Considered Service-specific journals were Journal of Service Research, Journal of Service Management, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Service Industries Journal, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and Service Science.
For more information about the alert system methodology, go here
For all previous alerts go here
Chandler, J. D. (2025): Institutional dissonance and innovation: higher education from a service ecosystems perspective, Journal of Service Management, 36(4314), pp.142-155
Purpose: The purpose of this research note is to call for action and research on higher education as a service ecosystem. By explicating the need for service innovation in higher education, this research note deepens the understanding of how institutional dissonance can influence value cocreation in service ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach: Viewing higher education from a service-centered, systems-oriented lens reveals how institutional dissonance related to diversity, equity and inclusion can catalyze innovation for the university. In other words, when nontraditional faculty, staff, students and stakeholders cannot meaningfully engage with the university or, vice versa, it is not possible for value cocreation to truly emerge in the service ecosystem. Findings: Because extant research and data on persistence in higher education is based on findings from Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), the higher education and service literature do not yet provide insights for universities and other large-scale institutions that need to adapt to and engage with nontraditional, nonwhite college students or actors. Originality/value: The proposed framework integrates the higher education and service management literature to describe how innovation can improve value cocreation and reconcile institutional dissonance in higher education.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2023-0143 [Google]
Di Pietro, L., V. Ungaro, M. F. Renzi and B. Edvardsson (2025): Exploring volunteers’ role in healthcare service ecosystems: value co-creation, self-adjustment and re-humanisation, Journal of Service Management, 36(4315), pp.184-216
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.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-02-2023-0081 [Google]
Farmer, J., A. Steiner, S. Kilpatrick, A. McCosker, K. Carlisle and P. Kamstra (2025): Value cocreation and innovation involving consumers and providers interacting with technology: a digital ethnographic study of online mental health forums, Journal of Service Management, 36(4316), pp.270-290
Purpose: This paper explores how users and providers cocreate value through interacting with online peer support mental health forum technology and offers insights into service ecosystem innovation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed digital ethnography and interviews and analysed data to identify themes about user practices, provider adaptations and cocreated value outcomes. Findings: The study shows how users engage with technology affordances to develop a community that supports their engagement in value cocreation and helps them access support. In turn, providers engage with user data generated through forum use and other sources to influence changes to forum institutions. By analysing a dataset of user interviews, value outcomes realised for forum users are identified. Using a diagram to illustrate how users and providers interact with technology to generate an evolving service ecosystem, the study also offers insights about a service ecosystem perspective of innovation. Research limitations/implications: The research shows the value of using mixed datasets to access granular, multi-actor data. Direct feedback loops between user practices and changes to institutions are implied rather than directly observable. Practical implications: The authors provide a worked example highlighting how consumers and providers interacting with forum technology supports value cocreation that contributes to problem-solving for consumers and service ecosystem innovation, and fills healthcare ecosystem gaps. Originality/value: The study provides novel empirical evidence about multi-actor interactions with technology in value cocreation and informs theory about a service ecosystem perspective of innovation by illustrating technological and market innovation. It extends knowledge about healthcare value cocreation in mental health.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-01-2023-0029 [Google]
Kaartemo, V. and A. Helkkula (2025): Human–AI resource relations in value cocreation in service ecosystems, Journal of Service Management, 36(4317), pp.291-306
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.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2023-0104 [Google]
Mele, C. and T. Russo-Spena (2025): Agencement of onlife and phygital: smart tech–enabled value co-creation practices, Journal of Service Management, 36(4318), pp.217-240
Purpose: In this article, we reflect on how smart technology is transforming service research discourses about service innovation and value co-creation. We adopt the concept of technology smartness’ to refer to the ability of technology to sense, adapt and learn from interactions. Accordingly, we seek to address how smart technologies (i.e. cognitive and distributed technology) can be powerful resources, capable of innovating in relation to actors’ agency, the structure of the service ecosystem and value co-creation practices. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual article integrates evidence from the existing theories with illustrative examples to advance research on service innovation and value co-creation. Findings: Through the performative utterances of new tech words, such as onlife and materiality, this article identifies the emergence of innovative forms of agency and structure. Onlife agency entails automated, relational and performative forms, which provide for new decision-making capabilities and expanded opportunities to co-create value. Phygital materiality pertains to new structural features, comprised of new resources and contexts that have distinctive intelligence, autonomy and performativity. The dialectic between onlife agency and phygital materiality (structure) lies in the agencement of smart tech–enabled value co-creation practices based on the notion of becoming that involves not only resources but also actors and contexts. Originality/value: This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework that advances a tech-based ecology for service ecosystems, in which value co-creation is enacted by the smartness of technology, which emerges through systemic and performative intra-actions between actors (onlife agency), resources and contexts (phygital materiality and structure).
