Fresh off the press! Check out the new special issue of JOSM with lots of juicy articles from some amazing international collaborations exploring the future of service research
Theorizing Beyond the Horizon: Service Research in 2050
Journal of Service Management
Volume 29, Issue 5
Editors: Byron W. Keating , Janet R. McColl-Kennedy and David Solnet
Overview of the papers:
Wirtz, J., P. G. Patterson, W. H. Kunz, T. Gruber, V. N. Lu, S. Paluch and A. Martins (2018): Brave new world: service robots in the frontline, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.907-931
Purpose The service sector is at an inflection point with regard to productivity gains and service industrialization similar to the industrial revolution in manufacturing that started in the eighteenth century. Robotics in combination with rapidly improving technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), mobile, cloud, big data and biometrics will bring opportunities for a wide range of innovations that have the potential to dramatically change service industries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential role service robots will play in the future and to advance a research agenda for service researchers.Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a conceptual approach that is rooted in the service, robotics and AI literature.Findings The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it provides a definition of service robots, describes their key attributes, contrasts their features and capabilities with those of frontline employees, and provides an understanding for which types of service tasks robots will dominate and where humans will dominate. Second, this paper examines consumer perceptions, beliefs and behaviors as related to service robots, and advances the service robot acceptance model. Third, it provides an overview of the ethical questions surrounding robot-delivered services at the individual, market and societal level.Practical implications This paper helps service organizations and their management, service robot innovators, programmers and developers, and policymakers better understand the implications of a ubiquitous deployment of service robots.Originality/value This is the first conceptual paper that systematically examines key dimensions of robot-delivered frontline service and explores how these will differ in the future.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2018-0119 [Google]
Andreassen, T. W., L. Lervik-Olsen, H. Snyder, A. C. R. Van Riel, J. C. Sweeney and Y. Van Vaerenbergh (2018): Business model innovation and value-creation: the triadic way, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.883-906
Purpose Building on the multi-divisional business model (M-model), the purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of triadic business models – T-models – and how they create value for their three categories of stakeholders, i.e., the suppliers, the platform firm and the buyers. The research question that guides the present study is twofold: How is value created individually and collectively in triadic business models and what might challenge their sustainability?Design/methodology/approach Anchored in extant literature and a process of conceptual modeling with empirical examples from Uber, a new business model archetype was developed for two-sided markets mediated by a middleman.Findings The paper provides a theoretically and conceptually derived roadmap for sustainable business in a triadic business model, i.e., for the buyers, sellers and the platform firm. This model is coined the T-model. A number of propositions are derived that argue the relationship between key constructs. Finally, the future beyond the T-model is explored.Research limitations/implications The paper identifies, illustrates and discusses the ways in which value is created in sustainable T-models. First, value is created from a number of sources, not only from lower transaction costs. Second, it is proposed that it is not about a choice of either M-model or T-model but rather a continuum. Toward 2050, technology in general and Blockchain specifically may for some transactions or services, eliminate the need for middlemen. The main conclusion is that despite this development, there will, for most organizations, be elements of the M-model in all or most T-model businesses. In short: middlemen will have elements of the M-model embedded in the T-model when co creating value with buyers and sellers.Originality/value While two-sided T-models are not new to the business area, surprisingly no papers have systematically investigated, illustrated, and discussed how value is created among and between the three stakeholder categories of the T-model. With this insight, more sustainable T-models can be created.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2018-0125 [Google]
Bolton, R. N., J. R. McColl-Kennedy, L. Cheung, A. Gallan, C. Orsingher, L. Witell and M. Zaki (2018): Customer experience challenges: bringing together digital, physical and social realms, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.776-808
