PurposeThis article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role of employees. This focus complements the Marketing discipline's heavy emphasis on customers, largely true of service research, overall.Design/methodology/approachTen OB/HRM frameworks/perspectives are applied to analyzing the roles of people (with a focus on employees and modest consideration of customers as "partial" employees who co-create value) in a service organization context. Also, commentary is offered on how the frameworks relate to six key themes in contemporary service research and/or practice. The article concludes with five reflections on the role and status of employees in service research-past, present and future.FindingsEmployee roles in evolving service contexts; participation role readiness of both employees and customers; role stress in participating customers; an employee "empowered state of mind"; an emphasis on internal service quality; "strong" HRM systems link individual HRM practices to firm performance; service-profit chain with links to well-being of employees and customers; a sociotechnical system theory lens on organizational frontlines (OF); service climate as an exemplar of interdisciplinary research; emotional labor in both employees and customers; the Human Experience (HX); specification of employee experience (EX).Originality/valueService remains very much about people who still guide organizational design, develop service strategy, place new service technologies and even still serve customers. Also, a people and organization-based competitive advantage is tough to copy, thus possessing sustainability, unlike with imitable technology.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what (service) experience is and examine it using three distinct perspectives: customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and human experience (HX). Design/methodology/approach-The present conceptualization blends the marketing and organizational behavior/human resources management (OB/HRM) disciplines to clarify and reflect over the meaning of (service) experience. The marketing discipline illuminates the concept of CX, whereas the OB/HRM discipline illuminates the concept of EX. The concept of HX, which transcends CX and EX, is examined in light of its recent development in service research. For each of the three concepts, key themes are identified, and future research directions are proposed. Findings-Because the goal that individuals seek to achieve depends on the role they are enacting, each of the three perspectives on experience (CX, EX and HX) should have a different focal point. CX requires to focus on the process of solving customer goals. EX necessitates to think in terms of organizational context and job content that support employees. Finally, the focus of HX should be on well-being via enhanced gratification, and reduced violation, of basic human needs. Originality/value-This paper offers an interdisciplinary perspective on (service) experience and simultaneously addresses CX, EX and HX in order to reconcile the different perspectives on experience in service research.

PurposeThis tribute to Dr Pierre Eiglier, who passed in February 2020, was prepared for the “17th International Research Conference in Service Management 2022” in La Londe les Maures, France. Tribute is defined as, “an act, statement, or gift intended to show gratitude, respect, or admiration”.Design/methodology/approachSampled Pierre's publications; consulted the 1993 Journal of Retailing “Special Services Issue” on the evolution of the field; collected reflections from another founder and two of Pierre's former doctoral students who have helped co-chair the La Londe conference and drew from my own interactions with Pierre over the years at La Londe.FindingsIn the mid-1970s, Pierre was one of the first to specify the unique characteristics of services vs products, and the implications and introduced, with Eric Langeard, the “servuction” (service production) model, highlighting customer participation in the servuction process and determinants of the service experience. Pierre continually applied a synthesis of systems thinking, researcher–practitioner interaction, and interdisciplinary/cross-functional perspectives.Practical implicationsPierre's contributions came at a time when marketing practice was geared largely toward products/goods, yet the service sector was growing. Pierre's pioneering framing, along with other founders, of service attributes, service models, and the service experience had much-needed implications for services marketing practice.Originality/valueThis detailed tribute to a service field founder is, regrettably, quite original; too rare. There is value in revisiting these founding contributions which often were broader and more interdisciplinary in perspective than now.

This article seeks to broaden emotional labor research through the lens of a Human Experience (HX) perspective, in contrast to either an Employee (EX) or a Customer (CX) perspective. In services, an HX perspective explicitly acknowledges that both employees and customers are humans with the same set of basic human needs to gratify in their Moment of Truth (MOT) interactions. The focus here is on both parties’ needs for authenticity and justice. This HX perspective is applied here to guide integrating emotional labor dynamics and scholarship into a service climate research framework (Bowen and Schneider 2014). The emotional labor focus on employees helps balance the stronger focus on the customer in the service literature. An agenda for future research on the HX perspective is outlined, including the study of emotional labor in underdeveloped areas of the world where the human experience of both those who serve and those served can be unbearable.

Purpose Elevating the human experience (HX) through research collaborations is the purpose of this article. ServCollab facilitates and supports service research collaborations that seek to reduce human suffering and improve human well-being. Design/methodology/approach To catalyze this initiative, the authors introduce ServCollab's three human rights goals (serve, enable and transform), standards of justice for serving humanity (distributive, procedural and interactional justice) and research approaches for serving humanity (service design and community action research). Research implications ServCollab seeks to advance the service research field via large-scale service research projects that pursue theory building, research and action. Service inclusion is the first focus of ServCollab and is illustrated through two projects (transformative refugee services and virtual assistants in social care). This paper seeks to encourage collaboration in more large-scale service research projects that elevate the HX. Practical implications ServCollab seeks to raise the aspirations of service researchers, expand the skills of service research teams and build mutually collaborative service research approaches that transform human lives. Originality/value ServCollab is a unique organization within the burgeoning service research community. By collaborating with service researchers, with service research centers, with universities, with nonprofit agencies and with foundations, ServCollab will build research capacity to address large-scale human service system problems. ServCollab takes a broad perspective for serving humanity by focusing on the HX. Current business research focuses on the interactive roles of customer experience and employee experience. From the perspective of HX, such role labels are insufficient concepts for the full spectrum of human life.

