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This paper critically evaluates the political economy of Web3 and offers a neo-institutional model to explain qualitative observations of contemporary digital social movements. By starting to develop a sociological model of Web3 rooted in micro-organizational practices, including trust mediation and social coproduction, this paper re-evaluates assumptions of scarcity, economic value, and social belonging. It concludes by introducing a novel research program to study digital polycentric governance that focuses on community self-governance of digital common pool resources (DCPRs) and looks forward to empirical research using on-chain datasets from decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

Given the continuing need to study service marketing adaptations that emerged in the wake of Covid-19, this paper aims to look at the formation and evolution of purchase groups (PGs) that arose in Indian gated communities during the pandemic and have continued functioning in the post-pandemic marketplace. Not only did these groups act as much-needed interstitial markets during a time of significant external disruption, but they also served as sites of value co-creation, with consumers collaborating with each other and with service providers.

Using a phenomenological research approach, the authors conducted 22 in-depth interviews with Indian consumers and small service providers to gather accounts of how PGs started and evolved with time. Subsequent data coding and analyses are conducted with NVivo 12.

Using the service ecosystem perspective, the authors illustrate seven distinct themes that capture the nuances of the formation and evolution of PGs. These consist of entrepreneurality, collectivity, and fluidity at the service ecosystem level, hybridity and transactionality at the servicescape level, and mutuality and permeability at the service encounter level.

This study provides an empirical and theoretically grounded account of a long-term service marketing adaptation that has persisted in the post-pandemic marketplace. This helps us address recent calls for such research while also adding to the work on value co-creation in collective consumption contexts and extant discourse on service ecosystems.

The study explores the dynamics among communal-brand connections, corporate reputation, customer satisfaction and their collective influence on service loyalty within the retail customer segment of commercial banks.

Hypotheses are proposed for a parallel and serial-mediated model, in which corporate reputation and customer satisfaction mediate the influence of communal-brand connections on service loyalty. Data are collected from a sample of retail customers of commercial banks in a European country.

Findings indicate that individuals who perceive a strong affiliation with a brand that emphasises community engagement are more likely to demonstrate loyalty to that brand. Results highlight the need for managers allocate resources to cultivate community initiatives that foster communal-brand connection in their drive to improve service loyalty.

A non-representative sample was collected, with a focus on a limited set of variables and employing a unidimensional measure of service loyalty. Additionally, the significance of communal-brand connection may vary across brands, warranting replication studies among smaller banks.

Recognition of communal-brand connection as an important driver of customer loyalty suggests that customers are motivated by intrinsic positioning factors related to the community. As part of their positioning, commercial banks can leverage their marketing and communication efforts to foster community development, thereby enhancing customer identification, connection and narratives that foster belongingness among customers.

The model of direct and mediated model of communal-brand connection on service loyalty has not been previously explored. Moreover, the research is conducted among retail bank customers that representing a context seldom considered in the domain of brand communities.

This paper offers a new vision of responsible service leadership for service organizations nested in economic, societal and environmental contexts across time to foster collective flourishing.

Following the call for novel perspectives that recognize service as a game among (vs between) people in service ecosystems, we build on service leadership theory to integrate insights from infinite (vs finite) games and biomimicry practices to propose a holistic model for responsible service leadership.

We extend the 3C (competence, character and care) model of service leadership (Shek et al., 2021) adding context and chronos as essential pillars of responsible service leadership in nested ecosystems. We offer new interpretations and applications of the 3Cs through the lens of context and chronos.

This paper furthers the emerging conversation about unique leadership approaches for service, linking existing service leadership theories with holistic views of service ecosystems and enabling a shift from decontextualized models of leadership to a more inclusive approach.

We propose that responsible service leadership can inspire new approaches to leadership development within organizations and in business education (e.g. competencies, settings) and a reconsideration of organizational structures (e.g. culture, selection and incentive design).

The proposed 5C model revisits foundational assumptions of responsibility in service leadership, integrating actors across and within service ecosystems, society at large and the environment in the present and future.

This paper offers a conceptual framework – the 5Cs model of responsible service leadership – aimed at reimagining service leadership.