Journal of Service Management最新文献

Purpose

Subscription offerings are being hailed as the next service growth engine for companies in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets. The study analyzes how a manufacturing firm can develop and implement a scalable service-based subscription business model for B2C and B2B customers alongside its existing product-centric model.

Design/methodology/approach

A longitudinal case study is conducted, drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with company executives and dealers in key European markets.

Findings

The study outlines an iterative process model for subscription business model innovation. It reveals key events and decisions taken in developing, implementing, and scaling the new business model and how internal and external tensions involving intermediaries arose and were mitigated during the four stages of the process.

Research limitations/implications

The findings highlight the dynamics of business model innovation processes and underscore the importance of organizational learning, collaborative relationships with channel partners, and strategic talent acquisition during business model innovation.

Practical implications

The findings suggest how product-centric firms can implement new service business models alongside existing product models and what this means for partner and customer journey management.

Originality/value

While servitization research predominantly concerns B2B manufacturers, B2C research focuses on digital subscription contexts. The study bridges this divide by investigating the move to subscriptions in both markets.

Purpose

The paper investigates how the engagement of a group of actors (the volunteers), previously unexplored in service ecosystems literature, contributes to generating new co-creation activities and well-being outcomes in the healthcare service ecosystem (HSE). Moreover, the study analyses how the provision and integration of volunteers’ resources help to explain the HSE self-adjustment favouring the re-humanisation of service.

Design/methodology/approach

The article zooms in on the volunteers’ activities in an HSE. A qualitative approach is adopted, and an empirical investigation is grounded in data gathered from Kids Kicking Cancer (KKC) Italia, a volunteer association operating in the paediatric oncology ward of Italian hospitals. Data are collected and triangulated through in-depth interviews, volunteers’ diaries and observations. The analysis is conducted by adopting an interpretative thematic analysis technique.

Findings

The study provides a conceptual framework explaining how volunteers’ value co-creation activities influence the HSE’s self-adjustment by leading to a re-humanisation of services. The paper also contributes to the state of knowledge by identifying seven categories of volunteers’ value co-creation activities, two of which are completely new in the literature (co-responsibility and empowerment).

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the service research literature by identifying empirically grounded value co-creation activities extending the understanding of self-adjustment and re-humanisation of the service ecosystem.

Purpose

Sustainability transitions (STs) refer to large-scale step changes in complex systems required to face sustainability issues. We aim to delineate how they can unfold in service ecosystems, especially when inspired by regenerative thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

We develop a conceptual framework based on a processual view of STs and provide a propositional inventory based on literature leveraging deductive reasoning. Moreover, we contextualize our conceptualizations by showing illustrative examples of cities coping with STs.

Findings

We connect the perception of unsustainability with the shift toward service-dominant (S-D) logic and identify them as triggers of an ST; we focus on the role of nested service ecosystems and the adoption of regenerative thinking in STs; finally, we highlight the domino effect that can drive continuous change towards sustainability in service ecosystems. Future research could be focused on (loss of) sensemaking for driving STs, practical approaches to deal with institutional tensions in nested service ecosystems and the possible fractality of ST processes in service ecosystems.

Originality/value

This study supports the understanding of STs in cities and other systems such as industries, markets and organizations. It contributes to ST literature by suggesting the adoption of S-D logic and system lenses to identify, drive and cope with system changes toward sustainability, showing implications for policymakers and practitioners. Furthermore, it contributes to S-D logic by unfolding the self-adjustment of service ecosystems and the focus of sustainability initiatives on nested service ecosystems to sustain the broader systems. Finally, it contributes to transformative service research by identifying how the procedural and inspirational principles characterizing regenerative thinking can support design for STs.

Purpose

Applications of artificial intelligence (AI), such as virtual and physical service robots, generative AI, large language models and decision support systems, alter the nature of services. Most service research centers on the division between human and AI resources. Less attention has been paid to analyzing the entangled resource relations and interactions between humans and AI entities. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to extend our metatheoretical understanding of resource integration and value cocreation by analyzing different human–AI resource relations in service ecosystems.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual paper adapts a novel framework from postphenomenology, specifically cyborg intentionality. This framework is used to analyze what kinds of human–AI resource relations enable resource integration and value cocreation in service ecosystems.

Findings

We conceptualize seven different human–AI resource relations, namely background, embodiment, hermeneutic, alterity, cyborg, immersion and composite relation. The sociotechnical entangled perspective on human–AI resource relations challenges and reframes our understanding of interactions between humans and nonhumans in resource integration and value cocreation and the distinction between operant and operand resources in service research.

Originality/value

Our primary contribution to researchers and service providers is dissolving the distinction between operant and operand resources. We present two foundational propositions. 1. Humans and AI become entangled value cocreating resources in inherently sociotechnical service ecosystems; and 2. Human and AI entanglements in value cocreation manifest through seven resource relations in inherently sociotechnical service ecosystems. Understanding the combinatorial potential of different human–AI resource relations enables service providers to make informed choices in service ecosystems.

Purpose

This paper seeks to deepen and improve our understanding of business ethics in services by developing a typology that reconciles and integrates disparate and often conflicting ideas and viewpoints while providing practical guidance for ethical decision-making.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines current theoretical approaches in ethics to provide an understanding of the ethical theories, how they have been applied and how they have evolved in businesses and marketing. It discusses conceptual issues related to ethical dilemmas and the available typologies.

Findings

Based on the axioms of the Triple-A Framework for Ethical Service Research, the Typology of Ethical Dilemmas in Services (TEDS) is proposed. The typology identifies three types of dilemmas based on four dimensions considering all service interactions guided by normative ethics (virtue, deontological and consequentialism).

Practical implications

The proposed DILEMMAS process illustrates the practical application of TEDS.

