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.
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Aksoy, L., L. Alkire, S. Choi, P. B. Kim and L. Zhang (2019): Social innovation in service: a conceptual framework and research agenda, Journal of Service Management, 30(3), pp.429-448
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for guiding social innovation in service (SIS), defined as the creation of novel, scalable and sustainable market based service offerings that solve systemic societal problems. Design/methodology/approach: This research provides a review and synthesis of transdisciplinary literatures to establish a basis for the conceptual framework proposed for SIS. Findings: It is argued that the primary unit of an SIS is the service firm and that there are micro-, meso-, and macro-level actors and enablers in the ecosystem that can help bring about SIS. Examples from the hospitality and tourism industry are used to demonstrate key points. Practical implications: Benefits of an SIS to companies include growth through new markets and innovative value offerings, sustainable supply chains in production, building consumer value and trust in the company/brand, attracting and retaining talent and being proactive in including social and environmental measures of success in customer metrics and company financial reporting. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the social innovation and service literature by: offering a new, scientifically supported view of an SIS; providing managers with a framework to guide social innovation within their service firm and for the benefit of their company and its stakeholders; and directing service scholars to research issues necessary to advance SIS.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2018-0376 [Google]
Kabadayi, S., F. Ali, H. Choi, H. Joosten and C. Lu (2019): Smart service experience in hospitality and tourism services: A conceptualization and future research agenda, Journal of Service Management, 30(3), pp.326-348
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a discussion, definition and comprehensive conceptualization of the smart service experience, i.e. the way guests and customers in hospitality and tourism experience and value the use of personalized and pro-active services that the intelligent use of data and technology enable. Design/methodology/approach: Based on prior research on service experience, smart services and the differences between regular and smart services, this paper develops a conceptual framework in which the smart service experience is the central construct. Findings: The characteristics of smart services (the intelligent, anticipatory, and adaptable use of data and technology) permit customers to experience services that previous conceptualizations of the service experience could not capture. The smart service experience provides empowerment, a seamless experience, enjoyment, privacy and security, and accurate service delivery. The paper also discusses challenges that service firms face in employing smart services, and proposes a future research agenda. Practical implications: Both academics and practitioners expect smart services to revolutionize many industries such as tourism and hospitality. Therefore, research is needed to help understand the way customers experience smart services, what values they derive from them and the way service firms can employ them sensibly to enhance customers’ experiences. Originality/value: This paper synthesizes insights from the literature on customer experience, smart services and co-creation into a conceptualization of the smart service experience, and distinguishes it from previous conceptualizations of regular services.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2018-0377 [Google]
Keiningham, T. L., Z. He, B. Hillebrand, J. Jang, C. Suess and L. Wu (2019): Creating innovation that drives authenticity, Journal of Service Management, 30(3), pp.369-391
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between innovation and authenticity by developing a conceptual framework that illuminates the key constructs. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a common perspective – the customer – for both innovation and authenticity. A conceptual framework identifying the roles of centrality and distinctiveness in the innovation–authenticity relationship is developed and justified based upon prior research regarding brand extensions and authenticity. Findings: The innovation–authenticity relationship can be visualized and managed using two constructs: centrality and distinctiveness. Centrality is proposed to have a positive relationship, whereas distinctiveness is proposed to have a non-linear (inverted-U) relationship. Originality/value: The paper contributes a new conceptualization of the innovation–authenticity–loyalty relationship. It applies C–D Mapping in a completely new way to provide managerially relevant visualization of customers’ perceptions of a new innovation vis–vis the parent brand to guide strategic decision making. The paper also suggests areas for further research to improve our understanding of successful innovation–authenticity alignment.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2018-0383 [Google]
King, C., E. Murillo, W. Wei, J. Madera, M. J. Tews, A. A. Israeli and L. Kong (2019): Towards a shared understanding of the service experience – a hospitality stakeholder approach, Journal of Service Management, 30(3), pp.410-428
