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This paper aims to discover how consumers process an innovative set of systematically varied service trial offers and how this affects their learning and interaction as precursors to customer engagement.

The research uses experiments that manipulate pricing, type of service and delivery method. A repeated-measures design was used with a sample of 396 participants.

Free (as opposed to cost or full price) service trials were more likely to be accepted, with perceived truthfulness of the trial offer and perceived obligation mediating the relationship. Credence service trials generate higher levels of perceived obligation than experience service trial offers, while personal services are more likely to lead to trial adoption.

The research can be extended to well-recognized brands and further mixed service contexts.

Trial offers of new services are best targeted at buyers who are in the likely buyer group. The trial offer may accelerate time to purchase and relieve perceived risks. The trials of credence services need further signals of quality in the trial itself for consumers to adopt the full service. With personal service trials, skeptical consumers need assurance as to what will happen after the trial experience. Free trials may actually devalue a service, threatening engagement.

Uniquely, service trial offers are systematically manipulated using experience versus credence and personal versus impersonal trials to determine their effect on acceptance of the trial offer and the full service. Additionally, the study compares free, cost price and full price trial offers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate intellectual capital (IC) reporting, from a service-centric approach, in the hotel industry. The strategic enhancement of value-creation and sustainable competitive advantage requires both management and measurement. Sound measurement and reporting practices enable management performance to be judged; one such practice is IC disclosure. Service-dominant (S-D) logic emphasizes that intangible operant resources, the foundation of IC, are at the core of competitive advantage.

A disclosure instrument based on S-D logic and designed specifically for the hotel industry was applied to the annual reports and sustainability reports (in English) of 30 Asian hotel companies. Content analysis measured the disclosures of dynamic IC assets typically overlooked by traditional IC disclosure instruments.

The majority of IC communication concerns lower-order basic operant resources. Although more than one-third of the companies’ disclosures of IC assets relate to collaborative processes and practices that support networked value-creation, most disclosures demonstrate a prevailing firm-centric orientation. IC items regarding reciprocated relationship and informational management were minimally reported.

A single research approach was used. Future research could use other communication channels to triangulate.

The results highlight opportunities for hotel companies to better report their IC assets as part of their value-creating strategies.

This research is one of the first to operationalize S-D logic concerning IC. It provides a promising framework for understanding IC reporting in the hotel industry.

The purpose of this study is to seek to investigate whether and how country of origin (COO) cues – category-country image (CCI) and typicality – and importers’ domain-specific innovativeness (DSI) influence importers’ propensity to the trial new value and premium products. Moreover, it aims to understand whether and how the relationship between the COO effect and industrial purchase intentions is moderated by importers’ propensity to innovate (DSI).

International importers completed a quantitative online survey. Factor analysis was used to summarize the latent constructs into orthogonal scores. General linear modeling was applied to the scores to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that importers’ propensity to trial value products is directly influenced by CCI and importers’ DSI. For premium products, typicality has a positive effect on their propensity to trial. Also, CCI and DSI have positive effects on the trial of value products, and the effect is more pronounced than for premium products. Importers’ DSI positively moderates CCI in premium product trials, while it negatively moderates typicality in value products.

This research provides important managerial implications for practitioners seeking to increase foreign sales, strengthening importers’ product perceived value through COO cues. Exporters should distinguish between value and premium products and, in the selection of international channel partners, they must be attentive to importers’ personal characteristics, such as their propensity to innovate. Exporters selling value products should communicate CCI more clearly and, when targeting innovative importers, opt for atypical products instead of traditional ones. For premium products, which require more complex decisions, exporters should especially underscore product typicality and, with innovative importers, emphasize positive CCI.

By focusing on the two critical issues of product selection and price levels, this study’s original contribution is to emphasize that, for the same product category, in industrial purchasing decisions of value versus premium products, the COO effect can be different. It also highlights the importance of investigating the COO effect by concentrating on industrial buyers’ personal characteristics, here the DSI of importers, as moderating variables.

