Call for Papers for Special Issue of The Service Industries Journal.
“Revolutionising services with cutting-edge technologies post major exogenous shocks”
Guest Editors: Ameen N. & Viglia G.
Manuscript deadline: 30 July 2022
The world has experienced a major exogenous shock, the COVID-19 global pandemic, which significantly hampered face-to-face service interactions. As a result, the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, big data and wearable technologies in services has rapidly increased (Ameen et al., 2021a). For example, the notable increase in the use of chatbots for customer services since the beginning of the pandemic (Ameen et al., 2021b) and self-service Kiosks in airports (Lien et al., 2021). In addition, augmented reality applications have been on the rise with virtual “try-before-you-buy” experiences previewing products at home (Papagiannis, 2020). However, a lingering question is whether the integration of these technologies is permanent or will be discontinued post pandemic. Some expect that technology-driven services will cause permanent changes in how services are delivered (Ostrom et al., 2021). Therefore, service firms will require technological capital for the success of resilience-building process to cope with these changes (Prentice et al., 2021).
In addition to the shift in the way services are being delivered, we have witnessed a shift in consumer behaviour and preferences during the pandemic. For example, the changes in individuals’ risk assessment and irrational consumption due to the damage caused by uncertainty, panic, and fear seemed to be no less than that caused by the COVID-19 virus itself (Li et al., 2021). Furthermore, customers have experienced an increased level of sensitivity towards service providers since the beginning of the pandemic (Ozuem et al., 2021) and the changes in travellers’ choices regarding accommodation type are affected by the need for physical distance (Bresciani et al., 2021). Akhtar et al. (2020) explain that the restrictions on consumers’ freedom of shopping choices, trips, and movements due to COVID-19 threats are more likely to engender their psychological reactance towards offline shopping. The question remains whether these changes in consumer behaviour are here to remain post-pandemic or not. Meanwhile, existing research highlights the importance of building resilience and innovation in service firms during and post the pandemic (Huang and Farboudi Jahromi, 2021).
While existing research explored the changes to the service sector pre and during the pandemic, there is a lack of research focusing on the expected changes in the service sector in a post-pandemic world. Particularly, the expected changes in consumer behaviour and preferences in services enabled by cutting-edge technologies in different settings. Hence, the aim of this special issue is to encourage interdisciplinary research to identify new emerging issues on revolutionising services with cutting-edge technologies in a post-pandemic world. We welcome quantitative (e.g., experiments; correlational studies), qualitative (e.g., nethnography, participant-observation, case studies), mixed methods and conceptual research focusing on issues around revolutionising services with cutting-edge technologies post major exogenous shocks. We welcome multi-study papers with data collected from multiple sources. This special issue invites papers from a range of disciplines and fields of specialty research related (but not limited) to the following topics:
– Consumers’ expectations of services enabled by cutting-edge technologies in a post-pandemic future
– Comparing consumers’ preferences in terms of the extent of cutting-technologies interventions in different service industries
– The use of artificial intelligence and big data to predict consumers’ preferences in terms of service delivery
– The expected shift in consumer behaviour and psychology (thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and perceptions) post major exogenous shocks and their impact on service industries
– Using cutting-edge technologies to improve the service sector growth and sustainability
– Creativity in the design and delivery of services enabled by cutting-edge technologies
– Consumers’ emotions and well-being when interacting with automated services
– The possible negative effects of the use of services enabled by cutting-edge technologies (automated services) on consumers’ well-being such as feeling loneliness and isolation
– Utilising and combining different cutting-edge technologies to create a safe service environment
– Comparing consumers’ trust in different services enabled by cutting-edge technologies
– The smart integration of digital and physical services to increase customer satisfaction post the pandemic
– The new skills required from frontline employees in the new service environment enabled by these technologies
– Changes in frontline employees’ roles and job descriptions due to the intervention of cutting-edge technologies, combined with the shift in consumers’ preferences
Deadline and submission instructions
The deadline for submitting manuscripts for this Special Issue is July 30, 2022. Papers accepted in this special issue will have free access for the first six months after publication.
Guest Editors:
– Nisreen Ameen, Royal Holloway, University of London
– Giampaolo Viglia, University of Portsmouth
More here.
