On innovation patterns and value-tensions in public services

In the innovation studies literature, innovation patterns have been described, such as science-based and practice-based innovation, that vary among industrial sectors. As a consequence, firms become distinguished with respect to their typical innovation pattern. Less attention has been paid to the possibility of intertwined innovation patterns. Focusing on public sector services, this paper argues that intertwined innovation patterns emerge within public services as a response to value-tensions. Values can be defined as measures for beneficial behaviour that guide innovation. Value-tensions in public services include tensions between the political, economic, communal, aesthetic and intellectual values. The contribution of the paper to service innovation research is the emphasis on the concept of intertwined innovation patterns, such as the intertwinement of science-driven and task-driven innovation. Furthermore, the paper contributes by pinpointing how varied values guide innovation in public services.     

Electronic and in-person service quality of hybrid services

The service industries have experienced dramatic changes in service delivery format because of fast-paced innovation in information technology. Hybrid services involve service deliveries through conventional and technology-enabled environments, each of which is complementary and non-interchangeable. However, limited research has examined consumer behavior in response to a series of relevant service episodes in different channels at different points in time. In other words, how customers perceive service quality at each service encounter and how the cumulative effect of these perceptions influences customers’ overall service value assessment and satisfaction remain unclear. This study addresses this research gap by investigating the sequential influence of e-service quality on in-person service quality in a hybrid service format in which interpersonal and computer-mediated services coexist but at different points in time. Empirical analysis shows that e-service quality directly and positively affects in-person service quality, which fully mediates the effects of e-service quality on perceived value and customer satisfaction. The sequence of service encounters matters because in-person service quality perception has a stronger effect than e-service quality on customer metrics. Cumulative quality perceptions significantly influence perceived value and overall customer satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented in the discussion.     

Understanding the user satisfaction and loyalty of customer service chatbots

The artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot is emerging as a significant corporate customer-facing application, potentially increasin customer service efficiency while reducing costs. However, little work has sought to assess the quality of service they provide consumers. This study applies the e-service quality by incorporating conversational AI quality to predict users' satisfaction and loyalty to customer service chatbots. The proposed model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 219 users responding about their perceptions of customer service chatbots. The findings indicate that AI chatbot service recovery quality and AI chatbot conversational quality significantly influence user satisfaction. On the other hand, core AI chatbot service quality and satisfaction significantly influenced chatbot user loyalty. This study contributes to researchers and practitioners by proposing and evaluating a more comprehensive chatbot e-service quality that combines both fundamental (core service and service recovery qualities) and human-like (conversational quality) aspects of e-service. The results are of value in devising future AI chatbot services and related strategies.     

Loyalty toward online food delivery service: the role of e-service quality and food quality

This study assesses the direct influence of food quality and e-service quality on customer loyalty toward online food delivery (OFD) service and its indirect influence through the mediation of customer satisfaction and perceived value. This study uses a survey of 405 OFD service customers from Bandung, Indonesia. By applying variance-based partial least squares to evaluate the proposed model, this study confirms the direct effect of food quality on online loyalty, but not e-service quality. Further, this study discloses the partial mediation role of customer satisfaction and perceived value on the relationship between both food quality and e-service quality on online loyalty toward OFD services.     

Customer-perceived value and loyalty: how do key service quality dimensions matter in the context of B2C e-commerce?

This paper develops a research model to examine the effect of e-service quality dimensions on customer-perceived value and customer loyalty. Based on a survey of 235 online customers, we identify five key e-service quality dimensions: care, reliability, products portfolio, ease of use, and security. Our empirical results show that all the five dimensions have significant and positive impacts on customer-perceived value which, in turn, increases customer loyalty. We further examine the mediating role of customer-perceived value in the relationship between each e-service quality and customer loyalty. The results suggest that customer-perceived value plays a partially mediating role in the effect of ease of use, care, product portfolio, and reliability on customer loyalty, and a fully mediating role in the relationship between security and customer loyalty. Managers may be in a position to benefit by employing the model presented in this study in an effort to improve service performance and, hence, retain customers.     

Configuration of innovation and performance in the service industry: evidence from the Taiwanese hotel industry

This study attempts to state some facts about the importance of innovation in the service economy, and especially the hotel industry by classifying the configurations of innovation in Taiwanese hotels, as well as considering the types of innovation configuration that will maximise performance. Technological innovation, organisational innovation, and human capital innovation may be key sources of innovation. This study classified the configurations of innovation based on several innovation activities with two-step cluster analysis. Numerous empirical findings facilitate improved understanding of the relationship between the configurations of innovation and firm performance in the Taiwanese hotel industry.     

