Revolutionizing services with cutting-edge technologies post major exogenous shocks

ABSTRACT

In this editorial, we provide a background on how services have been revolutionized with cutting-edge technologies due to the occurrence of major exogenous shocks. In addition, we provide an overview of the papers published in this special issue. Finally, we suggest new areas for future research on revolutionizing services with cutting-edge technologies post major exogenous shocks. We focus on four main themes for future research namely: (1) new technologies and revolutionized services (2) fit-for-purpose technology-enabled services (3) service resilience and flexibility and (4) academic-industry collaboration.

摘要

在这篇社论中，我们提供了一个背景，说明由于重大外生冲击的发生，服务是如何通过尖端技术发生革命性变化的。 此外，我们还概述了本期特刊中发表的论文。 最后，我们建议未来研究的新领域，即在重大外生冲击后利用尖端技术革新服务。 我们专注于未来研究的四个主题，即：(1) 新技术和革命性服务 (2) 适合目的的技术支持服务 (3) 服务弹性和灵活性以及 (4) 学术与行业合作。 

KEYWORDS:

• Service
• ChatGPT
• artificial intelligence
• metaverse
• virtual influencers
• pandemic

关键词:

• 服务
• 聊天GPT
• 人工智能
• 元宇宙虚拟影响者
• 大流行

Introduction

Businesses are increasingly struggling to remain sustainable because of various global exogenous shocks. For example, the combined impact of the pandemic, Brexit, risk of inflation and recession; and the Ukrainian war has severely affected businesses and it caused environmental uncertainty across all sectors (Zayadin et al., 2022). As a result, the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, augmented reality and big data in services has rapidly increased. For example, the notable increase in the use of chatbots for customer services (Singh et al., 2021) and self-service Kiosks in airports (Lien, Hsu, Shang, & Wang, 2021). In addition, augmented reality applications have been on the rise with virtual ‘try-before-you-buy’ experiences previewing products at home (Papagiannis, 2020; Wang et al., 2022; Ameen, Hosany, & Tarhini, 2021). Many scholars expect that technology-driven services will cause permanent changes in how services are delivered (Huang & Rust, 2017; Ostrom et al., 2020; Bagozzi et al., 2022). Therefore, service firms will require technological and human capital for the success of resilience-building process to cope with these changes and the technological transformation (Feliciano-Cestero et al., 2023; Prentice et al., 2021; Huang & Farboudi Jahromi, 2021). Furthermore, value is co-created from a multistakeholder service ecosystem perspective for example, suppliers, service providers, commercial partners, technology, society, business associations and customers (Viglia et al., 2023). In addition to the shift in the way services are being delivered, we have witnessed a shift in consumer behavior, needs and preferences.

At the onset of our call for the special issue, we were driven by the observation that, despite that existing research explored the recent changes to the service sector, there is a lack of research focusing on the expected changes in this sector. In particular, in light of global exogenous shocks and turbulent environments, we witnessed rapid technological advancements and a shift in consumers and employees’ behavior and preferences. Hence, in this special issue we explicate how various cutting-edge technologies can be effectively utilized in various types of services. In this editorial, we provide a background on the papers included in our special issue and offer new directions for future research in this area.

The articles in this special Issue

The accepted articles of the issue deal specifically with the various cutting-edge technologies enabled services during and post global exogenous shocks. We can allocate the accepted articles into three main groups. The first set of articles comprises new methodological approaches to investigate robot-customer experiences in services. In particular, Forgas-Coll et al. (2023) explore social robot technologies in customer-facing service delivery through a quasi-experiment. This innovative approach provides a realistic setting which is not very common in robot studies. Aw et al. (2023) focus on robo-advisory financial services through a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis and an artificial neural network analysis. The authors found that consumers win the skepticism in using these services if they feel the advisor has perceived intelligence. In this sense, this is the most important determinant of robo-advisory service acceptance.

A second set of articles deals with conceptual or review studies attempting to understand the new landscape. Among those, Watanabe and Ho (2023) focus on avatar-mediated service encounters in service workplace. It is a conceptual work in an under-investigated area, in that the interaction with human-like avatars is at its infancy. We also have additional evidence on the role played out by the metaverse by reading the work of Tlili et al. (2023), ‘Industry 5.0’ and ‘Society 5.0’, the role of the Metaverse. This article – through a systematic literature review – puts particular emphasis on the health and education industries which are the service industries that made more use of the metaverse.

Finally, the last set of articles has focused on an exciting new service topic with counter-intuitive angles. Specifically, Lievonen et al. (2022), instead of looking at the extensive positive engagement literature, looked at negative engagement behavior. They find four important categories that deserve the attention of service operators, namely negative review writing, justice-seeking complaining, retaliation acts and firestorming. Lv et al. (2022), stemming from the vast literature on anthropomorphism, identify an important boundary condition. Service robots should be anthropomorphized with external human nature traits (i.e. traits that can be shared by animals) rather than uniquely human traits (i.e. traits that only humans have).

