Today, we identify service articles published in Marketing, Management, Operations, Productions, Information Systems, and Practitioner-Oriented Journals in the last months.
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Dao, H. M., A. Theotokis and J. J. Brakus (2025): Freedom or control? Liberals’ versus conservatives’ responses to frontline employee behavioral control policies, JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE, (4536), pp.
Frontline employee behavioral control policies have traditionally been viewed solely as operational tools, hidden from public view. In today’s digital and social media era, however, these policies are increasingly transparent to consumers. We investigate how consumers respond to employee control policies and propose that consumer responses are contingent on political ideology. Using different industries, employing various manipulations of behavioral control, and capturing diverse consumer responses, we test this proposition across seven studies. The results show that liberal consumers respond more positively to loose rather than strict behavioral control policies, whereas conservative consumers are largely indifferent. Social dominance orientation drives the difference in consumer responses by influencing the extent to which consumers oppose or accept dominance-based hierarchies signaled by strict behavioral control. The effect of political ideology is mitigated when the power asymmetry between the firm and employees is smaller (i.e., when the control is applied to higher-status employees or in firms with lower power). Finally, both liberal and conservative consumers prefer strict control policies when the likelihood of service failure is high. Our findings offer actionable guidance for managers on how to communicate employee behavioral control policies across different consumer segments, organizational settings, and service industry conditions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-025-01119-z [Google]
Stich, L., C. Ungemach, C. Fuchs, M. Spann, I. Ziano and B. M. Schumpe (2025): Transaction-level wage transparency: How fair wage disclosure affects consumer preferences, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN MARKETING, 42(4537), pp.844–865
Firms are usually reluctant to disclose information about the production costs of their goods and services; however, some firms have recently started to disclose cost information to consumers. This research examines the consequences of disclosing transaction-level wage information on consumer preferences. Eight experiments, both in field and lab settings across multiple service domains, document that disclosing a service worker’s compensation can increase consumer preference for that firm’s service if the compensation is sufficiently high (i.e., perceived as fair by consumers). We provide evidence for a dualprocess model, indicating that this greater preference for services provided in a fairwage setting is driven by consumers’ feelings of anticipated guilt and higher expectations concerning quality. Available social norms regarding fair compensation and the nature of the service worker (human vs. non-human) are both identified as important boundary conditions of the psychological processes. This research offers a first step toward understanding the psychological and behavioral consequences of disclosing transaction-level wage information to consumers, thereby enabling managers to better identify when they should disclose wage information as part of their marketing strategy. This research also informs policy makers on how to encourage social preferences and consumer choices to promote fair outcomes for consumers, firms, and workers. (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.11.006 [Google]
Grossman, O. and M. Rachamim (2025): The impact of background music style on price thresholds for food and beverage products, MARKETING LETTERS, 37(4538), pp.
Prior research suggests that background music influences consumer spending on food and beverage products. Specifically, it has been shown that playing classical versus pop background music generally leads to greater consumer spending on these products. However, it remains unclear what factors and mechanisms underlie such effects. The present research attempts to fill this gap. The research demonstrates that music style has no significant influence on the lower (minimum) acceptable price limits. However, pleasure level and product type both moderate the effect of music style on the upper acceptable (maximum) price limits. Specifically, the findings indicate that the maximum price of a utilitarian product is not significantly influenced by background music style (classical or pop), while the maximum price of a hedonic product is estimated to be higher when classical versus pop music is played, especially when consumers’ pleasure levels are high. As a result, exposure to classical music, as opposed to pop music, increases the reference price, the internal price against which the individual compares the asking price for a product or service, followed by a concomitant expansion of the acceptable price range. These results are consistent with the musical congruity hypothesis. Moreover, the findings refute the notion that arousal level, perception of product quality, level of knowledge, involvement level, sense of task ease, and level of interest in music could account for the results. The paper concludes with a discussion of research limitations and directions for future research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11002-025-09803-4 [Google]
mies and M. Valverde (2025): The joys of waiting: how consumers do waiting together, MARKETING LETTERS, 37(4539), pp.
Waiting is often treated as dead time to be minimized. This paper shows how it can become a positive, shared practice when it moves online. We analyze a 10-week period of digital co-waiting in a public Facebook group formed around the pre-launch of Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operator Modular synthesizer, using a netnographic design to follow naturally occurring posts, comments, memes, and images from announcement to first deliveries. We distinguish anticipation (future-oriented projection) from savoring (present-focused enjoyment) and show how both are collectively enacted rather than privately endured. Emotional engagement is cyclical rather than steadily fading, with peaks and lulls punctuating the wait as members narrate delays, exchange reassurance, and celebrate arrivals. Conceptually, we reframe waiting as a socio-temporal practice: consumers do not merely wait together online; they make the wait meaningful together. The paper contributes a process account of how anticipation converts into shared savoring over extended durations and outlines implications for research on time, emotion, and community in consumption.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11002-025-09798-y [Google]
Culotta, A., G. Z. Jin, Y. D. Sun and L. Wagman (2025): Safety Reviews on Airbnb: An Information Tale, MARKETING SCIENCE, (4540), pp.