Operationalisation of service innovation: a systems thinking approach

This paper initialises an effort to explore the impact of an innovative systems thinking approach for service operations design on creating innovation. A qualitative exploratory case study approach in two of the UK’s service sector departments was conducted, using face-to-face semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and extractions from both observations and documents. The results identify that operationalising service innovation is positively linked with applying the Vanguard Method for service operations design. Twelve micro-determinants for service innovation operationalisation have been identified that reside at three different levels in the service organisation, namely employees level (i.e. Micro), the functional level (i.e. Meso), and corporate level (i.e. Macro). The value of this paper is the introduction of a step-by-step guidance on how to build service operations design to operationalise service innovation, the paper also theorises service innovation with systems thinking methodology that emphasises holistic, multi-disciplinary, and integrative characteristics of the service system.     

Attribute Perceptions,Customer Satisfaction and Intention to Recommend E-Services

Academic research has focused on the quality perceptions that drive customer satisfaction as the key to achieving e-service success. This paper develops a process-based model that relates perceptions of managerially actionable site characteristics to online satisfaction, which mediates the effects of site characteristics on intention to recommend e-services. A unique data set provided by Web Mystery Shoppers International Inc. (webmysteryshoppers.com), a market research supplier, enables the model to be refined using data from samples of responses to each of the competitive websites for one financial service, and then to be tested using similar data for another financial e-service and then for a travel e-service. The model, which accounts for most of the variance in online satisfaction and online intention to recommend in the fitted data, is largely confirmed on cross validation. Process evaluations and satisfaction mediate the effects of actionable website characteristics on intention to recommend e-services.     

Co-production of service innovations through dynamic capability enhancement

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of co-production practices with customers on service innovation. Specifically, we sought to determine whether dynamic capabilities (the specific abilities a company has to shape, reshape, configure, and reconfigure idiosyncratic assets to respond to changing technologies and markets) could mediate the effect of co-production on service innovation. In this paper, we examine the factors that could influence co-production practices and determine whether organizational commitment moderates the effect of co-production practice on an organization's dynamic capabilities. Using a survey approach of Taiwanese firms, we showed that dynamic capability fully mediates the effects of co-production practice on service innovation and that market orientation and customer matching have a significant influence on co-production practices. In addition, this study has empirically demonstrated that service firms would be well advised to engage in developing service innovation through enhancing their own dynamic capabilities.     

The impact of service innovation on firm-level financial performance

This article empirically investigates if firms focusing on service innovation perform better financially than firms not focusing on service innovation. Analysis of the financial performance of 3575 Norwegian firms in the manufacturing industries supports the proposition that firms focusing on service innovation have significantly higher growth of operating results than firms not focusing on service innovation. However, this proposition is not supported in a corresponding analysis of 1132 Norwegian firms in the service industries. We elaborate on these results by investigating a variety of performance measures and by comparing the effects of service innovation between manufacturing and service industries. The article contributes to the service innovation measurement literature and to a better general understanding of the determinants of service innovation performance effects.     

The golden mean: Research on the mechanism of customer participation in employee service innovation

Service innovation is of importance in achieving business success. This study aims to understand how customer participation affects employees' service innovation through zhongyong thinking and verify the moderating role of leadership empowerment in the service section. Data were collected through a paired questionnaire survey with 352 valid frontline employees and their superiors in the starred hotel industry. Multiple linear regressions and bootstrap analysis were performed to examine the hypotheses. The results indicate that customer participation is positively related to zhongyong thinking and service innovation, and zhongyong thinking partially mediates the main effect. In addition, service innovation is more substantial when leadership empowerment is high, and customer participation has a weaker impact on zhongyong thinking when leadership empowerment is low. This study contributes to the employee service innovation literature by confirming that customer participation and employees' zhongyong thinking play vital roles in the Chinese service context. This study also helps service managers understand that empowering their subordinates can facilitate employees' service innovation.     

Developing e-service quality scales: A literature review

This study reviews the literature on e-service quality (e-SQ), with an emphasis on the methodological issues involved in developing measurement scales and issues related to the dimensionality of the e-SQ construct. We selected numerous studies on e-SQ from well-known databases and subjected them to a thorough content analysis. The review shows that dimensions of e-service quality tend to be contingent on the service industry. Despite the common dimensions often used in evaluating e-SQ, regardless of the type of service on the internet (‘reliability/fulfilment’, ‘responsiveness’, ‘web design’, ‘ease of use/usability’, ‘privacy/security’, and ‘information quality/benefit’), other dimensions are specific to e-service contexts. The study also identifies several conceptual and methodological limitations associated with developing e-SQ measurement such as the lack of a rigorous validation process, the problematic sample size and composition, the focus on functional aspects, and the use of a data-driven approach. This is the first study to undertake an extensive literature review of research on the development of e-SQ scales. The findings should be valuable to academics and practitioners alike.     

