mindset.

According to the UNCTAD Creative Economy Outlook (2018) report, CCI’s are able to make
valuable contributions achieving the sustainable development goals of the UN, as the industries
have the power to influence and motivate present and future generations to protect the planet,
natural resources, cultures and people. This means that the millennials, or generation Y, who
represents the generation of both today and tomorrow, is an appropriate target group to focus on
in regard to their experiences of cultural products and values particularly related to environmental
aspects. Generation Y are known to be technologically savvy and influenced by the rise of the
internet (Luqman, 2021). It is a group aware and concerned about climate change (ibid.).
Compared to older generations, millennials seldom watch TV, but when they do they rather use
another device than the TV, like a tablet or a smartphone (Podara, Matsiola, Maniou, and Kalliris,
2019). In Dreier’s (2015) article “It Really Is All About Millennials”, Anna Robertson, vice
president and head of video of Yahoo, appreciates that over 80 percent of millennials get TV
content through streaming services and over the internet. Indeed, especially young millennials
spend more time on Netflix and YouTube rather than traditional TV (Seemiller & Grace, 2019).
New viewing habits have changed the social role of television and nowadays viewing is a way for
the millennials to both have fun but also to be a part of a community (Podara et al., 2019). A study
by Luqman (2021) of millennials' information seeking behaviour regarding climate change showed
that seeking information on social media was the main news source, however film was used several
times a year to observe climate change. At the same time, mass media's influence over consumer
preferences is substantial and movies related to environmental issues have proved to affect attitude
shifts in favour of the industries portrayed (Ma, Seenivasan & Yan, 2020)

Nevertheless, simply increased accessibility to information and evidence about sustainability does
not appear to be manifested in a relative rise in sustainability measures that take up the global

3
challenges (Rimanoczy, 2021). Hence, increased research focus on internal features at the
fundamentals of our actions and habits, comprising our values, worldviews and paradigms is
requested (ibid.).

1.1. Problematization

Documentary films are no longer seen as only passive experiences of entertainment and informal
learning (Nisbet & Aufderheide, 2009), and their representations of reality have been discussed
from a variety of perspectives in film history, criticized for their associations with claims of truths
and how aspects such as aesthetics, phenomenology, ethics, epistemology and ontologies can be
represented through moving pictures and sounds (LaRocca, 2017). Still, LaRocca (2017) further
argues:

“... the moving image remains a dominant form for artistic expression and thus a vital
factor in cultural life; it also has contributed to, and radically transformed, our
conceptions of story, narrative, and the possibilities for meaningful ideational content.”
LaRocca (2017, p. 3)

Hence, the artistic elements of documentary films allow us to further understand documentaries as
cultural products which possess a variety of aspects. Creating emotional connection, encouraging
reflection and promoting change are main missions for documentary film creators and by hearing
stories rather than just learning facts, change in attitudes may occur to a greater extent
(MacAndrew & Springbett, 2013). The creative industries have always identified film as a culture
commodity (Kong, 2014), and cultural products, such as media and film, are argued to contain
symbolic messages (UNCTAD Creative Economy Report, 2010) and symbolic value (Hessler &
Zimmermann, 2008). On these grounds, the value of documentary films is not always of pure
entertainment, and the comprehension of experiences may be versatile. Thus, due to their complex
character, documentaries can broaden the knowledge and shed light to several aspects of how
cultural products are experienced.

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Arts organizations possess a mediating role as carriers of sustainability messengers in the context
of the CCI’s (Varbanova, 2013). Similarly, documentary films are a proper means to reach the
millennials and to mediate these messengers of sustainability through audio-visual experiences. At
the same time, the need to create value in the form of experience is recognized by managers, yet
how it should be done demands understanding for people's emotional needs and expectations
(Berry, Carbone & Haeckel, 2002). It is crucial for managers to understand the customer´s value
formation process in order to know how to manage and support it (Grönroos, 2015). Hence, by
investigating millennials mindsets, values and experiences, greater understanding can be achieved.
Accordingly, value co-creation and experience are fundamental topics in service management
(Grönroos, 2015; Wilson, Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler, 2016), and by adding the dimension of
sustainability, service studies can develop the concept of value co-creation, signifying the societal,
social and environmental value to which consumers could contribute (Benkenstein, Bruhn,
Büttgen, Hipp, Matzner, & Nerdinger, 2017). Sustainable development in the experience economy
is predicted to impact profitability, business models and technologies of the future’s service
industries (Smit & Melissen, 2018). Hence, in order to manage future experiences to support a
sustainable society it is vital to understand what customers value and how the value is created.

Originating from the value co-creation research within service management, value-in-use is
identified as a vital element in the value creation process (Grönroos, 2011; Medberg & Grönroos,
2020). Instead of examining the whole process of value creation this thesis focuses on the particular
moment where documentary films are experienced and by emphasising the customer perspective
the millennials' understandings are targeted. Research about the consumers perspective on the
experience of value-in-use has been mostly conceptual, hence it is currently restricted and
opportunities for managerial and theory development are limited (Medberg & Grönroos, 2020).
To get a greater understanding of the concept, Medberg and Grönroos (2020) request research on
the consumers point of view in regard to value-in-use and service experience. To further consider
the consumer perspective as well as accumulated experiences when looking into value-in-use have
been highlighted by Heinonen, Strandvik, and Voima (2013). Furthermore, within the CCI’s,
including TV and film, research has been overlooked in regard to identifying value co-creation
activities (Choi & Burnes, 2013).

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Research is encouraged to examine the cultural and social aspects which frame value and value
creation, focusing on heterogenous viewpoints of a similar experience as well as evaluations of
experiences (Akaka, Vargo & Schau, 2015). Accordingly, the CCI’s is a field characterized by
elements of experiences and values, hence it aligns well to further develop the understanding of
what millennials value through the examination of cultural products. Creative industries are unique
as they produce mainly symbolic goods whose value stems from the ability to create emotional
responses, thus in the creative industries value creation arises from expanding symbolic,
emotional, and intangible value instead of tangible benefits (Choi & Burnes, 2013). Accordingly,
Benkenstein et al. (2017) suggests further research in regard to value creation in the fields of
sustainability and service as it is an unexplored, yet promising, field. The value of delivering media
for public awareness and action is frequently thought of in documentary productions, however it
is seldom studied in detail by scholars or filmmakers (Nisbet & Aufderheide, 2009).

Departing from the research gaps identified within the field of service management and CCI’s
regards to the viewer's perspective of experience and perceived values, this thesis aims to
understand how millennials experience environmental documentary films as cultural products.
Hence, by examining value related to experiences and to get a greater understanding of the
customer's value-in-use, the theory of flow by Csikszentmihalyi (2016) is explored. Flow is
considered to be an important component of influence in regard to assessment of experiences and
consumer behavior (deMatos, Sá & Duarte, 2021). Moreover, the realms of experience by Pine
and Gilmore (2011) guide the investigation of how millennials experience the environmental
documentary films and emerging values of the experience in the context of experience economy.

1.2. Aim and Research Questions

By applying a consumer perspective in the thesis, we hope to generate an expanded understanding

of the viewer's apprehension and experience of viewing an environmental documentary film,
which also enables managers in the CCI’s to grasp the impact of cultural products in relation to
experiences. Further we aim to identify how the experience relates to the millennials mindsets and
values towards sustainability addressing societal relevance of global environmental challenges.

6
We will do this by examining the millennials worldviews of sustainability in relation to the
experience of documentary films that touch upon environmental challenges. To fulfil the aim, the
following research questions are asked:

RQ 1: How are millennials experiencing environmental documentary films?

RQ 2: How does the experience of environmental documentary films relate to the millennial’s
values and mindsets connected to sustainability?

1.3. Disposition

Apart from the introduction this thesis is divided into additionally six parts: literature review,
theoretical framework, methodology, analysis and findings, discussion and lastly conclusions. The
literature review outlines the previous studies, theories and discourse related to the experience
economy, experiences, cultural products and environmental documentary films. The literature
review is also going deeper into the experience's connection to values, emotions and sustainability
as well as giving an overview of the research regarding environmental documentary films and their
impacts. Following, the theoretical framework presents the theories of flow, the realms of
experiences and value-in-use which were applied in this thesis. The next part of the thesis
illustrates the methodological considerations, describing the method, data collection and analysis
in detail, including the research approach and strategy, as well as reflections. The following section
presents the findings and analysis, starting with the documentaries discussed, context and the
insights from the expert interview, continuing to the analysis of the findings in the light of the
theoretical framework. The results are reviewed together with previous research and theories in
the discussion and lastly, concluding remarks are made including suggestions for future research
in the last chapter.

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 2. Literature Review
This chapter aims to examine the previous literature and studies related to experiences and
environmental documentary films, departing from the culture and creative industries (CCI’s)
located in the field of service management. The literature review highlights important theoretical
contributions, notions and discussions. Starting from the experience economy, experiences are
examined in relation to values, emotions and sustainability. Furthermore, the literature and
research of sustainability mindset is explored. Lastly, documentary films are identified as cultural
products and the research and literature regarding learning and sustainability in relation to
environmental documentary films is reviewed.

2.1. The Experience Economy

“Whereas commodities are fungible, goods tangible, and services intangible,

experiences are memorable” (Pine & Gilmore, 2011, p. 17)

The experience-based leisure economy has been at the forefront in the last decade (Ndalianis &
Balanzategui, 2019). However, how to define and characterize the service industry and especially
the experience industry is an ongoing discussion (Nilsen & Dale, 2013). Yet, Nilsen and Dale
(2013) characterise experiences itself as the main product being strongly related to the CCI’s.
Nevertheless, the experience economy was initially termed by Pine and Gilmore (1998) who
highlights the economic value of experiences, the intangible aspect of products. The experience
economy has since been researched and described in various ways, from economic, management,
and marketing to sociocultural perspectives (Boswijk, 2013). The term experience economy still
lives strongly in the literature of culture and creativity management (e.g Lorentzen & van Heur,
2012) and the experience-based approach in the literature of services management and marketing
(see Grönroos, 2015; Medberg & Grönroos, 2020).

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 2.2. Defining Experiences

A challenge for business professionals in service management lies in how to manage, stage and
design experiences (Smit & Melissen, 2018). Experience comes in many different shapes and the
very same experience may be interpreted differently by different people (ibid.). Much of the
research about experiences in service management is in the field of tourism (e.g., Smit & Melissen
2018, Manniche & Larsen, 2013) in this thesis however experiences will be understood in relation
to the CCI field and cultural products, however applying literature and research from related fields.

Pine and Gilmore (1998) initially differentiated experiences from commodities, goods and services
distinguishing on their memorable nature of offering and personal attributes pointing to sensations
as a demand rather than benefits (from service) or features (from goods). The authors suggest that
compared to services being delivered on demand, experiences reveal during a certain period of
time (Pine & Gilmore, 2011). This distinction however has endorsed critique, for example Nilsen
and Dale (2013) oppose Pine and Gilmore’s harsh division of services and experiences arguing
that as commercial products, links and similarities exist between the two.

Motivators for experiences originate in identity related factors such as meaning-making, seeking
social status, to have more fun and self-realization (Nilsen & Dale, 2013). But what are experiences
exactly? Critiques have been put forward to the concept. For example, Nilsen and Dale (2003)
discusses where to draw a line of what is an experience and what is not. Palmer (2010) addresses
the issue whether to approach experience as a verb or a noun. However, experience as a verb
highlights the process of learning (Palmer, 2010). Furthermore, Mossberg (2007) defines
experiences in relation to the feelings and thoughts, which are in a constant flow in moments of
consciousness. Hence, experience takes place in people's minds (Mossberg, 2007; Pine & Gilmore,
2011), which thus demands consumer participation (Nilsen & Dale, 2013). From a management
perspective, Berry et al. (2002) suggest that the customer experience is a sum by all the perceived
and sensed clues related. Accordingly, Palmer (2010) highlights that customer experience includes
a complexity of factors which are circumstantial, and that value creation is delimited by the
experience of an individual at a specific location and point in time in the context of a particular

9
event (Palmer, 2010). Still, applying Pine and Gilmore´s (2011) four realms of experiences allow
us to understand and highlight different aspects and dimensions of the experience. The realms by
Pine and Gilmore (2011) are entertainment, educational, aesthetic and escapist, illustrated in
Figure 1. Further, dimensions of engagement have been described as absorb, immerse, active and
passive. The realms of experience will be further elaborated in the theoretical framework.
The ideal experience has been described as flow by Csikszentmihalyi (2016). There has been a

Figure 1. The four realms of experience, based on Pine and Gilmore (2011,
p. 46).

growing interest in the concept of flow for the last decade, particular within the fields of happiness,
leisure, human behavior, sport and exercise (deMatos et al., 2021). Flow, initially developed by
Csikszentmihalyi (2016), represents an experience where the individual is challenged with just the
right level of engagement. Flow is further considered to impact a person’s “interest, knowledge
attainment, and understanding” in educational environments (Aykol, Aksatan & İpek, 2017, p. 5).
Accordingly, flow refers to a state of mind where the consumer is focused on an awarding activity
(Csikszentmihalyi, 2016).

deMatos et al. (2021) particularly emphasizes the tourism field and points out that little is known
about the role of flow in regard to experiences. Flow has been studied before in relation to
individual experiences in domains of social sciences and psychology (ibid.). However, flow

10
research within arts consumption has been limited (Aykol et al., 2017). Flow is said to be the
mediator of constant interaction between an individual and the environment, particular in contexts
such as learning (ibid.), providing emotional awakenings and contributing to positive experiences
despite the context (deMatos et al., 2021; Aykol et al., 2017). Thus, flow often includes dimensions
of learning, hence the skill level of the individual in relation to the activity will determine if the
experience generates feelings of anxiety, worry, arousal, boredom, control or relaxation (Smit &
Melissen, 2018). Originating from the psychological field, the state of flow relates closely to other
definitions of experiences, such as Mossberg’s (2007) definition of experiences in relation to
thoughts and feelings in constant flow as described before. Pine and Gilmore (2011) relates to the
concept of flow with the concept of transformative experience. Instead of staging an experience,
as staging does not always include the dimension of learning, the experience is guiding
transformation and referring to creating change in the individual (Pine & Gilmore, 2011). Still,
there is an absence of no common ground for identifying core elements and dimensions of flow
(deMatos et al., 2021).

2.2.1. Experiences Value Creation

The general research in the field on services about value creation is typically studying the process
of value creation and co-creation as a whole (Grönroos, 2011; Vargo & Lusch, 2016). However,
the research is lacking empirical data from the consumer perspective (Medberg & Grönroos, 2020).
This is further highlighted by the lack of research of value creation in the field of CCI’s (Choi &
Burnes, 2013). Moreover, the notion of value-in-use or use-value stems from the service dominant
logic literature and is further developed to service logic by Grönroos (Vargo & Lusch, 2004; 2016;
Grönroos, 2011; Medberg & Grönroos, 2020). Back in 1859, Karl Marx already termed use-value
and exchange-value, recognising how value-in-use is realised in the consumption process
(Medberg & Grönroos, 2020).