Consumer reviews, especially those expressing concerns of product quality, are crucial for the credibility of online platforms. However, reviews that criticize a product or service may also dissuade buyers from using the platform, creating a potential incentive to blur the visibility of critical reviews. Using Airbnb and official crime data in five major U.S. cities, we find that both reviews and personal experiences concerning the safety of a listing’s vicinity decrease guest bookings on the platform. Counterfactual simulations suggest that a complete removal of vicinity safety reviews (VSRs) could hurt guests if they do not adjust their beliefs accordingly, and such removal can increase revenues from reservations on Airbnb, with positive sorting toward listings formerly with VSRs. Conversely, highlighting VSRs would generate opposite effects. However, the incentive to suppress VSRs can be mitigated if guests have a rational expectation of average vicinity risk after all VSRs are removed or if guests can learn from their own vicinity safety experience for a long-enough time. Because VSRs are more closely correlated with official crime statistics in low-income and minority neighborhoods, our findings suggest that suppressing or highlighting VSRs would have different effects on different neighborhoods.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2023.0552 [Google]
Borges-Tiago, M. T., J. Santiago and F. Velasco (2025): Technology or Service Experience? Exploring Consumer Intention Behavior in RSA Restaurants, PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, (4541), pp.
The integration of robotics and service automation (RSA) in the restaurant industry represents a transformative shift in service delivery, influencing consumer behavior and service experiences. This study examines the factors affecting consumer adoption of RSA technologies through two complementary studies. Study #1 employs the technology acceptance model and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to assess key determinants such as perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, and technology appropriateness in shaping behavioral intentions toward RSA. Study #2 extends this analysis by evaluating how service quality, satisfaction, and perceived value influence consumer revisit and recommendation intentions in restaurants utilizing RSA. Findings indicate that perceived ease of use and enjoyment significantly impact RSA adoption, while service quality and satisfaction drive postexperience behaviors. These insights contribute to the ongoing discourse on AI-driven service automation, emphasizing the necessity of balancing technological efficiency with customer-centric engagement strategies. Implications for industry stakeholders highlight the importance of tailoring RSA implementation to enhance user experience, maintain service quality, and foster long-term consumer acceptance.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.70063 [Google]
Lee, Y. L. and J. E. Chung (2026): Measuring Consumer Alienation in the Digital Market: Scale Development and Validation, PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, 43(4542), pp.88–107
This study re-evaluates the concept of consumer alienation in the context of the digital marketplace. With the transformation brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, traditional views on consumer alienation, which emphasize a psychological state of market isolation, require updating. The digital era, characterized by advanced technologies and personalized consumer experiences, presents new challenges, such as privacy concerns and the automation of human labor, potentially leading to novel forms of alienation. This study aims to develop a new scale for measuring consumer alienation in the digital age through consumer interviews and statistical validation. By identifying and understanding this new alienation phenomenon, this study contributes to the theoretical and practical aspects of consumer alienation, offering insights for consumer businesses and policymakers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.70045 [Google]
Park, D. and Y. Kim (2025): Managing Consumer Satisfaction Amid Sustainability Policy-Induced Service Failures: The Role of Replacement Quality and Communication Strategies, PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, (4543), pp.
This study investigates how consumers respond to service failures caused by mandatory government sustainability policies, which differ from conventional failures in their persistence, uncontrollability, and foreseeability. Across two experimental studies, we examine how consumers respond to sustainability policy-induced service failures, focusing on the role of perceived replacement quality and the impact of hope-based message framing on consumer satisfaction. Findings reveal that while high-perceived-quality replacements effectively maintain satisfaction, even low-perceived-quality replacements are preferred over having no replacement at all. Additionally, message framing moderates the influence of replacement quality on satisfaction. Specifically, promotion hope messages help improve satisfaction when the replacement is of low quality, while prevention hope messages mitigate dissatisfaction when no replacement is offered. These results highlight the importance of aligning tangible service strategies with communication strategies to manage consumer satisfaction. The study extends the regulatory focus theory and attribution theory to explain consumer responses under sustainability policy-induced service disruptions and offers practical insights for companies facing regulatory service constraints.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.70056 [Google]
Wilson-Nash, C., R. Angell, Y. M. Qiu, I. Pavlopoulou and D. Kolyperas (2025): No App, No Entry: Conceptualizing Digital Technology Captivity in Service Access, PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, (4544), pp.
