Fintech: research directions to explore the digital transformation of financial service systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph F. Breidbach ◽  
Byron W. Keating ◽  
Chiehyeon Lim
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Financial Service ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to delineate a research agenda to guide future service research investigating the digital transformation of financial service systems through Fintech – disruptive innovations by new market entrants that challenge the position of mainstream financial institutions. Design/methodology/approach Rooted in the philosophical foundations of “use-inspired research,” this paper addresses the managerially and societally relevant phenomenon of Fintech by identifying, and responding to, the individual challenges and problems associated with the digital transformation of financial services. This is accomplished through a computational text-mining approach to analyze the corpus of 1,545 published practitioner articles associated with Fintech, identification of managerial challenges therein and subsequent delineation of a novel research agenda. Findings By connecting managerial challenges relating to Fintech with the service literature, this paper develops a use-inspired research agenda that provides scholarly and managerially relevant research directions (RDs). These pertain to the complexity of digital financial service systems (micro level), orchestration of value co-creation with Fintech (meso level), and the development of elastic infrastructures, models and markets (macro level). Research limitations/implications Fintech is an emerging phenomenon associated with the digital transformation of financial services. However, actual guidelines on how service research related to Fintech could be advanced from a theoretically as well as managerially relevant angle are unavailable to date. Here, the authors address this challenge and provide the field with 18 tangible RDs to advance service theory and practice. Practical implications The purpose of this paper is to guide future academic research addressing managerial challenges associated with Fintech and the digital transformation of financial service. Due to the explicit use-inspired nature of the work, the future research stemming from the agenda that the authors put forward here will be of benefit to decision makers and society more broadly. Originality/value This empirical research contributes to the discourse regarding the role of information and communication technologies in service in general, and the digital transformation on financial services in particular. The in-depth computational text-mining analysis is unbiased, replicable and provides the foundation for a use-inspired research agenda that is subsequently delineated.

From words to pixels: text and image mining methods for service research

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Villarroel Ordenes ◽  
Shunyuan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Frontline Employees ◽  
Image Mining ◽  
Text And Image ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Marketing Operations ◽  
Mining Methods

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe and position the state-of-the-art of text and image mining methods in business research. By providing a detailed conceptual and technical review of both methods, it aims to increase their utilization in service research. Design/methodology/approach On a first stage, the authors review business literature in marketing, operations and management concerning the use of text and image mining methods. On a second stage, the authors identify and analyze empirical papers that used text and image mining methods in services journals and premier business. Finally, avenues for further research in services are provided. Findings The manuscript identifies seven text mining methods and describes their approaches, processes, techniques and algorithms, involved in their implementation. Four of these methods are positioned similarly for image mining. There are 39 papers using text mining in service research, with a focus on measuring consumer sentiment, experiences, and service quality. Due to the nonexistent use of image mining service journals, the authors review their application in marketing and management, and suggest ideas for further research in services. Research limitations/implications This manuscript focuses on the different methods and their implementation in service research, but it does not offer a complete review of business literature using text and image mining methods. Practical implications The results have a number of implications for the discipline that are presented and discussed. The authors provide research directions using text and image mining methods in service priority areas such as artificial intelligence, frontline employees, transformative consumer research and customer experience. Originality/value The manuscript provides an introduction to text and image mining methods to service researchers and practitioners interested in the analysis of unstructured data. This paper provides several suggestions concerning the use of new sources of data (e.g. customer reviews, social media images, employee reviews and emails), measurement of new constructs (beyond sentiment and valence) and the use of more recent methods (e.g. deep learning).

scholarly journals An academic perspective on the entrepreneurship policy agenda: themes, geographies and evolution

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Arenal ◽  
Claudio Feijoo ◽  
Ana Moreno ◽  
Cristina Armuña ◽  
Sergio Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Entrepreneurship Policy ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Shifts

