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Artificial intelligence–enabled voice assistants (VAs), such as Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple's Siri, are available in smartphones, smart speakers, and other digital devices and channels. Use of these VAs is growing rapidly and are expected to significantly impact purchase intentions. This article focuses on how the communications enabled and provided by these VAs influence VA evaluations and usage intentions, contingent on the stage of the customer journey.

This paper builds from work on VAs, work on artificial intelligence (AI) and work on communications, to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of how VA evaluations and usage intentions may be impacted by the communications from VAs, contingent on the stage of the customer journey.

This paper proposes a model for VA enabled communications impact VA evaluations. It builds from work on VAs, AI, communications, and customer journey management. In the proposed model, VA evaluations are not only impacted by source, message and recipient characteristics (per prior communication models), but also by (1) VA/AI specific features, like perceptions of humanness and perceptions of artificiality, and (2) stage of the customer journey.

This paper provides guidance to firms, as regards how VA communications may influence VA evaluations and usage intentions. As an initial conjecture, (1) increasing perceptions of humanness, (2) decreasing perceptions of artificiality (3) a better fit between communications style (e.g. abstract vs concrete), and request type (e.g. transactional vs informational) (4) a better fit between VA communications (e.g. information vs banter), and consumer perceptions of the VA (servant vs partner) and (5) a better fit between VA communications and the stage of the customer journey may positively influence VA evaluations and VA usage intentions.

This paper provides a fresh look at the impact of VA communications, clarifying how such communications impact VA evaluations and usage intentions at various stages of the customer journey.

In spite of offering clear benefits and increased availability, relatively few service research studies rely on eye-tracking. Therefore, this paper aims to assist service researchers in harnessing the vast capabilities of eye-tracking technologies and methods for their own inquiries.

In addition to systematically reviewing extant research in the service domain and the wider marketing field with respect to the fundamentals and practices of eye-tracking, this paper presents a concise, empirical eye-tracking demonstration. These contributions suggest future outlooks for how to incorporate eye-tracking more effectively in service research.

The systematic literature review informs a comprehensive framework for integrating eye-tracking in service research that comprises research question focus regarding higher-order psychological constructs of interest, appropriate study settings, sample composition, optimal eye-tracking equipment and operationalization considerations.

By establishing a common ground and recommended uses of eye-tracking for service research, this study equips service scholars with the knowledge they need regarding eye-tracking fundamentals, common practices and future outlooks. A simple, empirical example further demonstrates some options for unlocking the unique capabilities of eye-tracking in service research and uncovering the complexities inherent to service experiences and other core service concepts.

This paper compiles and contextualizes insights from existing eye-tracking research, which it uses to draw important lessons for deploying eye-tracking in service domains.

Science fiction analogies have been shown to be an effective vehicle for disseminating scientific knowledge and building a better understanding of scientific principles. Toward this end, this study aims to use the Star Trek universe as a lens in an effort to remove barriers to understanding the science of service research.

This study synthesizes research on using science fiction narratives in sparking dialogue within and beyond scientific communities, draws parallels between the Star Trek universe and the service research domain and uses these insights to identify pertinent ways forward.

In the service research domain, science fiction analogies and dramaturgical metaphors can challenge researchers to reflect beyond the domain’s traditional boundaries. In fact, the Star Trek universe lends itself as visionary backdrop to assess leadership principles, understand the evolution of scientific paradigms and inspire future service research.

This article contributes to the service research literature by introducing the notion of drawing on science fiction analogies to facilitate key dialogues in a scientific context and demonstrates how such analogies can be used to provide guidance in moving the service research discipline forward.

The current work reviews all retailing articles published in four prominent retailing journals – Journal of Retailing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, and International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research – in the 2009-2015 period, picking up where Runyan and Hyun (2009) left off. The purpose of this paper is to identify leading authors and institutions in retailing research based on overall impact.

Content analysis/literature review/descriptive research.

In total, 1,392 articles were published during this time period, and through a procedure of weights and adjustments for author count, journal impact, journal quality, and journal publishing opportunity, the findings reveal that research collaboration is highly prevalent, as evidenced by the high number of multi-authored papers and cross-university/international partnerships. Additionally, some authors and institutions remain influential, while others have emerged as highly influential in the last seven years. This shows the dynamic nature of the field and the need to remain active in quality publishing.

Scholars must understand that several factors influence impact judgments, which cannot be assessed using raw counts alone. Journal quality, impact, and publishing opportunity as well as author counts are important elements to consider.

These reviews are vital to the field in that they provide status updates on scholarship, so these reviews should be done periodically. Additionally, the findings in this paper provide a more holistic understanding of research impact and permit better assessment for scholars and administrators.

This editorial aims to discuss how the modern world is causing pricing practices of both retailers and consumers to evolve. The contributions of seven papers included in this special issue have been highlighted.

The purpose is to explore how different cues impact consumer reactions to prices.

These cues include both cues regarding the price itself (e.g. the level of the discount, how the price is broken into component parts, the starting price in an auction), as well as non-price-related cues (e.g. private labels, brand familiarly, consumer ratings, creativity of an ad). In addition, this special issue includes a review article which provides a comprehensive review of behavioral pricing research.

The contributions of seven papers included in this special issue have been highlighted.

To study the strategies of eBay as it moves on from its now “traditional” online market for the masses to extend its expertise into areas such as business to business. The paper also considers online trading in general.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Amanda Aldridge notes that, as well as being an online auction, eBay is increasingly acting as a shop‐front for new goods sold by professional retailers at fixed prices. She recommends that retailers start selling small batches of goods on eBay and to consider how to integrate this with their existing multi‐channel strategies. Glenn Baker warns that, with the fragmentation of traditional marketing media and the rise of the Internet, any company without an e‐marketing strategy may fall by the wayside. Dhruv Grewal et al. suggest that although online retailing started out as a separate retail format, it has now become part of a multi‐channel strategy. They list, and explain, various limiters and enablers to Internet retailing growth. Ralph A. Oliva says that some of the benefits and innovations being brought to individual customers by eBay are now available to small businesses, and that eBay is creating a new marketplace for the sort of things small businesses need. Growth to service bigger industries is a distinct possibility.

Offers advice to businesses which have not yet taken the “online plunge” that they might be wise to test the water, accepting it as just another channel for their goods.