Overall, these articles provide a thorough overview on some technological infusions (for a thorough review on technological infusion see Lee and Yi 2022) that are here to remain after the pandemic.

Opportunities for future research

While we believe this special issue has advanced research on revolutionizing services with cutting-edge technologies post global exogenous shocks, there are many open problems and areas that are yet to be tackled in future research. We highlight a few of them in Table 1.

Table 1. Proposed areas for future research.

Theme one	Theme two
New technologies and revolutionized services	Fit-for-purpose technology-enabled services
Exploring new opportunities and challenges associated with revolutionizing services further with new technologies such as ChatGPT, quantum computing, generative AI, metavese, virtual influencers and blockchain Exploring the potential of quantum computing and generative AI in service creativity Identifying new ways to improve service scalability and efficiency through quantum computing and generative AI Addressing various ethical issues associated with the use of Open AI’s ChatGPT Exploring the opportunities and threats associated with the adoption of the metaverse for various stakeholders Identifying new ways to tackle the ethical, privacy and security concerns associated with the use of the metaverse in service contexts Investigating the enablers and barriers to users’ adoption of the metaverse as a service and policymaking around this area Assessing how virtual influencers can modify consumers’ perceptions about services offered in various industries such as tourism, retail and healthcare Exploring issues related to trust, engagement and interactivity with virtual influencers and how these issues impact the acceptance of their service recommendations Investigating how blockchain technology can be utilized better for ensuring the security of various types of services	Designing fit-for-purpose technology-enabled services that can help in mitigating health risks among minorities and such as refugees and indigenous people; and vulnerable adults Designing new types of services to tackle global challenges in relation to physical and mental health, for example, consumer loneliness, mental and physical well-being Exploring how new technologies such as the metaverse and virtual influencers can revolutionize services used for improved food management and waste reduction Exploring new types of technology-enabled services that can help in tackling issues related to the increase in cost of living Investigating how services enabled by cutting-edge technologies can tackle issues related to the young generations of consumers such as Generation Z and Millennials, for example, self-image, confidence and life satisfaction Analyzing how employee well-being, happiness and creativity are affected during augmentation (the combination of human and machine intelligence) Identifying new ways on how the metaverse and virtual influencers can be utilized to promote sustainability-related services at a global scale
Theme three	Theme four
Service resilience and flexibility	Academic-industry collaboration
Exploring the impact of various cutting-edge technologies on service flexibility to explore when these technologies can decrease or increase the flexibility of the service delivery system thus creating potential service failure problems and frustrations for both consumers and employees Identifying ways to strike the right balance between human-to-human and human-to-machine interactions for increased service flexibility and resilience Exploring how generative AI (ChatGPT) can improve flexibility and resilience of services in various sectors Exploring how the metaverse can transform various types of services due to some of its key features such as virtual try-outs and digital assets Investigating how employees can work collaboratively on the metaverse to improve service flexibility and resilience	Rethinking the existing theories in service research in light of the directions for future research proposed in this editorial: new technologies and revolutionized services, fit-for-purpose technology-enabled services, service resilience and flexibility Exploring new forms of research collaborations based on academic-industry partnerships to tackle grand challenges associated with cutting-edge technology-enabled services for a better world Encouraging brands to collaborate with academics to improve service performance Focusing on the relevance of the research question by defining its impact at an early stage of the collaboration Implementing field studies and field experiments to close the attitude-behavior gap and have findings that offer tangible practical industry recommendations

Theme one: New technologies and revolutionized services

While we witnessed a rapid increase in the integration of various cutting-edge technologies in services, we expect the newest types of technologies such as ChatGPT, quantum computing, metavese, virtual influencers and blockchain to revolutionize services in new and innovative ways, which warrants further interdisciplinary research.

Quantum computing is a new generation of technology that involves a type of computer 158 million times faster than the most sophisticated supercomputer we have in the world today (Smith, 2022). Companies are aware of the potential impact of this technology. In the business-to-business (B2B) service context, major technology companies continue to develop their quantum capabilities as well: companies such as Alibaba, Amazon, IBM, Google and Microsoft have already launched commercial quantum-computing cloud services (McKinsey, 2021). In addition, Goldman Sachs announced that they could introduce quantum algorithms to price financial instruments in as soon as five years (Bova et al., 2021). However, we expect this technology to have a significant impact on employee creativity too in the future.

