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This article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role of employees. This focus complements the Marketing discipline’s heavy emphasis on customers, largely true of service research, overall.

Ten OB/HRM frameworks/perspectives are applied to analyzing the roles of people (with a focus on employees and modest consideration of customers as “partial” employees who co-create value) in a service organization context. Also, commentary is offered on how the frameworks relate to six key themes in contemporary service research and/or practice. The article concludes with five reflections on the role and status of employees in service research—past, present and future.

Employee roles in evolving service contexts; participation role readiness of both employees and customers; role stress in participating customers; an employee “empowered state of mind”; an emphasis on internal service quality; “strong” HRM systems link individual HRM practices to firm performance; service-profit chain with links to well-being of employees and customers; a sociotechnical system theory lens on organizational frontlines (OF); service climate as an exemplar of interdisciplinary research; emotional labor in both employees and customers; the Human Experience (HX); specification of employee experience (EX).

Service remains very much about people who still guide organizational design, develop service strategy, place new service technologies and even still serve customers. Also, a people and organization-based competitive advantage is tough to copy, thus possessing sustainability, unlike with imitable technology.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what (service) experience is and examine it using three distinct perspectives: customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and human experience (HX).

The present conceptualization blends the marketing and organizational behavior/human resources management (OB/HRM) disciplines to clarify and reflect over the meaning of (service) experience. The marketing discipline illuminates the concept of CX, whereas the OB/HRM discipline illuminates the concept of EX. The concept of HX, which transcends CX and EX, is examined in light of its recent development in service research. For each of the three concepts, key themes are identified, and future research directions are proposed.

Because the goal that individuals seek to achieve depends on the role they are enacting, each of the three perspectives on experience (CX, EX and HX) should have a different focal point. CX requires to focus on the process of solving customer goals. EX necessitates to think in terms of organizational context and job content that support employees. Finally, the focus of HX should be on well-being via enhanced gratification, and reduced violation, of basic human needs.

This paper offers an interdisciplinary perspective on (service) experience and simultaneously addresses CX, EX and HX in order to reconcile the different perspectives on experience in service research.

The aim of this commentary is to encourage service researchers to reflect on the state of the field as it pertains to the academia–industry intersection. The author puts forth a call to action to continue the work of the field’s founders in developing the foundations of the field and to carry the models and frameworks of the field deeper into industry practice.

Personal reflections and in-depth interviews.

The services discipline is based on foundational theories, models and frameworks developed, in part, as a response to needs expressed by industry. The development of these frameworks has not progressed to the level and format needed by industry, and the field is increasingly operating in silos. Resultantly, the services marketing domain has not developed its foundations to the level of depth needed to answer the call for “assistance” made by Shostack (1977).

The author encourages researchers to build a next set of paradigmatic foundations that broaden the field as a truly interdisciplinary endeavor and deepen its impact in industry. To accomplish these goals, it will be necessary to question original theoretical frameworks and show situations in which they require modification.

This work suggests that researchers may be overemphasizing the silo aspects of the field and underestimating the lack of completeness of the service science field.

This research evaluates specific circular economy issues in relation to the hospitality sector. This is investigated in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, considering the impact that the experiences of UK hospitality SMEs had on their circular economy activities. Viewed through a resource bricolage lens, for some this was a consequence of the challenges of the pandemic, while others were proactive in pursuing circular economy strategies.

A sequential mixed methods research design is established based on a pragmatic worldview. The first phase analyses secondary data from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) to evaluate circular economy aspects on hospitality businesses in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Phase 2 collects and analyses qualitative semi-structured interview data from directors of hospitality SMEs to investigate the experiences of businesses in this research context.

Results point to a desire for hospitality SMEs to engage in circular economy activities, especially as a means of achieving financial efficiency, however this is sometimes constrained by increased costs. Resource bricolage theory underlines potential advantages for SMEs to engage with the local community to support circular economy activities and bring mutual benefits.

This research contributes to the under-researched topic of circular economy issues in hospitality SMEs. The focus on SMEs is significant as small businesses are more resource-constrained than larger businesses. The context of the post-COVID period is also notable due to changing attitudes towards circular economy aspects from the experiences of the pandemic.

This research investigates the multifaceted effects of Covid-19, Brexit and climate change on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality sector. Specifically, the authors evaluate the main opportunities, challenges and implications that hospitality businesses face in times of crises, and innovate as a response.

