Luisa Gonçalves, Lia Patrício, Jorge Grenha Teixeira and Nancy V. Wünderlich
This article provides an in-depth understanding of customer experience with smart services, examines customer perceptual responses to smart and connected service environments and…
Abstract
Purpose
This article provides an in-depth understanding of customer experience with smart services, examines customer perceptual responses to smart and connected service environments and enriches this understanding by outlining how contextual factors (in terms of goals, activities, actors and artifacts) influence the customer experience.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a qualitative approach in order to understand customer experience in the smart energy service setting. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 31 participants forming three groups of energy service customers: advanced smart energy (ASE) customers, electric mobility (EM) customers and high-consumption (HC) customers.
Findings
The findings show that customer experience with smart services involves a multidimensional set of perceptual responses, comprising specific smart service dimensions (e.g. controllability, visibility, autonomy); relationship dimensions (relationships with the service provider and with the community); and traditional technology-enabled service dimensions (e.g. ease of use, accessibility). The analysis of contextual factors such as goals, activities, actors and artifacts shows that smart services enable a more autonomous experience, wherein customers can integrate a myriad of actors and artifacts and expect the main service provider to support them in taking the lead.
Originality/value
Smart technologies have profoundly changed the service environment, but research on customer experience with smart services is scarce. This study characterizes smart services, provides an in-depth understanding of customer experience in this new context, and discusses relevant implications for management and service research.
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Anders Gustafsson, Lerzan Aksoy, Michael K. Brady, Janet R. McColl-Kennedy, Nancy J. Sirianni, Lars Witell and Nancy V. Wuenderlich
The purpose of this paper is to encourage the reader to think differently about service-related issues and to strive to conduct service research that makes a transformational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to encourage the reader to think differently about service-related issues and to strive to conduct service research that makes a transformational impact on individuals, organizations and society. The authors suggest that service researchers are in an excellent position to develop research that matters by making stronger connections with theory and elevating purely applied research to research that is higher in both practical relevance and methodological rigor.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes a conceptual approach, connecting pertinent literature with new ideas highlighted in this special issue.
Findings
This paper proposes that service researchers look beyond traditional service applications, take a multi-disciplinary approach to problem-solving and make greater strides towards connecting theory and practice. The authors propose a Model of Rigorous and Relevant Research, and call for fresh thinking across a wide range of research areas, including enhancing the customer experience, crafting innovation, integrating technology and measuring service outcomes.
Originality/value
The originality of this essay lies in its focus on revitalizing the discussion on relevance and rigor as a path forward for service research. Additionally, this paper offers new insights on core management aspects of service provision that provide a solid platform for future work in service research.
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Chris Voss, Helen Perks, Rui Sousa, Lars Witell and Nancy V. Wünderlich
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of context and its implications for theory and research in service.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of context and its implications for theory and research in service.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper based on exploring existing research and theory related to context in service research.
Findings
The characteristics of service make context both important and challenging, there is great contextual diversity in service research as reflected, for example in ecosystems made up of multiple contextual variables. There is a need to identify the context-specific nature of middle range theory and the contextual logic of general theory. The authors explore the challenges of context for service theory and how we might learn from theory in a particular context and test or adapt it in other contexts.
Originality/value
The findings of this paper are of value to researchers seeking to develop and justify theory in service research (general, middle range or theory in use).
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Nancy V. Wuenderlich, Kristina Heinonen, Amy L. Ostrom, Lia Patricio, Rui Sousa, Chris Voss and Jos G.A.M. Lemmink
The purpose of this paper is to craft a future research agenda to advance smart service research and practice. Smart services are delivered to or via intelligent objects that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to craft a future research agenda to advance smart service research and practice. Smart services are delivered to or via intelligent objects that feature awareness and connectivity. For service researchers and managers, one of the most fascinating aspects of smart service provision is that the connected object is able to sense its own condition and its surroundings and thus allows for real-time data collection, continuous communication and interactive feedback.
Design/methodology/approach
This article is based on discussions in the workshop on “Fresh perspectives on technology in service” at the International Network of Service Researchers on September 26, 2014 at CTF, Karlstad, Sweden. The paper summarizes the discussion on smart services, adds an extensive literature review, provides examples from business practice and develops a structured approach to new research avenues.
