scholarly journals A Systematic Review of Artificial Intelligence and Robots in Value Co-creation: Current Status and Future Research Avenues

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valtteri Kaartemo ◽  
Anu Helkkula
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Resource Integration

As artificial intelligence (AI) and robots are increasingly taking place in practical service solutions, it is necessary to understand technology in value co-creation. We conducted a systematic literature review on the topic to advance theoretical analysis of AI and robots in value co-creation. By systematically reviewing 61 AI and robotics articles, which have been published in top marketing and service research journals, we identified four themes in literature, namely, generic field advancement, supporting service providers, enabling resource integration between service providers and beneficiaries, and supporting beneficiaries’ well-being. With the identification of the first set of literature on AI and robots in value co-creation, we push forward an important sub-field of value co-creation literature. In addition, to advance the field, we suggest building on actor–network theory and science and technology studies to understand the agency of technology in value co-creation. Considering that technology has agency, it opens new interesting research avenues around shopping bots and human-to-non-human frontline interaction that are likely to influence resource integration, customer engagement and value co-creation in the future. We also encourage our colleagues to conduct postphenomenological research to be better geared for analysing how technology (including AI and robots) mediates the individual experience of value.

scholarly journals Introducing the transformative service mediator: value creation with vulnerable consumers

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raechel Johns ◽  
Janet Davey
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Vulnerable Consumers

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the role of mediators in supporting value co-creation for vulnerable consumers in a service context. The authors propose that in transformative services, the roles of actor mediators facilitate control and empowerment for the vulnerable consumer – labelling these transformative service mediators (TSMs). Design/methodology/approach The authors develop a theoretical framework for the activities of mediators in value co-creation considering the interrelationships of vulnerability, structure and agency. The authors then use Prahalad and Ramaswamy’s DART (Dialogue, Access, Risk Assessment and Transparency) model as the integrating framework to describe the TSM roles in the context of the foster care service ecosystem. Findings The authors introduce a future research agenda regarding TSM roles in transformational service experiences and value co-creation with vulnerable consumers. Service researchers and providers are encouraged to explore effective training and motivation of TSMs. Research limitations/implications Understanding value co-creation for vulnerable consumers is an emerging area in service research. The TSM concept introduces a new approach to explore how value co-creation and transformative outcomes can be enhanced in service contexts where consumers experience vulnerability. Practical implications This paper presents an agenda for future research. The outcomes of future research based on TSM roles may help guide service providers in identifying opportunities for enhancing well-being and reducing vulnerability in service delivery. Originality/value This paper suggests that exploring the role of TSMs in the service process offers new insights into reducing vulnerability in service relationships.

scholarly journals Health service literacy: complementary actor roles for transformative value co-creation

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 687-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Davey ◽  
Christian Grönroos
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Patient Empowerment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Resource Integration ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Although health-care features prominently in transformative service research, there is little to guide service providers on how to improve well-being and social change transformations. This paper aims to explore actor-level interactions in transformative services, proposing that actors’ complementary health service literacy roles are fundamental to resource integration and joint value creation. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews with 46 primary health-care patients and 11 health-care service providers (HSPs) were conducted focusing on their subjective experiences of health literacy. An iterative hermeneutic approach was used to analyse the textual data linking it with existing theory. Findings Data analysis identified patients’ and HSPs’ health service literacy roles and corresponding role readiness dimensions. Four propositions are developed describing how these roles influence resource integration processes. Complementary service literacy roles enhance resource integration with outcomes of respect, trust, empowerment and loyalty. Competing service literacy roles lead to outcomes of discredit, frustration, resistance and exit through unsuccessful resource integration. Originality/value Health service literacy roles – linked to actor agency, institutional norms and service processes – provide a nuanced approach to understanding the tensions between patient empowerment trends and service professionals’ desire for recognition of their expertise over patient care. Specifically, the authors extend Frow et al.’s (2016) list of co-creation practices with practices that complement actors’ service literacy and role readiness. Based on a service perspective, the authors encourage transformative service researchers, service professionals and health service system designers, to recognize complementary health service literacy roles as an opportunity to support patients’ resources and facilitate value co-creation.

