Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the factors driving and mitigating the experienced vulnerabilities of women undergoing the transformative service of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), and how this influences women’s evaluations and intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual framework was tested using quantitative data collected via an online survey of Australian women who have undergone IVF treatment. Hayes’ PROCESS macro was used to analyse the data.

Findings

The results indicate that women’s persistent goal-striving alongside their perceived personal sacrifices influence the association between their need for parenthood and their experienced vulnerability. Institutional factors such as IVF clinic technical and interpersonal quality influence these consumers’ IVF experience evaluations and word-of-mouth (WoM) intentions.

Research limitations/implications

This study’s results are limited to women who are undergoing IVF treatment. Further empirical work is needed to deepen the understanding of the role played by partners and other family members in women’s IVF experiences.

Practical implications

IVF clinics can reduce women’s experienced vulnerability by encouraging women who have a good probability of succeeding to persist in the pursuit of the goal of conceiving a child via IVF. This can be achieved by enabling and empowering them so that they give themselves the best chance during treatment, thus facilitating their control. Managing the expectations of those women with a lower probability of success is also recommended. The importance of the technical and interpersonal quality delivered by IVF clinics in influencing the positive evaluations and behavioural intentions of women experiencing vulnerabilities is further highlighted.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the transformative service research literature by: examining the IVF transformative experience, which has been largely overlooked; focussing on the intersection of transformative services and consumers experiencing vulnerability, which is an emerging research area; and testing a framework quantitatively that intermingles individual and institutional factors as antecedents and consequences of consumers’ experienced vulnerabilities, advancing the existing conceptual and qualitative work.

中文翻译：

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体外受精转化服务的脆弱性：个人和制度因素的相互作用

目的

本文的目的是实证研究推动和减轻接受体外受精 (IVF) 变革性服务的女性所经历的脆弱性的因素，以及这如何影响女性的评估和意图。

设计/方法/方法

该概念框架使用通过对接受试管婴儿治疗的澳大利亚女性进行的在线调查收集的定量数据进行了测试。Hayes 的 PROCESS 宏用于分析数据。

发现

结果表明，女性对目标的持续追求以及她们感知到的个人牺牲影响了她们为人父母的需要与她们所经历的脆弱性之间的关联。试管婴儿诊所技术和人际关系质量等制度因素会影响这些消费者的试管婴儿体验评估和口碑 (WoM) 意图。

研究限制/影响

这项研究的结果仅限于接受试管婴儿治疗的女性。需要进一步的实证工作来加深对伴侣和其他家庭成员在女性试管婴儿体验中所扮演的角色的理解。

实际影响

试管婴儿诊所可以通过鼓励很有可能成功的妇女坚持通过试管婴儿受孕的目标来减少妇女经历的脆弱性。这可以通过启用和授权他们来实现，以便他们在治疗期间给自己最好的机会，从而促进他们的控制。还建议管理那些成功概率较低的女性的期望。进一步强调了 IVF 诊所提供的技术和人际关系质量在影响经历脆弱性的妇女的积极评价和行为意图方面的重要性。

原创性/价值

本研究通过以下方式为变革服务研究文献做出贡献： 检查在很大程度上被忽视的 IVF 变革经验；专注于变革性服务和经历脆弱性的消费者的交叉点，这是一个新兴的研究领域；并定量测试一个框架，该框架将个人和制度因素混合为消费者经历的脆弱性的前因和后果，推进现有的概念和定性工作。