The concept of value-in-use particularly relates to experiences due to the paradigm shift which
highlights the consumer perceived value of an experience, termed additionally as value-in-
experience by Heinonen et al. (2013). In the service marketing research value co-creation has been

11
an important topic, especially in regard to the discourse of the service dominant logic by Vargo
and Lusch (2004; 2016). Currently, the discourse has turned more to the process of value co-
creation and recently to value-in-use. Hence, the research of value-in-use studies consumer
experiences, which makes it possible to connect value-in-use with the existing research regarding
the values of experiences to the fields of CCI’s and tourism.

2.2.2. Facilitators of Experiences: Values and Emotions

One important aspect of experience is their ability to communicate attitudes, emotions and values
(Nilsen & Dale, 2013). Pine and Gilmore (2011) address that experience originates from the
customer prior state of being and minds in interaction with an event. Accordingly, the experience
is modified by differences of individuals as well as differences in emotional states (Palmer, 2010).
Thus, being unique, emotional, personal (Boswijk, 2013; Gentile, Spiller & Noci, 2007) and
physical, are aspects that influence the assessment of a person's experience (Smit & Melissen,
2018). Hence, experiences are connected to identity construction and values, and may have a great
impact on turning points in our lives (Boswijk, 2013). In marketing, consumers want the
experience and the stories that come with a product, which is also the motif behind why consumers
want to buy a product (Mossberg, 2007). Accordingly, Pine and Gilmore (2011) highlights that
people desire experiences due to the value that lies within them, a value which consists in the
memory long after the experience has occurred.

Experiences hold an intrinsic value for viewers (Manniche & Larsen, 2013), and according to
Lorentzen (2009) experiences create emotions which in turn may contribute to identity formation.
Furthermore, according to Palmer (2010) emotions are facilitating tools in the middle of an
experience and an event, as emotions act as a source of information. In turn, emotions are
employed to assess a stimulus, resulting in the formation of an attitude (ibid.).

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 2.3. Experiences and Sustainability

Critique of sustainability research in the service field has been addressed in regard to the focus on
the present rather than the future which complicates the research as the very core of sustainability
is connected to the future (Benkenstein et al., 2017). Current trends address that sustainable
development, and the rise of the experience economy will have a considerable effect on
technologies and business models that manage to be profitable in our future society (Smit &
Melissen, 2018). Smit and Melissen (2018) research sustainability and experiences in the field of
tourism, hospitality and events by examining sustainable customer experiences. In line with Pine
and Gilmore’s (2011) transformative experiences in relation to flow by Csikszentmihalyi (2016),
Smit and Melissen (2018) describe multiple ambition levels of creating sustainable experiences
and the highest of them is transformational experiences which have the ability to change the
consumers and stakeholders connected to the delivered experiences (ibid.).

Sustainable development and experiences reinforce one another and are vital topics for nearly all
professionals and businesses (Smit & Melissen, 2018). Smit and Melissen (2018) further argues
that in order to pursue sustainable development, the experiences should be co-created with all
stakeholders, particularly with consumers since consumers value symbolic meaning in their
consumption. Consumer’s identity-work is essential since co-creating experiences requires the
consideration of consumers' wishes, needs and values, hence what the experience stands for and
how it has been branded and communicated is of great importance (ibid.). At the same time, in the
research of sustainable behavior, Gierszewska and Seretny (2019) points to the need for
sustainable management and change in regard to business and consumer behaviour and attitudes.
By focusing on responsible business management, new social trends and consumption,
Gierszewska and Seretny (2019) investigate whether the millennial generation are ready to change
their behaviours in regard to a more sustainable approach in consumption practices.

13
 2.3.1. A Sustainable Mindset: Values and Worldviews

Similarly to experiences and their connections to sustainability, a sustainability mindset brings

the focus to the inner workings of individuals. A sustainability mindset is defined as a way of being
and thinking which stems from social sensitivity, a wide-ranging understanding of the
manifestations of the ecosystems, and reflective attention on one’s higher self and values (Kassel
& Rimanoczy, 2018). Kassel and Rimanoczy (2018, p. 461) describe how the sustainability
mindset “finds its expression in actions for the greater good of the whole.”

The sustainability mindset is developed by Kassel and Rimanoczy (2018). It is shaped by personal
purpose and values and integrates a systematic approach to comprehend interconnectedness of a
prosperous society and strong ecosystems (ibid.). Kassel and Rimanoczy (2018) part the
sustainability mindset to three dimensions; knowledge, values and competencies which represent
thinking, being and doing. The sustainability mindset further demonstrates the intricacy of the
challenges when viewing the ecosystem, social and individual perspective, additionally, the
psychological, cognitive, spiritual, and emotional spheres (ibid.).

Most recently, Rimanoczy (2021) points to increased research concerning the necessity to focus
on internal features at the fundamentals of our actions and habits, comprising our values,
worldviews and paradigms. Accordingly, Wamsler and Brink (2018) state that these elements have
been widely disregarded in research. However, research on mindsets connected to sustainability is
growing. The sustainability mindset has been examined in the contexts of management and
leaderships studies as well as in pedagogical studies, regarding teaching sustainable mindsets
(Paxton & Van Stralen, 2015; Griswold, 2017; Hermes & Rimanoczy, 2018; Moon et al., 2018;
Salovaara et al., 2021; Rimanoczy, 2021). By further exploring the sustainability mindset in regard
to values and worldviews, millennials are an appropriate group of study. Luqman (2021) studied
millennials' information seeking behaviour regarding climate change and concluded that
millennials are not only aware and concerned about climate change, they also find it important to
discuss.

14
Hence, examining the millennials sustainability mindset in regard to the experience economy,
would add a new dimension which highlights individuals related values and mindsets contributing
to the experience. After all, the current understanding of the experience economy is combined with
the idea of co-creation, as experiences are personalised and co-created with the consumers
(Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004; Boswijk, 2013). Thus, to explore this idea further it is appropriate
to explore millennials' connections to sustainability in regard to their experience of cultural
products which highlights related topics.

2.4. Cultural Products: Documentary Films

The notion cultural industry was initially used by Adorno and Horkheimer (2002) in 1944 in the
chapter “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception'' as the authors criticised the
quality of culture, of what according to them have had a manipulative progress of power over
society in brainwashing purposes. Influenced by the Frankfurt School, Adorno and Horkheimer
(2002) thus criticised the view how the culture industries controlled consumers through
entertainment. Discussing perspectives of Horkheimer and Adorno, Kong (2014, p. 594) concludes
that “Thus, the culture industry, rather than freeing oppression, serves to reinforce current
ideologies, and may even stifle genuine creativity from flourishing.”

Today, the meaning of cultural economies and cultural industries are liberated from Frankfurt
traditions and have no longer a critical underline and refers foremost to culture being produced as
cultural products (Hessler & Zimmermann, 2008). Film has always been described as a cultural
commodity (Kong, 2014) or as a cultural product (UNCTAD Creative Economy Report, 2010).
Thus, film is a great example to study in order to explore the influence of cultural products.
According to The Creative Economy Report (2010) film and other broadcasting is described as
media that produce creative content and have the purpose to correspond with large audiences.
Cultural products are argued to contain symbolic messages (UNCTAD Creative Economy Report,
2010) and symbolic value (Hessler & Zimmermann, 2008). In accordance, Bourdieu (1985, p. 13)
argues that “Besides being a commodity that has a commercial value, any cultural object is also a
symbolic good, having a specifically cultural value.”

15
Entertainment was the first offering coined as experience (Pine & Gilmore, 2011), hence cultural
products such as film can be traced back to the original thoughts of experiences. Even more,
particularly documentary films are argued to go beyond the purpose of pure entertainment since
documentary films are increasingly considered as moulding opinions and sparking debate, no
longer regarded as a passive experience of entertainment nor informal learning (Nisbet &
Aufderheide, 2009). After all, storytelling of documentaries is possibly the most powerful
transformational art form available now (Billinge, 2017). Documentaries power rests in the unique
ability to educate and inform audiences in an entertaining as well as authentic way (ibid.).
Moreover, documentaries have a unique approach to storytelling and stories since they encompass
the complete range of human experience and achievement from natural world, science to history
and the arts (ibid.).

Still, in the media field cinematic experiences have been developed in alternative approaches of
3D and even 4D cinema in the last decade, stimulating a full range of senses beyond vision and
hearing, such as smell and touch (Ndalianis & Balanzategui, 2019). On these grounds one could
question the need of a traditional documentary film as today technology is pushing the cinematic
experience to the extreme. Yet, research in many fields has studied the effects of viewing
documentary films as they are informative and have the potential to affect people's behaviour and
attitudes (see UNCTAD Creative Economy Outlook, 2018; Schwarze, Peeples, Schneider &
Bsumek, 2014, Jones, Thomas-Walters, Rust & Veríssimo, 2019). Current research shows that
film has a distinctive potential to encourage collective and individual action via a mixture of
celebrity messengers, narrative storytelling and imagery in emotional and cognitive appeals
(Bieniek-Tobasco, McCormick, Rimal, Harrington, Shafer & Shaikh, 2019).

Documentary films are cultural products, proposing cultural, symbolic and commercial value, but
also experiences covering all realms of experiences which touch upon feelings of the viewer
holding intrinsic value for each individual (Hessler & Zimmermann, 2008; Pine & Gilmore, 2011;
Manniche & Larsen, 2013). Documentary films cover many topics but in order to give focus to the
research and grasp the current social trends regarding sustainability values and challenges, as well

16
as acknowledging the rise of environmental themes in films (Terry, 2020), environmental
documentaries were chosen to be the area of research in this thesis. Multiple studies have already
been conducted to investigate different effects of environmental documentaries, particularly
regarding sustainability. Hence, the next chapter will review relevant literature in regard to the
topic, from different scholar perspectives.

2.4.1. Environmental Documentary Films

Documentaries have a symbolic meaning and when communicating environmental issues, Janpol
and Dilts (2016, p. 90-91) states that “Documentary films about environmental issues is another
potential vehicle for bringing environmental issues to people’s attention, and perhaps also to
motivate viewers to action.”.
estimular, concientizar, generar cambio, pero ¿como? ¿en qué espacios?
¿quienes deberían ver? no hay otra forma?
Nisbet and Aufderheide (2009) have divided documentaries into advocacy films and films created
to raise awareness. Accordingly, Bieniek-Tobasco et al. (2019) state that climate change
documentaries have become increasingly popular in regard to reaching audiences to stimulate
action and raise concerns. Media's dramatic coverage of the environment has a positive impact
developing a desire within individuals to be energy efficient in daily practices, buy
environmentally friendly products and recycle, and viewing nature documentaries further raise
discussion in regard to our responsibilities as guardians of the environment (Holbert et al., 2003).
Hence, documentary films are a means to highlight climate challenges, to raise awareness and urge
action. Pro-environmental behaviour is considered to be affected by documentary movies (Holbert
et al., 2003), however it is important to acknowledge that the kind of audience documentaries
normally reach most likely already have knowledge in the area as the sustainability subject is a
matter of interests, or as Holbert et al. (2003, p. 181-182) states “Those who show a concern for
the environment will most likely consume programs that share their outlook and provide some
information relevant to their concerns.”

Still, different approaches, strategies and forms are used in films created for public engagement
and information (Nisbet & Aufderheide, 2009), and Hofman and Hughes (2018) go further than
the sphere of entertainment and describe documentaries as infotainment. Hence, documentary

17
films aim to make social change, impact public action by providing information. Above this are
elements or learning highly present in regard to documentaries, which will be explored further in
the next section.

2.4.2. Learning through Documentary films

Documentary film research has reported positive effects of documentaries and educational films
on learning since the 1980’s (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002; Arendt & Matthes, 2016). Already
back in 1985 a study by Fortner revealed that viewing a film showed an additionally significant
change in attitude, when comparing classroom education and documentaries (Kollmuss &
Agyeman, 2002). Thus, documentary film research originates from the educational field and still
today the effects of documentaries are often researched in the context of education and learning
(see e.g. Ayvaci & Özbek, 2019). Accordingly, within a supply chain management framework,
Shambu (2019) elaborates on how sustainability documentary movies were used to teach supply
chain students whereas the results indicated that the films were appreciated as effective learning
tools enabling reflection and visualization (Shambu, 2019). Additionally, radio is a related research
field in media where similar studies have been carried out in terms of education and change in
consumer behavior (see Veríssimo, Schmid, Kimario & Eves, 2018).

2.4.3. Environmental Documentary Films in Research

Both quantitative and qualitative approaches have been applied in order to explore and determine
the link between documentaries and environmental behaviors. The topics researched in the context
of nature documentaries often refer to conservation (Hofman & Hughes, 2018; Moon et al., 2018;
Jones et al., 2019), connectedness to nature (Arendt & Matthes, 2016), environmental sensitivity
(Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002; Barbas, Paraskevopoulos, & Stamou, 2009), attitudes (Beattie, Sale
& McGuire, 2011; Howell, 2011; Braun et al., 2018), and environmental behaviour (Kollmuss &
Agyeman, 2002; Holbert et al., 2003; Steg & Vlek 2009; Howell, 2011; Zelenski, Dopko &
Capaldi, 2015; Braun et al., 2018). For example, in Holbert et al. (2003) study of media
consumption and effects, the mediating role of television and its direct effect is researched in
relation to environmental behaviours and attitudes. Whereas Braun at al. (2018) suggests that

18
positive environmental attitudes and behaviour are supported by environmental knowledge. Thus,
in order to promote environmental knowledge, education in the area is “considered as a significant
influential factor” (Braun et al., 2018, p. 900).

The documentary film An Inconvenient Truth has been a popular subject of study overall. For
example, through an experimental approach using questionnaires before and after being exposed
to selected clips from An Inconvenient Truth, Beatti et al. (2011) examined film´s impact on mood
and change in attitudes toward climate change and concludes that watching clips from ”An
Inconvenient Truth” made the participants feel more motivated and empowered to take climate
change action. Furthermore, Hofman and Hughes (2018) measured several environmental-related
behaviours through questionnaires and follow-up strategies through a longitudinal study.
However, Hofman and Hughes (2018) points to the subjectiveness in systematic research when it
comes to the relation between wildlife films and attitudinal changes as empirical evidence is
minimal and other media needs to be taken into consideration, such as the influence of social
media.

Behavioural scientists understand that the connections between provided information, through a
documentary and behavioural changes are uncertain and complex. Nonetheless, nature
documentaries may generate change in different ways, as there is evidence that documentaries
increase environmental sensitivity (Barbas et al., 2009; Jones et al., 2019). Further, multiple studies
have tried to investigate the effects of documentaries by using self-reported behavior change or
intentions to change behavior and with targeted conservation messages for the viewers (Howell,
2011; Lin, 2013; Hofman & Hughes, 2018). The studies predominantly reveal positive effects,
however the validity and reliability is questionable and monitoring actual behaviour change would
make the evidence base stronger (Jones et al., 2019). Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002) conclude that
nature documentaries had a positive effect on students’ environmental sensitivity and efficiency
in the change in beliefs and attitudes. They further conclude that the process of change in
environmental sensitivity is longitudinal and complex and cannot be achieved by viewing one
documentary only (ibid.). The positive impact and relation between documentaries, beliefs and
attitudes is further strengthened by Holbert et al. (2003), who discovered correlational proof that

19
viewing nature documentaries is linked to environmentally friendly attitudes and environmental
concerns. In the context of consumption trends Ma et al. (2020) concludes that within six months
the effect of initial increase in behavioural change and action declined. Similar results are
presented by Hofman and Hughes (2018) who conclude that the long-lasting behavioural effects
in time declined slightly or stayed the same after watching a marine conservation documentary,
and that viewing documentaries does not have long term impact on its own, although using
supporting strategies with documentaries has the capability to influence and engage in action.