We introduce Digital Technology Captivity (DTC), a form of consumer vulnerability that arises when digital technologies become the mandatory gateway to essential services. When access is tied to systems that feel unfamiliar, complex, or intimidating-and when preferred alternatives are limited-consumers may experience heightened vulnerability alongside feelings of stress and entrapment. In these situations, they must work out how to cope: adapt to the technology, often with emotional or cognitive strain, or abandon the service altogether. In this conceptual paper, we treat DTC as related to-but meaningfully distinct from-service captivity. Using Lazarus and Folkman’s stress-and-coping framework, we outline how DTC develops and highlight the moderators that shape it. The resulting framework offers service providers a way to understand the unintended consequences of digital-only access and the challenges it creates for different consumer groups.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.70098 [Google]
Johny, D., S. Sreejesh and E. L. Nurjahan (2025): Bridging buyer-supplier dynamics in servitization: A multilevel analysis of performance, governance, and innovation in B2B ecosystems, INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 131(4545), pp.73–88
The study examines how buyers’ adoption of servitized offerings shapes performance and innovation in businessto-business ecosystems, using dyadic survey data from sixty suppliers and six hundred buyers in India and a multilevel structural equation modeling approach. At the buyer level, servitization improves operational performance and relational performance as parallel mechanisms that independently enhance firm outcomes. At the supplier portfolio level, servitization strengthens operational capabilities yet can dampen buyers’ near-term firm performance (a servitization paradox), whereas stronger buyer-supplier relational performance markedly lifts supplier financial results and triggers an innovation-catalyst effect; a serial pathway from operational performance to relational performance to financial performance also emerges. Governance effects are mechanismspecific: contractual governance significantly amplifies the operational benefits of servitization, while relational governance does not meaningfully moderate servitization’s relational gains. The study recenters buyer agency, introduces a dyadic multilevel mechanism linking buyer outcomes to supplier innovation, and reframes the paradox as a portfolio allocation problem. Managerially, the results call for dual-track programs with contracted service targets and process performance measures, modular service bundles to balance efficiency and flexibility, and portfolio-level monitoring of buyer impact to guide supplier innovation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.10.006 [Google]
Johny, D., S. Sreejesh and E. L. Nurjahan (2025): Bridging buyer-supplier dynamics in servitization: A multilevel analysis of performance, governance, and innovation in B2B ecosystems, INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 131(4546), pp.73–88
The study examines how buyers’ adoption of servitized offerings shapes performance and innovation in businessto-business ecosystems, using dyadic survey data from sixty suppliers and six hundred buyers in India and a multilevel structural equation modeling approach. At the buyer level, servitization improves operational performance and relational performance as parallel mechanisms that independently enhance firm outcomes. At the supplier portfolio level, servitization strengthens operational capabilities yet can dampen buyers’ near-term firm performance (a servitization paradox), whereas stronger buyer-supplier relational performance markedly lifts supplier financial results and triggers an innovation-catalyst effect; a serial pathway from operational performance to relational performance to financial performance also emerges. Governance effects are mechanismspecific: contractual governance significantly amplifies the operational benefits of servitization, while relational governance does not meaningfully moderate servitization’s relational gains. The study recenters buyer agency, introduces a dyadic multilevel mechanism linking buyer outcomes to supplier innovation, and reframes the paradox as a portfolio allocation problem. Managerially, the results call for dual-track programs with contracted service targets and process performance measures, modular service bundles to balance efficiency and flexibility, and portfolio-level monitoring of buyer impact to guide supplier innovation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.10.006 [Google]
Saunila, M., T. Rantala and J. Ukko (2025): Artificial intelligence-driven digital servitization: The importance of platform characteristics and firm-level factors, INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 130(4547), pp.35–45
This study explores the connection between artificial intelligence (AI) platform characteristics and digital servitization. The study further investigates how firm-related factors influence this connection. The AI platforms that firms utilize are industrial digital platforms that employ AI-based tools to support their operations. Digital servitization has become a common transformation in several industries collaborating with platforms and seeking ways to establish ecosystems. AI provides substantial opportunities for digital servitization to create revenue streams and improve performance by reducing costs and enhancing customer outcomes. However, the underlying characteristics of the AI platforms that support firms’ digital servitization have seldom been explored among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on survey data collected from 179 SMEs, this study conceptualizes five characteristics as drivers of AI platform utilization and investigates their impact on digital servitization using multiple regression analyses. First, this study develops an AI platform characteristic construct. Second, the study builds a theoretical framework showing which AI platform characteristics leverage digital servitization. Ultimately, this research contributes to the understanding of the connections between AI platform characteristics and digital servitization.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.08.007 [Google]
Teixeira, R., A. V. Roth, J. B. Santos and D. Moore (2026): Exploring the B2B buyer’s service facilities network: Characteristics and implications for service availability in technology-enabled services☆, INDUSTRIAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 132(4548), pp.183–197
This study highlights the B2B buyer services facilities network and how these networks influence service delivery and performance. The buyer’s network is a critical contingency because the supplier delivers its services inside the buyer’s buildings and depends on integrating buyer and supplier resources (e.g., electronic devices) for continuous delivery. Building on supply chain management literature, we identify five attributes-number of facilities, geographic distance, geographic density, variety, and volume of services-to characterize buyers’ service facilities networks. We analyzed quantitative and qualitative data from Brazil’s largest telecom supplier, using secondary data from 143 buyers, 21,808 services, and 3562 facilities to propose a taxonomy of B2B buyers and show how the supplier’s service availability and recovery processes varied across buyer types. We focus on technology-enabled services, which require considerable resources from buyers’ facilities and are exposed to the effects of the buyer’s service facilities network. Our findings contextualize design concepts, offering a comprehensive view of B2B buyers, their complex idiosyncrasies, and how their facilities network affects service availability and suppliers’ decisions in the “last mile” delivery context. We respond to calls to incorporate complex thinking into generic service theory and create contextualized knowledge to support service practice.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2025.12.001 [Google]
Wu, J., Y. L. Fang, J. L. Zhao and X. Y. Zhu (2025): Healthcare at the Crossroads: Impacts of Online Health Community on Off-line Healthcare Quality and Equity, INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH, (4549), pp.
