Service Research Priorities: Managing and Delivering Service in Turbulent Times

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-353
Author(s):  
Amy L. Ostrom ◽  
Joy M. Field ◽  
Darima Fotheringham ◽  
Mahesh Subramony ◽  
Anders Gustafsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Service Discipline ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Turbulent Times ◽  
Challenging Environment

Transformative changes in the societal and service context call out for the service discipline to develop a coherent set of priorities for research and practice. To this end, we utilized multiple data sources: surveys of service scholars and practitioners, web scraping of online documents, a review of published service scholarship, and roundtable discussions conducted at the world’s foremost service research centers. We incorporated innovative methodologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, and qualitative analyses, to identify key service research priorities that are critical to address during these turbulent times. The first two priorities— technology and the changing nature of work and technology and the customer experience—focus on leveraging technology for service provision and consumption. The next two priorities— resource and capability constraints and customer proactivity for well-being—focus on responding to the changing needs of multiple stakeholders. Further, we identified a set of stakeholder-wants from the literature and include research questions that tie key stakeholder-wants to each of the four priorities. We believe the set of research priorities in the present article offer actionable ideas for service research directions in this challenging environment.

Commentary: future directions of the service discipline

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth N. Bolton
Keyword(s):  
New Technology ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Discipline ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to suggest some ways that service scholars can shape the future of the service discipline by building knowledge that is useful to businesses, individuals, communities, institutions, society and the bio-environment. Design/methodology/approach This paper explicitly considers how global trends are likely to influence future research challenges in the service discipline. Then, service research priorities are identified by drawing upon the principles of responsible research in business and management (RRBM) (www.rrbm.net). Findings The paper identifies and analyzes many future service challenges arising from socioeconomic, demographic, technology and service systems, environmental and social changes. These changes are categorized as favorable and unfavorable in their effect on the well-being of people, organizations, society and the environment. Research limitations/implications This paper advocates more study of sustainability in service ecosystems, automation and the nature of service work, inclusion, equality and well-being of service workers; service in subsistence markets and the societal implications of new technology and big data. Practical implications The paper provides guidance for service marketers regarding research questions that are important to society and will need to be addressed by the year 2050. It translates the principles of RRBM into useful approaches to service marketing challenges that can be followed by all service researchers. Social implications This paper discusses important societal issues such as individual and societal needs for privacy, security and transparency; the ethical sourcing and treatment of service workers and the impact of service actions on environmental outcomes. Originality/value The conceptual framework integrates knowledge about service research in a new way, with insights for future service researchers, managers and public policymakers.

scholarly journals Feed People First

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Baron ◽  
Anthony Patterson ◽  
Roger Maull ◽  
Gary Warnaby
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Service Innovation ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Service Research ◽  
People First ◽  
Charity Organization ◽  
Service Ecosystem ◽  
Using Data

Service research highlights the utility of adopting a service ecosystem approach to studying service innovation. It suggests that service innovations can arise from challenging and developing the institutions (i.e., norms, rules, practices, meanings, and symbols) which underpin an ecosystem. Also, recent emphasis on consumer well-being posits that studies of service provision to poor consumers are needed. Reflecting these research priorities, the context of this case study on service innovation is the food waste ecosystem, whereby service innovations can contribute to the alleviation of food poverty for thousands of citizens. The central actor of the ecosystem is the leading UK charity organization fighting food waste. The paper’s contribution lies in using data from ecosystem actors to clarify the distinctions between institutions, thereby enhancing understanding of the application of institutional theory within the ecosystem and highlighting some theoretical implications for service innovation both within- and between-system levels. An actor institutions matrix is offered as a fruitful outcome of the analysis of the institutions, and suggested recommendations for operationalizing service ecosystem studies are outlined.

scholarly journals Designing gamified transformative and social marketing services

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Francis Mulcahy ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett ◽  
Nadia Zainuddin ◽  
Kerri-Ann Kuhn
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Behavioural Intentions ◽  
Significant Relationships

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to extend transformative service and social marketing practitioners’ and academics’ understanding of how gamification and serious m-games are designed, and second, to model the effects of game design elements on key transformative service and social marketing outcomes, satisfaction, knowledge, and behavioural intentions. Design/methodology/approach The research adopted a two-study, mixed-method research design, encompassing focus groups (n=21) and online surveys (n=497), using four current marketplace serious m-games. Study 1 was qualitative and the data were analysed in two cycles using an inductive and deductive approach. Study 2 was quantitative and the data were analysed using PLS-SEM. Findings The qualitative results of Study 1 discovered a framework of five game design elements for serious m-games. In Study 2, a conceptual model and hypothesised relationships were tested at a full sample level and by each serious m-game. Results show different significant relationships for each serious m-game and moderate to high levels of explanation for satisfaction and knowledge, and low to high levels of explained variance for behavioural intentions. The findings are therefore not only robust across four different serious m-games, but also demonstrate the nuances of the relationships. Originality/value This research contributes to two service research priorities: leveraging technology to advance services, and improving well-being through transformative services. This research demonstrates that gamification through serious m-games is one form of technology that can be designed to create a satisfying and knowledge-creating service experience, which can also influence intentions to perform health and well-being behaviours.