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.

scholarly journals Transformative service research: a conceptual framework based on consumer's perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Ungaro ◽  
Laura Di Pietro ◽  
Maria Francesca Renzi ◽  
Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion ◽  
Maria Giovina Pasca
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Perspective ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the consumer's perspective regarding the relationship between services and well-being, contributing to the knowledge base in transformative service research (TSR). More specifically the aim was to understand consumers' perceptions of the relationship between services and well-being and their views about how companies can contribute (directly and/or indirectly) to achieve the well-being.Design/methodology/approachTo reach the research aim, the study adopts an explorative inductive design, carried out through a qualitative approach and grounded in 30 in-depth interviews with consumers.FindingsService sustainability represents the fundamental characteristic that determines the service ability to be transformative, requiring the implementation of the triple bottom line dimensions: social, environmental and economic. It emerged that, in the consumer's mind, the service categories that present a stronger relationship between service and well-being are as follows: healthcare, financial and transport.Originality/valueThe paper proposes a conceptual framework to describe the consumer perspective of the services' transformative role in promoting well-being, providing a theoretical lens for conducting future research and continuing to expand transformative service research (TSR).

Big 4 Firms as Legal Service Providers: Implications for Audit Practice and Future Research Directions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Herda ◽  
Jonathan H. Grenier ◽  
Billy E. Brewster ◽  
Mary E Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Service ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Rule Changes ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
The U.S

The Big 4 accounting firms have expanded their legal service arms to historic proportions over the last decade, employing thousands of lawyers around the world. Although most of the Big 4's revenue from legal services is presently generated outside the U.S., they are now making inroads into the U.S. legal market, and rule changes are being considered that would further allow the Big 4 to offer legal services in the U.S. This essay summarizes the current status of Big 4 firms as legal service providers, discusses potential implications of legal offerings for their U.S. audit practices, and suggests directions for future research. Our proposed research questions are informed by several literatures, interviews with former Big 4 partners and practicing attorneys, and a survey of the general public. They center on the fundamental difference between audit and law practices, brand equity considerations, and culture changes within the Big 4.

Predictors of users’ preferences for online health services

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-225
Author(s):  
Shahidul Islam ◽  
Md Rakibul Hoque ◽  
Md Abdullah Al Jamil
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Service Quality

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain predictors that discriminate users’ preferences for online health services, focusing on a downtown area in a developing country. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on rational choice theory (RCT), the authors test a model that links the frequency of online health service usage to access-activators and access-inhibitors. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and the discriminant analysis model were used to analyze data from a sample of 215 internet users. Findings Results confirm the significance of responsiveness, user’s attitude, accessibility and perceived ease of use, indicating their discriminating role in the usage of online health services. Research limitations/implications The study demonstrates the relevance of RCT in measuring perceived online health service quality in an emerging context. Future research should consider the influence of electronic health (eHealth) literacy, norms and trustworthiness to increase the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications The findings of this study can help enhance the eHealth service quality by encouraging service providers to improve the interactivity and ease of use of their platforms, thus delivering value to both consumers and firms and improving the well-being of the society at large. Originality/value Few existing studies draw attention to access-activators and access-inhibitors to predict users’ preferences for online health services. This study shows the applicability of RCT in preparing the instrumental dimensions of online health service quality.

scholarly journals Identifying the resource integration processes of green service