Purpose Academic research into entrepreneurship policy is particularly interesting due to the increasing relevance of the topic and since knowledge about the evolution of themes in this field is still rather limited. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the key concepts, topics, trends and shifts that have shaped the entrepreneurship policy research agenda during the period 1990–2016. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses text mining techniques, cluster analysis and complementary bibliographic data to examine the evolution of a corpus of 1,048 academic papers focused on entrepreneurship-related policies and published during the period 1990–2016 in ten relevant journals. In particular, the paper follows a standard text mining workflow: first, as text is unstructured, content requires a set of pre-processing tasks and then a stemming process. Then, the paper examines the most repeated concepts within the corpus, considering the whole period 1990–2016 and also in five-year terms. Finally, the paper conducts a k-means clustering to divide the collection of documents into coherent groups with similar content. The analyses in the paper also include geographical particularities considering three regional sub-corpora, distinguishing those articles authored in the European Union (EU), the USA and South and Eastern Asia, respectively. Findings Results of the analysis show that inclusion, employment and regulation-related papers have largely dominated the research in the field, evolving from an initial classical approach to the relationship between entrepreneurship and employment to a wider, multidisciplinary perspective, including the relevance of management, geographies and narrower topics such as agglomeration economics or internationalisation instead of the previous generic sectorial approaches. The text mining analysis also reveals how entrepreneurship policy research has gained increasing attention and has become both more open, with a growing cooperation among researchers from different affiliations, and more sophisticated, with concepts and themes that moved the research agenda forward, closer to the priorities of policy implementation. Research limitations/implications The paper identifies main trends and research gaps in the field of entrepreneurship policy providing actionable knowledge by presenting the spectrum of both over-explored and understudied research themes in the field. In practical terms the results of the text mining analysis can be interpreted as a compass to navigate the entrepreneurship policy research agenda. Practical implications The paper presents the heterogeneity of topics under research in the field, reinforcing the concept of entrepreneurship as a multidisciplinary and dynamic domain. Therefore, the definition and adoption of a certain policy agenda in entrepreneurship should consider multiple aspects (needs, objectives, stakeholders, expected outputs, etc.) to be comprehensive and aligned with its complexity. In addition, the paper shows how text mining techniques could be used to map the research activity in a particular field, contributing to the challenge of linking research and policy. Originality/value The exploratory nature of text mining allows us to obtain new knowledge and reveals hidden patterns from large quantities of documents/text data, representing an opportunity to complement other qualitative reviews. In this sense, the main value of this paper is not to advise on the future configuration of entrepreneurship policy as a research topic, but to unwrap the past by unveiling how key themes of the entrepreneurship policy research agenda have emerged, evolved and/or declined over time as a foundation on which to build further developments.

Service journey quality: conceptualization, measurement and customer outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Elina Jaakkola ◽  
Harri Terho
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Critical Determinant ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThe quality of the customer journey has become a critical determinant of successful service delivery in contemporary business. Extant journey research focuses on the customer path to purchase, but pays less attention to the touchpoints related to service delivery and consumption that are key for understanding customer experiences in service-intensive contexts. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize service journey quality (SJQ), develop measures for the construct and study its key outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a discovery-oriented research approach to conceptualize SJQ by synthesizing theory and field-based insights from customer focus group discussions. Next, using consumer survey data (N = 278) from the financial services context, the authors develop measures for the SJQ. Finally, based on an additional survey dataset (N = 239), the authors test the nomological validity and predictive relevance of the SJQ.FindingsSJQ comprises of three dimensions: (1) journey seamlessness, (2) journey personalization and (3) journey coherence. This study demonstrates that SJQ is a critical driver of service quality and customer loyalty in contemporary business. This study finds that the loyalty link is partially mediated through service quality, indicating that SJQ explains loyalty above and beyond service quality.Research limitations/implicationsSince service quality only partially mediates the link between service journey quality and customer loyalty, future studies should examine alternative mediators, such as customer experience, for a more comprehensive understanding of the performance effects.Practical implicationsThe study offers concrete tools for service managers who wish to understand and develop the quality of service journeys.Originality/valueThis study advances the service journey concept, demonstrates that the quality of the service journey is a critical driver of customer performance and provides rigorous journey constructs for future service research.

scholarly journals Carsharing: a systematic literature review and research agenda

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 55-91
Author(s):  
Brenda Nansubuga ◽  
Christian Kowalkowski
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Base ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
Systematic Selection ◽  
Future Work

PurposeFollowing the recent surge in research on carsharing, the paper synthesizes this growing literature to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of research and to identify directions for future work. Specifically, this study details implications for service theory and practice.Design/methodology/approachSystematic selection and analysis of 279 papers from the existing literature, published between 1996 and 2020.FindingsThe literature review identified four key themes: business models, drivers and barriers, customer behavior, and vehicle balancing.Practical implicationsFor managers, the study illuminates the importance of collaboration among stakeholders within the automotive sector for purposes of widening their customer base and maximizing utilization and profits. For policy makers, their important role in supporting carsharing take-off is highlighted with emphasis on balancing support rendered to different mobility services to promote mutual success.Originality/valueThis is the first systematic multi-disciplinary literature review of carsharing. It integrates insights from transportation, environmental, and business studies, identifying gaps in the existing research and specifically suggesting implications for service research.

