{"id":15133,"date":"2025-10-14T03:52:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/?p=15133"},"modified":"2025-10-21T02:27:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T06:27:20","slug":"interview-with-the-co-editors-in-chief-of-journal-of-service-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/2025\/10\/interview-with-the-co-editors-in-chief-of-journal-of-service-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with the Co-Editors-in-Chief of Journal of Service Management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Linda Alkire and Sertan Kabadayi became Co-Editors-in-Chief of the\u00a0Journal of Service Management<\/em>\u00a0last March. We spoke with them about their vision and plans for the journal, as well as their own journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Question: Linda and Sertan, can you briefly tell us about yourselves, and the importance of JOSM for your own career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda:\u00a0<\/strong>Thank you for the opportunity to share. I am an Associate Professor of Marketing at Texas State University, where I also serve as Director of the Center for Professional Sales and hold the Vicki L. West Professorship in Sales Excellence. My research focuses on Transformative Service Research (TSR) and how service can be a force for improving well-being and fostering positive societal impact.
The Journal of Service Management (JOSM)<\/em>\u00a0holds a very special place in my career. I published my first article in\u00a0JOSM<\/em>while I was still a Ph.D. student, which made the experience especially meaningful. Later, I had the pleasure of serving first as Social Media Coordinator and then as Managing Director for the journal for nearly ten years. Those years shaped my academic identity, expanded my professional network, and deepened my appreciation for\u00a0JOSM<\/em>\u2019s mission to advance rigorous and relevant service research. I am very grateful for these experiences, which have equipped me to now co-lead the journal forward with a continued commitment to excellence and impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sertan:<\/strong>\u00a0I am the Joseph Keating, SJ Distinguished Professor in Business and Professor of Marketing at the Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, in New York City. I also serve as the Director of both the Full-Time and Professional MBA programs. This year marks my 21st at Fordham University. My research in recent years has been focused on addressing well-being related issues especially when it comes to populations with vulnerabilities like refugees.
During the first eight years of my academic career, my publications appeared exclusively in marketing journals including\u00a0Journal of Marketing<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Psychology of Marketing<\/em>\u00a0among others. My first article in a service journal was published in the\u00a0Journal of Service Management (JOSM)<\/em>, which also happens to be where my most cited paper was published (Bolton et al., 2013<\/em>). Serving now as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the very journal where my first service article appeared feels like a deeply meaningful and proud full-circle moment in my career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: You two have worked together in the past. How did this position come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sertan:<\/strong> Saying that Linda and I have worked together would be an understatement! We\u2019ve done a lot of \u201cco-work\u201d over the years. We\u2019ve published many papers as co-authors<\/em>, organized conference special sessions and tracks as track co-chairs<\/em>, delivered keynotes and plenary sessions as co-presenters<\/em>, and, of course, served as SERVSIG Co-Chairs for two years. So, becoming co-editors<\/em> feels like the natural next step!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda:<\/strong> I was already serving as Editorial Director for JOSM, but becoming a Co-Editor wasn\u2019t really part of my career plan\u2014at least not yet. However, we were nominated for this position by more than 80 global service scholars. That kind of support was both overwhelming and humbling. After some reflection, we decided to embark on this new journey together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sertan:<\/strong> I wouldn\u2019t have accepted the position if it weren\u2019t with Linda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Since taking over, you\u2019ve made some changes to the journal\u2019s editorial team. Could you tell us more about those?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sertan:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. One of the first things we did was to officially introduce an Associate Editor (AE) structure. We formed a strong team of 23 AEs who represent diverse areas of expertise and topics. All manuscripts are now handled by our excellent AE team, and we rely on their recommendations when making final decisions.
We also established a new\u00a0Distinguished Advisory Board<\/em>\u00a0composed of 14 globally recognized thought leaders who provide valuable guidance to further elevate the journal\u2019s impact and prestige.
Finally, we reviewed and expanded our\u00a0Editorial Review Board (ERB)<\/em>, welcoming new members. We now have 90 ERB members from 23 countries\u2014reflecting our truly global reach.