Although hospital-affiliated online health communities (OHCs) provide enormous potential for health promotion, their application can create uncertainty and complexities for existing off-line healthcare systems in terms of quality and equity concerns. Understanding how and why physicians’ off-line care quality and equity may change after joining an OHC is a critical yet underexplored question, particularly for patients with low socioeconomic status (SES), who are more likely to be impacted by such changes. This study seeks to quantify these effects using operation-level inpatient data along with the correlated activities of physicians and patients in an OHC sourced from a prominent hospital. Our empirical results show that physicians’ OHC participation is associated with a 3.87% (4.63%) reduction (increase) in the relative risk (safety) of mortality (recovery) for patients who engage in the community. To understand the mechanisms of change, we find that the enhancement of patient care continuity is a key mechanism through which OHC participation may improve off-line service quality. Study results also provide evidence of partial mediation for management and relational continuity in the process chains of OHC outcomes. Additionally, the impact of OHC participation is found to be far more pronounced for patients with low SES, suggesting that OHCs can promote the equity of offline care quality. This study further tests how community activities along with the ladder of OHC interactions between physicians and patients affect off-line healthcare outcomes. It adds to the literatures on OHC, healthcare operations management, and public health as well as offers practical implications for service operations of online health platforms.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0250 [Google]
Xu, D. P., X. Q. Zhang, H. Hong and Q. Ye (2025): Why Is the Grass Always Greener on the Other Side? Tourist Bias in Online Restaurant Ratings, INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH, (4550), pp.
Online product and service ratings have great value for both sellers and consumers. Prior research, however, often treats online ratings equally even if the individuals who generate these ratings have very different backgrounds. This study examines how tourists differ from locals when they generate online ratings. We find that, relative to locals, tourists exhibit an upward bias when they rate restaurants. More specifically, a consumer as a tourist is at least 13.4% more likely than as a local to give a higher rating (versus all lower ones) to a restaurant. We explore possible mechanisms underlying this tourist bias. Based on data from an online review platform for restaurants, we first confirm the phenomenon of upward tourist bias in online ratings at both reviewer and restaurant levels with multiple robustness checks. Then we conduct a series of analyses from reviewer, restaurant, cuisine, and city levels to identify factors leading to such a bias. We are able to examine the reasons related to consumption pattern such as restaurant price/service/environment, cuisine authenticity, tourists’ evaluation process, differences between city sizes, and so on. We find that individuals’ change in focus (from location, cooking, and price to service, environment, and emotions) and change in evaluation process (from cognitive to affective) can induce the tourist bias in ratings. We also discuss theoretical and practical implications for online review platforms, product retailers, and consumers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2020.0620 [Google]
Schaarschmidt, M., S. Heidenreich and M. Bertram (2025): From Resistance to Retention: Passive Innovation Resistance and Post-Adoption Usage of Digital Services, JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS, 42(4551), pp.1279–1308
In the digital economy, understanding user behavior in post-adoption stages is essential for sustained revenue. This paper investigates the role of passive innovation resistance for digital service usage during these stages, an area that has received limited attention. Through a predictive field study (nt1 = 511, nt2 = 356) over five weeks and an experiment (n = 190), we analyze how passive innovation resistance affects user loyalty when modular changes to service business models are introduced. Our findings show that users with high passive innovation resistance may remain loyal despite better alternatives, challenging the belief that such resistance only hinders adoption. We also identify strategies to mitigate negative reactions to business model changes in post-adoption stages. These insights enhance the understanding of post-adoption user behavior, bridging the gap between information systems and innovation resistance research, and offer practical guidance for digital service providers to reduce churn and enhance customer retention.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2025.2561389 [Google]
Charles, V., A. Emrouznejad and W. H. Kunz (2025): Advancements in Artificial Intelligence-based prescriptive and cognitive analytics for business performance, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 200(4553), pp.
