Today we identify service articles published in Marketing, Management, Operations, Productions, Information Systems & Practioner-oriented Journals in the last months.
For more information about the alert system methodology go here
For all previous alerts go here
Kim, T., H. Lee, M. Y. Kim, S. Kim and A. Duhachek (2023): AI increases unethical consumer behavior due to reduced anticipatory guilt, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51(3585), pp.785-801
The current research focuses on examining how the use of artificial intelligence and robotic technology, emerging non-human agent innovations in service industries, influences consumers’ likelihood of engaging in unethical behavior. Previous research has shown that non-human (vs. human) agents are perceived differently along many dimensions by consumers (e.g., that they lack emotional capability), leading to various behavioral changes when interacting with them. We hypothesize and show across four studies that interacting with non-human (vs. human) agents, such as AI and robots, increases the tendency to engage in unethical consumer behaviors due to reduced anticipatory feelings of guilt. We also demonstrate the moderating role of anthropomorphism such that endowing humanlike features on non-human agents reduces unethical behavior. We also rule out alternative explanations for the effect, including differential perceptions about the agents (e.g., “warmth,” “competence,” or “detection capacity”) and other measures associated with the company capabilities.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-021-00832-9 [Google]
Sharma, A., S. B. Borah and A. C. Moses (2023): Achieving social and economic sustainability through innovations in transformative services: A case of healthcare organizations in an emerging market, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, (3586), pp.1-25
Resource-poor organizations serve a significant portion of emerging markets’ healthcare industries. Such organizations engage in transformative services. However, given emerging markets’ ever-changing dynamics, it is unclear whether transformative services suffice for such organizations to move towards economic and social sustainability. We present two studies undertaken in the context of missionary hospitals in India. Study 1 identifies that hospitals rely on innovations in transformative services, driven by the co-creation of knowledge by various stakeholders, to remain socially and economically sustainable. Study 2 develops and tests hypotheses using data from 183 hospitals, showing that employee voice, community engagement, and diversity of organizational expertise increase innovation in transformative services at a decreasing rate, while resource munificence and commercialization emphasis moderate the antecedents’ effects. Post hoc analyses show that innovation in transformative services positively affect economic and social sustainability, and that awareness creating efforts moderate these relationships. More broadly, innovations in transformative services are critical for emerging markets’ resource-poor organizations’ economic and social sustainability.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00968-w [Google]
Berkmann, M., M. Eisenbeiss, W. Reinartz and N. Schauerte (2023): Leveraging B2B field service technicians as a “second sales force”: How service situations affect selling activity and success, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, (3587), pp.1-26
To extract the full revenue potential of their front line, B2B firms use their technical field service force for selling activities. However, as selling is only a complementary activity embedded in technicians’ main service tasks, they may struggle to sell effectively. The authors investigate the service situation as a key driver of (i) the technician’s decision to engage in selling (selling activity) and (ii) the customer’s decision to purchase (selling success). They identify four types of service situations with unique effects on these outcomes. Notably, technicians’ selling activity is highest (+ 10% compared to baseline) in service situations that offer a lower (-22%) likelihood of success, whereas activity is lower in the most promising situations. Thus, technicians do not properly exploit sales opportunities. The extent of inefficiencies moreover varies by employee-specific moderators, such that specialized technicians and those with little practical experience have particular difficulty exploiting excellent sales opportunities.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00964-0 [Google]
Anunrojwong, J., K. Iyer and V. Manshadi (2023): Information Design for Congested Social Services: Optimal Need-Based Persuasion, Management Science, 69(3588), pp.3778-3796
We study the effectiveness of information design in reducing congestion in social services catering to users with varied levels of need. In the absence of price discrimination and centralized admission, the provider relies on sharing information about wait times to improve welfare. We consider a stylized model with heterogeneous users who differ in their private outside options: low-need users have an acceptable outside option to the social service, whereas high-need users have no viable outside option. Upon arrival, a user decides to wait for the service by joining an unobservable first-come-first-serve queue, or leave and seek her outside option. To reduce congestion and improve social outcomes, the service provider seeks to persuade more low-need users to avail their outside option, and thus better serve high-need users. We characterize the Pareto-efficient signaling mechanisms and compare their welfare outcomes against several benchmarks. We show that if either type is the overwhelming majority of the population, then information design does not provide improvement over sharing full information or no information. On the other hand, when the population is sufficiently heterogeneous, information design not only Pareto-dominates full-information and no-information mechanisms, in some regimes it also achieves the same welfare as the “first-best,” that is, the Pareto-efficient centralized admission policy with knowledge of users’ types. This paper was accepted by Gabriel Weintraub, revenue management and market analytics. Funding: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation [Grants CMMI-2002155 and CMMI-2002156]. Supplemental Material: The data and e-companion are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4548.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4548 [Google]
