Service Quality Issues in the Triad of Sharing Services: Conceptualization of Issues and Propositions for Solutions

Abstract

Sharing-service business models face unique operational issues. The human aspect of the operation particularly differs from traditional service business models, and therefore requires special attention. This aspect comprises “the increased role of customers in service production/delivery process” in sharing-service models. This study primarily aims to identify such operational issues and propose solutions. Based on the “service triad” framework, this study addresses the issues for each of the two sharing-service models: B2C – business to customers, and P2P – people to people. For B2C models, three propositions are put forth based on the theory of the “social dilemma”: (1) implementing social incentives; (2) creating competition among small customer groups; (3) designing effective customer messages. For P2P models, three propositions are put forth based on the “agency theory”: (1) managing information; (2) understanding customers’ attribution to service failure; (3) providing evaluation reports using big data analysis. This study constitutes the first attempt in extending the service triad framework into sharing-service business models toward the goal of providing managerial insights on improving the service quality of sharing-services.