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2023-0113 [Google]
Sarno, D., B. Enquist, F. Polese, R. Sebastiani, S. Petros Sebhatu and A. M. Viljakainen (2025): A processual view on sustainability transitions in service ecosystems, Journal of Service Management, 36(4319), pp.156-183
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.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2023-0094 [Google]
Schau, H. J., I. Luri and M. A. Akaka (2025): Organizational resiliency through practice innovation: forced brand evolution in a prolonged exogenous service ecosystem disruption, Journal of Service Management, 36(4320), pp.241-269
Purpose: This paper aims to explore practice innovation and organizational resiliency during exogenous service ecosystem disruptions. This inquiry focuses on the extreme disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required service firms to recodify long-established service scripts, adapt digital and physical material elements of the service encounter and ultimately reconfigure a system of practices. The specific context is forced practice innovation in Starbucks servicescape (kiosks and coffeehouses). Starbucks is best known for its custom beverages and third-place strategy. Their strict adherence to a complex service script and unique ordering practices altered during pandemic stay-home disease prevention mandates. Design/methodology/approach: Thematic coding consistent with prior research on practice innovation and diffusion and a grounded theory methodology was conducted. Data were triangulated and analyzed within and across a variety of sources. These include field notes from direct observation, interviews, focus groups, firm-authored collateral in the form of marketing communications and third-party authored secondary sources such as news, social media, blogs and forums. Findings: Data reveal how practice innovation occurs through the reconfiguration of a system of practices, which support organizational resiliency and can force brand evolution, in prolonged exogenous service ecosystem disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic required service industries to adapt and recodify service scripts and alter physical and digital elements of service encounters. While the pandemic affected all firms in the sector, we argue that Starbucks’ established scripts and third-place strategies, which characterized the brand experience, were particularly vulnerable. We find that practice innovation occurs through the reconfiguration of practice elements – competences, meanings and materiality – and restructures the service encounter. Practice codification, transposition, adaptation and stabilization support organizational resiliency and brand evolution. We find that Starbucks’ brand experience emphasis on the third place is reconceptualized from an in-person community-based retailscape to a platform-based strategy necessitating script recodification and practice adaptation. Our analysis of Starbucks’ kiosks and coffeehouses illuminates how a distinctly branded service encounter is constituted by a system of practices that can be reconfigured and diffused anew in the face of disruption. Originality/value: The conceptualization of practice innovation as systems reconfiguration establishes a novel approach to understanding innovation in service ecosystems. The COVID-19 pandemic is a unique context to study a sector-wide exogenous extended service disruption. We focus on a firm with an elaborate pre-pandemic service script and commitment to a third-place brand experience guiding its system of practices. We reveal unique insights on practice innovation within service ecosystems during exogenous prolonged disruptions in which brands evolve through the recodification of service scripts and sustained reconfiguration of systems of practice.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2023-0115 [Google]
Cho, J. (2025): Improving upselling revenue: a longitudinal field study, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 35(4322), pp.377-396
Purpose This study provides a comprehensive empirical framework on the longitudinal interplay of perceived organizational support, employee engagement, perceived service value and upselling. Design/methodology/approach We achieve our research objective by building an empirical framework calibrated on unique field data from the car rental industry. The data include a large pool of cross-sectional, time-series employee and customer survey responses, both of which are matched with actual transaction details. Findings Findings suggest that both employees and customers perceive benefits in past exchanges and show reciprocation efforts toward those from which benefits are received. Specifically, the return on organizational support is more prevalent among frontline employees responsible for direct customer contact, and customers’ perceived service value from employee–customer interactions increases the acceptance of future upselling offers. Originality/value First, drawing upon theoretical foundations of the reciprocity inherent to employee and customer behavior, this study advances our knowledge of the effective utilization of employee groups for which the levels of customer interactions differ. Second, unlike previous upselling studies using cross-sectional or one-time survey data, this study leverages a granular and comprehensive customer panel to uncover the robust effect of reciprocity in both employee and customer behavior on upselling revenue gains and provide meaningful guidance to practitioners.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-07-2024-0214 [Google]
Lee, N. and S. Lee (2025): Operational risk of customer participation – reduce it or accommodate it?, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 35(4323), pp.440-463
Purpose Despite the benefit to service quality, customer participation introduces customer variability to service processes that can be a source of operational risk. Service providers try to cope with the operational risk of customer participation (ORCP) by either reducing or accommodating it. This study, considering both the customer side and the provider side, examines the interplay between customer participation and the service provider’s strategic action and its impact on service quality. Design/methodology/approach We use regression analysis incorporating the interaction term between strategic action and customer participation to test our hypotheses. We then compare the results across service contexts characterized by service offerings. Findings The findings indicate that the impact of customer participation on service quality is contingent upon the strategic actions taken to address the ORCP. Overall, the reduction strategy positively moderates the relationship between customer participation and service quality, whereas the accommodation strategy negatively moderates it. Additionally, the moderating effects vary depending on the service context. In particular, when