Jennifer D. Chandler

Service Systems A Broadened Framework and Research Agenda on Value Propositions, Engagement, and Service Experience

The proposed framework sheds light on the fundamental role that value propositions play in service systems. Building on service-dominant logic from marketing and structuration theory from sociology, the authors theoretically link three service constructs: value propositions as invitations from actors to one another to engage in service, engagement as alignment of connections and dispositions, and service experience as many-to-many engagement. The proposed framework generates future research directions and theory development regarding the crucial role of value propositions in service systems; ultimately, it contributes to a deeper understanding of markets that is different than that which is guided by the standard neoclassical economics view of markets.

Prosumer motivations in service experiences

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to, first, make explicit the theoretical link between prosumers and co-creation as articulated in the service-dominant logic framework. The authors re-examine the contributions of prosumers to service experiences with the intent of clarifying how prosumers act as co-creators of value. The second purpose of this study is to clarify the underlying motivations for prosumers’ participation in co-creation/service experiences. The authors assert that high-quality service experiences require service researchers and managers to better understand prosumers and their motivations. Design/methodology/approach – Through a qualitative investigation, the authors examine prosumers and their social motivations – from a service experience perspective. Findings – The findings illustrate that prosumers are not only participants in the co-creation of value; the findings illustrate that prosumers are active designers of service experiences. This is because prosumers are motivated by both ...

Practice styles and service systems

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how practices influence service systems. Design/methodology/approach Data across three service contexts (crafts, healthcare and fitness) were collected through depth interviews and netnographic analysis, and analyzed with a two-study multi-method approach focusing first on the micro- (individual) level and then on the macro- (network) level of service systems. Study 1 focused on a micro-level analysis using qualitative techniques (Spiggle, 1994). Study 2 focused on a macro-level analysis using partial least squares regression. Findings The results illustrate how practices can change service systems. This occurs when a nuanced practice (i.e. a practice style) orders and roots a service system in a specific form of value creation. The findings reveal four practice styles: individual-extant, social-extant, individual-modified and social-modified practice styles. These practice styles shift in response to event triggers and change service systems. These event triggers are: service beneficiary enhancement, service beneficiary failure, service provider failure and social change. Thus, the findings show that practices – when shifting in response to event triggers – change service systems. This transpires in the understudied meta-layer of a service system. Practical implications The study identifies four practice styles that can serve as the basis for segmentation and service design. Originality/value Service systems are dynamic and ever changing. This study explores how service systems change by proposing a practice approach to service systems.

The Duality of Second Screens: A Phenomenological Study of Multi-platform Engagement and Service Experiences

Internet traffic from mobile devices surpassed traffic from traditional desktop PCs for the first time in 2014. Although users today access and experience digital services through multiple mobile and traditional devices simultaneously, little empirical research investigated the mechanisms driving this shift, or its implications for service innovation research and practice. Here, we report on a qualitative phenomenological study of multi-device use. Drawing on the emerging literature at the interface of service-dominant (SD) logic and service innovation, we conceptualize the individual devices used to access digital services as engagement platforms. We explore user behavior and experiences of digital entertainment services, and find that the perceived need to enhance or avoid elements of digital service experiences motivates users to switch between and/or supplement multiple engagement platforms with one another. We conceptualize our findings in two distinct theoretical models and delineate future research opportunities.

The Future of Service Systems: From Synergetics to Multi-Sided Platforms

The purpose of this chapter is to frame the future of service systems at the theoretical intersection of synergetics and multi-sided platforms. The future, or propagation and evolution, of service systems requires an understanding of the pivots and modes by which the people, technology, and value propositions in a service system jointly evolve. A better understanding of this can emerge from applying the approaches of synergetics, or the enslaving and consensualization of service systems through order parameters (Meynhardt et al., J Bus Res 69:2981–2989, 2016), and multi-sided platforms, or the technologies that enable direct interactions among two or more groups (Hagiu, MIT Sloan Manage Rev 55:71, 2014; Hagiu and Wright, Int J Ind Organ 43:162–174, 2015). Together these two approaches enrich the study of the future of service systems.

HOW SOCIAL COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL PUBLISHING INFLUENCE NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH: THE CASE OF TWITTER DURING THE PLAYSTATION 4 AND XBOX ONE LAUNCHES

While the traditional marketing literature typically illustrates consumers as passive recipients of products and services, social media enables consumers to actively participate in cocreation during new product launch periods. Building on Tuten and Solomon’s Zones of Social Media framework, the authors show how Twitter can be leveraged to create social community and social publishing opportunities. Using an exploratory study investigating the new product launches of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One video game consoles, the authors show that shared language and personalized communication cultivated through these opportunities can enhance new product launch efforts by facilitating learning and knowledge cocreation.

How does innovation emerge in a service ecosystem

To advance the study of innovation in complex settings, this study integrates the innovation, institutional theory, philosophy, and service-dominant logic literatures. Exploring the emergence of innovation and service ecosystem dynamics, researchers take an abductive approach anchored in over 4 years of case study data regarding a high technology solution in an Internet-of-Things setting. By framing innovation as a systemic process, the study reveals that (1) institutional reconciliation is an overlooked phase of innovation, (2) ideas are refined by four types of institutional reconciliation pressures (tensions, divergences, expected value, and service), and (3) innovation is influenced by plasticity in four ways (recursivity, temporality, complementarity, and continuity). Based on these findings, the authors outline a research agenda regarding four principles of innovation as a systemic process. The findings suggest that managers should nurture norms, rules, and beliefs through a systemic process that facilitates the emergence of innovation.