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Introduction
The special issue of the Journal of Service Theory and Practice aims to coordinate and extend the scholarship on designing and managing sustainability in services in the age of digital transformation. The integration of sustainability approaches and digital technologies by service providers is facilitating the development of an array of services that aim to create value outcomes for customers and stakeholders, aligning with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles and supporting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).
The concept of sustainability embodies environmental, ethical/moral, and social issues that service providers include in their service value propositions (Vadkkeppatt et al., 2021). Service providers are under pressure from customers to accelerate their sustainability efforts (Aksoy et al., 2022) through digitalisation. For instance, one in three shoppers is changing their retail habits based on the sustainability practices of service providers (McClay, 2021). Retail services, are at the forefront of digitalization, use data to create services that minimize environmental and societal impacts (PWc, 2022).
Similarly, there is growing emphasis on creating sustainable healthcare service models leveraging technology, as evidenced by the commitment of 50 nations at the G7 summit (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care and Azadi et al., 2023). This concurrent transformation presents a challenge for service firms, requiring a deeper understanding of how to use digital transformation to create sustainable, cost-efficient, and customer-centric services. It also underscores the need for service providers and service ecosystems to reassess and realign their understanding of service leadership, culture, innovation, knowledge sharing, service frontline work, and governance structures to facilitate sustainability through digital technologies.
Sustainability has been identified as a core research priority in service research, following the realization that a sustainable future cannot be achieved without more sustainable service provisioning (Field et al., 2021; Huang, Malthouse, Noble, and Wetzels 2021a). Although service scholarship (e.g., Berry et al., 2024, Koskela-Huotari et al., 2024) acknowledges these challenges, it is limited in thoroughly addressing how traditional or contemporary service theories, frameworks, and concepts support designing services for sustainability via digitalisation and manage organisational changes responsibly, ethically and economically.
Therefore, the Call for Papers welcomes submissions focusing on conceptualizing and empirically investigating service theories, strategies, and practices to tackle the challenges and opportunities associated with creating sustainable services using digitalisation at both individual and organizational levels.
List of Topic Areas
- How to design and deliver services leveraging digitalisation to minimize negative contribution toclimate crisis?
- What are key opportunities and challenges to design for sustainability in services using digital tools?
- How to manage customer perceptions and expectations regarding sustainability in their service offerings?
- What is the role of sustainable service leadership and culture in producing sustainable consumer services?
- How to measure and monitor service quality for sustainable services?
- What are ways, tools and/or metrics to assessing service sustainability to achieve ESG and UN Sustainable goals?
- How can service providers leverage digitalisation for nurturing frontline sustainability practices?
- What is the role of digital sustainability in managing knowledge sharing for service innovation for sustainable service offerings?
- How can (re)imagined models such as Service-Profit Chain be incorporated into the integration of sustainability and digitalisation in services perspective?
- What type of internal and external marketing communications strategies service firms need to create for building service branding focussed on firms environmental and social sustainability efforts?
- How is the interrelationship among actors in the service process (organizations, customers, and workers) impacted by technological advancements that meet sustainability efforts?
- How can servicescapes be (re)designed to facilitate digitisation and sustainability efforts?
- Reimagining and redefining service experiences in case of sustainable services. How can service providers help design for dignity and fairness in service processes for consumers and frontline employees?
- How can AI and machine learning be leveraged to enhance sustainability in service offerings?
- What are the ethical considerations of using AI in sustainable services?
- What role does consumer behavior play in driving demand for technology that enables sustainable consumption?
- How can technologies within the service ecosystem be leveraged to enable sustainable consumption?
- How can blockchain technology be used to improve transparency and traceability in sustainable service supply chains?
- What are the potential benefits and challenges of implementing blockchain in service sustainability?
- How service providers sustainability practices using digital tools ensure service inclusion?
- How to co-design sustainable services for disadvantage consumer groups supporting their well-being?
Empirical papers should be theoretically grounded and refer to qualitative and/or quantitative data.
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: 10/12/2024
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 10/06/2025
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