Of course, we\u2019re delighted to continue working with Dr. Stephanie Liu as Managing Editor, along with two brilliant PhD students, Floriane Goose and Florence Nizette, who serve as our Social Media Coordinators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Why should someone submit their work to JOSM? How do you position JOSM within the service research field?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda:<\/strong>\u00a0Great question. After careful consideration\u2014and reflecting on the challenges and opportunities within service research\u2014we developed a new positioning statement:
The Journal of Service Management (JOSM) is a leading interdisciplinary and managerial journal dedicated to advancing knowledge on the effective management of service across diverse organizational and societal contexts.<\/em>
A key aspect of this positioning is our focus on\u00a0the management of service<\/em>. We strongly believe that service is the organizational imperative. Therefore, papers submitted to JOSM should enhance our understanding of how services are strategically designed, delivered, governed, and improved.
In addition to this emphasis on service management, we value research with\u00a0real-world relevance<\/em>\u2014studies that offer actionable insights to address complex organizational and societal challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Is there any particular methodology or sector that has a better chance of being published in JOSM?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda:<\/strong>\u00a0Not at all. JOSM welcomes conceptual, empirical, and methodological contributions that advance theory while offering strong managerial relevance across a variety of sectors\u2014health care, professional services, hospitality, information technology, public, and non-profit services, among others.
Our website lists a wide range of topics that fall within the journal\u2019s scope. We especially encourage\u00a0interdisciplinary research<\/em>\u00a0that integrates insights from management, marketing, operations, human resources, information systems, and related fields to address complex challenges in service management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: How do you envision the journal moving forward? What is your long-term vision?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sertan:<\/strong>\u00a0This is something Linda and I have spent a lot of time discussing and reflecting on. We wanted our vision for the journal to reflect who we are\u2014not only as service scholars but also as individuals.
We both come from global backgrounds, and for each of us, community and connection are deeply important values. So, our vision for JOSM has three main pillars:\u00a0
1. Adopting a developmental mindset<\/strong>\u2014supporting authors throughout their publishing journey.
2. Fostering a global dialogue<\/strong>\u2014engaging both academics and practitioners around the world.
3. Building an inclusive and supportive community<\/strong>\u2014a space where diverse voices can thrive.
We are fully committed to realizing this vision, with the support and guidance of our wonderful colleagues in the global service community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Finally, how can readers of this interview help you achieve your goals for JOSM?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda:<\/strong>\u00a0JOSM is already a well-established, rigorous, and highly respected journal in the service discipline. JOSM 2024 Impact Factor is 7.9 with a 5-year Impact Factor of 10.1. Sertan and I are determined to take it even further in terms of ranking, impact, and reputation.
We\u2019re always looking for high-quality research related to\u00a0the management of service<\/em>\u00a0– work that is not only rigorous and theoretically robust but also provides actionable and meaningful implications for organizations and practitioners.
We also need\u00a0dedicated reviewers<\/em>\u00a0who can provide constructive, developmental feedback to help authors strengthen their manuscripts for eventual publication.
And finally, we encourage everyone in our community to help us\u00a0spread the word<\/em>\u2014share our updates with colleagues in other disciplines and at conferences you attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sertan:<\/strong>\u00a0We also invite everyone to follow us on LinkedIn,<\/a>\u00a0where we post regular updates about recently published papers, upcoming special issues, and other events that JOSM supports or organizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda:<\/strong> And don\u2019t forget to check out the short videos we\u2019ve created about JOSM\u2019s positioning, scope, and vision\u2014they will be available on our website soon. We\u2019d love for you to watch them and share them with your networks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Alkire and Sertan Kabadayi became Co-Editors-in-Chief of the\u00a0Journal of Service Management\u00a0last March. We spoke with them about their vision and plans for the journal, as well as their own journeys. Question: Linda and Sertan, can you briefly tell us about yourselves, and the importance of JOSM for your own career? Linda:\u00a0Thank you for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15135,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15133\/revisions\/15135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.servsig.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}