The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming business decision-making across industries. AI-based prescriptive and cognitive analytics offer significant potential to enhance decision-making, optimise performance, and create new avenues for value creation. This special issue explores the state-of-the-art advancements in these analytics and their business implications. We introduce the Analytics Onion as a conceptual foundation, comprising three interrelated layers: Perspective Analytics, Responsible Analytics, and the Descriptive-Diagnostic-Predictive-Prescriptive-Cognitive Analytics framework. The Analytics Onion captures the interplay between human judgment, ethics, analytical rigour, and AI techniques. The featured papers exemplify these layers through various topics, namely humanoid service robots, business location optimisation, ESG evaluation, energy efficiency, customer churn, prediction-led prescription, innovation culture, user satisfaction with AI, responsible AI in business models, and executives’ emotions influencing firm value. We highlight emerging opportunities and challenges and offer a forward-looking research agenda to guide future developments in this evolving field.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115576 [Google]
Bhoumik, K., L. H. Fang and R. Igarashi (2026): Robots with hearts: How in-store AI’s task types impact brand attitude and ethicality, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 206(4554), pp.
Recent advancements in robotics and conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) have expanded their capability to handle complex customer interactions. As businesses integrate robots for consumer encounters, they must decide how to allocate tasks between in-store AI and human employees. While previous research has examined consumer responses to AI, limited attention has been given to how different task distributions influence consumer attitudes. Through four experimental studies, we demonstrate that assigning empathetic (vs. mechanical) tasks to in-store AI while relegating mechanical (vs. empathetic) tasks to human service employees leads to diminished brand attitudes and negative perceptions of brand ethicality. Furthermore, the impact of AI task type on brand attitude is amplified for small brands, indicating a moderating role of brand size. Our findings highlight an intricate ethical dilemma: despite AI’s growing capabilities to automate socioemotional tasks, this can be perceived as ethically problematic compared to automating chores that frees human labor.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115923 [Google]
Carrilho, M. G., R. Wagner, D. C. Pinto, H. Gonzalez-Jimenez and K. Akdim (2025): The feeling skills gap: the role of empathy in voice-driven AI for service recovery, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 201(4555), pp.
As companies increasingly deploy voice-driven AI to enhance service efficiency, its impact on perceived customer orientation remains underexplored. Drawing on AI Constraints and Feeling Economy perspectives, this research examines when and how voice AI affects perceptions of customer orientation in service recovery. Results show that customers perceive providers as less customer-oriented when recovery is handled by AI (vs. humans), due to AI’s tendency to reduce emotions into quantifiable parameters (parametric reductionism) and fail to convey empathy. Mediation analyses confirm that perceived empathy explains the link between agent type and service outcomes. We identify a boundary condition: the negative effect of voice AI emerges only when there is a task-ability mismatch, in which the task requires feeling skills that the AI cannot convincingly deliver, but not when the task calls for thinking skills, for which AI’s capabilities are aligned with task demands. We further discuss implications for AI in service recovery.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115703 [Google]
Das, M., C. Jebarajarkirthy, H. I. Maseeh, W. M. Lim and J. S. Shah (2026): Online service failure and recovery: An integrated meta-analytic perspective of attribution and justice theories, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 202(4556), pp.
Online service failure is seldom looked into in totality, from causes of failure to recovery outcomes, with reported effects on both its causes and recovery remaining contradictory and inconsistent. To address these issues, this study proposes and empirically validates an integrated meta-analytic model, grounded in attribution theory and justice theory, that explains online service failure and the subsequent recovery process, using a cumulative sample of 82,901 individuals from 24 countries across 147 studies. Meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) indicates that customer-related, service provider-related, and technology-related causes of online service failure increase customer complaints and that effective complaint handling elevates perceptions of distributive, interactional, and procedural justice, each of which strengthens positive emotions that, in turn, raise loyalty, trust, and word-of-mouth while reducing switching. Moderation analysis reveals that the differences in marketing-related factors, including brand prestige (high versus low), offering type (product-based services versus true services versus pseudo services), and purchase frequency (low versus high), together with differences in sample-related factors, such as age (young versus old), gender (male versus female), income (low versus high), and status of country development (developed versus developing), help explain the inconsistencies in reported relationships within online service failure and recovery. Therefore, this study consolidates the evidence on these relationships using the integrated model and, in doing so, advances the literature on online service failure while offering actionable insights for recovery design and execution.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115752 [Google]
Kao, P. J., S. Dacko and Y. S. Hu (2026): Unraveling the complexity of radical service innovation: A systematic review, integrative framework, and research roadmap, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 202(4557), pp.