Originality/value

This paper extends the ethics and services literature by offering a novel theoretical and practical approach to addressing ethical dilemmas. TEDS is authentic, advances our knowledge and applies to all service organizations that aim to manage ethical dilemmas effectively.

Purpose

This investigation highlights the discrepancies in sustainability reporting practices, and their implications for sustainable service.

Design/methodology/approach

A comparative analysis methodology was employed, examining sustainability reports from similarly situated companies, specifically PepsiCo and Coca-Cola and The Home Depot, Lowe’s and HomePro. This approach was chosen to uncover variances in sustainability reporting and practices within these sectors using the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) guidelines which all four firms followed in their sustainability reports.

Findings

The study reveals significant disparities in how companies within the same industry apply SASB guidelines. These inconsistencies highlight a broader issue of non-standardization in sustainability reporting, leading to challenges in effectively evaluating the relative performance of companies in the same sector.

Practical implications

The findings suggest managers must prioritize standardized and transparent sustainability reporting to build stakeholder acceptance and trust.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing a detailed comparison of sustainability practices in two distinct industry sectors. It offers new insights into the challenges and importance of standardizing sustainability reporting and the potential impact on stakeholders.

Purpose

This article introduces the Responsible AI for Service Excellence (RAISE) framework. RAISE is a strategic framework for responsibly integrating AI into service industries. It emphasizes collaborative AI design and deployment that aligns with the evolving global standards and societal well-being while promoting business success and sustainable development.

Design/methodology/approach

This multidisciplinary conceptual article draws upon the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and AI ethics guidelines to lay out three principles for practicing RAISE: (1) Embrace AI to serve the greater good, (2) Design and deploy responsible AI and (3) Practice transformative collaboration with different service organizations to implement responsible AI.

Findings

By acknowledging the potential risks and challenges associated with AI usage, this article provides practical recommendations for service entities (i.e. service organizations, policymakers, AI developers, customers and researchers) to strengthen their commitment to responsible and sustainable service practices.

Originality/value

This is the first service research article to discuss and provide specific practices for leveraging responsible AI for service excellence.

Purpose

This study explores the influence of employee empathy on brand love, which subsequently affects customer advocacy, willingness to pay more (WTPM) and tolerance of failure. Additionally, it investigates the mediating role of customer delight and gratitude in connecting employee empathy with brand love and the moderating effect of power distance belief (PDB) between employee empathy and customer delight and gratitude.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 751 usable data were gathered through scenario-based online surveys within a hotel context. The proposed conceptual model used Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) for testing.

Findings

The results affirm the impact of employee empathy on brand love through the pathways of customer delight and gratitude, ultimately influencing positive customer behaviors, such as advocacy, WTPM and tolerance of failure. Moreover, the findings suggest that PDB diminishes the effect of employee empathy on customer gratitude, although it does not affect customer delight.

Originality/value

The study introduces novel insights into the significance of employee empathy as an antecedent of brand love. It contributes to the literature by concurrently conceptualizing customer delight and gratitude as mediators between employee empathy and brand love, consequently leading to favorable consumer behaviors. Furthermore, it advances our theoretical comprehension of an individual customer’s PDB and its psychological impact.

Purpose

The service environment is becoming increasingly turbulent, leading to calls for a systemic understanding of it as a set of dynamic service ecosystems. This paper advances this understanding by developing a typology of service ecosystem dynamics that explains the varying interplay between change and stability within the service environment through distinct behavioral patterns exhibited by service ecosystems over time.

Design/methodology/approach

This study builds upon a systematic literature review of service ecosystems literature and uses system dynamics as a method theory to abductively analyze extant literature and develop a typology of service ecosystem dynamics.

Findings

The paper identifies three types of service ecosystem dynamics—behavioral patterns of service ecosystems—and explains how they unfold through self-adjustment processes and changes within different systemic leverage points. The typology of service ecosystem dynamics consists of (1) reproduction (i.e. stable behavioral pattern), (2) reconfiguration (i.e. unstable behavioral pattern) and (3) transition (i.e. disrupting, shifting behavioral pattern).

Practical implications

The typology enables practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of their service environment by discerning the behavioral patterns exhibited by the constituent service ecosystems. This, in turn, supports them in devising more effective strategies for navigating through it.

Originality/value

The paper provides a precise definition of service ecosystem dynamics and shows how the identified three types of dynamics can be used as a lens to empirically examine change and stability in the service environment. It also offers a set of research directions for tackling service research challenges.

Purpose

Existing research on customer journeys has tended to focus on the customer’s purchase decision-making and firm-controlled touchpoints, overlooking indirect touchpoints where customer resources and behaviors influence the firm and other actors, beyond financial patronage. This article develops the concept of engagement journeys and discusses their implications on journey design and management.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual article synthesizes the customer journey and engagement literature to delineate the concept of engagement journeys. Insights from engagement research are reflected in the current journey management orthodoxy to provide novel implications for the management of engagement journeys.

Findings

The engagement journey is defined as the customer’s process of diverse brand-related resource investments in interactions with the brand/firm and/or other customers, reflecting the customer’s cognitive, emotional and behavioral disposition. The analysis outlines the manifestations and nature of different types of touchpoints along the engagement journey, and the novel requirements for journey management.

Research limitations/implications

The developed conceptualization opens up new avenues in both journey and engagement research.

Practical implications

Some commonly held assumptions regarding journey quality and management do not hold true for engagement journeys, so there is a need for new approaches.

Originality/value

Despite the proliferation of both journey and engagement research, only a handful of studies have considered the link between the concepts. The proposed novel conceptualization of an engagement journey breaks free from a predominant focus on purchase decisions. The analysis of engagement journeys and their management advances both customer journey and engagement research.