Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Services Marketing.
“Transforming Services Marketing Education in the Age of AI”
Co-Guest editors: Tuzovic S & Massiah C
Deadline: 10 October 2025
The rapid advancement and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into service ecosystems has created an unprecedented inflection point in services marketing education. As AI technologies transform service design, delivery, and customer experiences, they simultaneously disrupt traditional pedagogical approaches and curriculum structures that have long guided how we prepare the next generation of service marketers. This special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing aims to address a critical gap in the literature—the scarcity of investigations, whether conceptual or empirical, about teaching services marketing in an era where AI is fundamentally altering both the discipline and its educational toolkit.
Service marketers today operate in an environment where AI is redefining customer expectations, enabling hyper-personalization, reshaping service recovery, and blurring the boundaries between human and automated service provision. Yet our educational approaches have not kept pace with these transformations. Many services marketing programs still teach frameworks and methodologies developed in the pre-AI era, leaving graduates unprepared for the complexities of contemporary service environments. The disconnect between what is taught and what is needed has never been greater, creating an urgent imperative to reimagine services marketing education.
This reimagination must be multifaceted. First, it requires a critical examination of what knowledge and competencies future service marketers need in an AI-augmented landscape. Second, it demands investigation into how AI itself can be leveraged as a pedagogical tool to enhance learning outcomes. Third, it necessitates ethical frameworks that guide students in navigating the complex societal implications of AI in service contexts. And fourth, it calls for new assessment approaches that evaluate student readiness for a world where human-AI collaboration defines service excellence.
The stakes extend far beyond the classroom. How we teach services marketing today will determine whether future service innovations enhance or diminish human well-being. Students who lack understanding of algorithmic bias may design service systems that perpetuate inequities. Those without critical perspectives on customer data may implement AI solutions that compromise privacy and autonomy. And those unable to balance technological capabilities with human needs may create services that enhance efficiency at the expense of emotional connection and social cohesion.
This special issue acknowledges these stakes by aligning with key UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). We recognize that inclusive and equitable services marketing education is essential not just for business success but for ensuring that AI-driven service transformations benefit society broadly rather than exacerbating existing digital divides.
We invite contributions across all of JSM’s paper types—from empirical research to conceptual frameworks, from technical analyses to case studies. We particularly welcome work that spans disciplinary boundaries, recognizing that effective services marketing education in the AI era requires integration of knowledge from computer science, ethics, psychology, design, and beyond. We encourage perspectives from diverse geographical, cultural, and institutional contexts, acknowledging that AI impacts service education differently across varied settings.
Through this special issue, we aim to catalyze a scholarly conversation about the future of services marketing education—one that embraces technological transformation while ensuring that human values remain central to how we prepare service marketers for an AI-augmented world. By addressing this critical gap in the literature, we hope to establish foundations for educational approaches that are as innovative, adaptive, and human-centered as the service environments our students will help create.
Societal Implications and UN Sustainable Development Goals
The integration of AI in services marketing education extends far beyond classroom walls, reshaping society in profound ways. As AI transforms service delivery, it creates new power dynamics between service providers and consumers, raising concerns about digital divides and algorithmic bias. Educators who fail to address these issues risk producing graduates who perpetuate inequities. Furthermore, AI-driven personalization in services brings privacy and autonomy questions that today’s students must be prepared to navigate ethically. The very nature of human connection in service encounters is evolving, requiring educational approaches that balance technological efficiency with empathetic human interaction.
This special issue directly addresses UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) by promoting inclusive and equitable quality education that prepares future service marketers for technological transformation. It also supports Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by exploring how services marketing education can foster responsible innovation while mitigating digital divides. Research in this area will help determine whether AI serves as a democratizing force or exacerbates existing social disparities in tomorrow’s service landscape.
List of Topic Areas
– Curriculum development: How should services marketing curricula evolve to incorporate AI-related competencies and knowledge?
– Pedagogical Innovations: What novel teaching methodologies effectively prepare students for services marketing in an AI-driven economy?
– AI as Educational Tools: How can AI technologies enhance the teaching and learning of services marketing concepts and skills?
– Ethical Considerations: What ethical frameworks should guide the teaching of AI applications in services marketing?
– Industry-Academia Collaboration: How can educational institutions partner with service organizations to ensure curriculum relevance in the age of AI?
– Student Readiness: What competencies do services marketing students need to thrive in an AI-augmented service landscape?
– Assessment Strategies: How should we evaluate student learning and readiness for AI-driven services marketing environments?
– Faculty Development: What support and resources do educators need to effectively teach AI applications in services marketing?
– Service Design Education: How should the teaching of service design evolve to incorporate AI capabilities?
– Cross-disciplinary Approaches: How can services marketing education integrate knowledge from other disciplines (e.g., computer science, ethics, design thinking) to prepare students for AI applications?
Submissions Information
– See Transforming Services Marketing Education in the Age of AI
Key Deadlines
– Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 18/04/2025
– Closing date for manuscripts submission: 10/10/2025
Guest Editors
– Sven Tuzovic, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
– Carolyn Massiah, University of Central Florida, USA