providing goods, the reduction strategy positively moderates the impact of customer participation on service quality, while the accommodation strategy diminishes it. Conversely, in customer care services, both the reduction and accommodation strategies negatively moderate the impact of customer participation on service quality. Lastly, when firms provide information and agency services, the impact of customer participation on service quality is not significantly influenced by the strategic actions regarding ORCP. Originality/value This study enriches the literature on customer participation as there has been little empirical research that integrates the roles of both customers and service providers in the service process. Previous studies often overlooked the potential risks associated with customer participation and, as a result, did not consider the strategic actions providers might take to manage these risks. By examining the strategic responses of service providers, this study offers a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics at play. Not only does it address the provider’s side of the service process, but it also explores how these strategies influence the overall service quality when combined with varying levels and variabilities of customer participation. It also provides managerial implications on the choice of strategic actions that make the best use of customer participation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-01-2024-0023 [Google]
Lin, H.-F. (2025): An integrated model examining frontline employee willingness to work with retail service robots, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 35(4324), pp.464-482
Purpose By integrating individual characteristics, technology acceptance model and motivation theory, this research develops a conceptual model to investigate how frontline employee (FLE) characteristics (FLE change self-efficacy and FLE innovativeness) and motivational factors (perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and perceived social presence) affect willingness to work with retail service robots (RSR). Design/methodology/approach Survey data from 321 FLEs in retail stores (convenience stores, supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchants) recruited in Taiwan were collected and used to test the research hypotheses. Findings Results showed that FLE characteristics and motivational factors influence willingness to work with RSR both directly and indirectly (i.e. mediated through attitude). FLE change self-efficacy and perceived social presence have stronger effects than other variables. The findings also confirmed attitude as a mediating variable, showing that attitude partially mediated the effects of all antecedent variables on willingness to work with RSR. Practical implications Results indicated that FLEs with higher change self-efficacy were more likely to hold positive attitude and be willing to work with RSR. Hence, managers may try to use internal marketing practices (e.g. internal communication, advocacy for successful cases and RSR training programs) to increase FLE change-related self-efficacy and reduce anxiety about RSR adoption, thereby increasing their willingness to work with RSR. Originality/value Theoretically, this research extends the current understanding of the antecedents of FLE response to and behavior toward working with RSR that have been called by previous scholars. From the managerial perspective, this study provides some suggestions for managers to develop and implement RSR that facilitates FLE-robot collaboration.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-07-2024-0231 [Google]
Usman, M., A. Khalid, E. Boğan, S. Bani-Melhem and H. Olya (2025): Fulfill obligation toward nature and consume together: unraveling the influence of social media opinion leadership on collaborative consumption, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 35(4325), pp.397-419
Purpose In the present work, we aim to investigate the direct and indirect, via consumer sense of obligation toward the natural environment (SONE), roles of social media opinion leadership in shaping consumers’ collaborative consumption behavior. The moderating impact of consumer trait mindfulness is also examined. Design/methodology/approach We collected survey data by adopting a time-lagged design (3 rounds, separated by 2 weeks) from 238 followers of a social media opinion leader’s Instagram account. Findings The results support the proposed relationships, indicating that social media opinion leadership positively influences consumers’ collaborative consumption behavior directly and indirectly via consumer SONE. Additionally, consumer trait mindfulness moderates the relationship between social media opinion leadership and consumer SONE, as well as the indirect association between social media opinion leadership and collaborative consumption behavior. Originality/value By elucidating the mechanisms through which social media opinion leadership affects collaborative consumption behavior, we contribute to the literature on online opinion leaders and collaborative consumption. We also highlight the mediating role of consumer SONE and the moderating role of mindfulness, offering a novel perspective on promoting sustainable consumption through social media influence.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-05-2024-0150 [Google]
Xie, P., J. Yang and F. Tian (2025): Lost in tasks: how workplace multitasking shapes employee moral awareness and service sabotage behavior, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 35(4326), pp.420-439
Purpose Drawing on the attentional focus model, we posit that multitasking diminishes employees’ moral awareness, thereby increasing their propensity for service sabotage behaviors. Furthermore, we propose that employees’ trait mindfulness can mitigate this effect by modulating their attentional focus. Design/methodology/approach To empirically test our hypotheses, we employed the experience sampling method, collecting data over 10 consecutive workdays from 82 frontline employees and their 23 direct supervisors. Findings Our findings reveal that multitasking indirectly increases service sabotage behaviors by diminishing employees’ moral awareness. Notably, this indirect effect is more pronounced among employees with lower trait mindfulness and attenuated among those with higher trait mindfulness. Practical implications Organizations should manage multitasking demands through effective task prioritization and resource allocation to mitigate potential ethical issues. Implementing ethical training programs and fostering a culture that values ethical conduct can enhance employees’ moral awareness. Additionally, promoting mindfulness practices can improve attentional control and ethical decision-making under pressure, thereby reducing the risk of service sabotage behaviors. Originality/value First, we establish a novel link between multitasking and service sabotage, an unethical behavior prevalent in the service industry. Second, we extend the scope of the attentional focus model by demonstrating that impaired moral awareness is a consequence of multitasking’s impact on attentional focus, which in turn mediates unethical outcomes. Third, we investigate trait mindfulness as a moderator of the relationship between multitasking and moral awareness, thereby illuminating the influence of individual traits on attentional processes.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-05-2024-0129 [Google]