In conclusion, documentary film as a cultural product reinforcing existing ideologies (Kong,

2014), is consistent with the research made regarding documentary films effects and connection
to behaviour. However, documentary film as an experience, particularly as a transformative
experience, further relates to the findings that changes can happen if viewing is connected with
supporting strategies (Hofman & Hughes, 2018).

20
 3. Theoretical framework
Alvesson and Deetz (2021) state that theory should be approached as a lens in which the world
can be seen, pointing to that “... theory is a way of seeing and thinking about the world rather than
an abstract representation of it” (Alvesson & Deetz, 2021, p. 35). Accordingly, the following
chapter allows us to observe and understand the experience of environmental documentary films
through the lens of value-in-use, flow, and the experience realms.

3.1. The Flow-Experience of Environmental Documentary Films

When a consumer is in a focused state in which the sense of time and consciousness of the self is
lost due to the immersed experience, the consumer is in a flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2016). If flow
is accomplished the experience is optimal, if not, a different kind of experience will be the result
(Smit & Melissen, 2018). Understanding experiences from the concept of flow is acknowledged
by multiple researchers in the experience economy (Boswijk, Peelen & Thijssen, 2007; Pine &
Gilmore, 2011; Smit & Melissen, 2018; deMatos et al., 2021). Flow represents an experience
where the individual is challenged with just the right level of engagement (Csikszentmihalyi,
2016). Smit and Melissen (2018, p. 18) explain it as “flow refers to situations that require such
intense concentration on a particular (set of) task(s) that one loses track of time and place”.
Personality and different personality traits are considered to impact the flow (deMatos et al., 2021).
Smit and Melissen (2018) further explains flow as transformative experiences, especially
emphasizing elements of learning and that they are “absorbing by nature rather than immersive”
(Smith & Melissen, 2018, p. 18). Consequently, the skill level of the individual in relation to the
activity will determine if the experience generates feelings of anxiety, worry, arousal, boredom,
control or relaxation (Smit & Melissen, 2018). Even though flow normally occurs in work
contexts, having an interest in the topic and the desire to learn more could be enough to experience
the state (ibid.).

Sherry (2004) claims that enjoyment of media, such as film, is an outcome of a flow experience
achieved once the message of the content is balanced with the individual's capability to understand
the message. Moreover, individual differences and media experience are seen to either prevent or

21
to enable state of flow (ibid.). Hence, the key to enjoyment of media lies in the balance of
challenges of the message given and in individual differences of cognitive capabilities (ibid.).
From this perspective we argue that documentary films can be such products enabling states of
flow. Applying the flow framework enables understanding of whether a documentary viewer is
absorbed by the flow of an ultimate experience, is in a state of anxiety or just feeling bored as seen
in figure 2. As such the experience can be understood from different directions and depending on
the experience's outcome the documentary film might be memorable and life-changing impacting
core values, or just another mainstream movie being consumed as one of many others.

Figure 2. Our application of “Documentary Films” to the concept of

“Flow”, the “Flow” figure is based on Csikszentmihalyi (2016, p. 103).

3.2. Flow in the Realms of Experiences

Evident from the literature review, experiences are defined and described in multiple ways in
different research fields. By emphasizing flow in the understanding of experiences, Pine and

22
 Figure 3. Our application of “Flow” to the concept of “The Experience Realms”,
“The Experience Realms” figure is based on Pine & Gilmore (2011, p. 46).

Gilmore (2011) recognize the presence of flow in all four realms of experience (entertainment,
educational, esthetic and escapist), notably the escapist realm.

Pine and Gilmore (2011) uses TV-watching as an example of an absorbing experience,

characterised by “bringing the experience into the mind from a distance” (Pine & Gilmore, 2011,
p. 46), as in contrast to an immersive experience where the consumer is a part of the experience
physically or virtually. Lorentzen (2009) highlights that experiences can be consumed in a variety
of ways, for example enjoying a movie demands passive participation. Moreover, the esthetic
demand passive participation and the immerse element leaves the environment untouched (Pine &
Gilmore, 2011). Pine and Gilmore (2011, p. 53) exemplify an esthetic experience as for example
“beholding a work of art at a gallery or museum”. Furthermore, the education-realm involves
active participation, engaging the mind (Pine & Gilmore, 2011). From these perspectives,
watching documentary films notably touch upon the entertainment-element, however depending
on how it is experienced, different realms can be used to explain the individuals´ experience and
flow may occur in all realms. Accordingly, through these lenses watching a documentary may be
much more than pure entertainment since various aspects indicate multiple streams of value
creation.

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 3.3. Value-in-use: Perceived Value from Experiences

To further understand dimensions beyond entertainment provided by the documentary films,

value-in-use can expand the understanding of the perceived value experienced by the millennials.
As cultural products, environmental documentaries are often lacking direct interaction with the
service producer, it is differentiated from the conventional service encounter. Hence much of the
value creation is located in the individual sphere of value creation and this aspect gives more
insights to the experience of cultural products.

As per Vargo and Akaka (2009) value is not created if the customer does not incorporate the
offering into their life. Helkkula, Kelleher, and Pihlström (2012) examine what value is in the
experience, which the authors conclude to be a continuous, interactive circular process of the
individual instead of a linear cognitive process, limited to an isolated interaction. In contrast,
Heinonen, Strandvik, and Voima (2013) takes value-in-use to another level, stating that value is
formed and embedded in the multi-contextual and dynamic life and reality of the consumer, not as
a constant active process of creation which highlights the mental and invisible life of the consumer,
not only the visible interactions with the company. Hence, research should consider additionally
the accumulated experiences based on consumers ecosystems and life (Heinonen et al., 2013).
Hence, when looking at the experience of environmental documentaries we expand our
understanding to the millennials constantly changing multi-contextual life.

In order to understand the value-in-use creation from the viewers perspective we must also
consider the value propositions. Corvellec and Hultman (2014) has broadened the views on value
propositions beyond the service dominant logic, implementing the concepts of regimes of value
and politics of value to be able to see the value propositions as pluralistic which cannot be framed
in static ways. Instead, value propositions should be understood as political and continuous
multivocal construction as many values are offered all the time and simultaneously, over various
spatial and temporal scales, for various stakeholders (ibid.). In this thesis we will examine the
experience as a phenomenon and consider the multiple value propositions offered by the cultural
commodity, the environmental documentary film.

24
 3.4. Connecting the Theories

By understanding experiences through the concept of flow and the realms of experiences, it comes
clear that certain objectives, preferences, emotions and feelings determine the evaluation of the
experience and whether a state of flow will be achieved. These can further be identified with the
concept of value-in-use. Value-in-use describes the process of when value is actually created
(Wilson et al., 2016). For example, when buying or renting a documentary film the value-in-use
would lie in the very time when the consumer watches the movie, and the product's purpose is
fulfilled. By acknowledging the customer perspective hence understanding consumers as a
collective and social unit reducing importance from predictable and linear behaviour, new focus
can be in how consumers live their lives rather than how consumers consume services and products
(Heinonen et al., 2013). Hence the focus on the documentary viewer is essential in order to
understand value formation. In accordance with Grönroos (2011) all interactions influence
experience, and the experience influences and defines the emergence of value from the interaction.
Moreover, Heinonen et al. (2013) term value-in-use also as value-in-experience to highlight the
customer perceived experience. Thus, the flow and realms of experience are located within the
value-in-use, within the experience of viewing an environmental documentary film.

The value derived from the product, rather than the product itself, is what service is all about
(Wilson et al., 2016). Accordingly, documentary film in itself does not bring value to the viewer,
rather what the consumer gains from watching the film is in the essence, such as providing
information, touching upon emotions and allowing the viewer to experience a state of flow. Hence,
value is not delivered by a product per se, rather value is co-created in a process which includes
both the participation of both the customer and the producer (Wilson et al., 2016). Wilson et al.
(2016) further clarifies that if no direct contact exists between the producer and the consumer,
there is independent value co-creation with the product. It is also important to remember that value
creation occurs in the context in which the product is consumed and hence where and how the
value is obtained is dependent on situational factors (Wilson et al. 2016), thus factors to consider
in the value-making-process for documentary films would concern is if the documentary film is
consumed with someone else, where it is consumed and why the film is being watched at all.

25
Value can be thought to be experimentally determined as well as perceived, and value creation is
reliant on its context (Grönroos, 2011). Value-in-use particularly illustrates the customer
perspective and the individual value creation process of the customer (Grönroos, 2011). In this
thesis the value in the experience emerges through interactions between the viewer and the
documentary film in accordance with Grönroos’s service logic (2011). The concept of value-in-
use relates well to services directed at people's minds, which are experienced through the internet
or broadcasting technology, as they are delivered without the interaction with the service provider
(Wilson et al., 2016), like millennials' mindsets in regard to sustainability in relation to viewing
documentary films.

26
 4. Methodology
This study requires a qualitative approach in order to answer the research questions and to get a
greater understanding of the phenomenon under study. As will be explained into more detail in
this chapter, an appropriate research approach was used, and the research process and its elements
will be further elaborated. Accordingly, the choice of conducting semi-structured interviews
allowed us to explore the aim and the methodological decisions and reflections will be explained
and discussed in more detail below. Contrary to quantitative research, qualitative research rather
addresses trustworthiness, credibility, dependability, transferability and confirmability as
important criteria’s (Flick, 2018). Hence, we have tried to address these criteria in our constant
pursuit for transparency which is demonstrated in the following chapter.

4.1. Research Approach and Strategy

Qualitative research strategies emphasize words and meaning rather than numbers (Bryman,
2016), and how individuals interpret their social world have been essential in this study in order to
comprehend the experiences of the millennial’s documentary film watching. The in depth-
understanding this thesis wanted to generate required a qualitative research design and approach.
Hence, methodological decisions have been considered in regard to the issue of study and the
character of the research aim. Elements of cross-sectional design (see Bryman, 2016) has been
applied in this thesis since the material has been produced within a specific timeframe and multiple
semi-structured interviews have been conducted. A cross-sectional design allows examination of
relationships in the data, and the conversational interview style can make a study more ecologically
valid (Bryman, 2016). Hence, each interview would generate different unique discussions as the
interviewees values and experiences would differ and what would be discussed would depend on
what specific documentary films the interviewees would refer to.

Rather than generating new theories this thesis aims to explore and develop existing experience-
theories. However, theory orientation in a qualitative approach is often inductive where theory
emerges from the research (Bryman, 2016). Still, we have been open to reinterpretation and
application of new concepts along the whole research process in order to develop a greater

27
understanding for the people of study and in regard to the topic. This aligns with an abductive
approach, which enables exploration of the existing understanding of a phenomenon (Flick, 2018).
For example, as we identified similar themes in the first phase of the interviews, the theory of flow
to approach experience was considered in a later stage in the thesis. Hence, even though the
research initially was leaning towards an inductive approach, to describe the thesis approach better
aligns with an abductive approach. Furthermore, according to Bryman (2016) the theoretical
understanding in an abductive approach is based on worldviews, meanings and perspectives of the
people under study. This further complies with the purpose of this study; to understand the
experience of environmental documentary films in the millennial’s own terms.

4.2. Research Philosophy: Interpretivism and Constructionism

Departing from the qualitative and interpretive approach, the epistemological and ontological
orientations in this thesis consequently origins respectively in interpretivism and constructionism.
According to Bryman (2016, p. 30), interpretivism is needed “to grasp the subjective meaning of
social action”. More precisely, taking an interpretive stance of philosophy allows us to understand
the subject based on their meaning and self-understandings (Fay, 1996). Hence, interpretivism
enables us to understand the subjective meanings of the millennials. As stated in the literature
review, experiences are highly connected to identity formation (Lorentzen, 2009, Boswijk, 2013)
and values (Helkkula et al., 2012, Boswijk, 2013, Manniche & Larsen, 2013). Hence, experiences
are unique and subjective in nature and are assumed to be created in interaction between consumer
and the product, which in this case is the documentary film viewer and the documentary film.
Accordingly, constant interpretation has been required to uncover this interaction. Independent
follow-up questions in the interviews have been asked to make sense of the material and to evaluate
values and experiences as described by the interviewees. Moreover, Fay (1996, p. 113) explains it
as “put colloquially, interpretivists think that to comprehend others is to understand the meaning
of what they do, and that to understand this meaning is to understand them simply in their own
terms”. Following the argument, an interpretative orientation made it possible to reveal meanings
and understandings of the documentary film viewers, but most importantly to understand the
documentary film viewers from their point of view.

28
Moreover, constructionism is an ontological position portraying social phenomena and their
meanings as being socially constructed by the social actors in, and through, interaction (Bryman,
2016). Accordingly, we have assumed that the social actors (that is the millennials/the
documentary film viewers) experiences and values are not pre-determined but rather being an
outcome of interaction, determined by different factors and being in constant re-evaluation. As
such the experience and values vary between the millennials as a result of living in different social
worlds, being exposed to ongoing change. Hence, we got a glimpse of how the millennials portray
their reality at this moment and multiple interviews enable different versions, yet of similar
realities.

4.2.1. Research Method: Semi-Structured Interviews

Flick (2018, p. 211) concludes that “methods should be selected and evaluated according to their
appropriateness to the subject under study”. Accordingly, based on the research approach and for
the method to align with the research philosophy, semi-structured interviews were considered as
an appropriate method to explore the aim and ultimately contribute to answering the research
questions. Conducting semi-structured interviews went in line with the qualitative nature needed
in order to study the social worlds of the documentary film viewers and their experience of the
phenomenon. As these kinds of interviews consist of open-ended questions structured by a flexible
interview guide, the interviewees perspectives are encouraged and their viewpoints are therefore
more likely to be expressed (Flick, 2018). Accordingly, a semi-structured interview further
empowers the interviewer to “seek both clarification and elaboration on the answers given” (May
2011, p. 134), allowing a dialogue to occur between the interviewee and the interviewer. Due to
Covid-19, physical contact was avoided, and all interviews were conducted online. Additionally,
one expert interview was conducted online following a semi-structure as well.