Relationships among employee acting, customer-perceived service quality, emotional well-being and value co-creation

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hsuan Huang ◽  
Yuan-Chen Lin
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Financial Service ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Service Quality ◽  
Negative Affects ◽  
Service Paradigm

PurposeHinged on the transformative service paradigm, this study investigates the relationships among employee acting, customer-perceived service quality, customer emotional well-being, and their value co-creation. Feelings of gratitude among customers may moderate the effect of perceived service quality on their emotional well-being (i.e., positive and negative affects).Design/methodology/approachA pair study using a structural equation model was conducted to gather data from a financial service organization in a rural area.FindingsThe results show how customers perceive service quality positively impacts their emotional well-being immediately after receiving a financial service, which in turn affects their value co-creation. Hence, feelings of gratitude moderate the effect of perceived service quality on customer positive affect.Originality/valueThis study responds to calls for more studies on how service interactions influence customer well-being in the financial services context. This study is among the few that examine moderation effects of customer feelings of gratitude on their emotional well-being to explain why a positive emotion might sway their short-term well-being.

scholarly journals Commentary: transformative service research and social marketing – converging pathways to social change

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 633-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett ◽  
Raymond P. Fisk ◽  
Mark S. Rosenbaum ◽  
Nadia Zainuddin
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Common Interests

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss two parallel but distinct subfields of marketing that share common interests (enhancing consumers’ lives and improving well-being): social marketing and transformative service research. The authors also suggest a research agenda. Design/methodology/approach The paper offers a conceptual approach and research agenda by comparing and contrasting the two marketing fields of transformative service research and social marketing. Findings Specifically, this paper proposes three opportunities to propel both fields forward: 1) breaking boundaries that inhibit research progress, which includes collaboration between public, private and nonprofit sectors to improve well-being; 2) adopting more customer-oriented approaches that go beyond the organizational and individual levels; and 3) taking a non-linear approach to theory development that innovates and co-creates solutions. Originality/value This paper presents the challenges and structural barriers for two subfields seeking to improve human well-being. This paper is the first to bring these subfields together and propose a way for them to move forward together.

scholarly journals Text mining analysis roadmap (TMAR) for service research

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Zaki ◽  
Janet R. McColl-Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Text Mining ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Theory Testing ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Mining Methods

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a step-by-step text mining analysis roadmap (TMAR) for service researchers. The paper provides guidance on how to choose between alternative tools, using illustrative examples from a range of business contexts. Design/methodology/approach The authors provide a six-stage TMAR on how to use text mining methods in practice. At each stage, the authors provide a guiding question, articulate the aim, identify a range of methods and demonstrate how machine learning and linguistic techniques can be used in practice with illustrative examples drawn from business, from an array of data types, services and contexts. Findings At each of the six stages, this paper demonstrates useful insights that result from the text mining techniques to provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon and actionable insights for research and practice. Originality/value There is little research to guide scholars and practitioners on how to gain insights from the extensive “big data” that arises from the different data sources. In a first, this paper addresses this important gap highlighting the advantages of using text mining to gain useful insights for theory testing and practice in different service contexts.

Rethinking project management

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Walker ◽  
Beverley Lloyd-Walker
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Axial Coding ◽  
Over Time

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent of the continuing influence on project management (PM) research directions of rethinking project management over the last ten years. Design/methodology/approach The authors chose a qualitative research approach that involved reading all papers published in the International Journal of Managing Project in Business since its commencement in 2008. Content analysis was performed on these papers to allow axial coding of key article content influence themes. Findings The research identified the strength, over time, of the three research interest clusters on the PM research agenda and resultant changes in the PM paradigm. The five directions put forward by the rethinking PM agenda and other researchers ten years ago have continued to influence the PM research agenda. Originality/value Findings provide a better understanding the changes in PM research directions since rethinking PM, the increased breadth and sophistication of PM research in general, and future research directions.

Brand equity in Caribbean financial services: the moderating role of service providers

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 642-670
Author(s):  
Meena Rambocas ◽  
Surendra Arjoon
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Brand Equity ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Credit Unions ◽  
Financial Service ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Service Experience ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model to represent how service experience (core, employee and service scale), customer satisfaction (transaction-specific and cumulative) and brand affinity influence brand equity in financial services, taking into account the moderating influence of financial service providers. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 751 customers in three types of financial service providers (banks, insurance companies and credit unions), and analyzed with structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis. Findings The findings confirm the significant and positive influence of service experience, customer satisfaction and brand affinity on brand equity. Employee service experience has the strongest influence, but its impact is mediated by customer satisfaction. Brand affinity has the lowest influence on brand equity. The type of financial service provider moderates the influence of customer satisfaction on brand equity; transactional satisfaction is more important for credit unions and insurance companies, but cumulative satisfaction is higher for banks. Practical implications The study is significant for three reasons. First, it reconciles branding strategies across different types of financial service providers. Second, it will help financial managers to develop and implement a more integrated approach toward building brand equity for financial service brands. Finally, it will identify specific service-related areas financial providers can target to increase customers’ preferential value. Originality/value The paper addresses previous concerns within brand equity studies by examining the drivers of brand equity formation in multiple financial institutions. It shows how different aspects of service experience and customer satisfaction affect brand affinity and preferential attitudes toward financial brands.

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