Refugee influx: Repercussions and research agenda for service scholars

Service provision is an integral part of hosting refugees. However, the service scholar community has remained rather dormant in regard to focusing on refugee issues. This is indeed surprising given international refugee influx is today one of the more pressing issues for developing and developed countries alike. This research note aims to identify the demands on countries’ “service ecosystems” after an influx of migrants arrives in a country, and suggests research avenues for scholars. Resolving service related issues can assist practitioners and government bodies in how to better design and manage the interface between refugees and the new (service) ecosystems these actors have entered when reaching a host country. Therefore, this research note outlines the challenges of such refugee in- or through flux relating to service provision by focusing on the incoming actors (refugees) as well as the resident actors (locals, service providers, government bodies etc.). Repercussions as well as the subsequent agenda for inquiry for service scholars outlined refer to the various system levels from micro to macro, such as on individual, family, city, regional, state and national level, but also outside the system on an international level.