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This paper aims to present the author’s viewpoint on the developments in the Journal of Services Marketing (JSM) during the past 25 years of his association with the Journal. The paper documents the evolution in the Journal, highlights significant changes and makes some prognostications for the future.

The paper relies on the first-hand account of the author, which is supplemented by limited qualitative data analysis that consists of analyzing keywords and the abstract of articles published in JSM during the past 25 years.

The first-hand account shows that JSM has undergone changes that reflect changes that have taken place in the field of marketing. The issues/topics of manuscripts submitted and published in the Journal have become interdisciplinary and so are the analytical techniques. This expanding scope of the Journal positions it well for the future in which collaborative research will be more pervasive in the academy.

This is a first-hand account with limited data analysis and therefore could suffer from the writer’s biases even though they might be unintended.

This paper documents the expanding scope of the Journal that may have been the result of explicit steps taken to make the Journal more successful in the future.

As a first-hand account, this study is original.

This paper aims to examine the connection between restaurant tipping propensity and customers’ susceptibility to emotional contagion (EC) in an effort to shed more light on consumers’ inclination to pay more for a service than they are legally obligated to (that is to pay more than the price by tipping).

In this study, two different instruments (Tipping Motivations Scale and Emotional Contagion Scale) were simultaneously administered online to restaurant patrons. The simultaneous administration of the instruments allows the researchers to capture not only tipping propensity but also the linkage between tipping propensity and customers’ susceptibility to EC.

The results show that customers’ susceptibility to EC, social compliance and server actions has the most effect on intention to tip in restaurants in Turkey. These findings support the notion that universal human characteristics such as the tendency to reciprocate (Hatfield et al., 1993) influence consumers’ propensity to tip regardless of the culture.

While the results of this study offer some insight into why restaurant patrons tip, the fact that the study was carried out only in Turkey which has a collectivist culture limits the generalizability of the results to other societies that may be individualistic in orientation.

The findings of this study can be used by restaurant managers in training their employees and improving their customer patronage, particularly patronage from repeat customers. Similarly, the results could be used by restaurant servers to improve their income.

The results of the study have potential to enhance the mutually beneficial relationship that should exist between restaurants and restaurant patrons. Indirectly, the results of the study could improve collective societal good.

This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is one of the first to use the Tipping Motivations Scale (Whaley et al., 2014) in a different culture (Eurasia) and explain consumers’ tipping propensity explicitly using the concept of EC.

The service marketing literature has traditionally argued that the marketing practices of service firms that operate in diverse cultures should also differ. This paper aims to investigate this argument by examining the marketing practices of service firms in two highly diverse countries “Canada and Qatar” in the context of a contemporary conceptual framework.

Survey data were collected in both countries using a self-administered questionnaire that was used in previous contemporary marketing practice (CMP) studies. The data analysis was conducted in two stages. First, descriptive statistics were used to determine cross-national differences in the intensity of use of various CMP activities in Qatar compared to Canada. Second, cross-national differences in various combinations of marketing practices were identified using a cluster analysis.

The results indicate that service firms in both countries have more similarities than differences and that the overall patterns of marketing practices are similar. In addition, the firms’ marketing practices reflect aspects of all four marketing approaches rather than just one.

The study was conducted in only two countries, thus generalisability of its findings and conclusions may not be possible.

The results of this study can help marketers to better understand the changing marketing environment and identify new marketing solutions when operating in different environments.

This study enhances the literature on service marketing and expands the application of the CMP framework to a new context that has not been addressed in previous studies.

This study aims to examine the effect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on for-profit hospitals in the USA.

The study uses the event study methodology to examine the stock market’s reaction to the passage of the PPACA.

The results of the analysis do not show a negative effect; on the contrary, the stock prices of for-profit hospitals increased, on average, by 6%. The cumulative abnormal returns were 5.64% with a generalized z-value of 3.851 with a significance level of 0.001 (two-tailed test). This translates into an average gain of $230,537,096 for the four days (dates) that a positive step was taken in making the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a law of the country.

Because the study suggests that for-profit hospitals will be profitable under the PPACA, one could expect to see growth or, at the minimum, expansion in for-profit hospitals under the Act. Furthermore, and consistent with the principles of marketing, one would expect all the for-profit hospitals, at this nascent stage of the ACA, to pull resources together to promote the benefits of having the ACA.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of the PPACA on the operations of for-profit hospitals.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the plight of a particular segment of the poor – the working poor – in the USA relative to their exclusion from traditional financial markets and their patronage of the payday loan market; and to propose a framework that offers guidance to law makers in making laws/crafting policies that help the working poor gain better access to credit.

This is a conceptual paper that reviews the literature on the payday loan market and uses its findings to propose a strategy to ameliorate the plight of the working poor.

