Design for Service Implementation: Proposing a Service Implementation Framework and Exploring Design Practices

Abstract

Although there has been a call for design for service implementation, knowledge on service implementation and design practices for it is fragmented. A lack of a theory of service implementation obstructs a holistic understanding of the phenomenon and the current status and limitation of design practices for it. This paper advances the understanding of service implementation by merging a systematic literature review with practitioner interviews. It presents a theoretical service implementation framework consisting of four service system levels and three purposes of practice. Contextualizing design practices in the framework highlighted designers’ contribution to service implementation at the organization level and actor level, while implying the need for advancing design practices at the networked systems level and process/resource level.

Keywords:

• service design
• service implementation
• service implementation framework

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental Data

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2021.1945211.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [grant number NRF-2018S1A5A2A02065528].

Notes on contributors

Eun Yu

Eun Yu is assistant professor of Department of Design at Seoul National University of Science and Technology in South Korea. She holds a BFA and a MFA in visual communication design from Hongik University in South Korea, and finished her PhD in design from Lancaster University (UK). Her research focuses on relating the design perspective and approach to multi-disciplinary service research and theory. She is specially interested in how to bridge design and marketing/management in the context of service design.