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to start a conversation on achieving a shared understanding among hospitality service co-creation participants. Adopting a stakeholder and service eco-systems approach, attention is drawn to the necessity for all service experience participants to have a shared understanding of the service experience and their role within it, for a sustained competitive advantage to be realized. Informed by community of practice (CoP) thinking, a road map of research questions is advanced encouraging insight into a macro level phenomenon that, traditionally, is only ever considered at the micro service encounter level. Design/methodology/approach: A thorough multidisciplinary review of the literature was undertaken, providing an opportunity to present a viewpoint on the strategic implications of providing a sustainable competitive advantage via the hospitality service experience. Findings: To achieve a shared understanding across the Hospitality Service Experience Eco-System, potential tensions among stakeholders are highlighted. Accounting for such barriers, institutional arrangements, combining organizational CoPs that are bridged by designated boundary objects, is advanced. Given the novel approach of applying a traditionally organizational phenomenon at a macro multi-stakeholder level, several research questions are proposed to inform thinking about this neglected perspective. Originality/value: Acknowledging the innovation, agility and resources required to maintain a competitive service experience, the paper emphasizes the importance of adopting a macro perspective to effective service management. The hope is to stimulate academic interest to inform understanding as to how to build this capability as well as enhance practitioner interest in promoting stakeholders’ CoP for the benefit of the entire Hospitality Service Experience Eco-System.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2018-0375 [Google]
Leo, W. W. C., C. Y. Chou and T. Chen (2019): Working consumers’ psychological states in firm-hosted virtual communities, Journal of Service Management, 30(3), pp.302-325
Purpose: Consumers’ self-interests and personal goals in attaining collective goals are rarely considered in firm-hosted virtual communities (FHVCs). Based on working consumers paradigm and agency theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the joint impact of consumers’ psychological states of empowerment, engagement and entitlement on value cocreation behaviors in FHVCs. Design/methodology/approach: US consumer panel data were used to test the proposed model on customers (n=338) participating in a FHVC. Findings: The results show significant effects of the psychological states of empowerment, engagement and entitlement on value cocreation. Of these three states, psychological empowerment had the strongest effect. The predictive strength of entitlement for value cocreation is weaker for individuals with high knowledge of the community (KC). Practitioner interviews conducted with FHVC managers establish the states and set forth an emerging research agenda. Research limitations/implications: This study extends the cocreation literature to establish the holistic importance of psychological states as key antecedents of value cocreation for working consumers. It acknowledges agency motives and establishes KC as a moderating condition. Practical implications: The explication of consumers’ psychological states has implications for the benchmarking and design of consumer portfolios. Originality/value: This study advances the literature on cocreation by collectively examining three psychological states of consumers through the lens of working consumers paradigm and agency theory. It also establishes KC as an important boundary resource condition.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-03-2018-0077 [Google]
Solnet, D., M. Subramony, R. C. Ford, M. Golubovskaya, H. J. Kang and M. Hancer (2019): Leveraging human touch in service interactions: lessons from hospitality, Journal of Service Management, 30(3), pp.392-409
Purpose: With the ever-increasing adoption of technology and automation radically changing the nature of service delivery, the purpose of this paper is to explore the role of human touch, introducing hospitable service as an enhancement for value creation in service organizations. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on management, social sciences and hospitality literatures, a four-configuration model is presented to illustrate dimensions which arise from the confluence of different degrees of relationship orientation – shared mental models held by the host organization (self- or other-oriented), and guests’ service preferences (transactional or relational). Findings: A theoretically grounded model of configurations resulting from variations on three key dimensions is offered. These are: employee organization relationships – social exchange processes governing the interactions between employees and their employers; HRM systems – internally consistent combinations of HR practices; and tech-touch trade-off – prioritization of technology vs employees to deliver services. Research limitations/implications: Embedding hospitable service as a construct to support the leveraging of human touch in service organizations opens up new research opportunities including avenues to further conceptualize the nature and dimensions of hospitable service. Future research that supports further understanding about the role of human touch and value creation in service organizations is proposed. Practical implications: Through the value-enhancing capability of human in the service encounter, firms can be enabled to accurately position themselves in one of the four relational configurations on offer and then identify opportunities for managers to leverage human touch to combat the diminishing role of the human touch in a technology-ubiquitous service context. Originality/value: This is among the first papers to explore the influence of technology on the degree of human touch in the interface between hospitality employee and customer, and to develop a configuration model through which researchers and practitioners can operate during this declining era of human to human service interactions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2018-0380 [Google]
