Guest editorial

Citation

Zhao, X. and Verma, R. (2017), "Guest editorial", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 226-226. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-02-2017-0028

QUIS 14: collaborative innovations in the network environment

The first International Quality in Service Symposium (QUIS) that took place in 1988 in Karlstad, Sweden, represents a particularly important starting point and stimulus for the scientific discussion of service management issues. Since then service management research has developed significantly and a specific scientific community has evolved. At several prestigious universities all over the world, service research centers have been established and a growing number of service-related books have been published. Moreover, an increasing number of academic journals with a focus on services are gaining an international reputation.

Within this impressive development of service research, the biennial QUIS conference remains one of the most important driving forces. QUIS is a place where researchers present latest empirical insights and share their ideas. It is a forum for an intensive international dialogue not only between academics but also between researchers and executives.

The 14th International Research Symposium on Service Excellence in Management (QUIS 14) took place in Shanghai, China during June 18-21, 2015. For the first time being hosted in Asia, QUIS 14 was co-hosted by the Center of Innovations in Supply Chain and Services, China Europe International Business School and Center for Service Marketing and Management, School of Management, Fudan University, having attracted over 250 thought leaders from 39 countries and regions around the world.

This special issue represents selected papers from the QUIS 14 Conference that received the highest level of feedback during a multi-stage review process. First, over 250 submitted papers (including extended abstracts) were reviewed by five conference Co-chairs (Xiande Zhao, Xiucheng Fan, Rohit Verma, Mary Jo Bitner, and Bo Edvardsson). Second, 201 papers passed the first review process and were presented at the conference sessions, and based on the nominations made by 38 session chairs from 48 parallel sessions, we invited authors of 72 papers to submit their revised full papers to three journals including Journal of Service Management, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, and Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. Third, among the invited ones, 26 papers were successfully submitted to this special issue at Journal of Service Management. Fourth, each submitted manuscript was further reviewed by at least two reviewers, based on which the final decisions were made by the special issue Co-editors (Xiande Zhao and Rohit Verma), but for the manuscripts involving either one of the two co-editors the review process was handled and final decisions were made by the other co-editor and Jay Kandampully (Editor, Journal of Service Management). Finally, the eight accepted papers are included within this special issue.

We would like to thank Jay Kandampully for giving us the opportunity to edit this special issue that represents some of the best research presented during the QUIS 14 Conference. We also want to sincerely thank the conference co-chairs, conference session chairs, and the reviewers who contributed a lot to this special issue.

Last but not the least, we owe our special thanks and gratitude to Dr Qiang Wang (School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University) who assisted in managing the editorial and review process for this special issue.