[Editor’s Note: A special thanks to Jennifer Chandler, who took the time to give us some insight on the article “Service Systems: A Broadened Framework and Research Agenda on Value Propositions, Engagement, and Service Experience.” The article, recently published in Journal of Service Research, was co-authored with Robert F. Lusch.]
We believe this study contributes to a deeper understanding of markets that is different than that which is guided by the standard neoclassical economics view of markets. Viewing service from a systems perspective as we do, this study outlines how, market actors – including firms, customers, suppliers – cannot sustain service experiences by themselves. This approach is important because, in many ways, all actors continually influence one another in today’s dynamic and complex market environment largely due to the ascendance of information technology and globalization.
I was inspired to research the topics of service systems, value propositions, and engagement because my work experience in service industries taught me that the exchanges between buyers and sellers in a market is very complex. Having worked in media and tourism, it was evident to me that decisions to exchange were not made based solely on economic factors. We collaborated, we traded, and we bartered. And, everyone involved in a deal knew that there was much more to be gained if we could move forward together, rather than if we set out to make one-time deals. All through my doctoral studies, I became increasingly intrigued with the idea of systems and their complex and adaptive nature. I decided I would devote considerable professional effort to a research program that would develop both conceptual models and frameworks and empirical research to better understand the complexities of exchange systems.
[You can read “Service Systems: A Broadened Framework and Research Agenda on Value Propositions, Engagement, and Service Experience” from Journal of Service Research by clicking here.]
Jennifer D. Chandler is an assistant professor of management at California State University, Fullerton, in the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics. She holds a BA from UCLA, an MBA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a PhD from the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on strategic service operations by integrating resource-based view of the firm with social networks analysis. She studies service experiences as well as the collaborative and knowledge management processes that coincide with service. Using multimethod research, she combines predictive modeling and qualitative data analysis. Before entering academia, she had a successful media sales, tourism, and international event management career. After working with media giants Clear Channel Communications and Raycom Media, she began her own agency working across the entertainment, tourism, nonprofit, retailing, and manufacturing sectors.
Robert F. Lusch is a professor of marketing, James and Pamela Muzzy Chair in entrepreneurship and innovation, and executive director of the McGuire Center of Entrepreneurship in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He is a thought leader in retailing and service marketing and is a major contributor to the growing literature on service-dominant Logic. A past chairperson of the American Marketing Association and editor of the Journal of Marketing, he is a frequent industry speaker on service innovation and service ecosystems. He has received the AMA Distinguished Marketing educator award, the Outstanding Marketing Faculty award from the Academy of Marketing Science, and on two occasions received the AMA/Journal of Marketing Harold Maynard Award for contributions to marketing theory. He has published 18 books and the most recent Service-Dominant Logic: Premises, Perspectives and Possibilities by Cambridge University Press (2014) is coauthored with Stephen L. Vargo.