Even though giving limited insights, a strength of semi-structured interviews lies in their potential
to enable comparison from the interviewees as questions are asked within a pre-decided frame
(May, 2011). Furthermore, semi structured interviews “are used to reconstruct the interviewee´s

29
subjective theory about the issue under study” (Flick, 2018, p. 226). Thus, a semi structured
interview´s main focus is to uncover the participants' meanings and values to understand and
interpret the phenomena through stories told (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015). Accordingly, we have
encouraged the interviewees to elaborate on interview questions, stressing the importance of their
interpretations and understandings, and assured that there is no right or wrong answers as well as
one question may be answered completely differently by different interviewees. This approach
allowed us to discover and explore unforeseen themes and important contributions of the
interviewees' understanding of a specific issue. Alvesson and Deetz (2021) stress how any claim
of truth is actually a social construction and hence a reflection of the subject of where the truth
came from. Accordingly, all decisions made by us and the respondents during the interviews have
contributed to the construction of the empirical material, by both ourselves and the respondents.
That goes for what kind of questions have been asked, how the interviewees have responded and
discussed and follow up questions which have emerged independently in each interview. Hence it
is important to remember that meaning is always incomplete and never final (Alvesson & Deetz,
2021), and our contribution is only one of many possible outcomes.

4.3. Research Process

The two authors of this thesis are both based in Helsingborg, Sweden, which is also the location
the thesis writing process occurred. However, due to Covid-19 pandemic interviews were held
online over Zoom or Teams which enabled interviews with people all across Europe. Hence other
questions and issues in regard to internet based interviews needed to be taken into consideration,
such as if to use one or two computers, do interviews with camera turned off or not and how to
record the interviews. Moreover, this thesis has been conducted equally by the two authors. Both
have invested similar amounts of time in the different parts of the study. Below the process will
be outlined and further explained.

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 4.3.1. Writing the Literature Review

In the beginning of the writing process the literature review was conducted in order to identify key
contributors in the field of culture and creativity and service management, in order to get an
understanding of what already was known about the documentary films and the concepts and
theories used in the culture and creative field. The literature review was revised and updated during
the whole writing process as new ideas emerged.

The literature process started with identifying research gaps and mapping the literature. In order
to do so we compiled all the literature into an Excel file, which at the end of the process included
over 200 articles and literature, comprising various theories and research fields. Bryman (2016)
stresses that to do a literature review is crucial in order to connect the existing literature with the
own research and research questions, and later on with the discussion and findings. In accordance,
we did find that the initial literature also guided us throughout the whole process and served to
navigate us in our research.

We, Frida and Annemari, initially came together due to shared interest in both the culture and
creative industries and sustainability. In the beginning of the process, we aimed to incorporate the
concept sustainability mindset by Rimanoczy (2021) as we identified the societal relevance and
need to guide research towards the societal problem of inaction in societies towards more
sustainable futures, which Rimanoczy (2021) has illustrated. Firstly, departing from the
sustainability mindset by Rimanoczy (2021) the thesis had more of a behavioural science
approach, and the emphasis was rather on sustainability. However, considering further the field of
service management and the field of culture and creativity, we reframed the emphasis more to
seeing the documentaries as cultural commodities/products located in the experience economy as
per Pine and Gilmore (2011) and rather approach the sustainability mindset as a concept to
understand millennials values and worldviews. Service management literature further guided us to
value-in-use, and customer perceived values by Medberg and Grönroos (2020). Hence the reading
guided us constantly in regard to reconsidering the research questions and shaping the aim.
However, it was not until we started the interviews as we first considered flow by Csikszentmihalyi

31
(2016) as a theory to describe the experience phenomena, as we stumbled on the concept of flow
in our search for theories to explain experiences.

4.3.2. Sampling: Process, Criteria and Contact

The sampling process in this thesis has mainly been based on a criterion sampling. Criterion
sampling is a purposive sampling approach where criterions are stated which the interview
participants need to meet (Bryman, 2016). Being one Swede and one Finnish with limited
knowledge in each native language, we used English to communicate with each other. Hence, we
also found it necessary for the respondents to fulfil the criteria of speaking English, so both of us
understood the material without the need to translate the material for each other. Moreover, the
respondents were required to be in the age 24 to 39 to fulfil the demands of being a millennial, for
the research to represent a specific group of people. Different sources (Dimock, 2019; Seemiller
& Grace, 2019; Luqman, 2021) identify the age range differently for the millennials, which are
also known as the generation Y or the 90´s kids. In this thesis, initially the requirements for the
interviewees to participate, was for them to represent the young adults of today hence be in the age
of 20-35. However, since the two youngest participants were born in 1996 and the oldest ones
were born in the late 1980´s, this thesis has identified millennials as born between 1981 and 1996
as in accordance with Dimock’s (2019) criteria.

Since the thesis aimed to examine participants' experience of environmental documentary films,
another criterion the participants needed to fulfil was to at some point of their life be watching a
documentary film related to the subject sustainability or the environment. Furthermore, due to the
pandemic we requested for the participant to be able to conduct online interviews in order to
minimize physical contact. Limitations with online interviewing lies in the lack of context as from
personal contact, and technical issues may jeopardize the interview (Flick, 2018). Nevertheless,
by conducting the interviews online we were able to meet people online yet at different locations
in the world which would not have been possible with on-site interviews. On the other hand, the
lack of physical contact has reduced our insight on contextual factors. For example, even if we
suggested for the participants to find a comfortable and quiet location to conduct the interview, we
could never guarantee that the location they choose was optimal. In one case the participant was

32
situated in a cafeteria, a place where anyone could overhear the conversation. Still, online
interviews were appreciated by both participants and ourselves as they all ran smoothly and
allowed flexibility.

In this study 14 persons were interviewed, and the interviews were conducted starting from the
26th of March until the 30th of April. The initial contact with the interviewees was on social media,
either through Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. We requested suitable participants for the study
through a predetermined announcement on each social media (see appendix A for announcement).
Hence, it was up to the interviews to gain contact with us if they felt they fit the profile and if they
wanted to participate. After the interviewees contacted us, a date was set for the interview. Before
the interview an additional message was sent out (see appendix B for message) to the participants
with further details about the interview and with either a Teams- or Zoom-link. Only two
interviews were held over Teams, the rest was on Zoom.

4.3.3. The Interviewees and the Interview Guide

For the first announcement we gathered 8 participants who volunteered, from which two were set
as pilot interviews. The idea was then to make a second announcement to attract more participants,
as we aimed for 15 interviews to meet sampling criterions. For the second announcement another
6 interviewees reached out to participate. At the end, the timeframe limited how many interviews
we were able to conduct, however we felt that theoretical saturation was reached after 14
interviews and hence decided to do no more. When theoretical saturation occurs the data collection
has reached a point of saturation (May, 2011). Accordingly, we felt that the last interviews rather
confirmed themes that had emerged already rather than giving new insights.

Although the interviewees have their residence in Sweden, Finland, England, and Spain,
nationalities represented by the interviewees were Finnish, Swedish, Indonesian, Syrian and
Dutch. Furthermore, we did conduct one expert interview as one of the interviewees who reached
out had professional perspectives on films. The expert interview gives specific insight into a
subject due to the knowledge and expertise of the interviewee (Flick, 2018). Accordingly, our

33
expert interviewee, Shawn Archer, had further insight in the topic and specific experience of
working in the field of moviemaking, giving insights into technical aspects of how a film is
structured.

No Date Pseudonym Gender Country of Age Duration

Residence (min)

1 March 26th Pilot-Elsa Female Sweden 27 47

2 March 26th Pilot-Oscar Male Sweden 24 42

3 March 29th Angelica Female Sweden 25 36

4 March 29th Marcus Male Sweden 24 46

5 March 31st Expert-Shawn Male England 28 70

Archer

6 April 1st Anthony Male Sweden 31 46

7 April 6th Sally Female Sweden 30 58

8 April 7th Maria Female Finland 32 38

9 April 21st Logan Male Sweden 25 34

10 April 21st Tracy Female Sweden 27 42

11 April 22nd Edward Male Sweden 30 37

12 April 27th Yasmin Female Finland 32 38

13 April 29th Katniss Female Finland 27 51

14 April 30th Hannah Female Spain 30 30

An interview guide was created before the first pilot interviews. The guide was evaluated after the
first two interviews based on how smooth the interview went and by the relevance of the questions
and in what order they were asked. Initially the themes in the guide were discussed in the following
order: Ethical guidelines, context, the experience and lastly sustainability. Only minor changes

34
occurred from the first two interviews. However, we felt after the third interview that we needed
to change the order of the themes as it made sense to identify values before we discussed them
more thoroughly in relation to the documentary films. An interview guide consists of several topics
(Flick, 2018), in our case the final guide (see appendix C for final guide) was divided into four
parts for the second part of the interviews. The new structure followed: sustainability and values,
documentary films in general, documentary film in regard to the latest one watched and
documentary film in regard to a special memorable one. The final interview guide was set
including questions more related to the concept of flow and the realms of the experience, which
was a theory considered in a later stage of the thesis process. The interview guide served as a base
for the interview however additional questions were sometimes asked. In order for the
conversation to go smoothly the questions were sometimes asked in different order and, in some
interviews, not all questions were answered as other aspects were highlighted.

4.3.4. Transcription and Coding Process

The interviews were transcribed with the help of the app “Otter” which recorded and transcribed
the interview simultaneously. The interviews were also recorded on Zoom or Teams in order to
have a back-up. Once recorded, the interviews were listened through once again and while listening
to the audio we corrected the otter-transcriptions and also censored the names of the participants
if they were mentioned. Participants were promised anonymity and their names have been replaced
with pseudonyms in the thesis. When the transcriptions were reviewed and corrected the coding
process could start.

In terms of using semi structured interviews, Flick (2018, p 231-232) stresses that “due to the
complex structure of the single case, attempts at generalization face the problem of how to
summarize different subjective theories to groups”. However, in this thesis a more reflexive
approach has been considered in terms of interpretation of the material, allowing unexpected
discoveries in the research. We went through each transcription in detail in the coding-process and
created categories to capture important contributions as new discoveries were made. The
transcriptions did cover 286 pages in total. Categories varied between the transcriptions however

35
the majority was organised into settings, values, experiences, feelings, learning, sustainability
actions, context, social aspects, documentaries, motivation, reinforcing worldviews and flow.
Nevertheless, there is a risk by fragmenting the data into categories in losing the narrative flow
and context (Bryman, 2016). Still, by using a thematic analysis technique (see Bryman, 2016, p.
584), we were able to comprehend and manage the data by sorting it into categories and themes
which made it possible for us to detect important patterns and findings. More specifically,
important citations from each interview were divided into charts to make it easier to overview the
interviews. Accordingly, Flick (2018, p. 477) stresses that thematic coding is appropriate in
identifying patterns in the material as it addresses “specific ways of seeing and experiencing”.
Furthermore, the nature of experiences being highly personal influenced the choice of coding
technique, and by using thematic analysis we were able to treat each interview as a single case and
still compare them and evaluate them to each other. Following a thematic structure, a first analysis
of a single case is carried out to clarify meanings and when a couple of interviews is analysed,
categories can be cross-checked (Flick, 2018). When searching for themes there are different
aspects to look for (Bryman, 2016). Accordingly, we were looking for similarities, differences,
repetition of topics and other aspects that stood out in the coding process which could help
answering the research questions. The research questions as well as theory of flow and the realms
of experience were also guiding in what to look for. Moreover, aspects such as language and
opinions that could be context or generation specific could be identified in the coding process.

4.3.5. The Process of Analysing Empirical Material

Bryman (2016, p. 28) states that while interpreting the subjects “there is a double interpretation
going on: the researcher is providing an interpretation of others’ interpretations”. Accordingly, in
the analysis part of the thesis the interviews were interpreted and analysed, guided by the research
questions and the aim.

The major themes of the interviews were aligned with the themes set in the interview guide, which
were general views about sustainability, context of documentary film watching and lastly the
experience of viewing a documentary film. However, the coding process allowed us to identify

36
specific detailed sub themes within these original themes. Sub themes in relation to the views about
sustainability were values of the individual and in relations to sustainability, and sustainable
actions of the individual. Within the context themes, settings and social context of viewing
documentary films were identified as well as motivations to watch environmental documentary
films. In regard to the experience sub themes of learning, feelings and emotions were identified as
well as insights of the experience itself. Hence, the categories identified in the coding process
guided the analyses process. Initially three interview charts were analysed in order to detect
similarities and differences. The analysis from the three interviews was then used as a template for
what to look for in the rest of the interviews in order to comprehend the data, however still staying
open for new interpretations and findings. The categories identified in the coding combined with
theories of experience realms, flow and value-in-use made up the analysis structure. Moments of
flow and feelings were identified and experiences from each interview were organized in a figure
of the realms of experience (see figure 4 in the findings- and analysis chapter). Value-in-use was
identified in both flow and the realms of experience hence it was present throughout the whole
analysis. The final themes that emerged in the analysis were discussed in the discussion section,
whereas connections were made as well between theory and the research questions.

4.4. Methodological Reflections

Qualitative research has endured criticism due to its subjectivity, relying too much on the
researcher’s interpretations of the data (Bryman, 2016, p. 398). Still, the qualitative research
philosophy of this specific study recognizes the subjectivity and the interpretative nature of the
research and admits the material being constructed as empirical material rather than collected data,
where interpretation is an essential element. For example, an interview is constantly interpreted in
its progress where both the interview and the respondent are trying to make sense of the situation
(Alvesson & Deetz, 2021) and as researchers we are aware that our own assumptions and
interpretations affected the end result of this thesis. We have constantly tried to avoid words and
ideas which would steer the interview into a biased direction, for example by keeping our own
opinions outside in the interviews. Yet this was hard to accomplish, for example if some
participants had difficulties in understanding a question and wanted us to give an explanation, our
explanation would always be biased by our pre-understanding and perspectives. Still, according to

37
Bryman (2016) is the researcher herself the main instrument of data collection, hence what is being
observed and heard are most often a reflection of the researchers’ preferences which cause
difficulties to replicate the research as it is highly impacted by the researcher (Bryman, 2016).

The interviews need to be evaluated taking into account the respondents’ interests, since from the
interviewees perspectives some truths are rather preferable than others (Alvesson & Deetz, 2021).
In our thesis this would mean that different truths are to be told and by asking questions of
sustainability the respondents may (or may not) for example convey their improvements in
recycling rather than address their increase in car-commuting. They would further talk about
documentaries of a memorable character, and they would consequently not mention those they do
not remember anymore. In order to see through and not frighten the respondents the interview
questions were developed to be considered as harmless as possible. One example is that we asked
the respondent “what is important to you in life?” to detect values and worldviews which later
could be compared with experiences of environmental documentary films. Furthermore, rather
than asking about listing sustainability actions for the respondents to confirm, they were asked to
describe their sustainability habits, either big or small and their relationship with environmental
issues. Qualitative research is concerned with the meaning of action (Bryman, 2016). Accordingly,
we constantly tried to assure the respondents that there existed no wrong or right answers, trying
to grasp their point of view.

