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This study examine how provider- and customer-related factors interact to influence servitization success. It adopts the transaction cost theory along with a configurational approach and hypothesizes that different configurations of five key conditions—service offering, specific investments, perceived customer opportunism, willingness for integration and demand uncertainty—can lead to servitization success or failure.

The study applies fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to a sample of 143 German manufacturers, addressing the complex causalities involved in servitization success.

The analysis identifies six sufficient configurations for servitization success and five for servitization failure. The findings reveal that servitization can succeed through various types of service offerings. While opportunism does not hinder success, the decision to offer an extensive service portfolio is influenced by anticipated opportunism and complex customer needs. Specific investments function primarily as drivers for success, particularly when combined with a limited service offering and complex customer needs. However, these investments can increase transaction costs when linked to an extensive service portfolio. Though not essential, customer integration emerges as a relevant success factor, acting as a safeguard against opportunism.

Servitization can be successful even with opportunism. Developing methods to assess customers’ readiness for integration can mitigate opportunistic behavior and foster successful servitization.

This study advances servitization research by addressing the often-overlooked interplay between provider- and customer-related factors. Applying the transaction cost theory and a cutting-edge fsQCA, it contributes to the theoretical and methodological plurality of the field.

While sex discrimination and race discrimination are prevalent in the workplace, a relatively low proportion of those who experience it choose to voice. This paper aims to investigate why individuals choose to voice or not voice discrimination by exploring the role of metastereotypes – beliefs about what others think about a group one belongs to – with respect to voicing or not voicing discrimination at work.

Of the 475 participants surveyed, 34% (164 respondents) had experienced either race or sex discrimination. The metastereotypes of these 164 respondents who either voiced (31%) or did not voice (69%) sex or race discrimination were gathered and examined with respect to the themes and valence of the descriptors. Differences in the content and valence of metastereotypes were examined from different samples taken at two different time periods to explore the possible influence of social movements (#MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter).

These qualitative analyses provide new insights into how people making different choices regarding the voicing of their mistreatment believe they are viewed. Metastereotypes differed to some extent in content and valence depending on perceiver, source, type of discrimination and timing.

This can assist in the development of strategies to encourage voicing with the ultimate goal of reducing workplace mistreatment.

This paper provides the critical first step for including metastereotypes in the model to predict voice in the workplace.