Van Riel, A. C. R., J. J. Zhang, L. P. McGinnis, M. G. Nejad, M. Bujisic and P. A. Phillips (2019): A framework for sustainable service system configuration: Exploring value paradoxes with examples from the hospitality industry, Journal of Service Management, 30(3), pp.349-368
Purpose: While innovative service systems may create substantial value for certain stakeholders, they often destroy value for others. This value paradox frequently leads to unsustainable service systems. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of multiple theories to pinpoint and explain these value paradoxes, build a framework allowing potentially more sustainable value configuration of service systems and develop an agenda for future research. The framework is illustrated with examples from the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on prevalent theories and approaches, including service-dominant logic, business modeling, transaction cost economics, stakeholder theory, configuration theory and set theory, to develop a value configuration framework. Findings: In a service system, the configuration of resources and relationships between these resources (i.e. the set of value propositions for various stakeholders of the system) determines which stakeholders will gain and which will lose and to what extent. For that reason, insight into the range of possible service configurations – or business models – will help decision makers consider the effects on various stakeholders, and, where possible, set their priorities right and make their businesses more sustainable. The research produces a rich research agenda. Research limitations/implications: Examples from hospitality allow an in-depth examination of a range of dynamic configurational and technological innovations, but some idiosyncratic characteristics of the context may impede the wider applicability of the conceptual framework. Future research could complement this work by studying other service sectors. Practical implications: The paper aims to provide decision makers in the service industry with a conceptual tool to explore, diagnose and, if needed, adjust the value configuration of their service operations. In practice, this tool may help explicate the service system configuration, thus helping managers determine their organizations’ desired positioning in terms of value creation and destruction, and to choose strategic directions by adapting configurations. Social implications: Legislation and regulations are being adapted to various new service configurations. This paper attempts to – at least conceptually – distinguish different service configurations, allowing policy makers to identify the value trade-offs between stakeholders, including society at large. Originality/value: Previous research focused primarily on value creation by innovative services and business models. Value creation for one stakeholder, however, could lead to value destruction for another. Taking this paradox into consideration may result in more open service ecosystems that explicitly consider sustainability and value implications in multiple dimensions and for a broader group of stakeholders.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2018-0396 [Google]
Varnali, K. (2019): Understanding customer journey from the lenses of complexity theory, Service Industries Journal, 39(43781), pp.820-835
The present article develops an argument that conceptualizing the customer journey as a complex system provides both a systematic portrayal of the complex and holistic nature of customer experience and an opportunity to serve as an integrative framework for differing definitions in the service literature. A comprehensive literature review reflecting the contemporary understanding of the concept of customer journey is presented. Theoretical and practical implications of adopting a complexity theory-based stance in customer experience research are discussed under five fundamental tenets of complexity theory. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1445725 [Google]
Wang, S. W., L. E. Pelton and M. K. Hsu (2019): Analysis of consumers’ attitudinal and emotional factors on luxury apparel brand purchase intentions, Service Industries Journal, 39(43781), pp.836-854