Li, J., G. Pisano, Y. Xu and F. Zhu (2023): Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment, Management Science, 69(3589), pp.3958-3975
The scalability of a marketplace depends on the operations of the marketplace platform and its sellers’ capacities. In this study, we explore one strategy that a marketplace platform can use to enhance its scalability: providing an ancillary service to sellers. In our model, a platform can choose whether and when to provide this service to sellers and, if so, what prices to charge and which types of sellers to serve. Although such a service helps small sellers, we highlight that the provision of such a service can diminish the incentives of large sellers to make their own investment, thereby reducing their potential output. When the output reduction by large sellers is substantial, the platform may not want to provide the ancillary service, and, even if it does, it may choose to set a price higher than its marginal cost to motivate large sellers to scale. The platform may also choose to strategically delay the provision of the service. This paper was accepted by Hemant Bhargava, information systems. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4522.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4522 [Google]
Qian, T. Y. and C. Seifried (2023): Virtual interactions and sports viewing on social live streaming platforms: The role of co-creation experiences, platform involvement, and follow status, Journal of Business Research, 162(3590), pp.N.PAG-N.PAG
This study deciphers the underlying mechanism by which virtual interactions influence sports viewing on a social live streaming (SLS) platform. Survey data was collected from 741 viewers who watched Thursday Night Football (TNF) co-streaming on Twitch and was subsequently analyzed via Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). We identified distinct effects of virtual interactions on co-creation experiences and platform involvement, which served as serial mediators, and in turn, engendered intentions to watch TNF co-streaming. Viewers’ follow status was found to moderate the impacts of co-creation experiences and platform involvement on watching intentions. Our study explores the interconnections between service dominant (S-D) logic and social identity theory (SIT), expounding how virtual interactions may impact sports viewing in the SLS service ecosystem. The findings shed light on the means of fostering an interactive environment conducive to co-creating meaningful experiences and developing lasting relationships in synchronous social media.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113884 [Google]
Dahl, A. J., J. W. Peltier and E. L. Swan (2023): Anticipatory value-in-use in early-stage digital health service transformations: How consumers assess value propositions before and after abrupt, exogenous shocks, Journal of Business Research, 163(3591), pp.N.PAG-N.PAG
• Shows how consumers evaluate a digital service’s value propositions before usage. • Studies the unique stages and prerequisites of telemedicine anticipatory value-in-use. • Explores how COVID-19′s exogenous shock affects the anticipatory value-in-use process. • Value co-creation value propositions are critical to digital service transformation. • Anticipatory value-in-use framework is consistent at two adoption stages. Digital service transformations affect how consumers experience value-in-use. Yet, the process consumers use to evaluate value propositions for emergent, early-stage service transformations remains unclear. This is especially true for digital service transformations brought on by exogenous shocks requiring a near-immediate response. The abrupt lockdown of face-to-face services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic forced many organizations to launch remote offerings with little prior usage. In a telemedicine context, we develop an Anticipatory Value-in-Use Framework, investigating how consumers’ value-in-use process for a digital service transformation unfolds across three stages: value-in-use prerequisites, anticipatory value co-creation, and anticipatory value-in-use. Using SmartPLS we analyze 669 responses collected pre- and post-COVID-19 lockdown. Our results demonstrate the framework offers a consistent conceptualization of how consumers formulate anticipatory value-in-use when actual experience with the service transformation is lacking. However, consumers may weigh factors differently following exogenous shock-imposed transformations, requiring marketers to carefully articulate a transformation’s value propositions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113910 [Google]
Ehret, M. and R. Olaniyan (2023): Banking the unbanked. Constitutive rules and the institutionalization of mobile payment systems in Nigeria, Journal of Business Research, 163(3592), pp.N.PAG-N.PAG
• Financial technology companies can “bank the unbanked”. • Institutional Theory acknowledges the social dimension of institutions. • Partner-networks are central for establishing mobile payment institutions. • Constitutive rules are vital for institutionalizing mobile payment systems. • Social action drives the emergence of constitutive rules. Researchers identify institutional voids as serious roadblocks to economic development. Mobile payment systems offer a promise to fill institutional voids in emerging economies. Financial technology companies can help to “bank the unbanked” by leapfrogging financial services found in more developed economies. However, both, economic regulations as well as technological solutions for institution building, such as cryptocurrencies, show mixed results. Institutional Theory extends institutional voids research by acknowledging the social dimension of institutions. Constitutive rules help to conceptualize the cultural-cognitive dimension of payment institutions. The study of Paga, the premier mobile payment platform of Nigeria, reveals the emergence of constitutive rules through the interplay of technology development and social action. Constitutive rules are vital for financial technology innovation, and more generally in the institutionalization of service ecosystems. The case demonstrates the central role of partner-networks in establishing mobile payment institutions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113845 [Google]
