Making Service Work Decent Work: Marketing Perspectives to Uplift Human Well-Being and Service Excellence

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Introduction

This special issue is a response to the need for further studies on decent work in the service sector, as emphasised by the United Nations SDG 8 and recognized by the ServCollab community and service scholars under Service Research Theme 4 (Subramony & Rosenbaum, 2024; Russell-Bennett et al., 2024). 
There are a growing number of studies in various fields that address decent work, but a marketing perspective is not well developed. Decent work is a crucial component of CSR, which requires companies to take responsibility not only for their customers and external stakeholders, but also for their internal customers, i.e. their employees. International and national organisations report widespread unethical labour practices where minimum workers’ rights are not respected. In addition, some employees’ categories (e.g. by food delivery riders) are protesting to raise public awareness of decent work. As a result, customers are also becoming increasingly aware of unethical working conditions. However, decent work is much more than avoiding underpaid, unsafe or black labour. It is also about creating an environment in which employees feel supported not to sacrifice their personal well-being for their job or their career. This includes, for example, offering service (e.g. nurseries), defining working conditions and practices (e.g. flexible hours, part-time jobs) that facilitate a good work-life time balance. Employers should take special care of vulnerable employees who may be disadvantaged, for example because of their age, gender, health, physical condition, family situation, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, and create a human environment where diversity is an asset and not a barrier. In this way, decent work can improve the well-being and job satisfaction of employees. Happy, satisfied and fulfilled employees can also have a positive impact on customer co-creation, improving the customer experience and overall business performance. In addition, the reputation of a good workplace helps to improve the employer brand and attract motivated employees.

List of Topic Areas

• UN SDG 8, 
• Decent Work, 
• ServCollab, 
• Transormative Service Research

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”. 
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 21/08/2024
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 28/02/2025

Guest Editors

Maria Colurcio, Department of Law, Economics and Sociology, University of Catanzaro, Italy, [email protected]
Vania Vigolo, Department of Management, University of Verona, Italy, [email protected]
Angela Caridà, Department of Law, Economics and Sociology, University of Catanzaro, Italy, [email protected]