Service Research Priorities: Designing Sustainable Service Ecosystems

2021 ◽  
pp. 109467052110313
Author(s):  
Joy M. Field ◽  
Darima Fotheringham ◽  
Mahesh Subramony ◽  
Anders Gustafsson ◽  
Amy L. Ostrom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Turbulent Times ◽  
Service Ecosystems ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Platform Ecosystems ◽  
Transformative Impact

This article utilizes input from service scholars, practitioners, reviews of published literature, and influential policy documents to identify service research priorities that push the boundaries of extant research. In a companion piece, we focused on four service research priorities related to managing and delivering service in turbulent times. Further, we identified a set of stakeholder-wants from the literature and included research questions that tie key stakeholder-wants to each of the three priorities in this article and the four priorities in the companion article. Here, we highlight the critical importance of scholarship and practice related to the design of sustainable service ecosystems and discuss three key service research priorities: large-scale and complex service ecosystems for transformative impact (SRP5), platform ecosystems and marketplaces (SRP6), and services for disadvantaged consumers and communities (SRP7). We call for an engaged service scholarship that considers the interrelationships among consumers, organizations, employees, platforms, and societal institutions and pursues transformative goals.

Online Third Places: Supporting Well-Being Through Identifying and Managing Unintended Consequences

2021 ◽  
pp. 109467052110188
Author(s):  
Joy Parkinson ◽  
Lisa Schuster ◽  
Rory Mulcahy
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Abductive Reasoning ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Consumer Empowerment ◽  
Online Service ◽  
Third Places ◽  
Third Place

Unintended consequences of service are important yet infrequently examined in transformative service research. This research examines an online service community that transformed into an online third place, with consumers socializing and forming lasting relationships. Using practice-informed theory-building and an abductive reasoning approach, findings are presented from both manual and automated coding of three qualitative data sets that form the basis of a case study examining an online weight management service forum. Extending beyond current conceptualizations of the third place, this study is the first to propose a framework delineating online third place characteristics and their impact on consumers’ eudaimonic (the capacity for self-realization) and hedonic (attainment of pleasure and avoidance of pain) well-being. Findings show that in the absence of a physical or virtual servicescape, social factors including social density, equity, and personalization are key to constructing an online third place that supports well-being through building social connections and enjoyment. The new framework provides guidance for service managers to transform their online service communities into online third places to support consumer well-being and to identify and manage potential unintended consequences, for example, by ensuring segmentation of the community based on consumer groups’ shared interests and consumer empowerment through participation.

Creating Loyal Prosocial Transformative Service Consumers: A Proposed Model With Direct and Indirect Effects

2021 ◽  
pp. 183933492199851
Author(s):  
Rory Mulcahy ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett ◽  
Jo Previte
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Blood Donation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Direct And Indirect Effects ◽  
Behavioral Loyalty ◽  
Attitudinal Loyalty ◽  
Consumer Value ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Important Extension

Understanding transformative services, where the consumer is not the primary well-being beneficiary, is fundamental to furthering the transformative service research (TSR) paradigm. Furthermore, it is imperative to understand the co-creation behaviors consumers can partake in during prosocial transformative services to improve their service experience and, ultimately, their repeat usage of the service. This study is one of the first to develop a model drawing together three key service frameworks (co-creation behavior, service quality, and consumer value), which is empirically validated using real consumers of a prosocial transformative service, namely blood donation. In addition, a key strength of the study is the objective measurement of behavioral loyalty using organizational records, which is an important extension to prior TSR studies that often measure attitudinal loyalty (behavioral intentions) as a proxy. The findings have important implications for furthering transformative scholars’ and practitioners’ understanding of how services can improve individual and societal well-being.

scholarly journals Why Age and Aging Research Matters: A Chat With NIA Senior Leadership

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 825-825
Author(s):  
Marie Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Human Services ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Health Department ◽  
National Institutes Of Health ◽  
Senior Leadership ◽  
Aging Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Lead Agency ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Significant Research

Abstract The National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, is the federally designated lead agency on aging research, and has supported significant research on aging as a life-long process. In the last five years, NIA experienced a tripling of its budget. Although much of this funding is targeted to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD related dementias (ADRD) research, there was an increase in funds allocated to non-AD research in keeping with the overall growth of NIH. This symposium will provide a forum for exploration of the implications of the budget increases for the general research community. It will involve NIA’s senior staff discussing research priorities and programs supported by the Institute. A question-and-answer session will follow brief introductory remarks on current funding and future priorities and research directions of NIA.