Findings
We propose that smart services vary on their individual level of autonomous decision-making, visibility and embeddedness in objects and customer lives. Based on a discussion of these characteristics, we identify research avenues regarding the perception and nature of smart services, the adoption of smart services, the innovation through smart services as well as regarding the development of new business models.
Originality/value
Smart services is a new emerging topic in service marketing research, their implications on organizations, customers and the service landscape have not been fully explored. We provide a fresh perspective on service research by characterizing relevant aspects of smart service that will stimulate fruitful future research and advance the understanding and practice of smart services.
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Daniel Beverungen, Dennis Kundisch and Nancy Wünderlich
The purpose of this paper is to identify strategic options and challenges that arise when an industrial firm moves from providing smart service toward providing a platform.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify strategic options and challenges that arise when an industrial firm moves from providing smart service toward providing a platform.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual study takes on a multidisciplinary research perspective that integrates concepts, theories and insights from service management and marketing, information systems and platform economics.
Findings
The paper outlines three platform types – smart data platform, smart product platform and matching platform – as strategic options for firms that wish to evolve from smart service providers to platform providers.
Research limitations/implications
Investigating smart service platforms calls for launching interdisciplinary research initiatives. Promising research avenues are outlined to span boundaries that separate different research disciplines today.
Practical implications
Managing a successful transition from providing smart service toward providing a platform requires making significant investments in IT, platform-related capabilities and skills, as well as implement new approaches toward relationship management and brand-building.
Originality/value
The findings described in this paper are valuable to researchers in multiple disciplines seeking to develop and to justify theory related to platforms in industrial scenarios.
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Yajie Gao, Yaping Chang, Yinghao He and Zhihao Yu
As innovative household products, social home robots have a significant impact on the interactive consumer experience. However, prior research on consumer intentions to use such…
Abstract
Purpose
As innovative household products, social home robots have a significant impact on the interactive consumer experience. However, prior research on consumer intentions to use such robots has rarely considered the configuration perspective. The present study examines how consumers balance the key benefits and risks created by these robots and explores how key influential factors jointly influence usage intention from a configuration perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
We adopted a hybrid research design. In Study 1, a thematic analysis was conducted to derive a conceptual framework reflecting the interplay of key factors influencing usage intention. In Study 2, a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was applied to reveal how these factors jointly shape usage intention.
Findings
Equifinal configurations of antecedent conditions (i.e. emotional and instrumental support beliefs, concerns about informational and relational privacy risks, self-construal and anthropomorphic design) led to usage intention. Additionally, four distinct benefit-risk trade-off patterns emerged across individuals.
Research limitations/implications
This study highlights the need to examine robot adoption in interactive marketing, particularly in the service domain. It has implications in the context of commercializing social home robots, emphasizing the potential of leveraging social home robots to enhance interactive consumer experiences and foster close connections with consumers.
Originality/value
We developed a neoconfigurational model to obtain a comprehensive understanding of social home robot acceptance in domestic settings, highlighting its implications for consumer–robot interactions and advancing research in interactive marketing.
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Andrei Bonamigo and Camila Guimarães Frech
This study aims to recognize industry 4.0 opportunities and challenges associated with the co-creation of value in industrial services and to propose a theoretical framework for…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to recognize industry 4.0 opportunities and challenges associated with the co-creation of value in industrial services and to propose a theoretical framework for smart industrial services systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors carried out a systematic literature review based on the systematic search flow method; thereafter, the authors used the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011) to analyze the resulting portfolio.
Findings
The authors identified a total of five industry 4.0 opportunities and five challenges for co-creating value in industrial services. Drawing upon these findings, this paper builds a theoretical framework for the smart industrial services system, in which the industry 4.0 opportunities arise from the digitally mediated inter-firm interactions and the challenges related to the resources of this system.
Research limitations/implications
This study may not have enabled a complete coverage of all existing peer-reviewed articles in the field of value co-creation in industrial services associated with the industry 4.0 technologies. Also, the framework is constrained by being theoretical rather than empirically grounded.
Practical implications
The findings give managers support to devise strategies for overcoming the barriers that impede them from taking advantage of the opportunities offered by industry 4.0 for co-creating value in industrial services.
Originality/value
This paper’s uniqueness is to identify the industry 4.0 opportunities and challenges for value co-creation in the context of industrial services and to propose a framework for the smart industrial services system.