In addition, the latest type of generative AI called ChatGPT can create original content in response to a user prompt is a promising technology in the context of services. Generative AI is set to cause major changes by undertaking interaction labor in a way that approximates human behavior closely and, in some cases, imperceptibly (Chui et al., 2022). The idea that the open AI’s ChatGPT allows automation and 24/7 service may not be new for services as chatbots have enabled this already (Eliot, 2023). However, the true value of this type of generative AI is possibly the ability to provide consistent and accurate responses to customer inquiries, reducing the likelihood of miscommunication or errors and scalability as ChatGPT can handle many customer inquiries simultaneously, allowing customer service operations to handle a larger volume of traffic (Kergaravat, 2023). We expect this technology to improve creativity and innovation in services through augmentation of human and machine intelligence (Ameen, Sharma, Tarba, Rao, & Chopra, 2022). Nevertheless, while the added value offered by this technology is promising, it is also bringing new challenges to the service sector such as various ethical challenges related to accountability, security and ethics, especially in services such as healthcare and finance.

In addition, new technologies such as the metaverse and virtual influencers are promising and offering new avenues for future research in various contexts (Dwivedi et al., 2022). For example, virtual retail service quality has been found to improve significantly through the metaverse (Gadalla et al., 2013). By using the metaverse to experiment on service and technology prototypes, organizations can examine interoperability and interconnectivity issues between different stakeholders (Dwivedi et al., 2022). The metaverse itself is offered as a service (MaaS), which can be described as an enterprise solution that will enable businesses to penetrate the metaverse with their own virtual worlds for a variety of use cases that span from healthcare to finance to entertainment (Srivastava, 2022). It is expected to revolutionize various industries and offer businesses new opportunities in terms of offering new types of services. We recommend future studies to explore the opportunities and threats associated with the adoption of the metaverse for various stakeholders including individuals, brands, practitioners and governments. Furthermore, while the metaverse is a promising technology, we recommend focusing on some of the key issues which can be considered as part of the downside of its adoption. We suggest future studies to explore the ethical, privacy and security concerns associated with the use of the metaverse and how they can be addressed from a user perspective. Furthermore, we recommend future studies to explore the enablers and barriers to users’ adoption of the metaverse as a service and policymaking around this area.

Alongside the numerous human influencers, a new opinion leader – virtual influencers – entered the stage with early examples launched in 2016. Virtual influencers are computer-generated characters or avatars designed and maintained by experts and digital agencies that help brands appeal to and reach desirable target groups effectively through their digital personalities (Audrezet & Koles, 2023). Some prominent examples of virtual influencers are Lil Miquela, a virtual influencer with around eight million followers and Livi Lu do Magalu with more than 30 million followers across social media platforms and they post on various types of services on Instagram (Audrezet & Koles, 2023). Virtual influencers are expected to revolutionize how services are promoted on social media. Future studies can explore how virtual influencers can modify consumers’ perceptions about services offered in various industries such as tourism, retail and healthcare. Furthermore, future studies can explore issues related to trust, engagement and interactivity with virtual influencers and how these issues impact the acceptance of their service recommendations.

Blockchain technology has been found to have a significant impact on the efficiency, security and speed of various types of services such as financial services (Chang et al., 2020), supply chain (Tönnissen & Teuteberg, 2020) and cloud manufacturing service (Aghamohammadzadeh & Fatahi Valilai, 2020). Future studies explore how this technology can be utilized better for ensuring the security of various types of services. Blockchain is the constitutive mechanism of digital currencies and bitcoins, without which these currencies cannot exist. However, it is much more than that. It is the underlying principle of smart contracts based on autonomous action execution. Therefore, it can offer transparency to services along the value chain, offering reassurance to both service customers and employees.

Theme two: Fit-for-purpose technology-enabled services

We live in a world with multiple layers of complexity; hence, we encourage researchers to study how technology-enabled services can be more fit-for-purpose. For example, one of the main consequences of global exogenous shocks including the recent pandemic is the increased awareness of the significance of mental and physical well-being, safety and good living conditions (De Canio et al., 2023; Sahoo et al., 2023). These issues are often highlighted by the United Nations and they are parts of Sustainable Development Goal 3, Good Health and Well-being (United Nations, 2023). For example, consumer loneliness, which applies to both younger and older consumers, has been highlighted as one of the major consequences of the pandemic (Odekerken-Schröder et al., 2020). In addition, the pandemic caused new forms of telehealth services self-monitoring devices and services to offer a safer environment to individuals (Sahoo et al., 2023). Furthermore, younger consumers including Millennials and Generation Z consumers often face issues related to confidence, self-image, life satisfaction and optimism (Ameen, Cheah, & Kumar, 2022). We encourage researchers to collaborate with companies in various sectors to design technology-enabled services that can help in mitigating health risks among minorities and such as refugees and indigenous people; and vulnerable adults (i.e. individual aged 18 or older who has functional, mental, or physical inability to care for themselves).