The study integrates the findings of studies on the payday loan market with theories of corporate social responsibility. Using these findings the authors develop a framework that can guide policy makers in making policies that address the exclusion of the working poor from financial markets.

As a conceptual paper based on theories, the study does not provide empirical validation. The paper develops a framework that could guide policy makers as they consider legislation to address the financial exclusion of the poor, particularly with regard to payday loans.

The paper proposes a policy framework to solve the “debt treadmill” problems of the working poor.

The consequent improvement of the financial conditions of the working poor improves society in general.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first marketing paper that has proposed a structural framework to address the exclusion of the working poor from the credit markets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mental state and the disposition of those who have fallen on hard times during the recent financial crisis and have had their homes foreclosed on or their automobiles repossessed. It also proposes an alternative process for dispossessing individuals that preserves the mental health of such individuals and the banks’ reputation.

This study uses the hermeneutics approach to analyze the predicament of those whose homes have been foreclosed on or whose properties have been repossessed by financial institutions to better understand their predicament.

Those whose homes have been foreclosed on or whose properties have been repossessed by financial institutions are traumatized. They feel victimized, bitter, helpless and hopeless and have poor mental state. The study draws on theories in counseling psychology to propose an alternative approach to making loans that take long time to be repaid (long-term loans), and for repossessing personal properties such as automobiles and for foreclosing on real property (homes).

As a qualitative study based on a small sample, the findings of the study are limited to only those who have been studied. A further study that leads to a generalized result will be useful.

The study develops a practical framework that could be useful to financial institutions in making long-term loans and to foreclose on delinquent loans (i.e. to dispossess individuals).

The proposed strategy, if implemented, could have a significant positive impact on the mental well-being of those who have fallen on financial hard times.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first marketing paper that has explored the mental health of those who have defaulted on loans, and has proposed an alternative approach to making long-term loans that not only preserves the mental health of banks’ customers, but also protects the reputation and market share of banks.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a cross-disciplinary review of the literature on financial exclusion in order to provide a place where one could have a bird’s eye view of the academic activities that have been happening in the area.

As a literature review, no specific methodology is required.

Researchers in economic geography and urbanization seem to have contributed significantly to the growing literature on financial exclusion. The persistence of the problem despite efforts to combat it calls for innovative thinking on the part of marketing scholars and financial institutions on how to serve the unbanked.

The review identifies gaps in the state of current research and provides direction for future research.

The study identifies gaps in the literature and provides directions for future research.

As a literature review, there is only an indirect social implications in the sense that the studies reviewed could be used to impact people’s lives.

As a literature review, originality is not an applicable criterion, however, the study provides value to the reader by bringing together disparate studies at one place and by pointing out gaps in the current state of research.

The study aims to examine consumer attitudes toward offshore-outsourcing of professional services in the USA. It focuses on the services of accountants, attorneys and doctors to provide a framework for discussing policy and marketing implications.

The study reviews a review of the literature on consumer decision-making under uncertainty and attitude formation, and a focus group study to examine consumers’ attitudes toward offshore-outsourcing of professional services.

Contrary to reports in the popular press, this paper suggests that consumers do not have a generalized negative attitude toward offshore-outsourcing of all forms of professional services. While consumers do not mind offshore-outsourcings of the services of medical doctors and attorneys, they seem to be concerned about offshore-outsourcings of accounting or financial services. These results suggest that persons engaged in offshore-outsourcings of tax and other related services must re-strategize.

While the results of this study offer a window into the US consumers’ feelings about offshore-outsourcings of professional services, the results lack generalizability, as they are based on an exploratory study.

Even though outsourcing has received a lot of media attention and some limited attention from academics, no study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has specifically investigated US consumers’ attitudes toward offshore-outsourcings of professional services. Given the fact that the trend is growing instead of abating, a study, such as the current one, that investigates how consumers feel about the practice is not only timely but will also provide valuable information to managers for strategy reformulation and to lawmakers for regulation purposes.

This paper, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to specifically examine consumer attitude toward offshoring of the basic professional services – the services of doctors, accountants and attorneys.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of consumer boycotts, which have been launched by individuals using the internet, in inflicting economic harm on the targeted firms.

The paper uses the event study technique to analyze the market's response to consumer boycotts launched by individuals using the internet.

The results show that consumer boycotts launched by individuals on the internet are ineffective in inflicting economic harm on the targeted firm.

Despites the buzz about the “dark side” of marketing using the internet, the stock market does not react significantly to boycotts launched by individuals using the internet. However, the small sample size of 63 events tampers the temptation to generalize the findings. Future studies can be conducted with a larger sample size with a different time horizon for a deeper understanding.

In spite of the findings of this study, managers should still monitor how consumers use the internet to mobilize others against an organization as such consumer actions can affect a firm's reputation negatively.

The study contributes to the boycott literature and furthers the understanding on the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of the internet as a boycott tool that is intended to inflict economic harm on the targeted firm.