Radical service innovation (RSI) is essential for firms seeking long-term competitive advantage. However, RSI’s conceptual ambiguity and the lack of a comprehensive framework detailing its antecedents and consequences have hindered progress in the field. This study conducts a systematic literature review on RSI to critically examine the extant literature. We propose the knowledge-based view of innovation as a theoretical foundation for RSI, and identify three core attributes of service innovation that enable differentiation between RSI and incremental service innovation (ISI). From our synthesis of the existing literature, we develop an integrative framework that outlines the antecedents, consequences, and moderators of RSI. Finally, we identify five central RSI themes and propose an agenda with exemplar research questions for future studies. This study enhances the theoretical clarity of RSI, offers actionable insights for managers implementing RSI, and provides a foundation for advancing research in the service innovation domain.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115754 [Google]
Leite, H., I. R. Hodgkinson and A. M. Joubert (2026): A separated service: examining virtual reality experiences of actor groups in a rehabilitative healthcare setting, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 204(4558), pp.
Immersive technologies, like Virtual Reality (VR), are changing the nature of separated services, particularly in healthcare. Yet, how service users experiencing vulnerability and providers responsible for core service delivery experience virtualized healthcare remains under-researched. This study reveals service actors’ experiences through a qualitative examination of a VR rehabilitation (VRehab) program. From 32 interviews with patients and physiotherapists partaking in VRehab and observational data, we identify themes that capture service actors’ experiences across the dyad (i.e., digital connection, professional advancement), how actors overcome emergent challenges in VRehab (i.e., collaborative communication and proactive partnership), and the benefits and affordances (i.e., adherence and engagement in spatial separation; technological innovation/drawbacks) of the VR service separation that enable or constrain service provision. Collectively, the findings reveal how service encounters for users experiencing vulnerability can be augmented and infused through VR.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115858 [Google]
Lin, C. Y., E. Y. Chou and H. Y. Liang (2025): Connecting with authenticity: Exploring the mediating and moderating mechanisms between employee authenticity and customer citizenship behaviors, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 201(4559), pp.
This study investigates the impact of employee authenticity behaviors (EABs) on the facilitation of customer citizenship behaviors (CCBs) and explores the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms. Dyadic data of 368 service employee-customer pairs are collected. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analysis are performed to test the hypotheses. The results show that EABs, including authentic understanding, authentic honesty, and authentic emotional display, positively influence social rapport between service employees and customers. In turn, customer-employee rapport positively affects CCBs (i.e., suggestion, assistance, benevolence, and tolerance). Additionally, the findings indicate that customer internal attribution positively moderates the relationship between EABs and customer-employee rapport. Meanwhile, customer expertise and empathy are shown to positively moderate the relationship between customer-employee rapport and specific CCBs. This study enhances the understanding of CCBs and provides valuable insights into how employee authenticity can foster these behaviors in service settings.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115682 [Google]
Liu, C. M., X. Liu, L. Zhang and C. M. K. Cheung (2026): Navigating the human-robot workplace: How robotic mental capability shapes employee collaborative intention, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 204(4560), pp.
With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, robots equipped with human-like mental capabilities are being integrated into the workplace. However, the impact of robots’ mental capabilities on employee perception and work behaviour remains unclear. Drawing on social comparison theory, this study investigates how robots’ mental capabilities affect employee collaborative intention. The moderating roles of employee implicit personality and the relative status of robots were also examined. The results of three scenario-based experiments and one field experiment indicate that employees are less willing to collaborate with robots exhibiting high (vs. low) mental capabilities, primarily due to an increased sense of status threat. However, the negative effect was alleviated where employees had a malleable (vs. fixed) mindset or perceived the robot as a subordinate (vs. peer). These findings provide theoretical insights and practical guidance for integrating service robots into the workplace and to foster effective employee-robot collaboration.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115841 [Google]
Liu, X. D., Q. W. Pang, K. F. Yuen and X. Q. Wang (2025): Transforming last-mile delivery into marketplaces of logistics services: An investigation on consumer participation motives, resources, and contextual differences, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 200(4561), pp.