Yu, A. H., M. Uncles and Z. Jiang (2025): The process of co-creation in educational services: insights from interviewing co-creative actors in higher education, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 35(4327), pp.349-376
Purpose This study develops a comprehensive understanding of the co-creation (CC) process in educational services. The specific context is higher education (HE), a vital sector within the domain of educational services. Design/methodology/approach We draw insights from those directly participating in CC within HE courses and programs. A grounded theory approach is employed, with data collected from interviews and focus groups. In total, 70 students, professors, tutors and support staff shared their practices in, and reflections on, CC. Our data coding was subjected to inter-coder reliability checking. Findings Key antecedents of CC are individual competence, tangible and intangible organizational support and technology readiness, with motivation, personal characteristics and activity design moderating the relationship between antecedents and CC. Outcomes of CC are shown to be positive (e.g. satisfaction), negative (e.g. co-destruction) or a positive/negative mix. Alignment, timing and interventions prove to be key moderators of the relationship between CC and its outcomes. We also highlight three features and four building blocks of CC, as well as inner and meta feedback loops in the CC process. Originality/value Drawing on the insights afforded by our interviewees, we derive the comprehensive Co-Creation in Educational Services (CCES) framework. CCES encapsulates antecedents, consequences, moderators and feedback to provide an understanding of how distinct aspects of CC interconnect. For the educational setting, CCES also contextualizes the established CC building blocks as conversation, autonomy, reflection and transparency.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-04-2024-0100 [Google]
Díez-Calvo, S., I. Lidón, R. Rebollar and I. Gil-Pérez (2025): Problems of participatory processes in policymaking: a service design approach, Journal of Services Marketing, 39(4328), pp.180-201
Purpose: This study aims to identify and map the problems of participatory processes in policymaking through a Service Design approach. Design/methodology/approach: First, 50 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts in the field of citizen participation. This was followed by a comparative analysis of how backstage and frontstage stakeholders perceived the identified problems. Secondly, a Service Blueprint model was proposed as a means of mapping the identified problems within the broader framework of a service experience of participation. Finally, a brainstorming session was held with the aim of proposing design solutions to the problems from a human-centred perspective. Findings: Fifteen problems of participatory processes in policymaking were identified, and some differences were observed in the perception of these problems between the stakeholders responsible for designing and implementing the participatory processes (backstage stakeholders) and those who are called upon to participate (frontstage stakeholders). The problems were found to occur at different stages of the service and to affect different stakeholders. A number of design actions were proposed to help mitigate these problems from a human-centred approach. These included process improvements, digital opportunities, new technologies and staff training, among others. Practical implications: Public managers, politicians and designers of participatory processes can use this study to design participatory processes based on the real needs and expectations of the different stakeholders involved. Originality/value: This research adds to the literature on citizen participation and Service Design by shedding new light on the problems of participatory processes through a human-centred approach.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-03-2024-0137 [Google]
Johnston, L., J. P. Melancon and J. S. Leguizamon (2025): Out of the public eye: the art of redirection in webcare apologies, Journal of Services Marketing, 39(4329), pp.265-279
Purpose: In response to the growing popularity of brands’ using social media as a customer service channel (webcare), this research examines how companies redirect consumers from the public social media feed to a private channel. The purpose of this paper is to understand how to redirect consumers using service failure apologies and to discuss personalization’s role in these service recoveries. Design/methodology/approach: A text mining study reveals how companies use redirection on social media. Then, two experiments test the impact of redirection types and personalization on consumer perceptions and intentions. Findings: Service representatives frequently require consumers to initiate the first message after redirecting them from the public social media feed (a consumer-responsible redirection). Personalizing webcare apologies increases repurchase intentions and relational advocacy regardless of the redirection strategy used. Consumers are more likely to publicly respond to companies that initiate the first message in a private channel (a company-responsible redirection). Practical implications: Although most service providers require consumers to co-produce service recovery redirections (consumer-responsible redirection), this requirement may not be optimal. If a consumer-responsible redirection must be used, then personalization may improve consumers’ perceptions of webcare apology’s sincerity. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to test different types of redirections in webcare. The authors extend the literature on personalization and webcare apologies by examining how these webcare components operate with redirections. The need to prevent public complaints’ spiraling out of control contributes to this research’s timely value.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-12-2023-0446 [Google]
Lu, H.-H. and W.-J. Huang (2025): Smart living services’ factors and influences on subjective well-being and intention to use, Journal of Services Marketing, 39(4330), pp.248-264