Diversity of innovation patterns in services

Recently, literature on innovation in service activities has increased significantly. Much effort has been concentrated on understanding the importance of innovation for these activities, and on stressing innovative differences relative to the manufacturing innovation model. However, a deeper understanding is needed in three main areas: the degree of innovation heterogeneity among different service activities, the factors that explain this heterogeneity, and the primary drivers of the innovation process for each activity. Using results from the Third Community Innovation Survey, this paper aims to identify the extent to which there are similarities and differences in the main innovation attributes in four important service sub-sectors. After describing the characteristics of innovation and the behavior of variables in the sub-sectors, a typology of innovation patterns is identified.     

服务创新与服务忠诚关系模型——基于餐饮业的实证研究

以餐饮业为调研对象,用结构方程模式方法对服务创新与服务忠诚关系模型作实证研究。结果表明:人员服务过程和有形展示对服务忠诚的形成具有重要的作用;服务的有形附属产品创新对于服务忠诚的形成无显著作用;服务创新对服务忠诚的作用分别通过服务质量和感知价值来实现。     

Service innovation as a political process

Service innovation processes are driven by stakeholders in interaction and are understood and sketched as a value negotiation process that consists of an iterative process of securing potential value in service. While previous research has focused on service innovation as a harmonious closed system, our study explores service innovation as a political process in which stakeholders negotiate to create and secure future value. Data are collected through interviews and participant observations in four different case studies. Our study contributes to the field by illuminating service innovation as a political process and explaining how this is operationalized. The findings also contribute to an understanding of how stakeholder resources impact a chosen strategy; the resulting strategy’s impact on the service concept vis-à-vis its potential value; and how several involved stakeholders formulate, negotiate, and secure future potential value, which are the activities that drive a service innovation process.     

我国专业化创业服务体系的研究与思考

创新驱动正成为我国经济高质量发展的关键，创业服务平台作为我国中小微企业创新创业的重要载体，服务模式和服务质量对助力创新经济具有重要意义。通过梳理国内众创空间、大学科技园、科技企业孵化器等多层面的创业服务平台运营现状，分析创业服务体系对科技创新和产业发展的显著作用，提出专业化服务能力建设对于推动战略性新兴产业的快速发展，支撑我国产业创新发展和“双创”升级具有重要价值并提出相应的推进策略。     

Innovation patterns and their effects on firm performance

This study aims to identify various innovation patterns and understand their effects on firm performance across business service sectors. By collecting empirical data from 198 Korean business services firms, we explore these firms’ major innovation patterns, conceptualized as combinations of different service innovation dimensions: service concept, service delivery, customer interaction, and technology. Then, in accordance with the innovation patterns they display, we group these firms into four clusters: ‘service delivery-based high-technology', ‘service delivery and customer interaction-integrated', ‘customer interaction-based high-technology', and ‘strongly balanced’ innovators. Last, we investigate whether these patterns influence firm performance. Our findings are three-fold: (1) the innovation patterns in business service firms result from the creation of new combinations of major service innovation dimensions, (2) four independent innovation patterns emerge in business service firms, and (3) these patterns lead to different levels of firm performance. Practically, our findings highlight the importance of highly qualified employees, customer interaction, and technology in improving financial performance.     

A consumer typology based on e-service quality and e-satisfaction

The increasingly systematic use of the Internet in consumers’ decision-making processes, coupled with the development of e-commerce, has led researchers and practitioners to examine issues concerning service quality and satisfaction in an online context. This paper proposes a post-hoc predictive typology of e-satisfaction based on four dimensions of e-service quality. A sample of 1144 French consumers recruited on websites from three different industries (online travel, cultural goods (books, CDs, DVDs, etc.), and electronics goods) was used to generate the proposed typology. Using a mixture modeling regression, five groups of consumers who differed in terms of e-satisfaction and e-service quality were identified: the ‘involved’, the ‘browsers’, the ‘fun seekers’, the ‘careful’ and the ‘surfers’. All the four e-service quality dimensions investigated were found to influence e-satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

The evolution of service innovation research: a critical review and synthesis

The number of service innovation articles has increased dramatically in the past 25 years. By reviewing 128 articles published between 1986 and 2010, primarily in leading marketing and innovation journals, this study analyzes the progression of service innovation research according to topicality and perspective. The authors summarize prior research by clustering it into three evolutional phases and drawing parallels with the evolution of the wider services marketing field. Overall, the view of service innovation has evolved, from a complement of traditional product innovation to a multidimensional, all-encompassing notion that entails several functions, both within and outside the firm.     

一种新的服务开发理念:可持续服务创新

随着环保和可持续发展的观念日益深入人心,环保意识和环保消费创造了新的市场需求,不仅在制造业领域,而且在服务业领域都应当重视和实践可持续发展式的经营管理。将可持续发展的思想用于服务创新理论的理念,对实施可持续服务创新具有重要意义。归纳总结可持续服务创新的主要途径,旨在引起服务业对可持续发展思想的足够重视,为实施可持续服务创新提供一定的参考。