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Guyader ◽  
Mikael Ottosson ◽  
Per Frankelius ◽  
Lars Witell
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Resource Integration ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Environmental Impact ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of green service. In particular, the focus is on identifying homopathic and heteropathic resource integration processes that preserve or increase the resourceness of the natural ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach Through an extensive multiple case study involving ten service providers from diverse sectors based on a substantial number of interviews, detailed accounts of green service are provided. Findings Six resource integration processes were identified: reducing, recirculating, recycling, redistributing, reframing and renewing. While four of these processes are based on homopathic resource integration, both reframing and renewing are based on heteropathic resource integration. While homopathic processes historically constitute a green service by mitigating the impact of consumption on the environment, heteropathic resource integration increases the resourceness of the natural ecosystem through emergent processes and the (re)creation of natural resources. Research limitations/implications The present study breaks away from the paradigm that “green service” is about reducing the negative environmental impact of existing services, toward providing a green service that expands biological diversity and other natural resources. Originality/value Transformative service research on environmental sustainability is still in its infancy. The present study contributes through conceptualizing green service, redefining existing resource integration processes (reducing, recirculating, recycling) and identifying new resource integration processes (redistributing, reframing, renewing).

scholarly journals Upframing Service Design and Innovation for Research Impact

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lia Patrício ◽  
Anders Gustafsson ◽  
Raymond Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Design Thinking ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Research Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Societal Actors

Service design and innovation are receiving greater attention from the service research community because they play crucial roles in creating new forms of value cocreation with customers, organizations, and societal actors in general. Service innovation involves a new process or service offering that creates value for one or more actors in a service network. Service design brings new service ideas to life through a human-centered and holistic design thinking approach. However, service design and innovation build on dispersed multidisciplinary contributions that are still poorly understood. The special issue that follows offers important contributions through the examination of service design and innovation literature, the links between service design and innovation, the role of customers in service design and innovation, and service design and innovation for well-being. Building on these contributions, this article develops a future research agenda in three areas: (1) reinforcing and expanding the foundations of service design and innovation by integrating multiple perspectives and methods; (2) advancing service design and innovation by improving the connection between the two areas, deepening actor involvement, and leveraging the role of technology; and (3) upframing service design and innovation to strengthen research impact by innovating complex value networks and service ecosystems and by building a cornerstone for transformative service research.

scholarly journals Unintended Consequences in Transformative Service Research: Helping Without Harming

2021 ◽  
pp. 109467052110611
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Blocker ◽  
Brennan Davis ◽  
Laurel Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Empirical Insight ◽  
Negative Spillover

Even as transformative service initiatives promote greater well-being, they may also create unintentionally negative consequences. Research investigates boundary conditions and boomerang effects that wash out or reverse the intended effects of service initiatives. However, such research generally advances greater depth of insight about unintended consequences in a particular stream rather than bridging this knowledge across service domains. Thus, service research lacks integrative frameworks, theory, and empirical insight to advance more generalizable knowledge about unintended consequences. The purpose of this editorial is to clarify the importance of investigating unintended consequences across service contexts and propose pathways as a catalyst for research. Using theory on unintended consequences, we delineate the types of unintended consequences and discuss the underlying mechanisms. We identify themes that span papers in the special issue and illuminate negative spillover consequences. The editorial concludes with an overview of future research avenues with potential to accelerate important transformative service research.

scholarly journals Artificial Intelligence in the Battle against Coronavirus (COVID-19): A Survey and Future Research Directions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh Thi Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Medical Image ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Related Data ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
The Internet Of Things

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been applied widely in our daily lives in a variety of ways with numerous successful stories. AI has also contributed to dealing with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has been happening around the globe. This paper presents a survey of AI methods being used in various applications in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak and outlines the crucial roles of AI research in this unprecedented battle. We touch on a number of areas where AI plays as an essential component, from medical image processing, data analytics, text mining and natural language processing, the Internet of Things, to computational biology and medicine. A summary of COVID-19 related data sources that are available for research purposes is also presented. Research directions on exploring the potentials of AI and enhancing its capabilities and power in the battle are thoroughly discussed. We highlight 13 groups of problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic and point out promising AI methods and tools that can be used to solve those problems. It is envisaged that this study will provide AI researchers and the wider community an overview of the current status of AI applications and motivate researchers in harnessing AI potentials in the fight against COVID-19.

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