Managing phygital experiences in grassroots esports: human-centered orchestration in the Swedish LAN-scape
Brian McCauley, Adele Berndt, Miralem HelmefalkPurpose
This study aims to examine how grassroots esports organizers manage Local Area Network (LAN) events as sustainable phygital experiences, addressing a gap in Phygital Service Research (PSR) by exploring how community-driven actors achieve seamless physical–digital integration under resource constraints.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 28 Swedish LAN organizers. Data were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis guided by Batat’s (2022) Phygital Customer Experience (PH-CX) framework and Baudet and Parmentier (2025) four phygital strategies.
Findings
Five key management dimensions are identified – Managing Interaction, Managing Time and Space, Managing Cooperation and Competition, Establishing Phygital Foundations and Sustaining Phygital Communities. Through these dimensions, the study introduces “human-centered phygital orchestration”: the process through which actors coordinate social interactions, multisensory environments and temporal flows to achieve seamless physical–digital integration through community practices rather than technological sophistication.
Practical implications
Grassroots LAN organizers should prioritize cross-platform community engagement, multisensory environmental design and institutional partnerships. Policymakers should recognize grassroots esports events as culturally significant infrastructures for digital inclusion and youth engagement.
Originality/value
This is the first study to apply PSR to grassroots esports, extending the PH-CX framework beyond commercial contexts. It proposes “human-centered phygital orchestration” as a novel concept for advancing PSR in community-driven, resource-constrained service ecosystems. This research was conducted as part of the American Phygital Association Summit 2025, sponsored by the American Institute of Business Experience Design (AIBXD) – New York. The submitted research was funded by the Media, Management and Transformation Center at Jönköping International Business School and there are no conflicts of interest to declare. We sincerely appreciate the valuable feedback provided by anonymous reviewers, editors, colleagues and esports industry practitioners on an earlier version of this work.