Editorial: Opportunities in the new service marketplace

Purpose This paper aims to identify the opportunities in the service marketplace that have arisen because of the changes brought about by the global pandemic (COVID-19). Design/methodology/approach A conceptual methodological approach is used to analyze trends in the history of service research and discuss how articles presented in this issue help scholars and practitioners with planning for opportunities and confronting challenges in the new (post COVID-19) service marketplace. Findings This special issue puts forth six viewpoints and seven research articles that outline opportunities in the new service marketplace from regional and global perspectives. Further, the research articles presented in this issue identify four opportunities for managers to consider when designing services in the new service marketplace;these are labeled as reassurance and fear reduction, rethinking physical space and supply chains for multichannel service delivery, the rise of local and community importance and resilience building to combat customer discourtesy. Practical implications Managers can understand how the pandemic has profoundly and permanently impacted consumers' perceptions and expectations for service delivery and processes. Originality/value This work presents scholars with a historical overview of trends in service research. The challenges posed by the pandemic represent the beginning of a new era in service research thought and practice as many previously held theories and understandings of consumers' marketplace behaviors have permanently changed because of behavioral changes that transpired during governmental mandated lockdowns.

Blended human-technology service realities in healthcare

Purpose: The healthcare sector is experiencing a major paradigm shift toward a people-centered approach. The key issue with transitioning to a people-centered approach is a lack of understanding of the ever-increasing role of technology in blended human-technology healthcare interactions and the impacts on healthcare actors' well-being. The purpose of the paper is to identify the key mechanisms and influencing factors through which blended service realities affect engaged actors' well-being in a healthcare context. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper takes a human-centric perspective and a value co-creation lens and uses theory synthesis and adaptation to investigate blended human-technology service realities in healthcare services. Findings: The authors conceptualize three blended human-technology service realities – human-dominant, balanced and technology-dominant – and identify two key mechanisms – shared control and emotional-social and cognitive complexity – and three influencing factors – meaningful human-technology experiences, agency and DART (dialogue, access, risk, transparency) – that affect the well-being outcome of engaged actors in these blended human-technology service realities. Practical implications: Managerially, the framework provides a useful tool for the design and management of blended human-technology realities. The paper explains how healthcare services should pay attention to management and interventions of different services realities and their impact on engaged actors. Blended human-technology reality examples – telehealth, virtual reality (VR) and service robots in healthcare – are used to support and contextualize the study’s conceptual work. A future research agenda is provided. Originality/value: This study contributes to service literature by developing a new conceptual framework that underpins the mechanisms and factors that influence the relationships between blended human-technology service realities and engaged actors' well-being. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Editorial: service research in the new (post-COVID) marketplace

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to encourage service researchers to consider the long-term or permanent impact of the coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) on services, service delivery, organizational structures, service providers and service systems from global perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: This editorial is based on the personal reflections of the Journal of Services Marketing editors. Findings: The services marketing discipline emerged in a time when customers and employees were encouraged to engage in social interaction and to form relationships, as many service encounters were deemed as social encounters. COVID-19 has impacted the ability of customers and employees to freely engage in social interaction, and as a result, we need to consider the steadfastness of our foundational theories and conceptual models in the “new” marketplace. Research limitations/implications: The editors put forth a series of sixteen research questions that warrant future empirical and descriptive research. Practical implications: Managers can understand how COVID-19 will profoundly impact dramatic changes in the marketplace and prepare for them. Originality/value: This study suggests that our theoretical and practical understandings of service industries has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.