Contemporary logistics services have reshaped last-mile delivery into dynamic marketplaces, where consumers engage directly through self-collection or by assisting others in social delivery. This shift signals a move towards consumer-centrism in logistics, which recognises the necessity of consumer participation and value co-creation. Drawing on the service-dominant logic perspective, this study examines consumers’ willingness to participate in logistics value co-creation by focusing on the dual motives of individualising and relating, the mediating role of resource integration tendency, and the moderating effects of two logistics scenarios: self-collection and social delivery. Structural equation modelling (n = 500) reveals that while both motives positively influence consumer participation, resource integration tendency unexpectedly plays a negative mediating role. Additionally, the results demonstrate contextual differences: the individualising motive is more influential in self-collection, whereas the relating motive dominates in social delivery.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115624 [Google]
Piao, Z. X., N. T. Nguyen, H. J. Song and J. Y. Park (2025): Beyond “I am sorry”: Investigating the impacts of apology type and language style on customer forgiveness in service recovery, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 201(4562), pp.
Research on the effects of different apology types in service recovery is crucial yet underexplored. Drawing upon costly signaling theory and language expectancy theory, this study employs an experimental approach to examine the effectiveness of apology types (responsibility-oriented vs. sympathy-oriented) and the moderating role of language styles (literal vs. figurative) in influencing customer forgiveness. The findings reveal that responsibility-oriented apologies are more effective in fostering decisional forgiveness, with figurative language enhancing emotional forgiveness in this context. Furthermore, the study identifies a serial mediation where perceived sincerity fosters emotional forgiveness, leading to decisional forgiveness. This study extends the existing literature by systematically exploring how different apology strategies impact forgiveness in customer service settings and highlights the importance of training employees in the use of apologies and language styles. This study also emphasizes the importance of internal marketing efforts aimed at training employees’ capabilities in identifying and handling complaints.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115679 [Google]
Unnava, V., A. S. Singh and H. R. Unnava (2025): A systematic investigation of why P2P services are rated higher than traditional services, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 201(4563), pp.
Prior literature has reported a tendency for consumers to rate peer-to-peer (P2P) services more positively than the same services provided by traditional businesses (e.g. Airbnb vs. hotel). We first show that consumers experience greater empathy toward a P2P service provider (a person) than a traditional service provider (a business). We then show that P2P services enjoy higher evaluations because empathy for the provider leads consumers to tolerate minor negative elements in those settings as compared to traditional business settings. Further, we show that this effect is moderated by the perceived size of the business. The implications of this type of rating bias on traditional businesses and consumer welfare, and the limitations of this research, are discussed.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115746 [Google]
Papneja, H. and S. Devaraj (2025): Unlocking Privacy in Healthcare: The Impact of Explanations on Privacy Concerns and Self-Disclosure to Conversational Technologies, JOURNAL OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT, (4564), pp.
While artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversational technologies offer exciting prospects in healthcare, the lack of transparency and elevated privacy concerns in using such technologies remain a challenge and make much-needed information difficult to obtain while administering patient care. Approaches that emphasize transparency and interpretability of AI systems provide a promising avenue to address these concerns. In this study, we explore the role of transparency-enhancing explanations as a way for caregivers to elicit truthful disclosure of otherwise private information from patients. Specifically, we explore how automated explanations provisioned by conversational technologies can help reduce the user’s privacy concerns and bring about self-disclosure, thus helping to improve key outcomes such as accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. Through an online experiment with 556 participants in a healthcare context, we uncover the mediating effects of two critical factors, informational justice and perceived relevance, on privacy concerns. We find that explanations foster perceptions of informational justice and perceived relevance in the user, which help reduce privacy concerns and bring about self-disclosure. The study’s findings have implications for researchers as well as practitioners who leverage conversational technologies in healthcare and other service contexts.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joom.70026 [Google]
Bechtel, J., T. Röth and A. Kock (2025): The Influence of Sustainability Orientation on Portfolio Innovativeness in Manufacturing and Service Firms, JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, (4565), pp.