Purpose: This study aims to examine the effects of network externalities and diffusion of innovation on users’ perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment, and in turn subjective well-being and intention to use in the smart living context. Design/methodology/approach: To explore different types of smart living services, the data collected come from surveying 512 users of smart home services and 570 users of smart living apps. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data, and post hoc interviews are conducted to provide insights into our conceptual model of smart living services. Findings: Compatibility and perceived service complementarity are the most influential determinants of users’ perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment toward smart living services. Perceived usefulness has a greater impact on users’ intention to use and their subjective well-being than perceived enjoyment. Interestingly, perceived enjoyment exerts a stronger influence on subjective well-being than on intention to use. Originality/value: This study is one of the first to provide empirical evidence in the context of smart living services, contributing to transformative service literature by extending the understanding of technology use and its influence on user well-being into a less explored service context. This study also advances users’ intention to use and subjective well-being of technology adoption in the service context by integrating perspectives from network externalities and diffusion of innovation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2024-0205 [Google]
Nadeem, W., S. Alimamy, A. R. Ashraf and K.-Y. Wang (2025): Understanding consumers’ value co-creation and value co-destruction with augmented reality service marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, 39(4331), pp.218-247
Purpose: Although businesses increasingly use augmented reality (AR) to enhance service experiences, the way AR service marketing inspires consumers remains underexplored. Drawing on the consumer inspiration literature, the authors examine how AR service marketing activities such as entertainment, interaction, trendiness and customization enhance consumer inspiration. In addition, the authors explore the role of consumer empowerment and skepticism as key underlying mechanisms between consumer inspiration and value co-creation (VCC) or co-destruction (VCD) intentions. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a mixed method, explanatory sequential design to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their proposed theoretical framework. The quantitative survey study involved 344 AR app users, followed by a qualitative open-ended essay study with 34 AR app users. Findings: Results suggest that AR service marketing activities positively influence consumer inspiration, which in turn increases consumer empowerment and reduces skepticism. The authors also found that consumer empowerment leads to VCC, while skepticism leads to VCD. These findings provide valuable insights for practitioners seeking to implement AR service marketing activities effectively to inspire consumers, foster value creation and manage value destruction. Practical implications: The study highlights inspiration as a key factor in motivating consumers to co-create value, transcending typical service experiences and limitations. Empowered consumers, feeling inspired, are more inclined to contribute effectively to VCC, also fostering trust in the service provider. AR serves not just as a sales channel, but also as a tool for relationship-building and brand retention. Managers should leverage AR to elicit feelings of trendiness, customization and interaction, fostering empowerment and inspiring consumers to co-create value. Originality/value: This study significantly contributes to the growing body of literature on consumer inspiration and AR service marketing. It emphasizes the need to consider external (i.e. marketing-induced) stimuli in understanding the sources and consequences of consumer inspiration through AR.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2024-0332 [Google]
Vinitha, V. U., D. S. Kumar and H. Krishnan (2025): Biophilia in servicescapes – review, reconciliation and reflections, Journal of Services Marketing, 39(4332), pp.202-217
Purpose: Increased urbanization has resulted in physical environments, including servicescapes, dominated by functional designs, with nature’s presence becoming scarcer. While “biophilia” designs have received attention in fields like environmental psychology and architecture, studies on biophilia in servicescapes remain scant, fragmented and often contextual. The purpose of this study is to do a semi-systematic review of studies on biophilia in physical servicescape designs (interior and exterior), identify prevailing critical gaps and develop a comprehensive framework for theory advancements in biophilic servicescapes. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing from a critical review of 56 servicescape studies over 33 years and incorporating theoretical frameworks from environmental psychology, this paper introduces a typology of biophilia in physical servicescapes that includes direct, indirect and human–nature relationships. Furthermore, this study develops a conceptual framework using the Stimulus-Organism-Response model to systematically synthesize biophilia’s overall applicability in servicescapes for consumers and service employees, incorporating moderating factors related to service, servicescape and user types. Findings: This review investigates the emergence and definition of biophilia in servicescapes, examines the benefits of biophilic design for consumers and service employees and highlights key design strategies. In the absence of robust frameworks to assess biophilia’s impact on consumer and employee responses, this paper presents a comprehensive framework and offers guidelines for future research in retail environments and servicescapes. Originality/value: Drawing from the synthesis of research on biophilia in servicescapes, this study introduces a framework that demonstrates how antecedent variables, including both direct and indirect biophilic elements, foster human–nature relationships that lead to affective, cognitive and behavioral responses. These effects are moderated by situational factors (e.g. service and servicescape types) and individual differences (e.g. personality, values and nature-relatedness). Ultimately, these responses influence approach or avoidance behaviors in consumers and employees, with a taxonomy detailing responses aligned with biophilia.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-08-2024-0437 [Google]
Yeh, M. A., K. V. Legocki, K. L. Walker and M. Eilert (2025): From search to support: the role of UGC in stigmatized consumers’ mental health treatment journeys, Journal of Services Marketing, 39(4333), pp.165-179
