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Reports a study of the salesforce compensation practices in manufacturing companies which is the first of its kind undertaken in Australia. Australian companies rely heavily on salary as the main form of salesforce compensation, unlike in the USA where the majority of salespeople are rewarded using commission‐based means. To a lesser extent, this is also true for Britain. The companies in this study, like many European firms, make relatively little use of performance‐related compensation methods such as commission. These findings are surprising, given that most companies reported that the main objective of their compensation plans was to reward above average performance. Such discrepancies between objectives and methods appear to be widespread and can, in part, be related to the social and legal environment in which Australian companies operate.

The purpose of this paper is to encourage the reader to think differently about service-related issues and to strive to conduct service research that makes a transformational impact on individuals, organizations and society. The authors suggest that service researchers are in an excellent position to develop research that matters by making stronger connections with theory and elevating purely applied research to research that is higher in both practical relevance and methodological rigor.

This paper takes a conceptual approach, connecting pertinent literature with new ideas highlighted in this special issue.

This paper proposes that service researchers look beyond traditional service applications, take a multi-disciplinary approach to problem-solving and make greater strides towards connecting theory and practice. The authors propose a Model of Rigorous and Relevant Research, and call for fresh thinking across a wide range of research areas, including enhancing the customer experience, crafting innovation, integrating technology and measuring service outcomes.

The originality of this essay lies in its focus on revitalizing the discussion on relevance and rigor as a path forward for service research. Additionally, this paper offers new insights on core management aspects of service provision that provide a solid platform for future work in service research.

Information technology (IT) and, in particular, the Internet is dramatically impacting on the services sector. This paper specifically investigates the relative impact of several forms of Internet use on perceived performance for two groups of service organisations – retail service firms and professional health service firms. Using a mailed‐out self‐administered questionnaire, 625 completed questionnaires were obtained, and 43 per cent of respondents reported that they used the Internet. Thus the final usable sample in the study comprised 262 respondents. Results showed that the Internet does significantly influence perceived performance in both types of service firms. However, there are differences in the forms of Internet use between the two service groups and their relative effect on performance. For retail firms, use of transactional function, such as ordering, selling and payment, was found to be positively related to increases in perceived performance. In contrast, for professional health service firms, the ability to search for information on products and/or services was found to be positively associated with perceived performance. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the findings of this study are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a transformative service logic-based framework designed to help researchers and practitioners better understand resource integration in liminal periods.

Using netnography, we show how consumers across four countries integrate resources, adopting different value creation practices following natural disasters.

The authors’ novel framework extends current conceptualizations of social and economic exchange. Following a natural disaster, a state of ‘liminality’ occurs when the market economy is temporarily displaced by the moral economy, transitioning to a new transformative service logic.

Important implications for theory and practice are discussed.

This research proposes an organizing framework comparing the market economy logic and moral economy logic with the new transformative service logic.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for understanding service design and how service design relates to central concepts within service marketing.

For companies, service design is growing in importance and has become a crucial capability to survive in the service-dominant economy. Service design increases the capacity to improve not only service experiences but also organizational design. On this premise, the authors propose a conceptual framework.

By relating service design to research efforts within service marketing, dual value creation can be enhanced. As such, the conceptual framework portrays service design as an enhancer of customer experience and organizational performance.

To the authors knowledge, service design has not been discussed in the service marketing literature. Thus, this is the first attempt to see service design in light of well-established service marketing models such as SERVQUAL and an updated version of the Service-profit-chain.

This paper aims to argue that, traditionally, service recovery attempts have paid little attention to customer preferences. Despite attempts to recover the customer, firms generally do not know if the recovery solution is what the customer expects. Hence, the paper seeks to examine whether customer recovery preferences influence customers' evaluation of the recovery attempt in terms of recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions.

First, a two‐stage qualitative study was conducted. Then the research model was tested empirically on a sample of 431 consumers using a multivariate analysis.