Academic Summary Firms increasingly adopt a sustainability orientation in response to regulatory, competitive, and customer pressures. We examine how this orientation shapes innovation portfolio management (IPM) outcomes. Using a cross-industry, multi-informant survey of 115 innovation portfolios, we show that sustainability orientation positively relates to portfolio innovativeness, and portfolio innovativeness partially mediates the relationship between sustainability orientation and portfolio success. Further, the effect is stronger in manufacturing than in service firms. Our findings extend prior research on the role of sustainability orientation in innovation management. By showing that a pronounced sustainability orientation is positively associated with portfolios of more innovative projects, we challenge insights that sustainability orientation leads primarily to incremental improvements. Further, we contribute to the literature on strategic orientations in innovation portfolio management by introducing sustainability orientation as a crucial factor for portfolio decision-making. We conceptualize sustainability orientation with strategic, structural, and cultural dimensions, offering a more holistic understanding than existing conceptualizations. Finally, we highlight an important boundary condition by showing that the relationship between sustainability orientation and portfolio innovativeness varies between service and manufacturing firms, contributing to the debate on sustainability-driven innovation across sectors.Managerial Summary The results of this study suggest that a strong sustainability orientation, which is embedded in strategy, culture, and portfolio controls, is connected with more innovative and, eventually, more successful innovation portfolios. The effect is stronger in manufacturing than in services. Translating intent into outcomes requires integrating sustainability into portfolio decision making. Gate criteria, funding rules, and regular reviews should include clear sustainability KPIs. At the strategic level, a sustainability strategy that complements the core business strategy reduces conflicts and prevents symbolic adoption. At the cultural level, leaders model priorities and create channels for employees to share values and co-define how sustainability shapes offerings and processes. At the structural level, project- and portfolio-level performance controls keep attention on outcomes rather than slogans. Manufacturing firms can expect larger gains from a strong sustainability orientation and may leverage regulatory and technological shifts to back higher-novelty innovation projects. Done this way, sustainability can become a repeatable practice that lifts portfolio innovativeness and success.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.70007 [Google]
Filieri, R., W. Huang, Z. B. Lin and Q. Xia (2026): Engaging Customers, Embracing AI: How Suppliers Respond to Trade Tensions and Improve Performance, JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, 43(4566), pp.57–75
Academic Summary: Firms face intensifying pressure to innovate amid escalating US-China trade tensions. This study investigates how they integrate artificial intelligence (AI) to respond to such disruptions. We reconceptualize induced innovation theory as adversity-induced innovation theory and test hypotheses using data from listed Chinese manufacturing firms, WTO tariff records, and customs data (2015-2022). Results indicate that higher tariff exposure increases AI integration, particularly among firms with stronger customer engagement needs. AI integration improves supply chain efficiency, sales performance, and market value. However, performance benefits follow an inverted U-shape: extreme tariff exposure diminishes AI’s compensatory effects. The study extends induced innovation theory to geopolitical adversities and advances stakeholder engagement theory by identifying customer engagement as a boundary condition for technology adoption. We establish causal relationships between tariff-induced AI integration and firm performance through instrumental variable analysis and robustness checks. Findings inform how firms can strategically use technological innovation and customer collaboration to strengthen resilience under external shocks. Managers should view trade tensions as catalysts for AI integration rather than merely as obstacles. Managerial Summary: Firms facing trade tensions should view them as catalysts for strategic AI integration rather than merely as obstacles. Our research shows that firms experiencing higher tariff exposure that invest in AI achieve measurable improvements in supply chain efficiency, sales performance, and market valuations. However, AI’s compensatory benefits diminish at extreme tariff levels, revealing an optimal investment threshold that managers should consider. The benefits of AI integration are particularly strong for firms with high customer engagement needs, such as those with concentrated customer bases, substantial international sales, or significant customer-specific investments. To maximize returns, managers should prioritize AI technologies that strengthen customer relationships by enhancing communication, responsiveness, and service personalization during trade disruptions. Successful implementation requires navigating technical and organizational challenges, including talent acquisition, data quality concerns, and integration complexities. Despite these hurdles, our findings confirm AI’s strategic value as a compensatory innovation tool that not only mitigates tariff impacts but also transforms supplier-customer relationships. By aligning AI initiatives with customer engagement objectives, firms can turn geopolitical adversity into a competitive advantage. Companies that integrate AI strategically can maintain operational continuity, preserve market position, and emerge stronger from trade disruptions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.70014 [Google]
Parast, M., I. Golgeci and D. Golmohammadi (2025): Balancing operational efficiency and service quality: how strategy shapes performance in the US airline industry, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OPERATIONS & PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT, (4567), pp.
PurposeWe examine how operational efficiency (OE) and service quality (SQ) interact to influence profitability, contingent on a firm’s strategic orientation (SO), whether focused or non-focused. Our study introduces a new perspective linking OE, SQ and profitability through competitive priorities and the moderating role of SO.Design/methodology/approachUsing US airline panel data, we employ econometric analyses and robustness checks, including alternative model specifications, to validate our hypotheses and ensure result reliability.FindingsWe find that different dimensions of OE interact with SQ in varying ways to influence profitability. For both OE measures, their interaction with SQ negatively affects profitability, aligning with theoretical expectations, although the effects are not statistically significant. These results suggest potential contingency factors shaping this relationship. Furthermore, a firm’s SO moderates the OE-SQ-profitability link. The effects are positive as hypothesized, with SO particularly moderating the interaction between labor productivity and SQ, indicating that aligning SQ and productivity with SO enhances performance.Originality/valueOur research addresses conflicting findings in the literature regarding the relationship between OE, SQ and firm performance by demonstrating the moderating effect of a firm’s SO on this relationship. Our approach, examining the interaction between various measures of OE and SQ with profitability, offers a more value-driven and managerially focused perspective. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of balancing OE and SQ to drive profitability is contingent on the firm’s SO.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-02-2024-0131 [Google]