Purpose: This study aims to investigate the mental health treatment journeys of stigmatized consumers using user-generated content (UGC) while also examining the role of UGC in the journey. Design/methodology/approach: This study offers valuable insights from 68 distinct, stigmatized consumers through a qualitative content analysis of 73 YouTube product review videos related to ten antidepressants. Data is coded, combining inductive coding with theory to provide a nuanced interpretation. Applying the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation to traditional consumer journey concepts, the analysis of UGC is structured by a unique mental health treatment journey. Findings: The findings show that consumers use UGC to destigmatize their mental health treatment by engaging in dynamic reflection throughout their journey, rather than following traditional feedback models. Unlike typical consumption patterns, where search is limited to the initial stage, these consumers search at every journey phase while sharing insights that offer valuable support to others which, sometimes they report, is reciprocated by viewers. Research limitations/implications: Theoretically, this study introduces an innovative framework blending psychological and marketing theories to address a gap in health-care service marketing literature concerning long-term mental health treatment journeys. By introducing the concept of dynamic reflection, it demonstrates how consumers actively engage in and share insights throughout their treatment process, differing from traditional feedback models, and highlights the impact of UGC on health-care service provision. Practical implications: Findings could inform potential health-care provider interventions that may improve treatment effectiveness. Originality/value: Although stigmatized consumers’ experiences have been examined, their treatment experiences have not been framed within a journey framework.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-02-2024-0078 [Google]
Fu, X., L. Bai and F. F. Gu (2025): Why Platforms Become Scapegoats: Extending Attribution Theory in Multi-Actor Service Contexts, Journal of Service Research, (4321), pp.1
Multi-actor exchange relationships involving platforms and individual service providers have become increasingly common in the online service sector. Drawing on attribution theory, this study identifies a phenomenon called the “locus-responsibility shift,” a form of scapegoating in which consumers transfer responsibility for service failures to a platform, even after recognizing the individual provider as the source of the problem. By uncovering this phenomenon, we challenge the traditional understanding of attribution and highlight the unique challenges platforms face in dealing with service failures. A text analysis of 24,183 consumer complaints and 4 experimental studies reveals that consumers on high (vs. low) intermediation platforms, those who experience severe (vs. mild) service failures, and those dealing with encounter (vs. core) service issues are more likely to attribute responsibility to the platform. These findings have important managerial implications for platform managers and offer guidance for developing effective platform strategies and service recovery practices to enhance customer satisfaction and safeguard platform’s reputation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705251324611 [Google]
Cai, S., X. Wang, X. Zhou and Z. Yang (2025): How Do Institutional Forces Promote Social Actions in Life-Threatening Events?, Journal of Service Research, (4342), pp.1
Algorithmic labor control increasingly reshapes the service industry. Drawing from the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research shows following results. (1) Algorithmic labor control demonstrates meticulous internal structure which can be categorized as constraining algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control. (2) Constrained algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control can further contribute to the emergence of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors through algorithmic perception and the job crafting behaviors of riders. (3) Challenge-Hindrance Stressors exert a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the job engagement of delivery riders; however, both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors can result in excessive physical and psychological strain, ultimately compromising their mental health. This study contributes to literatures by providing a fine-grained internal structure of algorithmic labor control among food delivery riders. This study offers theoretical support for improving food delivery riders’ well-being and organizational management of benign algorithmic control in the digital age. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705251329518 [Google]
Menguc, B., S. Auh, A. Uslu and V. Yeniaras (2025): From Managers to Employees to Customers: The Hidden Toll of Technology-Induced Workload, Journal of Service Research, (4343), pp.1
Algorithmic labor control increasingly reshapes the service industry. Drawing from the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research shows following results. (1) Algorithmic labor control demonstrates meticulous internal structure which can be categorized as constraining algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control. (2) Constrained algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control can further contribute to the emergence of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors through algorithmic perception and the job crafting behaviors of riders. (3) Challenge-Hindrance Stressors exert a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the job engagement of delivery riders; however, both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors can result in excessive physical and psychological strain, ultimately compromising their mental health. This study contributes to literatures by providing a fine-grained internal structure of algorithmic labor control among food delivery riders. This study offers theoretical support for improving food delivery riders’ well-being and organizational management of benign algorithmic control in the digital age. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10946705251333908 [Google]
Celdir, M. E., M. Akan and S. Tayur (2024): Dynamic Exception Points for Fair Liver Allocation, Service Science, 17(4334), pp.1-17