TRIS (trials support measure) is a European Commission (EC)‐funded activity involved with co‐ordinating 25 EC‐funded “take‐up trial projects” to increase their impact and exploit their results. The take‐up trial projects, all of them now completed, involved the application of new technologies in 80 cultural institutions in Europe and have contributed to cultural innovation. After introducing the general context of the EC’s cultural heritage sector within which TRIS and the take‐up trial projects have been funded, this article describes a selection of these projects, clustered according to their particular relevance to the world of museums, open‐air sites, libraries and archive institutions. The paper then provides an overview of the technologies with which the projects have experimented.

By integrating the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, technology acceptance model (TAM), and social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to: develop a model of consumer behavior and trial willingness toward nano-foods from product, consumer, and social perspectives; examine the effects of innovative features, consumer characteristics, and trust in authority on subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit) as well as the social influence on attitudes toward nano-foods and trial willingness; examine the moderating role of product uncertainty on the relationship between these characteristics and subjective perceptions; and examine the effect of perceived benefit on perceived trustworthiness.

The results of the structural equation model (SEM), with nano-food knowledge data collected from 431 respondents, supported the research model and revealed the main effects hypothesized in this study and the moderating effect of product uncertainty. Simple slope analysis was further adopted to test the significant moderating effects.

The SEM results indicated that innovative characteristics (relative advantage, lack of observability, and novelty), consumer characteristics (perceived technology application), and social characteristics (trust in authority) affect perceived trustworthiness or perceived benefit. Social influence also has a direct effect on attitude toward nano-foods and trial willingness. Product uncertainty significantly moderates the relationship between characteristics (relative advantage and perceived technology application) and subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit).

With increasing numbers and kinds of nanotechnology products now being developed and sold, it is important to go further to determine consumer perceptions and attitudes toward these. This study, thus, applied the DOI, TAM, and social capital theory to examine this issue. However, other theories might also be used to carry out research from other perspectives. This study should, thus, be seen as preliminary, and it is hoped that more works will discuss consumer attitudes toward nanotechnology products in the future.

When a new nano-food is introduced, the current study suggests that food manufacturers use the description on the package as a communicative tool. Detailing the advantages of nano-foods on food packages might be a useful way to enhance trial willingness and to reduce the fears and insecurities related to the use of nano-related products. In addition, if food manufacturers could cooperate with organizations or individuals seen as having some authority in this area (e.g. nanotechnology researchers) in order to disseminate accurate information about nanotechnology and related food products, this might be an effective way to increase sales and profits.

This is the first paper integrating the DOI, the social capital theory and the TAM to empirically investigate consumer willingness to try nano-food products.

This paper aims to identify the dimensions of a firm’s service innovation competence. This paper also aims to establish the relationship between a firm’s service innovation competence dimensions and customer-oriented service innovation configurations and customer adoption. This study probes the supply side of service innovation to assess the key drivers or capabilities that influence the service innovation process at the firm level.

This study uses the triangulation method using existing theoretical concept supplemented by 18 in-depth interviews of senior level managers from service firms from three sectors – hospitality, mobile telecommunication services and financial services. The interview findings were supplemented by 12 service innovation case studies (four from each sector). Content analysis of in-depth interviews was performed using three raters, and inter-rater reliability was tested. Case studies were categorized in terms of the strength of the innovation competence dimension observed.

Based on the content analysis of the interviews and categorization of case study observations, six distinct dimensions of the firm’s service innovation competence were identified. Four attributes of each dimension were also identified. Based on the interview insights and case observations, seven propositions are suggested, and a conceptual framework is presented to establish the relationship between the firm’s service innovation competence dimensions and service innovation configurations and customer adoption.

This study was conducted in the Indian context and remains to be tested using quantitative research. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed framework in a different geographical context to ascertain its validity.

The conceptual framework presented in the paper may help managers of service firms in building innovation capabilities that are relevant to development of customer-oriented innovations. This would lead to better customer adoption of their new services.