The findings support the argument that customers have distinct recovery preferences. Moreover, customers are satisfied with the service recovery solution only when it matches the most demanding recovery preference. Customers' recovery preferences have a significant impact on their satisfaction with recovery and their repurchase intentions.

First, the model developed is tested on a cross‐sectional sample. Second, the measure of recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions used here was relatively simple. Third, the study relies on repurchase intentions instead of actual behavioural data.

This research indicates that customers have a preference for how service recovery should be undertaken. Given these distinct recovery preferences, different recovery solutions should be applied to address each preference appropriately.

It is widely accepted in the service recovery literature that customers' perceptions of a service recovery attempt are often different to those of the service provider. However, this research suggests that customer recovery preferences need to be carefully considered given their effect on customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions.

Service providers are recognizing the importance of customer service and are investing considerable amounts of effort, time and other resources into training programs to improve customer service. Customers, on the other hand, are demanding greater levels of service. The importance of customer expectations of service quality has been acknowledged. However, there are relatively few studies which address the extent to which customer expectations of service quality and their subsequent assessment of the service compares with that of the service providers and even fewer which try to redress the issue through training programs. Builds on the existing literature and reports the results of a three‐phased study which investigates the mismatch between customers’ and employees’ assessments of service in five‐star hotels. Concludes with practical implications and recommendations for service provider training programs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate marketing practices in professional service firms (PSFs). PSFs' marketing practices are not well understood, despite their increasing importance to economies worldwide and recognition of their unique characteristics and the marketing challenges they face. The study also examined whether PSF performance outcomes is better modeled through a competency approach suggested by the resource‐based view, or through the extent of use (practices) approach.

Empirical data were collected from professional service providers through an online survey of senior professional service providers across a range of services, including law, engineering, accounting and finance and management consultancy.

Results show interaction marketing was the most common PSF practice and the combination of extent of use and competency, rather than extent of use alone, is a better predictor of firm performance. The results also demonstrate the relevance of the plurality of practices.

The study shows that transaction marketing and database marketing are particularly necessary for financial and market performance, while both interaction marketing and database marketing particularly underpin customer performance. All practices need to be conducted extensively and well for optimum outcomes. The study is cross‐sectional in nature and does not enable a judgment about causal inferences; rather, relationships between constructs are presented.

Professional service providers should focus on competency of practice, as well as extent of practice. However, not all professional service providers do this. Importantly, having a customer service focus is not sufficient to achieve positive market and financial outcomes.

The results presented in the paper have important implications for researchers when modeling and measuring marketing practices and for professional service managers when undertaking marketing activities.

The purpose of this paper is to explicate professionals’ giving backstory, identifying what motivates and hinders professionals’ undertaking of pro bono service activities. Examples are provided of different pro bono giving styles, as professionals struggle to resolve inter-institutional tensions, thus addressing this little understood yet vital form of giving, and meeting an important research priority.

Using a discovery-oriented grounded theory approach, this paper draws on narratives from interviews with 31 professionals to explicate, from the professional’s point of view, the backstory of pro bono service.

The authors provide an integrative institutional logics-based framework for understanding the backstory to professionals’ giving. Three distinct pro bono giving styles are revealed: first, an individual logic (self-centric), an “I” logic; second, an organizational logic (organization-centric), “We” logic; and third, a societal “All” logic (where the greater good to society in general is the dominant logic). The paper concludes with recommendations for how professionals and professional service firms (PSFs) can better align their pro bono giving styles with non-paying not-for-profit clients for multi-party benefit.

The originality of this research lies in addressing an important yet little understood form of giving through delving into the backstory to pro bono service. First, the paper theorizes the characteristics of a formerly unarticulated form of giving, distinguishing it from individual-to-individual close consumer gifting, individual to organizational charitable giving, sponsorship, and volunteering. Second, the different inter-institutional logics of pro bono giving are identified, with three main pro bono giving styles uncovered. Third, the authors link professional services theory, theoretical perspectives from giving, and institutional logics theory to develop an integrated framework to explain service professionals’ pro bono activities. Furthermore, a compelling agenda for future research is provided to guide future work.