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The starting point of the paper is the fact that customers participate in the logistics activities of the supply chain (SC) (Johnston, 1989; Granzin and Bahn, 1989). Having established that customers can and do participate in logistics, firms can consider transferring some of their logistics activities to/from their customer. The transfer can take two contrasting forms: outsourcing by the company of some logistics activities to its customers or insourcing by the company of some logistics activities from its customers. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a theoretical understanding of these company/customer transfers.

To address this emerging issue, the authors build on the service management literature and on the study of two contrasting cases of transfer. The first (IKEA) examines the outsourcing of some logistics activities to the consumer. The second (AuchanDrive) examines the reverse process of insourcing.

Based on the service management literature and the two case studies, the authors develop a theoretical model for the transfer of logistics activities between a firm and its customers. The findings confirm several elements, such as the importance of managing customer participation and adapting service production during a transfer. Most importantly, the findings show that a key issue for a firm during a transfer is the need to redesign its SC in terms of transport, warehousing and production. The main contribution of the research therefore is showing that customer participation in logistics is a key variable in SC design.

This research is based on the analysis of two cases. To generalise these results, further research needs to be conducted.

This research proposes recommendations to help managers and organisations to transfer some logistics activities to or from their customers.

The originality of the framework is that it considers both the company and its customers. This comprehensive approach establishes a link between supply chain management research and marketing.

This research aims to conceptualize and validate the mall service design as a multidimensional construct and then test a conceptual framework by investigating the impact of mall service design on customer mall experience and its subsequent outcomes, that is, intention to revisit and desire to stay in mega shopping malls.

The survey data of 455 shopping visitors in Pakistan were collected using a mall intercept technique and tested through structural equation modeling in AMOS.

The study reveals that service design significantly impacts customer experience and subsequent outcomes. Customer mall experience mediates the relationships between mall service design and the intention to revisit and desire to stay at malls.

Data from a collectivist culture country (Pakistan) were collected. To explore the impact of service design on customer mall experience, researchers should conduct similar studies in individualistic societies like Europe and North America. Additionally, the authors recommend assessing the effect of each dimension of service design on customer experience separately.

The research provides policy guidelines for the owners and operators of mega shopping malls in developing experience-oriented retailing strategies based on service design.

The research conceptualizes and validates the mall service design as a multidimensional construct using the service theater model and empirically tests its relationship with the customer mall experience.

Recent discussions of the service‐dominant logic (S‐D logic) and the creation of a multidisciplinary service science highlight the need for a paradigmatic discussion that provides directions for ongoing service research. This article aims to examine different epistemological foundations and proposes a framework to describe and better understand the development and future of service research.

Using the proposed framework, an assessment of 60 selected award‐winning and most cited articles is categorized using the paradigmatic framework.

Four paradigms are found to be prominent in service research: positivistic, hermeneutic, dialogic, and monologic. The positivistic option has been the dominant paradigm employed by service scholars, suggesting service scholars need to apply the three alternative paradigms more as a means to enrich and extend the service research discipline.

There is a need to discuss the fundamental beliefs and worldviews (ontological and epistemological positions) guiding service research. Paradigms are critical determinants and drivers of good research.

A new framework for analyzing paradigmatic foundations in service research and directions for the future design of service research studies is proposed. The suggested framework could inspire scholars to reflect on their ontological and epistemological foundations and provide paradigmatic guidance within service research. This provides a basis for continuous expansion of the service research field.

Literature is relatively sparse on describing how companies should align their determinants for service innovations with their different types of service strategies. This study seeks to explore the alignment between three types of service strategies and determinants for service innovations.

A qualitative, multi‐case research design on 12 Western European capital goods manufacturers including 24 service innovation projects was employed. The study is based on multiple sources of evidence: internal documentation of service innovation and development projects and, most importantly, interview data and participation in internal innovation workshops. Traditional inductive research methods were used to analyze the case studies.

These indicate that aligning service strategies with determinants for service innovations is very complex. The configurations of the determinants are associated with the innovation success. Alternative configurations of determinants can create counterproductive effects and can limit the success of service innovation projects as well as implementation of service strategies.

The study is based on interviews and case studies, but the external validity (generalizability) of the alignments could not be assessed accurately. Future research would benefit from insights obtained from quantitative data. The findings supplement existing research on success factors for the service business in manufacturing companies.