Due to the rise of technology and the quest for productivity, retailers continue to expand customer coproduction initiatives and companies therefore need to train customers for their roles during their visit. This research aims to compare the effects of proactive training (before experience and before customer request) vs. reactive training (upon request during the experience) on customers' ability to coproduce (script proficiency), the total sales value per customer, and customer satisfaction. Which is the best solution for training customers? This research proposes three main contributions. First, we define the concepts of proactive and reactive training. Second, this research proposes a new way of measuring coproduction by adopting the company's perspective. Third, with this method, we establish that proactive training is the only type of training that increases script proficiency, which in turn positively influences the total sales value per customer, but not customer satisfaction. However, reactive training is still important to avoid critical situations.

This commentary heartily endorses the organizational frontlines (OF) construct proposed in the special issue of Journal of Service Research. The central goal of the commentary is to facilitate the interdisciplinary focus of the OF construct so appropriately emphasized in the special issue by focusing in on the role of people throughout a service organization. We emphasize in particular how people are involved in every facet of the service organization that eventually impacts the OF including, via the sociotechnical systems construct, the development and implementation of technology used at the frontlines. A three-tier view of service organizations is summarized that includes customers, employees, and management (coordination) tiers—and their interactions especially vis-à-vis the boundary tier (frontlines) of service organizations. In addition, we summarize three contextual human facets of service organizations that impact what happens at the frontlines that were relatively underemphasized in the special issue: service climate, internal service, and the strength of human resource management systems. Finally, we note the importance of attending, through research and practice, to the changes in the roles of people as technology plays an increasing role in many service delivery systems.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to accelerate research related to the employee-facets of service management by summarizing current developments in multiple research streams, providing propositions, and articulating new directions for theory and empirical inquiry.Design/methodology/approachSeven scholars provide short reviews of the core topics and findings from four employee-related research streams – collective turnover, service climate, emotional labor, and occupational stress; and generate propositions to guide future theoretical and empirical work. Four distinguished service scholars – David Bowen, Ray Fisk, Christian Grönroos, and Jochen Wirtz comment upon these research streams and provide future directions for accelerating employee-related research in service management.FindingsAll four research-streams yield insights that have the potential to advance service management research. Commentaries from the distinguished scholars further integrate this work with key concerns within service management including technology-enablement, transformative services, and service strategy.Originality/valueThis paper is unique in its scope of coverage of management topics related to service and its aim to promote interdisciplinary dialog between service management scholars and researchers conducting employee-related research relevant to services.

The service encounter – one of the foundational concepts in service research – is fundamentally changing due to rapid evolutions in technology. In this paper, we offer an updated perspective on what we label the “Service Encounter 2.0”. To this end, we develop a conceptual framework that captures the essence of the Service Encounter 2.0 and provides a synthesis of the changing interdependent roles of technology, employees, and customers. We find that technology either augments or substitutes service employees, and can foster network connections. In turn, employees and customers are taking on the role of enabler, innovator, coordinator and differentiator. In addition, we identify critical areas for future research on this important topic.

This article introduces some service research challenges and opportunities then comments on the articles in this special issue on emergent topics in service research. It is an exciting time for service research as the area is rapidly developing and growing on a global basis. Service research is also especially apt for interdisciplinary as service is not developed by any one function in a company; it is a purpose in some way for everyone across the organization regardless of where they are working. It is strange, then, that we have not advanced further on interdisciplinary research, particularly since it has been in focus for a long time in the field. In this opinion piece we take the opportunity to suggest ways forward that include goals of mastering paradoxical thinking and making a difference.

We search for missing links in how the different social exchange relationships employees have with supervisors (i.e., leader-member exchange [LMX] differentiation) affect their unit service climate perceptions. Drawing on a social comparison perspective, we propose a model in which the different relationships service employees establish with supervisors negatively impact unit service climate through elevated unit relationship conflict. We further suggest that unit relationship conflict plays a mediating role as customer variability increases. Using data from head nurse-nurse relationships in 56 units of two major hospitals, our findings support the proposed linkages as well as reveal that employee perceptions of customer variability strengthen the troublesome positive link between LMX differentiation and unit relationship conflict. The results also indicate that unit relationship conflict mediates the relationship between LMX differentiation and unit service climate when customer variability is high but not low. Our results paint a more nuanced picture of the missing link in the leadership-climate interface by studying the dark side of leadership, a perspective that has yet to receive much scholarly attention. Findings reveal that managers who desire to keep relationship conflict in check need to keep LMX differentiation to a minimum, especially when customer variability is high compared to low.

