Services in a Rapidly Changing World

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Introduction

Sustainable services, transformative services and the impact of services on society are being increasingly studied, yet more studies are needed as the impact of services to combat societal challenges becomes increasingly urgent. This special issue takes a holistic approach to study the broad array of different ways in which services can benefit both humanity and the planet in a changing world.
The past years have seen societal changes at a level not seen for several decades. A global pandemic, increasing cost of living, several wars, political uncertainty, increasing climate change, and rapidly evolving AI all pose serious challenges for society as well as for individuals. Just as the world and society are evolving, services need to evolve to meet the challenges arising from this new situation. Now services are expected to be responsible in the sense that they foster sustainability, fight climate change, narrow down inequalities, develop medical advances, and support humanitarian efforts, while empowering customers by offering novel ways to navigate the changing conditions of everyday life. Given this new set of expectations in the face of changing world, service scholars either need to revisit their theoretical frameworks and existing assumptions or develop new models to help and enable service organizations to design and deliver services needed in this changing world. 
This special issue focuses on societal changes and the role of services to deal with these changes. As such, all seventeen of the UN Sustainable Development Goals provide potential research avenues to develop the role of services. Prospective authors are encouraged to check and be inspired by the recent JSM-ServCollab special issue on SDGs (Vol 38 No. 2) We welcome submissions on the broader theme of services for humanity, and encourage all submissions dealing with topics to improve consumers’ lives, from the individual to the societal level. We also welcome submissions on socio-cultural aspects of services as well as services for sustainable actions

List of Topic Areas

• The transformative role of services in addressing polycrisis that humanity and the world face 
• Sustainable and ethical services, in B2B, B2C, and C2C 
• The role of AI in services to improve both physical and mental wellbeing 
• Services to help preserve cultures and heritage 
• The contribution of services to achieving UN SDGs 
• The interaction of service organizations, policymakers and other stakeholders
• Medial services and their implications
• Services to facilitate communication in a global world
• Additional topics dealing with service for humanity are warmly encouraged
• We welcome qualitative, quantitative and conceptual 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: 01/08/2024 
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 17/01/2025

Guest Editors

Jonas Holmqvist, Kedge Business School, France, [email protected]
Sertan Kabadayi, Fordham University, US, [email protected] 
Domenic Winfrey, Kedge Business School, France, [email protected]