To follow methodological rules does not mean that other researchers who wish to replicate would
gain similar results (Alvesson & Deetz, 2021). Since experiences and values have been the core of
this research, replication is not the main goal of this thesis due to the subjective character of the
study. Furthermore, the difficulty remains with qualitative studies to be confirmed by other studies,
they are hard (or impossible) to replicate and are biased by the researcher (Alvesson & Deetz,
2021). Values, personal beliefs and settings such as being born in the Nordic countries and
studying Service Management have brought us different perspectives, however characterised by
western bias, and in turn other views not known by us might have been neglected. However, we
have discussed different steps in the thesis writing process with our supervisor and with people in
the same situation, not least with ourselves, in order to minimize this risk of bias. Furthermore, we

38
want to emphasize that this thesis is not an objective mirror of reality. Rather, the qualitative
character of this study offers us a depth to the material and to understand the issue in question from
qualitative premises, which may serve as a bridge for further discussion and research.

4.4.1. Ethical Considerations

The Swedish research council (2021) have developed a report “Good Research Practice” (2017).
Guidelines from the “Good Research Practice” (2017) report have been followed in this thesis in
terms of ethical considerations in regard to the interviews in our pursuit to maintain
professionalism and integrity and to assure criteria of the research. The interviewees have been
treated honestly and with respect. Moreover, the “Good Research Practice” (2017) report
summarizes 8 general rules (see appendix D) which have been followed in this thesis.

In the interview’s anonymity has been ensured for the participants since their identity is not
relevant for the study, however the Swedish research council (2017) raises the issue of the
difficulty to verify the information given by the researchers due to the anonymity of the
participants. Furthermore, discrimination and stigmatisation of an entire group can still occur even
though no individuals can be identified (Swedish Research Council, 2017). We have not been able
to identify such conflicts in this research, however the participants have been informed that some
variables such as gender, age and nationality might be shared hence the risk of discrimination is
minimized. Furthermore, the interviewees have been informed that the transcriptions will be saved
if they are requested in further research or for the sake of verifying results.

The participants are assured that they are in no situation where they can be exposed to physical or
psychological harm by participating in this study. By clearly stating the aim of the thesis and what
has been expected by the participants we have aimed for transparency. The participants have been
informed that the thesis will be an official document and their names have been changed in this
thesis. Moreover, the participants were informed that they will be recorded on Zoom or Teams but
only the audio will be used and when the thesis is approved, the audio-material will be deleted.
Our third participant requested to do the interview with the camera off which was approved since

39
only the audio was needed. Conducting interviews without the camera on was not considered from
before however this realisation led to other participants from thereon being informed that they had
a choice to turn off their camera if they wanted to. Consent was guaranteed verbally, and the
possibility was highlighted whether the participant wanted to, she/he could stop the interview or
withdraw her/his participation. The material was stored in such a manner that no unauthorised
persons could have access to it.

We have eluded situations that can be questioned on ethical grounds by trying to inform the
participants and conduct a transparent research. However, for the first four interviews some
information sharing about the ethical considerations was missing which was added on for the last
ones. This information was in regard to the fact how the material was stored, whether there will be
any copies of the audios, whether the recording was going to be used to other purposes than
research, whether other analysis than the stated would have been carried out, and in regards of the
possibility for the participant to have a copy of the record. However, since ethical guidelines were
followed, no harm was done and hence it was not found necessary to inform the interviewees
afterwards as the majority did receive the information.

40
 5. Findings & Analysis
However, since an open coding process was applied different themes were detected which will be
presented here. Some themes were more obvious as questions were asked in regard to the topic,
such as values and experiences while other themes were more surprising. The analysis is divided
into several parts, presenting the findings and analysis of documentary films, flow, value-in-use,
and the realms of experience. Firstly, frequently viewed documentary films will be presented
followed by the value of learning in relation to the experience realms. The chapter continues by
analysing the experience of documentary films in a state of flow and the value millennials receive
from viewing documentary films. Lastly, the role of emotions is highlighted in relation to the
findings.

5.1. Frequently Viewed Documentary Films

The documentary most frequently mentioned by the interviewees was Cowspiracy, which was
mentioned in 10 out of 14 interviews. Seaspiracy was mentioned in 8 out of 14 interviews, and
multiple David Attenborough documentaries, such as Life on our Planet, Blue Planet, Planet Earth
and Our Planet, were mentioned in 7 out 14 interviews.

Seaspiracy was released on Netflix on 24th of March 2021 (Imdb 2021a). The release of
Seaspiracy, dated at the time of the interviews, made it for many interviewees their most recent or
most memorable documentary film, further few of the interviewees stated that they watched
Cowspiracy after Seaspiracy because Netflix recommended the film, even though Cowspiracy was
released back in 2014 (Imdb 2021b). From David Attenborough films, the most frequent were A
Life on our Planet and The Blue Planet, however additionally Planet Earth and Our Planet were
also mentioned. Most recent of David Attenborough films being A Life on our Planet released in
2020 (Imdb 2021c).

Documentaries which were mentioned once or twice were Chasing Ice, An Inconvenient Truth,
Before the Flood, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, The Ivory Game, Earthlings, The Cove, I Am

41
Greta, My Octopus Teacher, Blackfish, Behind the Curve and What the Health. Moreover,
documentaries whose names were not stated were discussed. The themes of those documentaries
were environmental sustainability, in regard to plastic pollution, milk production, different energy
options, space documentaries, as well as documentaries about sustainable lifestyles.

5.1.1. Streaming Platforms and Social Influence

To get a comprehensive understanding of the experience we found it important to consider the

context and settings which are possible factors influencing the viewing experience. Moreover, as
stated per Palmer (2010) and Grönroos (2011) value creation of an experience is restricted and
dependent by the context of the certain event, location and time.

As stated, millennials spend more time on streaming services in comparison with traditional TV
(Seemiller & Grace, 2019). Accordingly, the interviews revealed that the majority of the
interviewees watch documentaries through streaming services, particularly from Netflix. Other
streaming platforms mentioned were HBO, YouTube, and streaming platforms by TV channels
such as the Swedish SVT play and National Geographic. A great number of the interviewees
referred to watching documentaries on their laptop or tablet, additionally interviewees watched
from TV, however still referring to streaming services like Netflix, indicating that TV had the
application or that laptop was connected to the TV. In regard to the social setting some of the
participants referred to watching with friends or their partners however, documentaries were often
experienced alone, in the evenings, weekends or when there was spare time. None mentioned
watching documentary films in the cinema. As the majority of the participants watch
documentaries from Netflix, the algorithm of Netflix recommendations came up in the interviews.
Indicating that the reason for watching some particular documentaries was due to the
recommendation by Netflix, which is demonstrated by the quote below.

“I watched the Seaspiracy first, and then a couple days after that, there is another
notification in my Netflix feed, based on their algorithm. They also suggested me to
watch another documentaries and that's when I found Cowspiracy.” (Edward)

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Even though the Netflix algorithm impacted the choices of documentary film watching, the reasons
why millennials would watch documentaries is highly connected to the social context and
expectations of the documentary. The majority of the participants said to watch documentaries in
order to gain knowledge, learn, to stay updated or they just found them interesting. This was further
related to the strong influence of social media which was referred to by multiple participants. The
social context, the influence of other people and the documentary being a hot topic in the media at
the time were reasons to watch the documentary in order to keep up to date on what is happening
in the world. The citations below exemplify these findings.

“Usually it's because I hear, I've heard something about it, like people ask me “have you
seen this one” or it's like a hype in the media, or a lot of people are debating about it, on
like social media like Facebook or something and I see a lot of posts about this specific
documentary. So usually if I'm just bored and want to watch something by myself, it's
usually like a TV series, or movie, but then when I want to watch documentaries, it's
usually because I want to see what's, what it's all about” (Tracy)

“But then when people start talking about the Seaspiracy. I feel like, I need to watch it
as well … ” (Edward)

“So I guess I kind of just watch it to see what the kind of attitude is in the world. I like
to stay updated. Where are we going as a race. Not only so I can make good investment
decisions but also so I can just be like, aware, I guess” (Shawn Archer)

These viewing habits further strengthen Podara et al. (2019) argument of the social role television
plays for the millennial generation. Being part of a community and being updated are important
reasons why the participant would watch the films. Furtheron, the context and settings of watching
environmental documentary films detected in the interviews are typical for millennials which
further highlighted the way media is consumed. These findings go together with Dreier´s (2015)
article which claims that millennials are mainly using streaming services. Thus, the rise of
streaming services was evident, and Netflix was the most common service used when watching

43
documentaries. However, the new release of Seaspiracy on Netflix might have affected the
findings, but still highlights the time and context in which the interviews were conducted.

5.1.2. Insights to Filmmaking: Expert Interview

The interview of Shawn Archer was considered as an expert interview as the participant is an
aspiring filmmaker and writer who had experience in making two long amateur motion pictures,
short movies and had studied acting and film in Hollywood. As mentioned in the methodology
chapter the interview was conducted like the others however a few additional questions were added
to gain further insights into the topic.

Particularly, Shawn Archer pointed out the technicalities of film making and highlighted that
documentary films are similar to fictional films in the sense that they are produced in the same
way, however the approach differs greatly. Below Shawn Archer elaborates the similarities.

“And I do believe that every documentary is just any other movie, because like, even if
it's a documentary, there is still an editor, it is still a directors still script and they still
put together almost like a normal movie, and even if a movie is called a documentary,
we don't even know if it's real or not real what they're talking about.“ (Shawn Archer)

Furthermore, Shawn Archer reviewed and reflected on the structure of environmental

documentaries as well as the editing techniques which are used to direct the viewer's emotions and
attitudes. Shawn Archer's reflections indicated that he viewed environmental documentaries
differently due to his expertise and knowledge on filming techniques.

“I think I experienced them a bit differently because I'm highly aware of the, of the
tricks in the editing. So, and how the editing will make me feel as a person.” (Shawn
Archer)

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 “I think I'm a bit distant from it too. I'm just like okay now you're just trying to scare the
shit out of me so now they're just gonna drop horrifying facts and I'm just gonna sit here
and take it, and I sit there and take it. And then I get become highly aware of, oh, now
they're changing the kind of like attitude, now you're trying to make me hopeful to trying
to turn me into a good human being with soulful inspiring editing and it works.” (Shawn
Archer)

The environmental documentary film was referred to as a romantic comedy by Shawn Archer, in
the same sense of experiencing the varying emotions during the film. Moreover, the structure of
the documentary films, especially the storytelling and the ride of emotions was described as too
similar.

“Honestly, I think a lot of them come across a little bit too, too much samey, so I feel
like a lot of people will see it, kind of just go through the motions like when they're
watching a romantic comedy.”
(Shawn Archer)

“I feel like after the inconvenient truth, they were all kind of the same in terms of
dramatic structure. They freak us out super much with facts and statistics and then they
try in the last five minutes to bring some kind of patriotic hope for that there still is time.
And I do think there is still time.” (Shawn Archer)

Lastly, from the perspective of a filmmaker, we wanted to know what are the values he wanted the
viewers to gain from experiencing a cultural product, such as film. Shawn Archer highlighted the
entertainment value and referred the intellectual values to come second.

“ … my main goal is I would just love to entertain and make people forget about their
lives … ” (Shawn Archer)

Although Shawn Archer states that he experiences environmental documentaries differently, he

creates a paradox as it comes evident from analysing his answers that the experience itself is still

45
very similarly experienced as other interviewees. What is different from other interviewees is the
additional value that emerges for Shawn Archer due to his expertise, as he is aware of
technicalities, he pays attention to different details which bring value to him.

5.2. Realms of Experience: The Value of Learning

The realms of experience were identified in the interviews and all dimensions of engagement were
noted. However, the educational realm was evident in all interviews, whereas entertainment and
esthetic realms were visible in most of the interviews and finally the escapist realm was barely
detected from the participants' descriptions of the experience of watching environmental
documentary films. This is further visualised in the figure 4, where each colour represents each
interviewee and which realms came across from their interviews.

Figure 4. Documentary viewing applied to realms of experiences.

On top of gaining knowledge and social influence, participants also referred to the entertainment
value and the fun of watching documentaries as well as enjoying the visuals of documentaries.
One of the participants further highlights the varying expectations depending on the documentary,
whether the focus will be in education or enjoying beautiful visuals.

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 “ … sometimes I watch them because I really enjoy the visuals, like when it's more not
really about like education that much but just about like showing our beautiful world,
planet. So it depends, which kind of documentary I'm watching.” (Elsa)

Some dimensions were also reflected negatively. For example, one of the participants (Logan),
referred to some of the dramatic scenes of Seaspiracy as “a bit made up” which in turn diminished
the educational dimension for him, he elaborated pointing to that “it's a bit too much for me,
because like, the whole point of watching is to gain more insights. But then, by doing that, it kind
of diminishes it, at least for me.”. However, the majority did refer to the dimensions with a positive
connotation. Below examples illustrate the educational, entertainment and esthetic realms and
show how multiple can be present simultaneously.

“I enjoy but I think it's also nice to, learn something. So, if it's not just fun but also
informative.” (Angelica)

“I like seeing kind of visual masterpieces, but then of course the biggest value is in the
content, and in what you can learn or feel from what you're watching.” (Katniss)

“I think it will be to two reasons, pretty much, because firstly I think it's fun to see them,
and they're usually at least the ones that I watch are usually like visually really beautiful.
And then do you feel well and I love seeing the, the environment, portrayed in that way,
and the journalists are just for entertainment, just like anything else on TV, but then I
would also watch them if I like when I learned something … ” (Oscar)

Hence, one experience may consist of multiple streams of value creation and consequently several
realms such as being both informative (educational realm) and fun (entertainment realm) or visual
masterpiece (esthetic realm) and learning (educational) may be experienced simultaneously or
during the same film.

Even though comments such as “I love seeing the, the environment, portrayed in that way” (Oscar)
or " ... it's beautiful to watch, and fun and interesting to see how animals act." (Anthony) would

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hint that the interviewees experienced the films in states of escapism, it was difficult to identify
this realm. However, our expert interviewee further reflects on how he believes films are an escape
from reality, hence highlighting the escapist dimension.

"Usually most people hate their lives. That's what I believe …. A really really good and
interesting film, could really just make you forget how shitty your life is and I think
that's pretty beautiful.”
(Shawn Archer)

The way the expert interviewee uses rich descriptions to describe reflections could be the reason
why the escapist realm was able to be identified. Still, even though all realms were identified in
the interviews it came clear that an emotional connection related to the experience as a whole gave
depth to the experience, as illustrated by one of the interviewees below.

“Well, the reason you watch any movies it's like entertainment, you can kind of relax
and enjoy yourself in this experience, but usually it's just to learn more, I think for me,
it's easier to learn from a documentary than from reading a book, because I don't know,
maybe it just caters to more of your senses like you're not just reading but you're seeing
things and hearing things, and it's somehow a more wholesome experience so at least it
like leaves more of an emotional connection to me. When I watch a documentary.”
(Katniss)

The above encapsulates the multiple realms of experience catering various senses at same time
making the experience feel complete. This further leads us to analyse the emotions and feelings
related to the environmental documentary films.

5.2.1. Environmental Documentary Films: The feeling of Shock

The realms of experiences feel inadequate to represent the full picture of an experience as one of
the most vital elements of an experience is missing which is the connection to emotions. The
realms of experiences can often be identified in connection to how the participant felt at the time.