There are disparities in access to livers based on transplant patients? height, which disproportionately affects Hispanics, Asians, and women (across all ethnicities), because short patients can receive transplants from a smaller pool of available deceased donors for medical reasons. Reduced likelihood of transplantation leads to higher mortality rates and longer waiting times. We analyze fairness within the current U.S. liver allocation system where patients receive priority dynamically, based on their model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores, which reflect the severity of liver disease. We propose a simple adjustment, providing additional (exception) points based on height and MELD score, that can be easily implemented in practice, which materially reduces the disparity without sacrificing overall efficiency. We model the liver allocation system as a multiclass fluid model of overloaded queues with heterogeneous servers. We impose explicit equity constraints for all static patient classes, that is, height. We characterize the optimal solution under the objective of minimizing pretransplant mortality. The discretized version of the optimal policy is numerically solved using estimates from clinical data and a detailed simulation study demonstrates its effectiveness. The optimal policy, called the equity adjusted mortality risk policy, advocates ranking patients based on their short-term mortality risk adjusted for equity among height classes. Interpretation of the shadow prices of equity constraints in the optimal control problem as MELD exception points is novel in the transplant context since they can be seamlessly mapped into the existing system. Our simulations show that for women, the disparity can be almost completely eliminated. Hispanics and Asians greatly benefit from receiving these MELD exception points also. Our work provides a remedy to reduce the disparities in access to liver transplantation within the MELD-based allocation. Our approach can help the on-going analysis of the continuous distribution model for livers because it also considers aspects of candidate biology, notably height and body surface area.Funding: M. Akan was supported by the National Science Foundation [Grant CMMI-1334194] and the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) [Onetto Fellowship in Operations Management].Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/serv.2023.0092.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2023.0092 [Google]
Hsiao, C.-H., K.-Y. Chen, S.-S. Yeh, Y.-T. Hsieh and T.-C. Huan (2024): Does Negative Publicity Change Tourists’ Advocacy Intention on Online Hotel Websites? Searching for Answers from an Online Travel Agency Study, Service Science, 17(4335), pp.58-70
Travel virtual communities have reshaped trip planning and experience-sharing amid COVID-19. Postpandemic, information technology in tourism must adjust to changes in traveler behavior, including online booking trends and risk perceptions. Based on the online platform Trivago, the research objectives of this study seek to explore the relationships among electronic service quality, perceived severity of negative publicity, perceived risk, and consumers? advocacy intention to embrace after the impact of Trivago?s negative publicity. Further, this study aims to explore the moderating effects of electronic service quality and mediating effects of perceived risk. This research collected a total of 468 valid responses and verified the hypothesis by regression analysis and Sobel test. The research results are summarized as follows: the perceived severity of negative publicity negatively affects advocacy intention and positively affects perceived risk, which also negatively affects advocacy intention. These effects are all moderated by e-service quality, which negatively affects perceived risk; perceived risk is the mediator between perceived severity of negative publicity and advocacy intention. The results enrich literature on online hotel websites, offering valuable insights into how managers can effectively use online travel agencies to enhance their online presence and increase revenue.Funding: This study was supported by a grant from the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan [Grant 111-2410-H-227-009].
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2023.0055 [Google]
Liu, C. and X. Zhao (2024): Earnings Pressure and Corporate Social Responsibility Impression Management, Service Science, 17(4336), pp.18-34
Extensive research has investigated the buffering effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) when firms have poor financial performance. However, few studies have examined the possible consequences of this effect. By analyzing data on listed firms in China from 2010 to 2018, this study investigates the buffering effect of CSR under conditions of earnings pressure, and then discusses its impact on CSR disclosure impression management behavior. The results show that CSR can buffer the negative impact of earnings pressure on stock prices, chief executive officer stability, and top management team stability. This buffering effect is mainly exerted by technical CSR. Moreover, earnings pressure leads to CSR disclosure impression management without resulting in improved CSR performance. These findings have implications for cultivating CSR buffering awareness among firms and managers. The results also have practical implications for future research on the antecedents and motivations of CSR disclosure impression management.Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72372104].
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2023.0052 [Google]
Ye, F., W. Li, Y.-J. Chen, L. Liang and S. Jiang (2024): Could Auto Dealers Benefit from Vertical Media Platforms’ Encroachment?, Service Science, 17(4337), pp.35-57
Generating sales leads for auto dealers is the core business to auto vertical media platforms (VMPs). However, in recent years, many auto VMPs have started directly selling vehicles to consumers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the primary purpose of auto VMPs? business-to-consumer (B2C) endeavors is not solely B2C profitability, but rather the acquisition of sales data to calculate the leads-to-sales conversion ratio. This ratio is crucial in determining the pricing strategy for sales leads. To understand this, we consider an asymmetric information game in which the auto dealer possesses information about the leads-to-sales conversion ratio, whereas the VMP does not. We find that, when the VMP solely focuses on profiting from the sales lead business, if the market potential is large, the auto dealer prefers the cost-per-lead scheme, whereas the VMP always tends to the cost-per-sale scheme. However, when the VMP encroaches on the consumer market as a reseller, this divergence in contract-type preference can potentially be resolved. We recognize that VMPs need to conduct a comprehensive assessment of factors such as market potential, fixed cost related to market encroachment, and the correlation between market uncertainty and leads-to-sales conversion ratio when encroachment. Moreover, the encroachment of the VMP has the potential to create a win?win outcome. It is essential to highlight that engaging in B2C business enables the VMP to expand its market sample, thereby enhancing the value of leveraging information technology to optimize the leads-to-sales ratio and achieve superior performance.Funding: This work is partly supported by the Major program of the National Social Science Foundation of China [Grant 22&ZD082], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72321001, 72371104, 72071080], and the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, China [Grants 2023A1515012529, 2023A1515012435, 2024A1515010940].
