Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Services Marketing.
“Services in a Rapidly Changing World”
Co-Guest editors: Holmqvist J, Kabadayi S & Winfrey D
Deadline: 17 January 2025
Sustainable services, transformative services and the impact of services on society are being increasingly studied, yet more studies are needed as the impact of services to combat societal challenges becomes increasingly urgent. This special issue takes a holistic approach to study the broad array of different ways in which services can benefit both humanity and the planet in a changing world.
The past years have seen societal changes at a level not seen for several decades. A global pandemic, increasing cost of living, several wars, political uncertainty, increasing climate change, and rapidly evolving AI all pose serious challenges for society as well as for individuals. Just as the world and society are evolving, services need to evolve to meet the challenges arising from this new situation. Now services are expected to be responsible in the sense that they foster sustainability, fight climate change, narrow down inequalities, develop medical advances, and support humanitarian efforts, while empowering customers by offering novel ways to navigate the changing conditions of everyday life. Given this new set of expectations in the face of changing world, service scholars either need to revisit their theoretical frameworks and existing assumptions or develop new models to help and enable service organizations to design and deliver services needed in this changing world.
This special issue focuses on societal changes and the role of services to deal with these changes. As such, all seventeen of the UN Sustainable Development Goals provide potential research avenues to develop the role of services. Prospective authors are encouraged to check and be inspired by the recent JSM-ServCollab special issue on SDGs (Vol 38 No. 2) We welcome submissions on the broader theme of services for humanity, and encourage all submissions dealing with topics to improve consumers’ lives, from the individual to the societal level. We also welcome submissions on socio-cultural aspects of services as well as services for sustainable actions
List of Topic Areas
– The transformative role of services in addressing polycrisis that humanity and the world face
– Sustainable and ethical services, in B2B, B2C, and C2C
– The role of AI in services to improve both physical and mental wellbeing
– Services to help preserve cultures and heritage
– The contribution of services to achieving UN SDGs
– The interaction of service organizations, policymakers and other stakeholders
– Medial services and their implications
– Services to facilitate communication in a global world
– Additional topics dealing with service for humanity are warmly encouraged
We welcome qualitative, quantitative and conceptual research
Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed.
Key Deadlines
– Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/08/2024
– Closing date for manuscripts submission: 17/01/2025
Guest Editors
– Jonas Holmqvist, Kedge Business School, France
– Sertan Kabadayi, Fordham University, US
– Domenic Winfrey, Kedge Business School, France
The authoritative version of this call is here.