Furthermore, we encourage researchers to explore issues related to grand challenges in terms of the well-being of various stakeholders in organizations. For example, future studies can explore how and whether services enabled by cutting-edge technologies which often require the augmentation of human and machine intelligence can possibly have a negative impact on employee well-being, happiness and creativity (Li et al., 2019). Some employees may experience stress and confusion about the clarity of their roles and tasks when working with new advanced technologies which may prevent brands from offering higher-value services. We encourage researchers to explore these areas.

Global exogenous shocks including the pandemic, wars and the Brexit have also had a significant impact on the global economy, causing a cost-of-living crisis in many countries around the world. The rising costs of living are also impacting global food supply and costs. We encourage future research to explore how various cutting-edge technologies can be used in services to tackle food waste issues. This can go beyond studying the adoption and use of smartphones in applications such as No Waste, Too Good To Go or Olio. For example, future studies can explore how the metaverse and virtual influencers can be utilized to promote such services on a global scale. Such research is in line with the United Nation’s Goal 2, Zero Hunger (United Nations, 2023) and can contribute to this area. We believe exploring these areas of research can increase our preparedness for possible future global exogenous shocks too.

Theme three: Service resilience and flexibility

Service resilience and flexibility are key to the success and sustainability of services. Compared to goods, services did much better during the pandemic due to their intangible nature. Therefore, we need to foster this competitive advantage. There are still gaps in terms of how they can be achieved effectively within clearly defined contexts. Flexibility was found to play a significant role in enabling sales employees to offer more effective services (Luu, 2020). However, technology may decrease the flexibility of the service delivery system thus creating potential service failure problems and frustrations for both consumers and employees (Dabholkar & Spaid, 2012; Seyitoğlu & Ivanov, 2020). A robotic service delivery system is less flexible than a human-based service delivery system (Seyitoğlu & Ivanov, 2020). Customers might be frustrated by the lack of human employees in the service process and the lack of social interaction with them, which may force companies to decrease the use of robots. Nevertheless, more recent studies showed that service robots are powered by AI which allows them to accommodate more flexible interactions and service scripts and they can even recover from service failure (Pitardi et al., 2022).

We believe cutting-edge technologies such as ChatGPT, quantum computing, metaverse and blockchain can significantly improve service flexibility and resilience. For example, ChatGPT can improve customer experience outcomes in various ways, for example, through personalized product recommendations, chatbots and virtual assistants, generating product descriptions, personalized marketing campaigns and predictive maintenance (Nicastro, 2023). We encourage researchers to explore how generative AI (ChatGPT) can improve flexibility and resilience of services through these areas. Furthermore, we anticipate that the metaverse will transform various types of services due to some of its key features such as virtual try-outs and digital assets. In metaverse environments, companies can provide their customers with personalized service and support as they shop for new products. For instance, Tommy Hilfiger gave customers a chance to interact with products in the virtual world, and purchase both NFTs and physical items directly from a metaverse environment (Carter, 2023). Future studies can investigate how employees can work collaboratively with this technology to improve service flexibility and resilience.

Theme four: Academic-industry collaboration

We encourage researchers to rethink the existing theories in service research in light of the directions for future research proposed in this editorial. We believe there is a need to bring new service theories and multi-disciplinary research to tackle the complex set of issues associated with various global exogenous shocks. Furthermore, we encourage researchers to bridge the gap in service research by enabling academic-industry collaboration for more impactful research. A lingering issue in this sense is the dark side of service technology and its related technostress (Kumar et al., 2022). Brands in various sectors should actively collaborate with academics and policymakers from various disciplines and from teams of experts to identify new ways to revolutionize services for a better world. Nonetheless, issues like the impact of self-service versus interpersonal contact on customer–brand relationship (see Lee & Yi, 2022) have to be thoroughly addressed through industry collaborations. For the credibility of service research, there is a clear need to show the actual practical impact of its findings. Starting a research project by focusing on a real substantive issue to be addressed is a solid way to address a problem. A shift toward be-spoken (i.e. academia plus industry) service research will lead to a quantum leap in both knowledge creation, and the practical usefulness of such knowledge to industry (Viglia & Dolnicar, 2020).

Concluding remarks

This editorial provides an overview of how services can be revolutionized with cutting-edge technologies post major exogenous shocks. We offer an overview of the articles included in our special issue and their contributions to the field of service research. Furthermore, we provide avenues for future research in four key themes namely: (i) new technologies and revolutionized services, (ii) fit-for-purpose technology-enabled services, (iii) service resilience and flexibility and (iv) academic-industry collaboration. We encourage researchers to consider our proposed areas for future research to advance service research and its real-world impact.