Moriuchi, E. (2023): Encouraging Respect?: Understanding consumers’ perspective on the two-way evaluation system in a sharing economy, Journal of Business Research, 163(3593), pp.N.PAG-N.PAG
This paper investigates passengers’ beliefs, attitudes, engagement, and behavior toward the two-way evaluation system within the sharing economy marketplace. The sharing economy has been implementing new review initiatives to improve the service industry’s resilience. Two studies were conducted. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show three significant findings: 1) the respondents’ belief in the intentions of the evaluation has a substantial impact on their attitude towards the intention to encourage mutual respect; 2) the results of passengers’ attitude toward a passenger’s right to rate were insignificant when the respondents have rated a driver, and 3) the perceived fairness of the company serves as a boundary between engagement and the intention to encourage mutual respect. Being evaluated is not always pleasant; however, if the evaluation system is intended to keep users and providers in check, users’ attitudes toward a two-way evaluation system may differ.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113904 [Google]
Brendel, A. B., F. Hildebrandt, A. R. Dennis and J. Riquel (2023): The Paradoxical Role of Humanness in Aggression Toward Conversational Agents, Journal of Management Information Systems, 40(3594), pp.883-913
Conversational Agents (CAs) are becoming part of our everyday lives. About 10 percent of users display aggressive behavior toward CAs, such as swearing at them when they produce errors. We conducted two online experiments to understand user aggression toward CAs better. In the first experiment, 175 participants used either a humanlike CA or a non-humanlike CA. Both CAs worked without errors, and we observed no increased frustration or user aggression. The second experiment (with 201 participants) was the focus of this study; in it, both CAs produce a series of errors. The results show that frustration with errors drives aggression, and users with higher impulsivity are more likely to become aggressive when frustrated. The results also suggest that there are three pathways by which perceived humanness influences users’ aggression to CAs. First, perceived humanness directly increases the frustration with the CA when it produces errors. Second, perceived humanness increases service satisfaction which in turn reduces frustration. Third, perceived humanness influences the nature of aggression when users become frustrated (i.e., users are less likely to use highly offensive words with a more humanlike CA). Our research contributes to our theoretical understanding of the role of anthropomorphism in the interaction with machines, showing that designing a CA to be more humanlike is a double-edged sword—both increasing and decreasing the frustration that leads to aggression—and also a means to reduce the most severe aggression.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2023.2229127 [Google]
Harrison, A., A. Mirsadikov and T. Luu (2023): Influence of Media Capabilities on Trust in the Sharing Economy, Journal of Management Information Systems, 40(3595), pp.953-982
Media capabilities influence consumers’ trust in online exchanges. However, in the sharing economy, where consumers interact with service providers through a platform, conventional models of trust must be revisited. Our research identifies how media synchronicity and anonymity influence the relative importance of institution-based trust in sharing economy exchanges. We collected data from 248 ride-hailing customers and 288 cryptocurrency users to test a moderated mediation model of trust. We find that in the sharing economy media synchronicity and anonymity lead customers to develop trust toward service providers directly and undermine the impact of institutional trust mechanisms. This indicates that in sharing economy exchanges, trust can be built directly with the service provider, or alternatively, indirectly through the platform. Consequently, organizations in the sharing economy can strategically design their systems to engender trust by choosing between (1) emphasizing the platform’s reputation or (2) encouraging direct communication between the consumer and service providers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2023.2229118 [Google]
Lee, K., M. A. Bellamy and N. R. Joglekar (2023): Distributed service with proximal capacity and pricing on a two‐sided sharing economy platform, Journal of Operations Management, 69(3596), pp.742-763
In this article, we characterize the relationship between spatial pricing and capacity based on distributed service design (DSD) decisions in a two‐sided sharing economy platform. We leverage theoretical tenets on two‐sided markets and on spatial pricing and capacity management in the sharing economy to inform a set of empirical and simulation models. Empirically, we use data on 156,520 observations of dynamic pricing and capacity distribution within Uber’s San Francisco region. Estimation of a spatial econometric model reveals that the number of active drivers in neighboring zones negatively impacts the price in focal zones. Simultaneously, we find that spatial proximity is a significant factor in determining the distribution of prices when service demand levels are sufficiently high. We leverage this simultaneity finding to advance the literature on the sharing economy by incorporating operational considerations such as distributed capacity into service design. We link these econometric results with profit and welfare using a simulation that tests a variety of DSD pricing strategies under varying elasticity and revenue‐sharing conditions. Our findings offer guidance to firms managing two‐sided sharing economy platforms on tracking demand‐ and supply side price elasticity levels as well as revenue sharing spread when seeking to maximize profit, welfare, or both.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joom.1222 [Google]
