Jay Kandampully
Journal of Service Management
Mentorship Award
Application deadline: March 31st, 2026
The Journal of Service Management (JOSM) is proud to establish the Jay Kandampully JOSM Mentorship Award. Named in honor of Professor Jay Kandampully, former Editor-in-Chief of JOSM, this award celebrates his enduring legacy as a world-renowned scholar, mentor, and ambassador for the global service community. Through this award, the Journal of Service Management honors scholars who embody the spirit exemplified by Professor Jay Kandampully, a spirit defined by generosity, warmth, and an unwavering commitment to the development of others.
About the Award
The Jay Kandampully JOSM Mentorship Award will be awarded annually, with recipients announced at a major service conference. The purpose of this award is to honor scholars who have made exceptional and sustained contributions to mentoring and supporting PhD students, junior scholars, and emerging academics throughout their careers.
Importantly, this award recognizes a form of mentorship that extends far beyond traditional academic supervision or co-authorship. It celebrates those individuals whose guidance and care encompass the whole development of emerging scholars, helping them navigate the challenges of academia, build confidence, refine their scholarly identity, and develop the professional and personal resilience required for success.
This award seeks to highlight mentorship grounded in generosity, compassion, and human connection, the often-unseen but deeply impactful acts that nurture scholars across institutions, disciplines, and countries. It values mentorship that extends beyond formal roles or one’s own PhD students to include broad and inclusive support of junior colleagues throughout the global service research community.
Such mentorship might include:
- Providing thoughtful career guidance at pivotal moments;
- Offering critical but constructive feedback on manuscripts, grant applications, or tenure dossiers;
- Facilitating networking and professional opportunities;
- Encouraging self-confidence and scholarly independence;
- Being a role model of ethical, inclusive, and caring academic leadership.
The ethos of the Jay Kandampully JOSM Mentorship Award is therefore to recognize those whose mentoring contributions may not always be visible through journal metrics or rankings but are foundational to the health, vibrancy, and future of the service research community.
The nomination for a candidate for the award should include:
- One nomination letter, no longer than double-spaced three pages, co-signed by those who support the nomination (self-nominations are not eligible; additional supporting letters will not be accepted).
- A separate signature page listing the names, affiliations, and signatures of all supporters of the nomination. This page is in addition to the three-page letter limit.
- A current vita for the nominated scholar or a web link to an online vita.
Nomination Process
Nominations should be emailed to the Co-Editors-in-Chief of JOSM at linda.alkire@txstate.edu and kabadayi@fordham.edu A JOSM judging panel will review nominations, and the recipient will be formally recognized at a major service conference awards ceremony. The winner will be announced at the 2026 SER VSIG conference in Braga, Portugal.
Eligibility
- Nominees must have a minimum of ten years of post-PhD academic service.
- Current Co-Editors of JOSM are ineligible.
About Jay Kandampully
Dr. Jay Kandampully is a professor of service management and hospitality at The Ohio State University, USA. He serves as the CTF International Fellow at the University of Karlstad, Sweden and International Fellow at the University of Namur, Belgium. Jay served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Service Management (JOSM) for 14 years and serves on the editorial advisory board of many refereed international journals. Jay is listed in Stanford University’s Index 2021 of the top 2% of scientists in their fields, based on research citations; he was recognized again in the Stanford University Index 2024 for career-long impact. Jay received the EHE (OSU) distinguished Research Award in 2024 and Distinguished Research Champion Award in 2025. He holds a PhD in service quality management, and an MBA, specializing in services marketing, both from the University of Exeter, England. His professional qualification is in Hotel Management from Salzburg, Austria and from the University College Birmingham, UK. His educational qualifications have been well supported by nine years of senior management roles in Europe, India and in the USA. Jay has written and edited eleven books. His two latest books are: Service Management Principles: For Hospitality and Tourism in the Age of Digital Technology (2024; co-authors David Solnet and Anil Bilgihan) and Service Management and Marketing Principles: Competing in the Service Economy (2024; Co-author David Solnet). Additionally, he has published over 130 articles and presented numerous papers at international conferences on issues relating to services management and marketing, service brands and service innovations. As an academic, he lived and worked in New Zealand and Australia prior to moving to the USA. He also serves as the Chair of the International Research Symposium in Service Management (IRSSM).