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore innovations in customer experience at the intersection of the digital, physical and social realms. It explicitly considers experiences involving new technology-enabled services, such as digital twins and automated social presence (i.e. virtual assistants and service robots).Design/methodology/approach Future customer experiences are conceptualized within a three-dimensional space – low to high digital density, low to high physical complexity and low to high social presence – yielding eight octants.Findings The conceptual framework identifies eight “dualities,” or specific challenges connected with integrating digital, physical and social realms that challenge organizations to create superior customer experiences in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. The eight dualities are opposing strategic options that organizations must reconcile when co-creating customer experiences under different conditions.Research limitations/implications A review of theory demonstrates that little research has been conducted at the intersection of the digital, physical and social realms. Most studies focus on one realm, with occasional reference to another. This paper suggests an agenda for future research and gives examples of fruitful ways to study connections among the three realms rather than in a single realm.Practical implications This paper provides guidance for managers in designing and managing customer experiences that the authors believe will need to be addressed by the year 2050.Social implications This paper discusses important societal issues, such as individual and societal needs for privacy, security and transparency. It sets out potential avenues for service innovation in these areas.Originality/value The conceptual framework integrates knowledge about customer experiences in digital, physical and social realms in a new way, with insights for future service research, managers and public policy makers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2018-0113 [Google]
Breidbach, C., S. Choi, B. Ellway, B. W. Keating, K. Kormusheva, C. Kowalkowski, C. Lim and P. Maglio (2018): Operating without operations: how is technology changing the role of the firm?, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.809-833
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the history and future of service operations, with the goal to identify key theoretical and technological advances, as well as fundamental themes that can help to imagine the future of service operations in 2050.Design/methodology/approach A review of the service operations literature was undertaken to inform a discussion regarding the role that technology will play in the future of service operations.Findings The future of service operations is framed in terms of three key themes – complexity, orchestration, and elasticity. The paper makes three contributions to the service science literature by: reviewing key themes underpinning extant service operations research to frame future trajectories of service operations research; elaborating a vision of service operations in 2050 based on history and technology; and outlining a research agenda for future service operations.Practical implications The case of service automation is used to provide an illustration of how the three themes converge to define future service operations, and in particular, to show how technology is recasting the role of the firm.Originality/value Service operations in the next 30 years will be very different from what it was in the past 30 years. This paper differs from other review papers by identifying three key themes that will characterize and instill new insights into the future of service operations research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2018-0127 [Google]
Edvardsson, B., P. Frow, E. Jaakkola, T. L. Keiningham, K. Koskela-Huotari, C. Mele and A. Tombs (2018): Examining how context change foster service innovation, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.932-955
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of context in service innovation by developing a conceptual framework that illuminates the key elements and trends in context change.Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a service ecosystem lens for understanding how elements and trends in context foster service innovation. A conceptual framework identifying the role of context change in fostering service innovation is developed and justified through illustrations across industry settings of health, retailing, banking and education.Findings Context change is conceptualized by three trends – speed, granularity and liquification – that provide an analytical foundation for understanding how changes in the elements of context – space, resources and institutional arrangements – can foster service innovation. The analysis indicates emerging patterns across industries that allow exploring scenarios, grounded in emerging trends and developments in service innovation toward 2050.Practical implications Managers are offered a framework to guide service innovation and help them prepare for the future. The paper also suggests areas for further research.Originality/value The paper contributes with a new conceptualization of context change to identify and explain service innovation opportunities. Managers are offered a framework to guide service innovation and help them prepare for 2050. The paper also suggests areas for further service innovation research, zooming in on contextual changes to prepare for 2050.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2018-0112 [Google]
Fehrer, J. A., S. Benoit, L. Aksoy, T. L. Baker, S. J. Bell, R. J. Brodie and M. Marimuthu (2018): Future scenarios of the collaborative economy, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.859-882