Customer delight during a crisis: understanding delight through the lens of transformative service research

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald C. Barnes ◽  
Jessica Mesmer-Magnus ◽  
Lisa L. Scribner ◽  
Alexandra Krallman ◽  
Rebecca M. Guidice
Keyword(s):  
Critical Incident ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Need Fulfillment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Delight ◽  
Service Experiences

PurposeThe unprecedented dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced firms to re-envision the customer experience and find new ways to ensure positive service encounters. This context has underscored the reality that drivers of customer delight in a “traditional” context are not the same in a crisis context. While research has tended to identify hedonic need fulfillment as key to customer well-being and, ultimately, to invoking customer delight, the majority of studies were conducted in inherently positive contexts, which may limit generalizability to more challenging contexts. Through the combined lens of transformative service research (TSR) and psychological theory on hedonic and eudaimonic human needs, we evaluate the extent to which need fulfillment is the root of customer well-being and that meeting well-being needs ultimately promotes delight. We argue that in crisis contexts, the salience of needs shifts from hedonic to eudaimonic and the extent to which service experiences fulfill eudaimonic needs determines the experience and meaning of delight.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing the critical incident technique, this research surveyed 240 respondents who were asked to explain in detail a time they experienced customer delight during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed their responses according to whether these incidents reflected the salience of hedonic versus eudaimonic need fulfillment.FindingsThe results support the notion that the salience of eudaimonic needs become more pronounced during times of crisis and that service providers are more likely to elicit perceptions of delight when they leverage meeting eudaimonic needs over the hedonic needs that are typically emphasized in traditional service encounters.Originality/valueWe discuss the implications of these findings for integrating the TSR and customer delight literatures to better understand how service experiences that meet salient needs produce customer well-being and delight. Ultimately, we find customer delight can benefit well-being across individual, collective and societal levels.

Leveraging Twitter Using Artificial Intelligence to Explore Mental Health Insights in the UK During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Marshall ◽  
Kate Lanyi ◽  
Rhiannon Green ◽  
Georgie Wilkins ◽  
Fiona Pearson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND There is increasing need to explore the value of soft-intelligence, leveraged using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, as a source of analysed evidence to support public health research activity and decision-making. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to further explore the value of soft-intelligence analysed using AI through a case study, which examined a large collection of UK tweets relating to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS A search strategy comprising a list of terms related to mental health, COVID-19, and lockdown restrictions was developed to prospectively collate relevant tweets via Twitter’s advanced search application programming interface over a 24-week period. We deployed a specialist NLP platform to explore tweet frequency and sentiment across the UK and identify key topics of discussion. A series of keyword filters were used to clean the initial data retrieved and also set up to track specific mental health problems. Qualitative document analysis was carried out to further explore and expand upon the results generated by the NLP platform. All collated tweets were anonymised RESULTS We identified and analysed 286,902 tweets posted from UK user accounts from 23 July 2020 to 6 January 2021. The average sentiment score was 50%, suggesting overall neutral sentiment across all tweets over the study period. Major fluctuations in volume and sentiment appeared to coincide with key changes to any local and/or national social-distancing measures. Tweets around mental health were polarising, discussed with both positive and negative sentiment. Key topics of consistent discussion over the study period included the impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health (both positively and negatively), fear and anxiety over lockdowns, and anger and mistrust toward the government. CONCLUSIONS Through the primary use of an AI-based NLP platform, we were able to rapidly mine and analyse emerging health-related insights from UK tweets into how the pandemic may be impacting people’s mental health and well-being. This type of real-time analysed evidence could act as a useful intelligence source that agencies, local leaders, and health care decision makers can potentially draw from, particularly during a health crisis.

Benefits of Intergenerational Contact: Ageism, Subjective Well-Being, and Psychosocial Developmental Strengths of Wisdom and Identity

2021 ◽  
pp. 009141502110508
Author(s):  
Patricia Kahlbaugh ◽  
Christopher J. Budnick
Keyword(s):  
Successful Aging ◽  
Positive Mood ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Identity Synthesis

The present study examines the benefits of an in-person intergenerational contact program called SAGE (Successful Aging and Inter-Generational Experiences). The SAGE Program pairs older adults (M age 85 years) and younger adults (M age 23 years) for 2 to 3-hour weekly meetings over a 7-week period, where participants can share memories, skills, and values, and foster new perspectives and friendships. We expected the SAGE Program to benefit both older and younger participants with respect to identity processes, subjective well-being, positive mood, and wisdom while reducing ageist beliefs compared to old and young participants serving as their matched controls. Overall, participants in the SAGE Program reported greater identity synthesis,subjective well-being, and positive mood. Exploratory analyses suggested that identity synthesis is a likely mediator of that effect. The SAGE Program did not reduce ageist beliefs, but age differences in ageism were found. We address additional results,limitations, and future research directions.

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