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Transforming technology-mediated health-care services through strategic sense-giving

Athanasia Daskalopoulou (University of Liverpool Management School, Liverpool, UK)
Josephine Go Jefferies (Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
Alexandros Skandalis (Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster, UK)

Journal of Services Marketing

ISSN: 0887-6045

Article publication date: 5 October 2020

Issue publication date: 30 November 2020

582

Abstract

Purpose

Service research has previously documented service providers’ role in addressing the barriers of technology mediation, mostly at the service delivery level. The purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding about the role of service providers who hold strategic and operational roles, as well as investigate the impact of coordinated, organization-wide initiatives in dealing with the demands and associated emotional ambivalence of technology-mediated services.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study draws from a series of in-depth interviews with health-care service providers who hold strategic and operational roles in health-care organizations along with participant observation to develop an understanding of the broader organizational context of telehealth services.

Findings

This paper outlines the strategic sense-giving process and highlights how health-care service providers who hold strategic and operational roles enact the sense-giver role. This study illustrates that strategic sense-giving involves the recognition of sense-making gaps; identification of sense-giving opportunities; and provision of templates of action.

Originality/value

This study illustrates that sense-giving can be performed by a number of organizational members in a more formalized way which extends informal sense-giving efforts at the peer-to-peer level. The importance of strategic sense-giving in providing templates of action for service providers and consumers is highlighted. This study also shows how strategic sense-giving safeguards against confusion and errors by communicating appropriate ways of using technology. Finally, the role of strategic sense-giving in helping service providers and consumers cope with the emotional ambivalence of technology-mediated service interactions are demonstarted.

Keywords

Citation

Daskalopoulou, A., Go Jefferies, J. and Skandalis, A. (2020), "Transforming technology-mediated health-care services through strategic sense-giving", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 7, pp. 909-920. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-11-2019-0452

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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