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As an example, one of the interviewees (Maria) connected the visualisation to a feeling of shock
in regard to how much milk powder it is in the world.

“I like how they showed how they showed and how much milk powder there is in the
world, and how much does shipping, and now it's like loads of storage with milk powder
it was really new information and quite shocking to see how much, how much there is.”
(Maria)

Thus, the visualisation is present in the esthetic realm, at the same time are the feelings experienced
present when identifying the realms. When it comes to environmental documentaries, shock,
surprise and sadness where strong emotions felt while viewing the environmental documentaries.
Additionally, below illustrates how anxiety was detected in relation to the sustainable challenges
we are facing today, and confusion felt towards people and industries as to their unsustainable
ways.

“The senseless violence towards like innocent animals that, and it didn't really make any
sense.” (Yasmin)

“confused. I was like, they're right, but they're wrong, but they're right, but they're also
wrong.” (Marcus)

The two interviewees’ comments below further demonstrate how the feelings guide to attitude
forming and motivation to action, illustrating how the environmental documentary can be a
transformative experience.

“I could go vegan or should, let's say should. And, of course, it was in the end. Also eye
opening. More …. shocking someway in as well.” (Hannah)

“ … rather impressed by how they, how it all came together but also a bit sad because
it was, of course, it's not nice to watch, you know, those kind of things, but it's also

49
 reality. And in the end I feel like it's some sort of just some activate some sort of
motivation to do better myself I would say.” (Angelica)

Hence, emotions are a crucial part of the experience which are interconnected with individual
values and worldviews which determine the dimensions and values emerged from the viewing of
an environmental documentary film.

5.3. Experiencing Documentary Films in a State of Flow

After a few interviews were conducted it was evident that learning and feelings were important
themes during the experience of viewing a documentary film. Since the realms of experience
proved to be insufficient to understand the whole experience, flow is the concept to further explore
the phenomenon. As mentioned, flow represents the focused state and loss of time
(Csikszentmihalyi, 2016), and the skill level, interests of the individual (Smit & Melissen, 2018)
as well as personality (deMatos et al., 2021) will determine if flow will be accomplished or not.

5.3.1. Sustainability: Millennials´ Awareness

Some sort of skill level was assumed for the participants to occupy as one of the criteria’s
demanded to have watched at least one documentary film related to the environment. Many of the
interviewees possessed high awareness of environmental issues and high levels of knowledge
about sustainable lifestyles, conscious consumption and how to minimize environmental footprint.
This further goes in line with Luqman (2021) who states that millennials are highly aware and seek
information about climate issues. Many of the participants mentioned actions of what they do and
do not do in daily life, which are actions they know may impact the environment to a smaller - or
greater - degree. One of the participants expresses that " ... like the plastic in the oceans, like, it's
not that I would go and buy a lot of plastic and go crazy.” (Hannah). Describing her relationship
with environmental issues, another interviewee highlights her conscious consumption practices.

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 "... it's definitely something that is an integral part of my life, I think it might be also
something that's maybe almost automatic. So, indeed with my daily life when I go food
shopping or when maybe with clothing or with shoes.. I would rather see if I can maybe
repair or maybe like a clothing swap with my sister, instead of shopping… " (Angelica)

Another participant as well mentions how he tries to consume food consciously and shows his
concern about his carbon footprint, which further indicates knowledge and awareness about the
topic.

“I always actually want to try to make sure that the food that I can consume is
environmental friendly and doesn't have like so much carbon footprint.” (Logan)

Moreover, many of the participants showed comprehensive awareness of sustainability. As many

of the participants referred to their consuming patterns, one of them additionally explained how
she in her pursuit of living a sustainable lifestyle has improved her house to be energy efficient.

“I tried to not like take the car in unnecessary trips and try to buy a second hand clothing
and I try to eat more vegetarian and I try to… Yeah, just unnecessary consumption. We
have also renovated our house, so it's, it got isolation. So it's more climate friendly now,
since we don't.. and we also changed our heating system from.. Hmm.. heating with the
mm.. what do you call it.. fire? And now we have this thing that runs on air. It's another
heating system that is more climate friendly, so our whole house is more climate friendly
now. It takes less energy to heat and keeps the heat inside since we get better in isolation
now.” (Sally)

Hence, the interviewee (Sally) further develops the concept of sustainability from applying it to a
few actions to be living a sustainable lifestyle. Accordingly, the idea of a sustainability mindset
(Kassel & Rimanoczy, 2018) is revealed in the millennials understanding of sustainability and
their values and actions indicate that they possess a mindset emphasizing the greater good of all.
Another interviewee further explains how he reflects on his daily habits in relation to strategies for
a sustainable lifestyle.

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 " … when you do things every day, like in a certain way, then you maybe don't really
see how you don't see it in the big picture, but then if you look at the past month maybe,
and try to think of what you've been eating, where you've been, have you been using,
like, when flights, used to be a thing back in the day but now nobody's using them. But
still, like when you look at the past month, and what you have done well and you haven't
done well. And then you try to plan for the future like, “maybe I should push the things
that I've done well”, more, and concentrate on them." (Oscar)

Interestingly, all of the participants devoted themselves to some sort of environmentally friendly
actions. Still, many participants implied that they still could do more. Discussing her sustainability
habits, one participant concludes "[The sustainability habits] could be better, but at least it is
something." (Maria), and as many others, another millennial expresses that “I try my best”
(Angelica). Accordingly, the following citation highlights how even the smallest things may make
a big difference in the end.

“We do some recycling, it hasn't been too good for the last, maybe a year or so. But we
do recycle some... So that's one thing and I mean it's maybe. How do you say, drip in
the ocean. When one person does it but when a lot of persons, people do it's… it's
becomes the ocean” (Anthony)

All these actions, habits and lifestyles related to sustainability indicate awareness and knowledge
about topics related to the environment. Without these previous skills it would be hard for the
participants to relate to environmental documentary films hence diminish the possibility to
experience flow. Nevertheless, the skill combined with an interest would then increase the
possibility of flow. For example, one participant claims that “Since I've learned more about climate
change, the more you learn about it the more you want to do something about it” (Sally). This
could further be interpreted as a sign of how documentary films may evoke an interest and
consequently knowledge about a topic. The skills acquired would thus be reinforced by the
documentary films which are a means of learning, hence the source of skills. When skills are
secured, an interest is also needed to experience the transformative flow.

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 5.3.2. Environmental Issues: Millennials´ Motivation to Learn

Multiple participants highlight their interests in sustainability and the environment, which also in
many cases would impact if they watched an environmental documentary film at all. For example,
one participant says “I'm always been super interested of animals, and the planet.” (Hannah).
Meanwhile, another interviewee highlights how his interest further would be connected to his skill
levels "It's, it's really interesting, that's why …. I can easily understand the whole thing." (Logan).
To actually have an interest in the documentaries for them to be educational was a recurrent pattern
amongst the interviewees. One participant for example points to how her interests and skill levels
are intertwined and how the documentary films contribute to her self-actualisation.

“I think they are interesting and educational. It feels good to watch them because it
confirms me that I’m on the right path. Kind of." (Sally)

Furthermore, another interviewee points out that a person's values are also connected to a person's
interests. In accordance, the interviewee implies that if you would not value a specific thing, you
would neither have interest to learn more about it.

"I think it all ties in with interest so if you have certain interests, then I think there might
be some overlap with your values and then also in a way, also when she would like to
watch [documentary films]so maybe if you are very much against sustainability where
you don't really believe in global warming, then you might also not believe, be very
keen on watching those kind of documentaries." (Angelica)

It comes clear that for many of the interviewees the interest origins in a will to learn more about
what is happening in the world, to learn more about a specific thing or to just replenish the
knowledge bank. For example, two interviewees exemplify below.

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 "I think it's interesting to see what's really happening in the world. You learn from
different industries as well, by watching documentaries, again you'll learn about things
that you otherwise wouldn't learn about." (Yasmin)

"I think I just in general when I watch documentaries that I'm always a bit, both surprised
and interested in general that like, “Oh, I didn't know this”, or I need to go read more
about that." (Tracy)

Accordingly, Smit and Melissen (2018) highlights how a desire to learn could be enough to
experience flow. This desire is evident for many of the participants. On the other hand, one of the
interviewees implies that a particular interest is not always the reason behind watching a specific
documentary film, however a general interest in documentary films per se would be enough to
watch.

“I watch like everything in general, no specific reason like I don't necessarily have to
have interest in documentaries.” (Marcus)

Furthermore, one of the millennials identifies herself as a movie fan and highlights how the
experience itself is her interest, and how a specific topic of interests would make her choose a
specific documentary film. Yet, the learning element is still present however the full experience is
important to her.

“I'm a movie fan, and I like to focus on what I'm watching properly. To get the full
experience, and to feel the things I'm supposed to, like that. I can feel and to learn
everything there is to learn. I want to see all the details and all the, hear all the sentences
that are said, but then also when it comes to these documentaries, it's usually topics that
I am interested in, and that I want to learn more about. So maybe there's even more of a
focus then, when watching some random comedy movie, because you care about what
you're watching.” (Katniss)

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As already explained, the enjoyment of film is an outcome of flow, an experience achieved once
the message is balanced with an individual's cognitive capabilities (Sherry, 2004). Accordingly, as
above indicates both the skill level and interests are present for the participants hence, they are
obtaining good conditions to experience flow. Before we dig deeper into flow in the experience
realms, the next section will illustrate the participants value-in-use in relation to the environmental
documentary films.

5.4. Perceived Value of Environmental Documentary Films

In order to determine the viewer perceived value, various questions were formed to enable the
perceived value to emerge from the empirical data. Questions were generic such as “why do you
watch documentary films?” as well as specific in regard to certain environmental documentary
films, such as “What is the value for you in the environmental documentaries?” elaborated as
“what have they gained from the experience?” and “Do you find them useful?”. Moreover, in
accordance with Heinonen et al. (2013) value is created and embedded in the active life and reality
of the viewer, hence, to recognise the value in the multiple contexts as well as the connection to
sustainability, the actions and reflections of the participants was analysed.

The perceived value of the environmental documentary films can be connected as well to the
expectations of the viewers and the themes identified within the settings and context as to why to
watch environmental documentary films which was demonstrated in the previous chapter 5.3.1.
As well as to the interest and knowledge of millennials in regard to sustainability as per chapter
5.3.2. Moreover, learning and gaining knowledge were found to be the primary reason to watch
the documentaries as well as having fun and enjoying the visuals. In addition, more themes related
to value-in-use emerged from the interviews. From the perspective of value-in-use the themes
emerged from the context and settings of millennials watching documentary films are additionally
perceived values of the viewers. The value of learning, gaining knowledge and insights to
something new, as well as the value of sustainability, not only to learn about sustainability itself
but how to live more sustainably or how to know which industries to support or not to support due
to environmental reasons, how to consume in a way that align with individual’s sustainability

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values. Furthermore, social value was emerging as the environmental documentaries would be
discussed and recommended forward and even shared in social media, which emphasises the value
of community. As the stated values are seen to be illustrated through the data in the previous
sections, the additional perceived values of value-in-use are further elaborated on in the next
chapters.

5.4.1. The Power of Reinforcing Values

One of the most predominant themes coming up from the interviews was that the message of the
documentaries often reinforced the existing worldviews and values of the viewers. Further, the
interviews identified that people often watch documentaries which align with their values and
worldviews, and in the case the documentary did not align with the viewers worldview or values,
it was not seen as informative, rather more entertaining. Reinforcing values and worldviews, was
in the context of the study highly connected to sustainability and environmentalism as the
discussion was about environmental documentaries. An example, which was referred to in many
interviews, about reinforcing values and worldviews was the connection to vegetarianism and
veganism as demonstrated by the citations below.

“well I was already vegetarian so I was not really very …. it was just more of a
confirmation that, yes, It's a good choice that I made” (Angelica)

“ … it makes me feel great because I feel like, Oh, this is a good justification why I
became a vegetarian and I do not consume meat.” (Edward)

However, reinforcement was seen also in a more general level of lifestyles as indicated by the
citation below.

“It feels good to watch them because it confirms me that I’m on the right path.” (Sally)

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Hence, it became evident that identity formation was present as the documentary films strengthen
identity through the reinforcement and confirmations. It was commonly stated that viewing
documentaries just made values stronger or enhanced worldviews. The effect of reinforcement is
in line with the studies conducted regards to the effects of environmental documentaries.
Nevertheless, documentary as a cultural product as well serves to reinforce ideologies (Kong,
2014). Looking at the effect of reinforcement and the positive connotation of it in the interviews,
reinforcement can be seen as one of the emerging values that environmental documentaries provide
to its viewers.

5.4.2. The Value of Storytelling

Value can further emerge from the storytelling and the emotional rollercoaster ride that comes with
it. For example, positive emotions were identified since the storyteller made one participant feel
warmth, love and hope watching My Octopus Teacher.

“I don't know what the guy's called now I forgot. But since he is... So, such a warm
loving person. And has this love for this animal... Octopus... (laughter) I don't know I
just fell in love with him, he's such a cosy guy, and it leaves a warm feeling that there
are people out there that has such strong love for nature and animals. It's, it's nice."
(Sally)

Moreover, storytelling was referred to in connection to memorability by other participants hence

the story was an element of the environmental documentary film where value emerged. This was
identified in below quotes.

“And then they make it like they are really good in making it as like a story. So it's
interesting to follow …. So I guess it's the storytelling and the visuals that makes it super
memorable for me.” (Elsa)

“Hmm sad and happy, because there's obviously like.. funny moments as well. They
make like the story and there's these two birds that try to find each other and then you're
like super exciting and then you're super happy where they finally find each other. But

57
 then again, it makes me really sad to see how much like human... Humans, destroy the
planet and the environment where they animals just try to live their lives.” (Elsa)

“But I think it is memorable because, like he was. You kind of get the connection to the
person. And it's, yeah, there's like the storyline and that kind of stuff.” (Oscar)

As such, above indicates how the storytelling contributes to a memorable experience, where
different emotions were felt. Below citation further shows that the storytelling can help to organise
information and conceptualise topics which might be intangible and abstract otherwise. This is
well illustrated by one of the participants.

“They made it so tangible so I thought it was rather impressive, the whole story.”
(Angelica)

Hence, above shows that amongst reinforcing values and identity strengthening, the storytelling’s
contribution to value-in-use was evident as they all were additionally perceived values by the
viewers. Corvellec and Hultman (2014) understanding of value propositions as pluralistic, offered
simultaneously and continuously aligned with the findings in this analysis. Dividing products,
services and experiences as traditionally done by Pine and Gilmore (2011) however is misleading
in the case of documentary films since the findings reveal that watching a documentary film may
stimulate several realms of the experience and at the same time provoking feelings. Documentary
films are rather multifaceted; appreciated as a tool of learning, as a visual esthetic cultural product,
as identity strengthening due to reinforcing values as well as a means to stay updated, highlighting
its social role. Another connection that can be drawn is in regard to the experience of flow which
is related to a person's interests, and that an experience may consist of multiple streams of value
creation. These findings will be further presented in the next section.