Cohen, M. C., M.-D. Fiszer, A. Ratzon and R. Sasson (2023): Incentivizing Commuters to Carpool: A Large Field Experiment with Waze, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 25(3597), pp.1263-1284
Problem definition: Traffic congestion is a serious global issue. A potential solution, which requires zero investment in infrastructure, is to convince solo car users to carpool. Academic/practical relevance: In this paper, we leverage the Waze Carpool service and run the largest ever digital field experiment to nudge commuters to carpool. Methodology: Our field experiment involves more than half a million users across four U.S. states between June 10 and July 3, 2019. We identify users who can save a significant commute time by carpooling through the use of a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, users who can still use an HOV lane but have a low time saving, and users who do not have access to an HOV lane on their commute. We send them in-app notifications with different framings: mentioning the HOV lane, highlighting the time saving, emphasizing the monetary welcome bonus (for users who do not have access to an HOV lane), and a generic carpool invitation. Results: We find a strong relationship between the affinity to carpool and the potential time saving through an HOV lane. Managerial implications: Specifically, we estimate that mentioning the HOV lane increases the click-through rate (i.e., proportion of users who clicked on the button inviting them to try the carpool service) and the onboarding rate (i.e., proportion of users who signed up and created an account with the carpool service) by 133%–185% and 64%–141%, respectively, relative to a generic invitation. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for carpool platforms and public policy. History: This paper has been accepted as part of the 2021 Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Practice-Based Research Competition. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2021.1033.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2021.1033 [Google]
Wu, C., C. Jin and S. Veeraraghavan (2023): Designing professional services: Pricing and prioritization, Production & Operations Management, 32(3598), pp.2578-2595
We study the optimal design of a professional service in a mixed market of customers with heterogeneous skills and capabilities of using such service. Expert customers can avail of the service on their own, whereas amateur customers find it challenging to deploy the service and can only procure the service through an intermediary who resolves the technical issues. We develop a model that captures the essential trade‐offs in such settings: heterogeneity in customer expertise, decentralization between a service provider and intermediary, and congestion due to limited capacity. We analyze how customer expertise differences drive the equilibrium outcomes under various pricing and priority schemes. We find that a sufficient base of amateur customers allows expert customers to “free‐ride” under single pricing. Price discrimination can fully allay such free‐riding, but it may drive prices downward. Price discrimination also favors expert customers under the First‐Come‐First‐Served (FCFS) policy, but such preference is generally reversed under prioritization. Specifically, prioritizing amateur customers can bring revenue and welfare gains relative to the FCFS policy and a policy that prioritizes expert customers. Our results offer normative guidelines for managing professional services, clarifying regimes for price and priority discrimination, along with revenue and welfare implications.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/poms.13996 [Google]
Liang, Y., W. Liu, K. W. Li, C. Dong and M. K. Lim (2023): A co‐opetitive game analysis of platform compatibility strategies under add‐on services, Production & Operations Management, (3599), pp.1
Large‐scale platforms (LSPs) with valuation and awareness advantages have enabled competing small‐scale platforms (SSPs) to be embedded in their platforms. This compatibility strategy creates a new channel, that is, the compatible channel, through which customers can purchase services from SSPs via the LSPs. Additionally, numerous platforms have been introducing add‐on services to enhance their profitability. In this study, we develop stylized game models to characterize the interaction between an LSP and an SSP and explore their strategic and operational decisions on platform compatibility under add‐on services. Our major research findings are as follows: First, compatibility has opposite impacts on service pricing. That is, at a low proportion of demand through the compatible channel, the two platforms engage in a price war; otherwise, they both raise prices. Second, we identify the conditions for platform compatibility: Compatibility becomes an equilibrium strategy if the proportion of demand through the compatible channel falls within an intermediate range. Third, we find that homogeneous add‐on services stimulate rather than inhibit compatibility due to the different profit foci of two platforms. Finally, we conduct extensions to further verify the robustness of the conclusions. Our results provide important implications to the burgeoning debate on when platforms should implement compatibility to achieve a win–win scenario under a variety of settings.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/poms.14049 [Google]
