Commentary: the moral limits of service markets – just because we can, should we?

Abstract

Purpose

This commentary extends our 2020 11th SERVSIG Panel The moral limits of service markets: Just because we can, should we?, inspired by Michael J. Sandel’s book What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. In Sandel’s (2012) book, the pursuit of “the good life” is a common motivation for pushing the moral boundaries of markets and “the good life” is dominated by service consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

Like Sandel (2012), this commentary begins with a provocation regarding the need for moral development in services marketing. Next, we present three real-life case studies about a modern slavery survivor service, aged care services and health-care services as examples of moral limits, failings and tensions.

Findings

The commentary proposes four guidelines and a research agenda. As service marketers, we must reignite conversations about ethics and morality. Taking charge of our professional moral development, exercising moral reflexivity, promoting an ethics of care and taking a bird’s-eye perspective of moral ecologies are our recommended guidelines. Morality is an essential condition – a sine qua non – for service marketers. Hence, our proposed research agenda focuses first on the service marketer and embeds a moral gaze as a universal professional protocol to engender collective moral elevation.

Originality/value

This commentary highlights the need for a moral refresh in services marketing and proposes ways to achieve this end.

Citation

Raciti, M., Badejo, F.A., Previte, J. and Schuetz, M. (2022), "Commentary: the moral limits of service markets – just because we can, should we?", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 89-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2021-0212