This study advances both descriptive and managerial research addressing foreign consumers’ attitudinal, attributional and emotional valuations of brand equity for a U.S.-based global luxury brand. Taiwan was selected as the focal population of interest because this foreign market is distinguished by high market penetration and consumer awareness of global apparel brands. Consistent with a call for additional research on this topic, the present study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods to empirically assess the relationship of foreign consumers’ brand awareness, attitudinal and emotional factors with the ensuing purchase intentions. Notably, customers’ level of price sensitivity is also included in the model, and the empirical findings reveal that price sensitivity negatively influences purchase intentions. The results also suggest that consumers’ susceptibility for perceived quality has a positive influence on purchase intentions for the U.S. apparel brand through emotional value. The takeaway for marketers in the luxury apparel industry is to increase the brand value in the customers’ mind to offset the likely negative effect of consumer price sensitivity. In addition, fashion brand managers could consider penetrating the brand-sensitive buyer’s market with a popular name brand and try to exploit the brand-insensitive buyer market with a generic apparel brand. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1494158 [Google]
Cho, S. (2019): Effects of social support and grateful disposition on employees’ psychological well-being, Service Industries Journal, 39(43781), pp.799-819
This study proposes grateful disposition as an individual affective factor affecting service employees’ psychological well-being. Grateful disposition is the tendency to recognize and appreciate the contributions of others as positive experiences or to experience gratitude easily. To analyze the relationship between emotional dissonance and psychological well-being and the moderating effect of social support and grateful disposition, hierarchical regression analysis was used. Using convenience sampling from department store employees (n = 239) in Korea, this study found that grateful disposition as well as social support moderated the relationship between emotional dissonance and psychological well-being. This study demonstrates the importance of individual affective traits affecting psychological well-being, which were overlooked in the previous studies, and provides an opportunity to discuss grateful disposition in service marketing. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1444755 [Google]
Jung, H. S. and H. H. Yoon (2019): How does workplace harassment influence the employees’ response in a deluxe hotel?, Service Industries Journal, 39(43781), pp.877-900
Recently, workplace harassment in the form of superiors abusing their power over subordinates has emerged as a social problem. In the deluxe hotel work environment, dealing with this issue starts by asking whether harassment by a superior has taken place – and if so, how it has influenced subordinates’ responses. The purpose of this study was to measure the perception of workplace harassment among employees and to explain the relationships between workplace harassment and employee engagement, satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent in deluxe hotels in South Korea. The results showed that verbal aggression had a significant negative effect on employee engagement, while isolation, disrespectful behavior, and physical aggression exacerbated employee burnout. In addition, employee engagement significantly enhanced job satisfaction, while burnout increased employees’ turnover intent. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1493103 [Google]
Bueno, E. V., T. B. B. Weber, E. L. Bomfim and H. T. Kato (2019): Measuring customer experience in service: A systematic review, Service Industries Journal, 39(43781), pp.779-798
The aim of this systematic review is to identify how customer experience in the service sector has been measured in relevant publications in the marketing field. A sample of 33 papers was collected from two electronic databases—the Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) and Scopus (Elsevier)—covering a large number of publications. After analyzing the articles and reviewing the customer experience literature, the following are our main contributions: (i) clarification of the concepts that appear in the literature review of customer experience in the service sector; (ii) classification of the variables, scales, and constructs related to customer experience in service; (iii) demonstration of the service experience as the preponderant construct that is used to measure customer experience in service; and (iv) proposal of a new dimension—the concept of ‘pre-experience’—to measure customer experience in service. These contributions can provide a more solid basis for measuring customer experience in service. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1561873 [Google]
Rastogi, M., O. M. Karatepe and M. Mehmetoglu (2019): Linking resources to career satisfaction through work–family enrichment, Service Industries Journal, 39(43781), pp.855-876
Using the work–family enrichment (WFE) model and social exchange theory as the theoretical underpinnings, our study investigates WFE as a mediator of the effects of material resources (i.e. salary, job security) as well as psychological resources (i.e. self-esteem) on career satisfaction. Our study gathered data from frontline employees (FLEs) in small- and medium-sized hotels in Delhi, the capital city of India, and gauged the aforementioned relationships through partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results suggest that FLEs’ satisfaction with salary and job security needs fosters WFE that in turn gives rise to satisfaction with their career in the organisation. The results also suggest that FLEs’ satisfaction with esteem needs stimulates WFE that in turn engenders career satisfaction. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the empirical findings in the paper. (English)
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1449835 [Google]