This paper fills an important knowledge gap regarding the dimensions of a critical supply-side component of service innovation, that is, innovation competence. Clear identification of competence dimensions and their relationship with customer adoption extends the current knowledge on service innovation.

This paper seeks to examine the nature of “service innovation” in the facilities management (FM) context. It reviews recent thinking on “service innovation” as distinct from “product innovation”. Applying these contemporary perspectives it describes UK case studies of 11 innovations in different FM organisations. These include both in‐house client‐based innovations and third‐party innovations.

The study described in the paper encompasses 11 different innovations that constitute a mix of process, product and practice innovations. All of the innovations stem from UK‐based organisations that were subject to in‐depth interviews regarding the identification, screening, commitment of resources and implementation of the selected innovations.

The research suggested that service innovation is highly active in the UK FM sector. However, the process of innovation rarely followed a common formalized path. Generally, the innovations were one‐shot commitments at the early stage. None of the innovations studied failed to proceed to full adoption stage. This was either due to the reluctance of participating organisations to volunteer “tested but unsuccessful” innovations or the absence of any trial methods that might have exposed an innovations shortcomings.

The selection of innovations was restricted to the UK context. Moreover, the choice of innovations was partly determined by the innovating organisation. This selection process appeared to emphasise “one‐shot” high profile technological innovations, typically associated with software. This may have been at the expense of less resource intensive, bottom‐up innovations.

This paper suggests that there is a role for “research and innovation” teams within larger FM organisations, whether they are client‐based or third‐party. Central to this philosophy is an approach that is open to the possibility of failure. The innovations studied were risk averse with a firm commitment to proceed at the early stage.

This paper introduces new thinking on the subject of “service innovation” to the context of FM. It presents research and development as a planned solution to innovation. This approach will enable service organisations to fully test and exploit service innovations.

The aim is to propose a conceptual framework consisting of research propositions concerning the key strategies required for the successful involvement of customers in the co‐creation of new technology‐based services.

The methodology involves a single case study from which data are derived and analyzed using the grounded theory methodology of “constant comparative analysis.” User‐generated ideas for future mobile phone services are collected from four user involvement projects and analyzed at several workshops attended by senior managers from telecommunications firms.

Seven key strategies are identified as being essential for successful user involvement in new product development. Each strategy is described and illustrated in relation to existing theory and presented as a research proposition.

The exploratory nature of the research means that the findings are tentative and need to be confirmed in other settings by other researchers, including quantitative large‐scale studies.

The results of the study provide management with guidelines for organizing successful user involvement projects with a market‐oriented approach.

Despite the increasing popularity of user involvement, little research has examined the conditions required for successful user involvement in new product development. This study makes an original contribution by proposing strategies critical for a successful outcome.

New Zealand's population is aging; government agencies realise the impact of this and are factoring it into their planning for the future. There is a perception that “Seniors” are reluctant to change, but a recent Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) pilot project to test an internet‐connected Digital Talking Book Player with 40 borrowers, most of whom were in their 70s and 80s, has shown the opposite. The purpose of the trial was not only to test an online talking book delivery system but also to ascertain if the RNZFB seniors, some of whom have little or no experience with computers, could cope with an internet capable Digital Talking Book Player. The purpose of this paper is to describe the RNZFB trial.

In total, 39 RNZFB library members between the ages of 60 and 93, most in their 70s and 80s and one 40 year old were selected to participate in a Digital Talking Book Trial. Each of the trialists were loaned a Digital Talking Book Player for approximately four weeks and were asked to read two books and two magazines per week.

The outcome of the trial was remarkable. The trial showed seniors do have a positive attitude to change and are not afraid of technology.

The trial showed that if the reward is greater independence and a better service, and seniors are given appropriate support they will embrace new technology and make it work for them. By moving ahead and using new innovative technology the library service will be able to provide a greater variety of titles and better access to information and recreational reading.