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Norma B. Coe and April Yanyuan Wu
This article estimates the causal effect of benefit levels on elderly enrollment in two public assistance programs by using the variation in eligibility and benefit levels…
Abstract
This article estimates the causal effect of benefit levels on elderly enrollment in two public assistance programs by using the variation in eligibility and benefit levels introduced by old-age pension benefits. The findings are threefold. First, the low take-up among the elderly is not driven by changes in the composition of the eligible pool. Second, old-age pensions decrease the use of public assistance programs by decreasing the gain of participation – the potential benefits. Third, we find program-specific responses: a $100 increase in potential Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits leads to a 4–6 percentage point increase in the take-up probability, but we are unable to estimate consistent results for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Together with the fact that eligible individuals who begin receiving old-age pensions continue to participate in SSI more often than they maintain SNAP enrollment, the different program response could be due to preference for cash over in-kind transfers.
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Lan Xia, Joyce (Feng) Wang and Fei Gao
Pets reflect the identity and moral values of their owners. The purpose of this study is to examine how pet owners’ political identity (liberal–conservative) influences the…
Abstract
Purpose
Pets reflect the identity and moral values of their owners. The purpose of this study is to examine how pet owners’ political identity (liberal–conservative) influences the relationship they forge with their pets as well as their purchase behaviors of pet-related products and services.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted two surveys of pet owners with different political identities and measured both their relationship with their pets and their purchase intentions of medical-related products and services as well as luxury accessories. Two secondary data sources were used to provide additional support.
Findings
This study shows that, on one hand, pet owners anthropomorphize their pets as if they were human equals. On the other hand, they consider themselves masters and emphasize control. The former aligns with the individualizing values endorsed by liberals, while the latter aligns with conservatives’ binding values. Reflecting their different values and owner-pet relationship characteristics, liberals and conservatives exhibit different purchase patterns. Liberals are more likely to buy medical-related products and services, while conservatives are more likely to buy branded luxury accessories for their pets.
Research limitations/implications
Both primary studies are survey-based and data are correlational in nature. In addition, the samples are limited to the USA. While research suggests that the liberal-conservative continuum is universal, additional research is needed to generalize the findings to other countries.
Practical implications
Understanding the owner-dog relationship in the context of political identity and the effect of these relationships on dog owners' purchases offer interesting managerial implications in terms of product offerings, retail assortment decisions of related products and pet product branding.
Originality/value
While dog ownership and related purchases are on the rise, research on owner-pet relationships is scant. This study provides theoretical contributions and implications by going beyond general relationship closeness and bringing in the role of owners’ (political) identity.
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Jochen Wirtz, Kevin Kam Fung So, Makarand Amrish Mody, Stephanie Q. Liu and HaeEun Helen Chun
The purpose of this paper is to examine peer-to-peer sharing platform business models, their sources of competitive advantage, and the roles, motivations and behaviors of key…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine peer-to-peer sharing platform business models, their sources of competitive advantage, and the roles, motivations and behaviors of key actors in their ecosystems.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a conceptual approach that is rooted in the service, tourism and hospitality, and strategy literature.
Findings
First, this paper defines key types of platform business models in the sharing economy anddescribes their characteristics. In particular, the authors propose the differentiation between sharing platforms of capacity-constrained vs capacity-unconstrained assets and advance five core properties of the former. Second, the authors contrast platform business models with their pipeline business model counterparts to understand the fundamental differences between them. One important conclusion is that platforms cater to vastly more heterogeneous assets and consumer needs and, therefore, require liquidity and analytics for high-quality matching. Third, the authors examine the competitive position of platforms and conclude that their widely taken “winner takes it all” assumption is not valid. Primary network effects are less important once a critical level of liquidity has been reached and may even turn negative if increased listings raise friction in the form of search costs. Once a critical level of liquidity has been reached, a platform’s competitive position depends on stakeholder trust and service provider and user loyalty. Fourth, the authors integrate and synthesize the literature on key platform stakeholders of platform businesses (i.e. users, service providers, and regulators) and their roles and motivations. Finally, directions for further research are advanced.
Practical implications
This paper helps platform owners, service providers and users understand better the implications of sharing platform business models and how to position themselves in such ecosystems.
Originality/value
This paper integrates the extant literature on sharing platforms, takes a novel approach in delineating their key properties and dimensions, and provides insights into the evolving and dynamic forms of sharing platforms including converging business models.