The research adopts a mixed methods approach firstly analysing quantitative data from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS). Second, qualitative where data are gathered from interviews with a range of hospitality SMEs. The data are analysed independently and then triangulated to gain a deep understanding of the issues faced by hospitality SMEs and their responses.

This research contributes to knowledge on the impact of economic challenges on the hospitality sector. This research underlines that hospitality businesses face multiple challenges. The findings show that sector has responded with innovations to meet requirements and regulations, some which were forced upon the industry due to changing regulations and some unforced innovations based on the strategic intentions and entrepreneurialism of the business owners.

The paper embeds the pandemic with Brexit and climate change challenges, identifying two distinct types of innovation as SME responses in the hospitality sector. Survival in the hospitality industry is reliant upon adaptations, some brought about by the pandemic and others by Brexit and climate change.

Despite the importance of tourism ethnocentrism in emerging tourism destinations, there is limited, but growing, research interest in this area. This study aims to respond to current calls for investigating mechanisms that can promote tourism ethnocentrism in both emerging and developed tourism destinations.

In the USA, integrated care remains largely aspirational; a majority of Americans receive mental health care entirely within the primary medical care outpatient setting. A new instrument, the Multidimensional Behavioral Health Screen (MBHS) ( McCord, 2020) was developed specifically to address this gap by systematically screening for a broad array of mental health issues in every patient, every visit. The goal of this current feasibility study was to evaluate the perceptions of the primary medical care providers regarding the usefulness and practicality of the MBHS, a necessary step toward broad-based implementation.

The MBHS was given to 101 consenting patients in a primary medical outpatient setting, each of whom was then seen by one of six participating primary care providers (PCPs). Providers completed a brief survey rating the ease of use, understandability, helpfulness and perceived accuracy of the MBHS after each patient visit and a final summary survey at the conclusion of the study.

Ratings were very positive overall, and the MBHS was clearly preferred to the traditional screening measures (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9] and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 [GAD-7]). Providers offered suggestions for improvement and particularly for implementation.

The small sample size (101 patients and 6 PCPs) and limited geographical reach may limit generalizability. Surveying providers using similar methodology should be done with larger numbers of providers and more diverse primary medical care settings.

This study provides evidence that the MBHS may be significantly effective in operationalizing the integrated care model in United States (US) healthcare systems.

The MBHS, a new behavioral health screening tool, was perceived by providers as useful in identifying mental health issues and guiding treatment decisions in the primary care setting.

This paper identifies a novel screening instrument that implements new and emerging models of psychological dysfunction in a practical way in primary medical care, making integrated care a reality rather than an aspiration.

Consistent with international trends, various policy initiatives have been proposed in South Africa to reform education practices and equip learners with the ability to become critical-thinking citizens. One such reform was the inclusion of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) as a subject in the curriculum in the late 1990s. EMS, a uniquely South African creation, was introduced to address a particular agenda, enabling learners to understand the wealth creation process and develop entrepreneurial dispositions. Accordingly, the programmed curriculum evident in the EMS textbooks was designed to meet these official curriculum objectives that would create an entrepreneurial culture, which, in turn, would stimulate economic growth. Considering that textbooks are carriers of more than content information and reflect specific values and ideologies, it is of particular importance to examine these textbooks and the messaging communicated to young people about entrepreneurs, as these adolescents themselves start forming their own identities.

This article aims to build on the insights from the systematic reviews included in this special issue (SI) on frontline service employees (FLE) by adding practitioner perspectives. Its purpose is to gauge knowledge, awareness and practices from industry and government regarding topics related to frontline workers and to offer critical and, in places, provocative insights on the relevance of scholarly focus in serving the needs of industry.

Insights were developed through consultation with managers who are responsible for leading frontline employees, who offered insights on the important issues affecting their workforce as well as direct comments on each of the key topics covered in this SI articles. Additional insights were gathered through a review of policy document reviews with relevant government agencies and trade publications, a review of a body of conference topics and speakers and personal reflections developed over decades of consulting work.

This paper presents insights from industry about looming challenges facing managers of frontline service employees, including a forecasted worsening of labor force availability to perform many frontline jobs; growing competition for workers from other sectors; a relatively shallow understanding by industry of academic research topics on workforce in service; the emerging increased cooperation between industry and governments to address these challenges and a clear deficit in necessary frontline skills.

This paper provides rare and direct insights from industry practitioners about current and critical topics investigated by academic researchers and offers opportunities for further collaboration and collective thought on addressing global challenges faced by frontline service employees.