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 5.5. The Role of Emotions

Firstly, the two theories value-in-use and realms of experience both represent the exact moment
when the documentary film is consumed, and both indicate emerging factors from the experience.
The realms of experience with the dimensions indicate the type of experience have occurred,
however the dimensions can also be seen as emerging values perceived by the viewer; educational
value, entertainment value, esthetic value and escapist value, similarly to value-in-use. However,
the findings demonstrated that there are multiple value propositions simultaneously offered by the
environmental documentary films and some even perceived all the realms as values emerged from
the experience. Guiding us to think that the realms are not as straightforward as assumed by Pine
and Gilmore (2011). Furtheron, the value of the goods in the creative industries is said to lie in its
ability to create emotional response (Choi & Burnes, 2013). Hence, to further investigate emotions
in the realms of the experience the concept of flow is applied below.

5.5.1. If not Flow, then what?

When a certain skill level is met and the documentary film captures the interests of the viewers,
flow may be reached. Flow may further be experienced in all the experience realms (Pine &
Gilmore, 2011), and this part will get into detail of what could be identified in the interviews. As
illustrated in Figure 2 (initially presented in the theoretical framework), flow is reached when a
balance is met between the challenges and skills. The interviews illustrate that while watching a
documentary film, the experience could alter between states of anxiety, flow as well as boredom.

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 Figure 5. (Figure 2). Our application of “Documentary Films” to the
concept of “Flow”, “Flow” figure is based on Csikszentmihalyi (2016, p.
103).

Interesting to see is how different states could be reached during the same experience, hence a
linear and final phase to describe flow throughout the whole experience would be insufficient.

For example, one of the participants illustrates how feelings of optimism and anxiousness both
would be experienced during the same documentary film.

"It can be a bit, can be a bit like... I mean not depressing, that's a big word, but like
makes you a bit anxious and like aware of the world, because it's not a perfect situation
we're in, with how the world is. But then, I think that specific film [A life on our planet]
was also built in a way that creates some optimism about the future as well so I wasn't
all... I was a bit anxious and bit conscious about the choices I make and everybody
makes nowadays, but then it also had a lot of hope for the future so I was also happy."
(Oscar)

Moreover, to get the fullest out of the experience, some participants would prepare themselves for
the documentary film watching, in order to not get distracted. One interviewee described how she
preferred an environment that allowed her focus on the viewing.

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 “And usually I like to completely immerse myself into whatever I'm watching,
especially when it's movies. So I think it's quite a calm setting where I'm very focused
on what I'm watching." (Katniss)

It came clear that when the interviewees felt too bored, the interest was lost and hence chances of
experience flow would be reduced. One participant explained that “Sometimes it tends to be
boring. Like the “Greta” was a little bit boring."(Logan), and he further clarifies why he would
find it boring as "I just like, I don't really gain much more like new information, or it's too general.
So yeah, I cannot really get into it."(Logan). Two other interviewees further recognize that it is a
bad sign that the documentary film gets boring, whether it is because of bad quality or without
action.

“It's not really exciting to see …. it's not about the content but it's like more like
cinematography, I guess. So it's the thing that [it] don't really catch my attention. It feels
like boring in the way, the way the documentaries …. Yeah, the movie itself is not ….
It's not really good but the content is good.” (Edward)

" … and if they're just … really general, or if it's not like, it's not done well, it's poor
quality or if they keep showing the same stuff that I'm not interested in for a long time,
like filming some, something where nothing is happening. If I get bored while watching
it, then that's a really bad sign." (Oscar)

Losing interest would sometimes further result in that the participants would discontinue their
viewing or even fall asleep.

" … like two weeks ago, I started watching seaspiracy, but I just made it maybe like 15
minutes before I had to do something else and I haven't finished watching it." (Tracy)

"I think I started to watch it with a friend. But then I fell asleep in the middle of it and
then I just finished it alone" (Elsa)

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Another participant further highlighted if there were parts in the movie she did not appreciate, and
she would get annoyed.

" I was only concerned about the glacier and the global warming, so I didn't need to hear
about people who didn't believe in global warming, I didn't need that argument. So I
found that a bit annoying." (Maria)

As boredom could lead to losing interest and feelings of annoyance, too much on the other spectra
would lead to anxiety. One interviewee reflects on his positioning to power plants and how these
new perspectives led to confusion.

“I was really confused. I was like it's, it's really hard to make up your mind about
whether if it's worth it or not, because it is giving us, like it's providing us with an
enormous amount of energy, with like, you know, just having one power plant or so.”
(Marcus)

Another participant (Yasmine) on the other hand explains that even if the topic itself is easy to
understand in the Cove documentary, she found it difficult to understand the violence, why humans
would hunt and slaughter dolphins. Accordingly, one of the interviewees points out that when no
consensus is reached, it is even harder to grasp the topic even though the themes could be more
easily understood.

"Understanding the content was, was very easy I think the topic itself was extremely
simple, but understanding the bigger picture of why we do something like that, I think
that's a bit, a lot more difficult topic to grasp." (Yasmine)

“Hm. Partly Yes. The themes were easy to understand, but just in general, the term, the
Anthropocene is a term that even professionals of the field have not come to an
understanding of what that means. So, it's quite a complicated issue like what does it
mean the age of mankind and are we still in the Anthropocene. So, I think the whole
theme of the documentary in itself is a bit too hard to understand.” (Katniss)

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In accordance, the violence from Seaspiracy was highlighted by one of the interviewees who
indicated how the new perspective she gained on the reality would have a strong impact on her.

“I just felt nauseous, because it was worse than I could imagine, the, the bycatch from
industrial fishing, the slaughtering of dolphins and…it just... Even my husband said I'm
never eating fish again. (laughter) It's a big thing coming from him.” (Sally)

What the previous section shows is that when the documentary films get too boring or too much,
unwanted feelings may arise. Even though the skill and the task need to be balanced, it is hard to
tell where this balance would be. One of the participants for example gave the impression of really
enjoying sustainability films overall, hence she would more easily obtain flow in her experiences.

"It was like a week ago because I've watched these four documentaries in like four
nights. [laughter] So the first one was a week and a half ago, the second last one was
six, seven days ago, and it was, I think the last one was My Octopus teacher …. but I
kind of get hooked, so I watched four” (Sally)

Whether or not a documentary film would be perceived as interesting would help the interviewees
to focus and stay absorbed in the experience. Another interviewee further mentioned how the
experience would be memorable due to the interest which arises and the feelings evoked by the
content.

"I thought they were really interesting to see …. I remember the feeling afterwards there
was like “wow I haven't thought about this” …. So I thought it was, I thought it was fun
and interesting to see …. Yeah, and interesting and useful" (Tracy)

Two of the interviewees indicated that they experienced flow as they devoted all their time to the
viewing. One of them explains that sometimes he would play with his phone but not while
watching Seaspiracy and the other one points out that he stayed focused during the entire film and
how other aspects such as cinematography did not have as big importance depending on the
content.

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 "For the seaspiracy I was really into it like I didn't do anything. But for some other like
yeah, we, sometimes I eat. Or sometimes I still play with my phone too." (Logan)

“I really enjoy from the very beginning, I really focus on the content [Seaspiracy] …. I
really focused on the content so I did not really focus on the cinema, cinematography,
or whatever. But the other one the Cowspiracy because I kind of know about the content
so I kind of focus on how the movies are.” (Edward)

This analysis further demonstrates the importance of feelings guiding the experience and how the
flow state within the experience is multifaceted as well as nonlinear varying possibly during the
same experience, moving from the state of boredom to flow to anxiety. Moreover, the state of flow
can be seen to be related to all realms of experience. Furthermore, the state of flow and the
satisfaction the viewer gets, can be interpreted as a perceived value of the viewer within the context
of value-in-use. Hence, the experience of viewing an environmental documentary film is seen to
be highly individual, fluctuating and offering multiple value propositions simultaneously.

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 6. Discussion
The aim of the thesis was to through a consumer perspective investigating millennials experiences
of environmental documentary films, specifically in relation to values and worldviews. In order to
explore the aim of study, theories of the experience realms, value-in-use and flow have been used.
The analysis has indicated that the findings generated both a greater understanding for experiences
of cultural commodities but also new findings of what millennials value in documentary films have
been identified. In this chapter the findings and analysis will be discussed in relation to the research
questions and reflections of the results in relation to previous research will be brought forward.
The contribution of the thesis to current research will be further discussed and practical
implications considered.

Before the research questions will be answered, contextual factors and considerations need to be
taken into consideration and clarified. Firstly, the documentary films discussed affect the results
of the study as the type of documentary film frames the experience. However, the findings
indicated surprisingly similar results even when various environmental documentary films were
discussed. Although, documentaries such as Seaspiracy, Cowspiracy and David Attenborough’s
documentaries gave a strong influence on the findings. The common factor of these documentaries
was their relation to climate change and environmental issues. Both Seaspiracy and Cowspiracy
were industry specific documentaries mainly criticising the mass production of meat and
commercial fishing and highlighted the industries impact on the environment. David
Attenborough’s Life on our Planet similarly took up environmental issues of biodiversity loss and
global warming. In general, these themes were evident in almost all the documentaries discussed
in this study. Furthermore, the expert interview gave us insights of the filmmaker’s perspective to
environmental documentary films highlighting the techniques used to guide the viewer's feelings
across the experience.

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 6.1. Millennials Experience of Environmental Documentary
Films

The first research question of millennials' environmental documentary film experiences has been
examined by using theories of experience and especially the realms of experience, value-in-use
and the concept of flow. To comprehend the experience fully, the context was examined and
factors influencing the experience had to be taken into consideration. The context and settings,
where, why and how environmental documentaries were viewed, revealed the impact social media
had on choice of documentary films and that documentaries were watched in order to keep up with
what was trending at the moment. This was further connected to a social context where the viewers
wanted to discuss the topic and issues shown in the documentaries with their friends and family as
well as share in their social media community. However, the majority watched the environmental
documentaries alone and the main reason identified from the findings was to learn, gain knowledge
or insights to a topic.

Not surprisingly, the way the participants consumed the environmental documentaries was
identified as typical for millennials as they used mainly streaming services as previously identified
by Seemiller and Grace (2019) and Dreier (2015). Moreover, the fact that the participants were
able to name multiple, particularly environmental, documentaries is in line with Luqman (2021)
stating how millennials seek knowledge about climate change and observe it through film several
times a year. On top of that the analysis shows the social role of viewing environmental
documentaries, which is connected to being part of a community and keeping up with the current
topics which further relates to Podara et al. (2019) stating that millennials consume TV for having
a sense of community. Podara et al. (2019) also states that millennials consume TV for fun which
brings us to discuss the experience itself of a cultural commodity.

As presented in the literature, experiences are unique and personal (Boswijk, 2013; Gentile et al.,
2007). However, the analysis and findings of this research indicated similarities in how the
experience of viewing environmental documentary films is experienced by millennials.

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The findings indicated that the most relevant dimensions of experiences are absorb and passive, in
relation to all interviewees educational and entertainment realms were most mentioned as well as
esthetic and entertainment realms. Furthermore, interestingly when it came to environmental
documentary films, if the expected realm and value was educational, the expectations were lower
for esthetic and entertainment realms. On the other hand, if the esthetic or entertainment realms
were not fulfilled by the viewers expectations, the educational value was seen to diminish, and it
could further be seen that the viewers trust in the provided information decreased. However, since
all the realms were identified it became clear that the experience of watching a documentary film
was not going to be determined by the dimensions of experience singularly as absorb, active,
passive nor immersive. We suggest that the realms of experience will not be understood as linearly
and strictly as Pine and Gilmore (2011) have presented. Rather, the realms and dimensions of
experiences would be understood similarly to value-in-use, as in the end both are representations
of the experience itself. Hence, the realms of experiences would be comprehended as interactive
and changing processes guided by emotions.

Thus, when watching an environmental documentary, the realms and dimensions vary during the
experience and are steered by emotions. This is additionally in line with Palmer’s (2010) views
about emotions as facilitating tools which are used to assess stimulus to develop attitudes.
Moreover, emotions were identified as the lacking realm in the experience. When inspecting the
realms of experience and value-in-use many similarities were found in regard to the realms of
experiences. All realms, educational, escapist, esthetic and entertainment were visible from the
findings, these were also all identified as perceived values from the viewer's perspective. When
applying the thought of interpreting the realms as values, emotions were vital as well when
considering the value-in-use. Emotions were connected to several realms like visualisations and
learning, emotions of shock and surprise were seen to guide the perceived values emerging from
the experience and determined whether the aspect was valued or not. Emotions were additionally
guiding the motivations for action, which further connects to transformative experiences, where
the viewers worldviews, attitudes and even behaviour might change. This goes further in line with
previous research, indicating that experiences are connected to identity construction and values,
and may have a great impact on turning points in our lives (Boswijk, 2013). Moreover, the analysis

67
indicates multiple value propositions occurring simultaneously as per Corvellec and Hultman´s
(2014) have illustrated in their article.

The findings indicated how all participants possessed consumption habits or engaged in other
activities in their lives to mitigate environmental issues, which highlights the millennials value of
sustainability as well as awareness of it. Accordingly, typical for millennials is their knowledge
and understanding of the sustainability challenges of today (Luqman 2021), which was also
confirmed by our participants. This was vital in the connection to flow as the knowledge base and
skills of sustainability enabled the possibility to gain states of flow. However, if the skill level
went too low or too high, it would restrict the flow state during the experience. The analysis
indicated that millennials on top of having a high skill level in regard to topics about sustainability
also obtained high interest to learn more which was found to be a direct indicator that flow state
can be found in the environmental documentary film experience. Thus, as per Sherry (2004) stated
that the balance of challenges of the message given, in this case by the documentary, and the
individual's cognitive capabilities are essential for media enjoyment. The analysis further
illustrated how even the state of flow would change and fluctuate within the experience as different
emotions would guide the process. The aspect of learning and the state of flow within the
experience of viewing environmental documentary films can be traced back to Kollmuss &
Agyeman (2002) and Arendt & Matthes (2016) who underlined previous research which
highlighted the impact of documentary films and its educational abilities.

Further, values of sustainability emerged from the experience in relation to learning and how to be
more sustainable. Additionally, the environmental documentary film was seen to reinforce existing
values which were connected to positive feelings, thus giving value to the viewer. Lastly, value
was seen to emerge from storytelling, having fun and visuals which all can be connected to
entertainment and esthetic realms of experience as well as values. However, again emotions were
an important factor as storytelling further guided the emotions of the viewer determining the
memorability of the experience. The analysis further demonstrated that storytelling and visuals
further made the topics easier to understand and conceptualised abstract or unknown concepts, by
visualising large numbers or statistics the issues became more tangible for the viewers .

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To summarise in the context of viewing environmental documentary films the realms of experience
rather form various values offered by the cultural product. Just like value-in-use, the realms of
experiences are not as linear as demonstrated by Pine and Gilmore (2011), as the presenting’s in
the analysis would indicate. From the finding’s emotions are the common factor which brings the
theories together as certain emotions indicate the state of flow, but also emotions are guiding the
experience and enables the individual to determine the value and realms of the experience.