Purpose The collaborative economy (CE), and within it, collaborative consumption (CC) has become a central element of the global economy and has substantially disrupted service markets (e.g. accommodation and individual transportation). The purpose of this paper is to explore the trends and develop future scenarios for market structures in the CE. This allows service providers and public policy makers to better prepare for potential future disruption.Design/methodology/approach Thought experiments – theoretically grounded in population ecology (PE) – are used to extrapolate future scenarios beyond the boundaries of existing observations.Findings The patterns suggested by PE forecast developmental trajectories of CE leading to one of the following three future scenarios of market structures: the centrally orchestrated CE, the social bubbles CE, and the decentralized autonomous CE.Research limitations/implications The purpose of this research was to create CE future scenarios in 2050 to stretch one’s consideration of possible futures. What unfolds in the next decade and beyond could be similar, a variation of or entirely different than those described.Social implications Public policy makers need to consider how regulations – often designed for a time when existing technologies were inconceivable – can remain relevant for the developing CE. This research reveals challenges including distribution of power, insularity, and social compensation mechanisms that need consideration across states and national borders.Originality/value This research tests the robustness of assumptions used today for significant, plausible market changes in the future. It provides considerable value in exploring challenges for public policy given the broad societal, economic, and political implications of the present market predictions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2018-0118 [Google]
Fisk, R. P., A. M. Dean, L. Alkire, A. Joubert, J. Previte, N. Robertson and M. S. Rosenbaum (2018): Design for service inclusion: creating inclusive service systems by 2050, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.834-858
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to challenge service researchers to design for service inclusion, with an overall goal of achieving inclusion by 2050. The authors present service inclusion as an egalitarian system that provides customers with fair access to a service, fair treatment during a service and fair opportunity to exit a service.Design/methodology/approach Building on transformative service research, a transformative, human-centered approach to service design is proposed to foster service inclusion and to provide a platform for managerial action. This conceptual study explores the history of service exclusion and examines contemporary demographic trends that suggest the possibility of worsening service exclusion for consumers worldwide.Findings Service inclusion represents a paradigm shift to higher levels of understanding of service systems and their fundamental role in human well-being. The authors argue that focused design for service inclusion is necessary to make service systems more egalitarian.Research limitations/implications The authors propose four pillars of service inclusion: enabling opportunity, offering choice, relieving suffering and fostering happiness.Practical implications Service organizations are encouraged to design their offerings in a manner that promotes inclusion and permits customers to realize value.Originality/value This comprehensive research agenda challenges service scholars to use design to create inclusive service systems worldwide by the year 2050. The authors establish the moral imperative of design for service inclusion.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2018-0121 [Google]
Keating, B. W., J. R. McColl-Kennedy and D. Solnet (2018): Theorizing beyond the horizon: service research in 2050, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.766-775
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue of the Journal of Service Management dedicated to the Thought Leadership in Services Conference held in Brisbane Australia in 2017. The paper also explores the disruptive and transformative role that technology is set to play over the next 30 years.Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a brief summary of the papers within the special issue. The paper also introduces a conceptual framework identifying four quadrants that reflect different combinations of human touch and technology. This framework is used to examine the treatment of technology in the eight papers.Findings While it is clear that technology is having a profound impact on service, and is contributing to major changes within the eight service domains captured by the papers in the special issue; there were significant differences observed across the eight papers in the special issue. From the associated discussion, it is clear that the humanistic paradigm is still dominant within services, even though there is strong evidence that a shift is occurring.Originality/value This paper extends earlier work exploring the infusion of technology within services to highlight the progress from a humanistic paradigm to a technology-centric paradigm.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-08-2018-0264 [Google]
Subramony, M., D. Solnet, M. Groth, D. Yagil, N. Hartley, P. Beomcheol Kim and M. Golubovskaya (2018): Service work in 2050: toward a work ecosystems perspective, Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.956-974
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the changing nature of the relationship between service workers and their work arrangements. Building upon classical and contemporary management theories and examining current trends and disruptions in employment relationships, it proposes a dynamic and relational model applicable to the management of service work in future decades (notionally in the year 2050).Design/methodology/approach This paper introduces and develops the concept of worker–ecosystem relationship as a core construct to describe the participation and productivity of workers in the significantly transformed work environment of 2050.Findings This paper argues that in work ecosystems – defined as relatively self-contained and self-adjusting systems – work arrangements will evolve toward less-clearly defined employment relationships characterized by long-term social contracts, tightly defined work roles and physical proximity of workers and organizations.Originality/value A novel yet theoretically rooted construct of work ecosystems is introduced, using this new lens to predict changes in the nature of service work in 2050.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2018-0131 [Google]
