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Since its inception, ChatGPT has been disruptively transforming how businesses operate along the whole value chain. The service sector is no exception from these technological advances. Given its potential and significance, five major areas whereby ChatGPT has great potential in services management are identified and discussed in terms of opportunities, challenges and research agendas: service marketing, customer experience, digital services, cost-effective service excellence, and ethical and corporate digital responsibility.

By adopting an expert-oriented perspective approach, the study leverages the expertise of 11 knowledgeable contributors from the fields of service and information systems to foresee the implications of ChatGPT in services. The article comprehensively examines the current body of literature and practices in ChatGPT and services and proposes a forward-thinking research agenda for service scholars and practitioners.

The contributors recognize that ChatGPT has the potential to transform service offerings significantly, enrich customer experiences, optimize service costs, and contribute to societal advantages through improved digital services. However, they also acknowledge the disruption ChatGPT may cause to traditional service practices, including the potential loss of human touch in services, challenges to privacy and security, and the potential negative outcomes affecting service consumers and employees in terms of inequality, biases, and misuse of ChatGPT.

This article introduces a groundbreaking investigation into the use of ChatGPT in services management. The originality is demonstrated by examining the potential and obstacles to applying ChatGPT in different service domains. In addition, this research serves as a guiding light for subsequent studies by suggesting an in-depth research agenda, including understanding the design and optimization of ChatGPT in the customer service journey, the role of ChatGPT in assisting service organizations to promote responsible services, and implications of ChatGPT on service stakeholders.

An AI concierge is a technologically advanced, intelligent and personalized assistant that is designated to an individual customer, proactively taking care of that customer’s needs throughout the service journey. This article envisions the idea of AI concierges and discusses how to leverage AI concierges in the customer journey.

This article takes a conceptual approach and draws insights from literature in service management, marketing, psychology, human-computer interaction and ethics.

This article delineates the fundamental forms of AI concierges: dialog interface (no embodiment), virtual avatar (embodiment in the virtual world), holographic projection (projection in the physical world) and tangible service robot (embodiment in the physical world). Key attributes of AI concierges are the ability to exhibit semantic understanding of auditory and visual inputs, maintain an emotional connection with the customer, demonstrate proactivity in refining the customer’s experience and ensure omnipresence through continuous availability in various forms to attend to service throughout the customer journey. Furthermore, the article explores the multifaceted roles that AI concierges can play across the pre-encounter, encounter and post-encounter stages of the customer journey and explores the opportunities and challenges associated with AI concierges.

This paper provides insights for professionals in hospitality, retail, travel, and healthcare on leveraging AI concierges to enhance the customer experience. By broadening AI concierge services, organizations can deliver personalized assistance and refined services across the entire customer journey.

This article is the first to introduce the concept of the AI concierge. It offers a novel perspective by defining AI concierges’ fundamental forms, key attributes and exploring their diverse roles in the customer journey. Additionally, it lays out a research agenda aimed at further advancing this domain.

The increased digital interactions in the B2B industry have enhanced the importance of customer engagement as a measure of firm performance. This study aims to map and analyze temporal and spatial journeys for customer engagement in B2B markets from a bibliometric perspective.

The extant literature on customer engagement research in the B2B context was analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The citation analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis, three-field plot and bibliographic coupling were used to map the intellectual structure of customer engagement in B2B markets.

The research on customer engagement in the B2B context was studied more in western countries. The analysis suggests that customer engagement in B2B markets will take centre stage in the coming times as digital channels make it easier to track critical metrics besides other key factors. Issues like digital transformation, the use of artificial intelligence for virtual engagement, personalization, innovation and salesforce management by leveraging technology would be critical for improved B2B customer engagement.

The study provides a comprehensive reference to scholars working in this domain.

The study makes a pioneering effort to comprehensively analyze the vast corpus of literature on customer engagement in B2B markets for business insights.

This paper aims to examine the research conducted between 1938 and 2023 on applying Gestalt principles in management research, focusing on publishing and citation trends in this field.

A systematic literature review was conducted using PRISMA criteria, forming a three-phase strategy. A total of 394 articles from the Scopus database were reviewed. Bibliometric analysis involving co-citation and co-word analysis was used to explore the intellectual structure of the research area.

Eight application clusters were identified through co-citation analysis using Gestalt as a keyword. Co-word analysis revealed key themes and keywords over the period. Substantial literature exists on topics like organization, strategy, physical servicescape, coaching, learning and human resource management. However, Gestalt principles are minimally applied to online retail, social media, website design, mobile app design and emerging areas like Industry 4.0.

The study suggests that Gestalt principles can enhance marketing, communication, decision-making and leadership, according to the study. Understanding Gestalt concepts and how different industries adapt and apply them helps enable cross-industry learning, where successful strategies from one sector can be creatively implemented in others to solve problems.

This study fills a significant gap in the literature by highlighting the underexplored application of Gestalt principles in emerging business and management sectors. It provides a comprehensive discussion on future research directions and identifies specific areas where Gestalt principles can be innovatively applied, offering fresh insights and expanding the theoretical and practical understanding of their utility in modern business contexts.