6.2. Millennial’s Values and Mindsets

The second research question refers to millennials' experiences of environmental documentary

films related to values and mindsets connected to sustainability was further examined by using
theories of value-in-use, but also through the understanding of sustainability mindsets.

Wamsler and Brink (2018) highlight how research of humans´ inner workings is needed in regard
to solving the impact of climate change. Accordingly, this study has focused on millennials
emotions, values, mindsets and worldviews in regard to sustainability connected to the experience
of environmental documentary films. As we have now examined how millennials experience
environmental documentary films, we are able to address the second research question, how does
the experience relate to the viewers mindsets and values connected to sustainability.

Documentary films' ability to entertain and educate (Billinge, 2017) can further be confirmed by
the results of this study. Above all, Nisbet and Aufderheide (2009) have argued that documentary
films have the ability to go beyond purposes of pure entertainment. This has been especially
evident when identifying elements of value for the millennials. Similar to Heinonen et al. (2013)
the value is seen to be created and embedded in the reality and life of the viewers. As stated
previously, the values perceived by the viewer were detected when investigating and analysing the
results by using the theories of flow and realms of experiences as well as embedded in the context
of viewing environmental documentary films. The analysis illustrated that the perceived value of
the viewer was primarily in gaining knowledge and learning when it came to viewing
environmental documentary films, however multiple values were detected from the interviews.

69
From the context it became clear that one of the values offered by the documentary was to keep
up with the trending topics and social value in the sense that the issues or topics brought up by the
documentaries were further discussed within the individual’s community. This relates to Ma et al.
(2020) as they highlighted the mass media's influence over consumer preferences and how films
can influence attitudes towards the industries portrayed.

The analysis showed that the value in regard to sustainability was evident in environmental
documentaries as it highly connects to the habits, values and worldviews of the millennials. This
is underlined with the most dominant value of learning from the experience which was in
association with sustainability and how to be sustainable. Further, learning and individuals’ skills
are connected to the state of flow which were identified within the experience. Moreover, the state
of flow is connected by Csikszentmihalyi (2016) to ideal experiences and by Pine and Gilmore
(2011) to transformative experiences which can create change in the individual. The change
identified in the analysis was in regard to sustainable actions and choices or at least the
consideration of changing behaviour to be more sustainable.

As per the analysis the experience was guided by emotions which on the other hand are connected
to individual’s mindset and values. As per Lorentzen (2009) experiences create emotions which
contribute to the formation of identity. The formation of identity can be connected to the
experience of viewing environmental documentary film to their ability to reinforce the viewers
values, thus strengthening their identity. Accordingly, Braun et al. (2018) connect environmental
knowledge with positive environmental attitudes and behaviours. At the same time people who are
more concerned about the topic are more prone to watch environmental documentaries (Holbert et
al., 2003). Yet, our findings indicate not only the effect but also the value of learning from
environmental documentary films. Braun et al. (2018) do as well highlight the need of education
in order to promote environmental knowledge, and this study has shown that one way of doing this
is through watching environmental documentary films.

As a transformative experience, viewing environmental documentary films can be related to

developing and educating sustainability mindsets, as the experience was identified to conceptualise

70
and understand abstract concepts. This aligns with Kassel and Rimanoczy (2018) as they defined
sustainability mindset as a wide-ranging understanding of manifestations of the ecosystems, social
sensitivity and attention to one's values. Hence, the experience of viewing environmental
documentary films can be seen to educate sustainable mindsets. Moreover, emotions are vital in
developing a new mindset (Hermes & Rimanoczy, 2018). Similarly, emotions were identified to
guide the viewer's experience and formation of attitudes. Thus, the connection to a sustainable
mindset in the experience could be identified by focusing on values and mindsets of the
millennials.

To summarise this research found that the experience of viewing environmental documentary films
are highly related to the millennials values and mindsets connected to sustainability. The interests
of millennials meet the environmental documentary films educational value, thus enabling the state
of flow and potential for transformation. The transformative experience of environmental
documentary film affects the viewers values and mindsets through visuals, storytelling and
emotions, potentially changing attitudes and promoting change in behaviour.

6.3. Practical Implications

This study has expanded the knowledge of experiencing cultural products, more precisely
environmental documentaries, thus the study contributes to the knowledge about value creation
activities within the CCI’s (see Choi & Burnes, 2013). The thesis especially gives insights into
experiences in the field of culture and creativity and service management. Further, the thesis has
societal relevance integrating the element of sustainability mindset and its connection to
environmental documentaries, which address the challenges all societies face in regard to global
warming and other environmental issues of unsustainability. Most importantly this thesis broadens
the knowledge about experiences and in particular experiences of cultural products.

Practical implications demonstrate how this knowledge can be applied and used. As per Grönroos
(2015) it is vital for managers to understand the value creation from the customer perspective in
order to support and manage it. Further, by adding the knowledge of sustainability from the results

71
of this thesis, managers may comprehend and integrate sustainability to their services or cultural
products in order to create sustainable networks of consumers and stakeholders which further
signifies societal value. Moreover, adding the sustainability aspect to experiences also creates
novel value propositions for the customers who care about sustainability. Particularly, the
emerging values, realms of experience and factors to achieve a state of flow within the experience
can be used in the pursuit of offering transformative experiences.

6.4. Limitations

As experiences are assumed to be individual and complex, one limitation of this study is to capture
the wholesome experience thus there is the possibility of excluding factors or aspects relevant for
the understanding of the experience. By delimiting the thesis to using the chosen theories of value-
in-use, the experience realms and flow, certain important contributors may have gone missing.
Even though contextual factors have been considered to an extent, for example the social
constructions impact on values could give valuable insights and generate a deeper understanding
of experiences. Moreover, the sampling method can be limiting as it can be assumed that the
sample consisted of participants who are interested in documentary films and environmental issues
due to their voluntary participation. Although the sample was diverse, the experiences of those not
so interested could have affected the results differently. Further, sustainability as a topic can also
be problematic as there can be many understandings of the term and can be interpreted differently
depending on the individual. Even though we identified sustainability departing from the
Brundtland definition by WCED (1987), we could not be sure how the notion was understood by
the participants as clarifying questions were not asked in the interviews since it was not within the
scope of the thesis.

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 7. Conclusion
The aim of this thesis has been examined by investigating millennials' experiences of watching
environmental documentary films as well as their mindsets and values towards sustainability by
using semi-structured interviews and the theories of realms of experience, flow and value-in-use.
This thesis concludes that environmental documentary films illustrated possibilities as cultural
products, educational tools as well as their societal relevance made them ideal to be examined.
Three theories which all illustrate or are located within the experience were used to guide the
research. Environmental documentary films have proven to have the potential to change attitudes
and behaviour due to their transformative nature. Hence, viewing an environmental documentary
is connected to values and mindsets of the millennials and by incorporating the aspect of
sustainability it brings new insights in how to understand millennials' experiences. The results
further indicate that the experience of environmental documentary films has to be understood as a
dynamic process dependent on emotions, fluctuating in character and form as well as different
contextual factors would need to be taken into account. Since the experience of viewing an
environmental documentary film was recognised to have the potential to be a transformative
experience, the transformation can particularly happen in regard to the viewers values and mindset
towards sustainability. People who are concerned with the global challenges are more likely to
watch environmental documentaries, and the result of this thesis concludes that people with
stronger values to the environment also tend to be more affected by the documentaries.

7.1. Future Research

Alvesson and Deetz (2021) stress the importance of openness and that transparency is required in
qualitative research, and due to the complex nature of qualitative research we want to further open
up for discussion and reconsideration for other researchers to further develop ideas. Based on the
results, we would suggest future research to focus on the dimension of sustainability in value
creation and especially consider the sustainability mindset in order to cover otherwise neglected
aspects such as values and beliefs and their contribution to value. Moreover, to truly understand

73
how cultural products are experienced, other cultural products than documentary films with
possibly different values and realms of experience should be researched.

Even though this study has filled the research gap of understanding value creation within the CCI’s
we still urge for more research as the results of this study shows it is important to unveil the
possibilities and opportunities cultural products possess when it comes to experiencing them.
Moreover, this thesis emphasised the environmental aspects but other aspects of sustainability,
such as social sustainability, can be further explored in future research.

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Pine, II. B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (2011). The experience economy (Updated ed.). Harvard Business
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The Guardian. (2021b). Seaspiracy: Netflix documentary accused of misrepresentation by
participants. Read: 5.5.2021, 11:30. Accessible in:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/31/seaspiracy-netflix-documentary-
accused-of-misrepresentation-by-participants

The Guardian. (2021a). My Octopus Teacher, heartwarming nature film, wins best documentary
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documentary-oscar

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Appendices

Appendix A: Social Media Announcement for Initial Contact

Dear friends and acquaintances!

Me and my partner Annemari/Frida are writing our master thesis in Service Management
specializing in Culture and Creativity and would need your help to contribute to scientific research!

Are you 20-35 y/o? Have you ever watched a documentary film raising environmental issues? For
example “A Life on our planet”, “Our Planet”, “Cowspiracy”, “Seaspiracy”, “My Octopus
Teacher” or “An inconvenient truth”. (The listing of documentary films are just examples of what
kind of film we want you to have experienced from before - that is an environmental one. At least
one and it does not have to be one of those listed).
If so, would you be interested in participating in an online interview over Zoom or Teams to discuss
your experiences of watching environmental documentary films?
The interview will be held in english thus a basic understanding for the language is needed. If you
manage to read (and understand) this announcement however, your english is good enough. Please
DM either of us if you are able to participate! The interview will last for approximately 45 min
and we will adapt after your schedule. We would very much appreciate your time and input for
our master thesis.

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Appendix B: Message with Interview Information

Dear XXX, welcome to the interview today at XXX !

Here is some basic information for you to know before the interview.

This interview aims to contribute to our master thesis in service management. The purpose of this
interview is for us to get a greater understanding of your experience, values and mindset in regards
to environmental documentary films.

For the interview please find a peaceful and quiet place where you will not be interrupted, to assure
that the interview will go smoothly. The interview will be recorded for the purpose of transcription
(that is we will write down word by word what has been said). We will record the session in
zoom/teams but only the voice recording will be used. The interview will take approximately 45
min and you are able to stop the interview at any point. You are able to contact us at any time after
the interview if you want to change your answers or to withdraw yourself from the study or if you
have any other questions about your participation. The interview will be anonymous, thus the basic
information we require can not be traced back to you. The interview will not be used for other
purposes than research and no other analysis not relevant will be carried out.

We will send you the link approximately one hour before the interview starts.

Thank you for your participation, we look forward to seeing you in Zoom!

Kind regards
Frida Bäckman & Annemari Nieminen

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Appendix C: Interview Guide for Semi- Structured Interviews

Introduction in interview:
Hi! Our names are Frida and Annemari and this interview aims to contribute to our master thesis
in service management. The purpose of this interview is for us to get a greater understanding of
your experience, values and mindset in regards to environmental related documentary films.

Ethical guidelines:
- Are you fine with us to do a voice record? We will record “everything” then save the audio
from the record. If you want to, you can turn off your camera.
- This interview will take approx 45 min and you can whenever you want to stop the
interview
- As researchers we will not share any personal information about you which makes it
possible to identify you. What might be shared however in the thesis is age, nationality,
gender, occupation.
- What is said will be transcribed however this study is anonymous. Your name will be
changed, any preferences of what to be called?
- We will share transcriptions with our supervisor if asked for.
- When our thesis is approved we will delete the voice recordings but save the transcriptions
if they are requested in further research or for the sake of verifying results.
- The thesis will be a public document available for all
- The material i stored in a place where no unauthorized people may access it
- No copies will be made of the audio however if you want a copy yourself you may have
one.
- Can we contact you for follow-up questions if needed?
- This thesis is about your experiences of watching documentary films, hence you are in no
position of being exposed to danger
- When we talk about documentary films/documentaries we will mean environmental
documentary films.

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Interviewee Introduction:
We would start with some questions about yourself.
● What is your occupation?
● Gender: what gender do you identify as?
● Age?
● Nationality?
● Where do you live right now?

Sustainability: worldview and values

- Sustainability is about to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. That is from a social, economy, and
ecological perspective.
● In general what is important to you in life?
● What do you consider as your core values?
● Is sustainability important for you? Why if yes or no?
● Could you describe your relationship with environmental issues?
○ Are your values affected by environmental issues?
○ Do you take action? How?
● What do you think are the most important values we as humans share in regards to
sustainability?
● Are you proud of your sustainability habits?
● Do you think you have inspired others to be sustainable?

General Documentary questions

● Since when did you start watching environmental documentary films?
● Do you often view documentaries related to environmental issues?
● Which were the environmental documentary films you have seen? You can give some
examples, no need to mention all.
● Do you find them useful? How and why?
● Could you describe the settings? weekend , afternoon or evening

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 ○ With who? By yourself?
○ What platform: on the cinema/ TV-stream/ netflix
○ How do you normally watch a documentary, which device? (example computer,
cinema, tv)
○ When do you normally watch them? (commuting, at home when to relax, in the
background while cooking)

Connection of values and Documentaries and Deeper to general experience

● Why do you watch documentary films?
● How do you think other people experience environmental documentary films?
● Do you experience them the same way or differently? Elaborate.
● What is the value for you in the environmental documentaries?

The last time a film was watched and a memorable one

● When was the last time you watched a documentary film?
- Could you describe the documentary film for us?
- Why did you watch the documentary film at that particular time?
- Where and how did you watch the documentary?
- Did someone recommend the documentary? How did you end up watching it?
- Did you further recommend it?
- How did it make you feel?
- What emotions did you experience during the documentary and after?
- What did you learn?
- Was the subject new or did you know from before?
- Did that experience change your world view and values?
- What did you least like in the documentary?

● Which one was the most memorable one?

○ Could you describe the documentary film for us?
○ Why was it memorable?

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 ○ Why did you watch the documentary film at that particular time?
○ Where and how did you watch the documentary?
○ Did someone recommend the documentary? How did you end up watching it?
○ Did you further recommend it?
○ How did it make you feel?
○ What emotions did you experience during the documentary and after?
○ What did you learn?
○ Was the subject new or did you know from before?
○ Did you experience feelings of boredom, anxiety, worry, arousal, control or
relaxation?
○ Did you find it hard to understand the content?
○ Did that experience change your world view and values?
○ What did you least like in the documentary?

Conclusion
● Is there anything you would like to change in the world after watching a documentary of
this kind?
● Final thoughts? Something you thought of but we did not ask about?

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Appendix D: Good Research Practice

General rules for good research in Good research Practice by the Swedish Research
Council (2017, p. 10).

1) You shall tell the truth about your research.

2) You shall consciously review and report the basic premises of your studies.

3) You shall openly account for your methods and results.

4) You shall openly account for your commercial interests and other associations.

5) You shall not make unauthorised use of the research results of others.

6) You shall keep your research organised, for example through documentation and filing.

7) You shall strive to conduct your research without doing harm to people, animals or the
environment.

8) You shall be fair in your judgement of others’ research.

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