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2023.0070 [Google]
Foroughi, B., M. Ghobakhloo, J. Wen and M. Fathi (2025): Sustained use of generative AI for shopping: a PLS-ANN analysis, Service Industries Journal, (4351), pp.1-34
Algorithmic labor control increasingly reshapes the service industry. Drawing from the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research shows following results. (1) Algorithmic labor control demonstrates meticulous internal structure which can be categorized as constraining algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control. (2) Constrained algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control can further contribute to the emergence of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors through algorithmic perception and the job crafting behaviors of riders. (3) Challenge-Hindrance Stressors exert a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the job engagement of delivery riders; however, both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors can result in excessive physical and psychological strain, ultimately compromising their mental health. This study contributes to literatures by providing a fine-grained internal structure of algorithmic labor control among food delivery riders. This study offers theoretical support for improving food delivery riders’ well-being and organizational management of benign algorithmic control in the digital age. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2025.2485983 [Google]
Shahzad, K., A. N. Khan, B. Ahmad, K. Hayat and S. Chang (2025): Balancing trust and distrust in generative AI chatbot adoption: a case study from China, Service Industries Journal, (4352), pp.1-24
Algorithmic labor control increasingly reshapes the service industry. Drawing from the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research shows following results. (1) Algorithmic labor control demonstrates meticulous internal structure which can be categorized as constraining algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control. (2) Constrained algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control can further contribute to the emergence of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors through algorithmic perception and the job crafting behaviors of riders. (3) Challenge-Hindrance Stressors exert a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the job engagement of delivery riders; however, both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors can result in excessive physical and psychological strain, ultimately compromising their mental health. This study contributes to literatures by providing a fine-grained internal structure of algorithmic labor control among food delivery riders. This study offers theoretical support for improving food delivery riders’ well-being and organizational management of benign algorithmic control in the digital age. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2025.2487819 [Google]
Yang, H., H. Song, Y.-C. Wang and E. Ma (2025): Similarity-attraction theory perspective on service employees and service robots’ interactions, Service Industries Journal, (4353), pp.1-24
Algorithmic labor control increasingly reshapes the service industry. Drawing from the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research shows following results. (1) Algorithmic labor control demonstrates meticulous internal structure which can be categorized as constraining algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control. (2) Constrained algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control can further contribute to the emergence of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors through algorithmic perception and the job crafting behaviors of riders. (3) Challenge-Hindrance Stressors exert a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the job engagement of delivery riders; however, both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors can result in excessive physical and psychological strain, ultimately compromising their mental health. This study contributes to literatures by providing a fine-grained internal structure of algorithmic labor control among food delivery riders. This study offers theoretical support for improving food delivery riders’ well-being and organizational management of benign algorithmic control in the digital age. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2025.2485972 [Google]
Imschloss, M., M. Sarstedt, S. J. Adler and J. H. Cheah (2025): Using LLMs in sensory service research: initial insights and perspectives, Service Industries Journal, (4338), pp.1-22
Researchers have started using large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s GPT, to generate synthetic datasets designed to mimic human response behavior. Several studies have systematically compared LLM-generated data with human samples in order to explore LLMs’ ability to mimic consumer decision-making. Extending prior findings, our research sets out to explore how GPT-4o responds to sensory information, and to evaluate its ability to grasp crossmodal correspondences as well as multisensory congruence – as commonly encountered in service settings. Our results indicate that while GPT-4o identifies and describes sensory stimuli accurately, it often fails to replicate the associative meanings and interpretations that humans derive from these stimuli, especially in stand-alone assessments. Our research therefore underscores the need for further exploration of the conditions under which LLMs reliably mirror human responses to sensory stimuli, and the implications of using LLMs in research on sensory-rich service settings. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2025.2479723 [Google]
Zhao, H., B. Yuan, Y. Gong and Y. Liao (2025): Platform algorithmic control and work outcomes of food delivery employees, Service Industries Journal, (4339), pp.1-47
Algorithmic labor control increasingly reshapes the service industry. Drawing from the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research shows following results. (1) Algorithmic labor control demonstrates meticulous internal structure which can be categorized as constraining algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control. (2) Constrained algorithmic control and incentive algorithmic control can further contribute to the emergence of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors through algorithmic perception and the job crafting behaviors of riders. (3) Challenge-Hindrance Stressors exert a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the job engagement of delivery riders; however, both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors can result in excessive physical and psychological strain, ultimately compromising their mental health. This study contributes to literatures by providing a fine-grained internal structure of algorithmic labor control among food delivery riders. This study offers theoretical support for improving food delivery riders’ well-being and organizational management of benign algorithmic control in the digital age. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2025.2477454 [Google]
