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The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the importance of the current global ecological overload (GEO) for the future of work in the twenty-first century and to propose a new understanding of what work is.

To achieve this purpose, the author uses qualitative methods to assess what is likely and what is possible. The author presents three broad-brush future scenarios, dubbed chaos, muddle and wisdom. The approach adopted depends on two basic normative principles, named Liveable Global Habitat and Necessities as of Right.

The neoliberal commitment to economic growth is a driver for GEO. A liveable future requires a decisive turn away from neoliberal values. As part of this, the author proposes a new understanding of work, disciplined useful activity, which differs radically from the current understanding. “Useful” means contributing to two basic principles: to maintain and enhance a civilised human society and a liveable global habitat for a rich variety of species; and to accord to all people, as of right, in practice and not merely in name, the basic necessities of a civilised life.

AI and robots will probably continue to replace today’s kinds of human employment. But this need not render any humans unemployed, whose work (in the new sense) will be wanted in, for two examples, caring (including self-care) and participatory democracy.

This paper offers a contribution to the resolution of the current and anticipated problems of GEO and of disruptive technologies.

Argues that expert systems are a useful tool in implementing quality customer service. Examines seven steps of customer service and illustrates how expert systems can support each step. Draws on the literature in the field to cite commercial installations of expert systems to support quality customer service.

This study aims to propose a comprehensive causal model to examine the relationships between customer experience and four key factors in brand building, i.e., brand loyalty, brand trust, brand affect and brand involvement. The dimensionality of customer experience in full-service hotel is also particularly examined in relation to brand building.

Three steps of data collection were used: interviews of 50 customers on their experiences of staying full-service hotels, a small survey of 176 hotel guests to establish the measurement scale of customer experience and a major survey of 732 hotel customers in ten major Chinese cities to test the model of brand loyalty.

Customers’ experiences with full-service hotels are proposed to be categorized into functional, affective and social. There is a chain effect from customer experience to brand trust and to brand affect and then to brand loyalty. The brand involvement does moderate relationships between customer experience and brand trust and brand affect but not brand loyalty.

For full-service hotels, social and functional experiences are critical in building brand loyalty, and therefore, they need to be the focal points in the enhancement of customer experience. Also, hoteliers are advised to develop emotional connections between the customers and the hotel brand – an effective way of building trust and affection.

According to the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first few studies to link customer experience to brand loyalty with comprehensive causal effect analysis. This study also contributes to the knowledge of customer experience in the context of the full-service hotel sector.