The findings imply that managers contemplating a specific service strategy have to consider the service innovation and reframe the determinant for service innovations accordingly. Companies trying to implement an after‐sales service strategy should focus on a narrow range of determinants for service innovations. The resulting configurations guide managers to set up an efficient and effective service innovation management that helps them to implement their service strategy through successful service innovation project.

This empirical study shows that the configuration of determinants for service innovation differs for each service strategy. Whereas, the few similarities in determinants on service innovation are mainly other applications of existing theories on service innovation, the differences modify the existing theories.

Organizational pride of service employees presents a vital, but mostly unexplored, factor for business success. In detail, two kinds of organizational pride exist. First, service employees can experience short, persistent affective emotions of pride based on the perception of a successful event related to the organization. Second, employees can have a cognitive and durable attitude of pride resulting from the general perception of the organization. Prior research neglects not only to analyze empirically the relationship between emotional organizational pride and attitudinal organizational pride, but also to examine positive effects from them. The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship and the effects of the two kinds of organizational pride with commitment to customer service, creativity and turnover intention.

The first study is an exploratory pre‐study and deals with spontaneous impressions of 53 customer consultants regarding their emotional and attitudinal organizational pride. Data used for the main study were collected through an online panel provider. A sample of 733 service employees was generated and structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses.

Results from the main study suggest that there is a strong relationship between emotional organizational pride and attitudinal organizational pride. Whereas the former has a direct, positive effect on commitment to customer service and creativity, the latter directly influences commitment to customer service and turnover intention. An indirect effect on creativity was also found.

To reduce the complexity of the model, no moderating variables were integrated. In a subsequent step, it is important to analyze empirically the drivers and conduct a longitudinal analysis to test the relationship between the two kinds of organizational pride and their effects over time.

The measurement and management of organizational pride are vital sources for improving service behaviors; they represent new challenges for service‐oriented human resource management.

The paper is novel for three reasons. First, the affective events theory (AET) is advanced by additional substantial relationships. Second, links between the two kinds of organizational pride are analyzed for the first time. Finally, the paper suggests empirical evidence for the positive effects of the two kinds of organizational pride.

The success of many high‐contact services depends on customers' compliance with providers' instructions. While existing service marketing literature urges increased attention to customer compliance, there is, to date, little research investigating its role of compliance in service settings. Based on social cognitive theory, this study aims to fill this important research gap, developing and testing a model to explore the antecedents and consequences of customer compliance in high‐contact service settings. Service friendship is included as a mediator between the antecedents and compliance. Two control variables, relationship duration and contact frequency, were also included in the model.

A research framework is proposed to suggest the antecedents and consequences of both service friendship and customer compliance. Extant research from various research streams is reviewed, deriving 11 hypotheses. Data collected from customers of high‐contact service industries are examined through structural equation modeling.

Results show that the service provider's social skills, customer orientation, and expertise are positively related to service friendship and customer compliance, which in turn affect customer satisfaction and anticipated future interaction. The control variables are also both positively associated with service friendship and anticipated future interaction.

This research represents an early attempt at explaining what affects customer compliance in high‐contact service settings. Future research directions are discussed, with emphasis on incorporating customer characteristics, service interaction characteristics, and employee viewpoints to better understand service friendship and compliance in different service settings.

Customer compliance is a vital component of high‐contact service interactions between employees and customers. Service managers should encourage the formation of customer compliance in conjunction with service friendship to achieve better service outcomes.

This study represents the first study in the service marketing literature to establish a model that explains the mechanism of customer compliance in general service settings. The addition of two control variables representing relationship quantity also enhances the originality and contribution of this study.

Few research studies have been conducted to investigate the issue of new service development (NSD) across nations and geographical regions. To address this critique of the literature, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a comparative study of NSD process and strategy in a developed country, Australia and a developing country, India.

The paper conducted surveys of 102 Australian firms and 97 Indian firms operating in the business‐to‐business financial services industry.

The findings suggest that significant differences exist between the Australian and Indian firms. Service firms in both countries use different strategies to compete in the industry and emphasize different sets of development stages in developing new services.

The analysis has been restricted to two countries: India and Australia. This suggests the need for further comparative studies of NSD in other cultures/countries.

The findings of this research validate the initial contention that NSD varies from country to country and thus there cannot be a “one‐size‐fits‐all” approach to NSD. The insights from this study can help service managers from India, Australia and other countries to better understand and manage their NSD programs in a cross‐national context.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this research represents the first attempt to empirically test the similarities and differences in NSD practices of Australian and Indian firms.