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Since the 2004 publication of “Understanding HRM–Firm Performance Linkages: The Role of the ‘Strength’ of the HRM System,” the concept of HRM strength has been widely accepted in the field. We reflect on how the construct of HRM system strength has been used in subsequent theory and research, devoting particular attention to identifying consistencies and inconsistencies from the original intent and implications of the construct for related areas and topics such as strategic HRM, HRM architecture, social psychological contracts, and organizational climate strength. Our review indicates that subsequent work has considerably added to the original; however, challenges remain in capitalizing on this construct in both theory and research. We conclude by offering promising directions for further developing the construct of HRM system strength.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to create a movement within the service research community that aspires to help the billions of impoverished people across the world achieve better service from each other, from their communities, from corporations, from their governments, and from nongovernmental organizations. The authors believe every human being is worthy of being served properly. To achieve this purpose, understanding and learning from this huge low-income segment of society known as the base of the pyramid (BoP) is essential. There are myths about the BoP that need to be dispelled and there is a fundamental lack of service research on this important problem. Design/methodology/approach – The existence of an extensive BoP literature combined with service research priorities has called attention to drafting research agendas. Human service systems are explored historically and systems theory provides a perspective for understanding and reducing poverty. Transformative service research, service design research, and community action research are presented to illustrate three research approaches that can contribute to understanding and then better serving the needs of the neglected billions of humanity. Findings – First, the authors present a practical and meaningful call to action by making the case for the service research community to contribute to poverty alleviation with the creation of fresh ideas and research agendas. Second, the authors describe the ample opportunity for conducting service research in and with the BoP and thereby expanding service knowledge about the BoP. Third, the authors suggest a number of approaches for service researchers to join this new movement and help improve the well-being of billions of impoverished people. Social implications – Most existing service research comes from highly developed Anglo-Saxon countries and concerns the service problems of customers in affluent societies. Therefore, there is a fundamental lack of service research at the BoP. The social implications are truly global. Poverty is a global service system problem that can be reduced. Effective poverty alleviation solutions in one part of the world can be adapted to other parts of the world. Originality/value – This paper is a new and very original call to action to the service research community. First, with the exception of a few previous manuscripts calling for research on the BoP, this is the first time a collaborative effort has been made to start systematically changing this knowledge gap. Second, the service research community has never worked on a project of this magnitude. The authors hope to offer a role model to other academic communities as to how to marshal their resources to have a collective, positive impact on the well-being of the world’s impoverished.

The changing role of employees in service theory and practice over the last few decades is overviewed from the perspectives of the management and marketing disciplines. The criticality of employees, particularly front-line employees, in driving customer service outcomes was emphasized in both fields in the 1980s and 1990s. The rise of services marketing highlighted the role of employees in dyadic service encounters with customers. In management, the implications of the customer interface for employee and organization were developed. In the 2000s, the status of the employee's role appeared to diminish as service marketing theory shifted from a provider to a consumer perspective on customer value creation, and as technology substituting for employees grew in practice. In management, new theory and research directions on service employees essentially plateaued. Going forward in evolving service contexts, employees will fill roles as “Innovators”; “Differentiators”; “Enablers” and “Coordinators”. Suggestions are offered for what management can learn from services marketing in the pursuit of interdisciplinary research.

The context in which service is delivered and experienced has, in many respects, fundamentally changed. For instance, advances in technology, especially information technology, are leading to a proliferation of revolutionary services and changing how customers serve themselves before, during, and after purchase. To understand this changing landscape, the authors engaged in an international and interdisciplinary research effort to identify research priorities that have the potential to advance the service field and benefit customers, organizations, and society. The priority-setting process was informed by roundtable discussions with researchers affiliated with service research centers and networks located around the world and resulted in the following 12 service research priorities: stimulating service innovation, facilitating servitization, service infusion, and solutions, understanding organization and employee issues relevant to successful service, developing service networks and systems, leveraging service design, using big data to advance service, understanding value creation, enhancing the service experience, improving well-being through transformative service, measuring and optimizing service performance and impact, understanding service in a global context, and leveraging technology to advance service. For each priority, the authors identified important specific service topics and related research questions. Then, through an online survey, service researchers assessed the subtopics’ perceived importance and the service field’s extant knowledge about them. Although all the priorities and related topics were deemed important, the results show that topics related to transformative service and measuring and optimizing service performance are particularly important for advancing the service field along with big data, which had the largest gap between importance and current knowledge of the field. The authors present key challenges that should be addressed to move the field forward and conclude with a discussion of the need for additional interdisciplinary research.