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Significant developments in the service sector have been brought about by Industry 4.0. Automated digital technologies make it possible to upgrade existing services and develop modern industrial services. This study prioritizes critical factors for adopting Industry 4.0 in the Indian service industries.

The author identified four criteria and fifteen significant factors from the relevant literature that have been corroborated by industry experts. Models are then developed by the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and analytical network process (ANP) approach to ascertain the significant factors for adopting Industry 4.0 in service industries. Further, sensitivity analysis has been conducted to determine the sensitivities of the rank of criteria and sub-factors to corroborate the results.

The outcome reveals the top significant criteria as organizational criteria (0.5019) and innovation criteria (0.3081). This study prioritizes six significant factors information technology (IT) specialization, digital decentralization of all departments, organizational size, smart services through customer data, top management support and Industry 4.0 infrastructure in the transition toward Industry 4.0 in the service industries.

The potential factors identified in this study will assist managers in determining strategies to effectively manage the Industry 4.0 transition by concentrating on top priorities when leveraging Industry 4.0. The significance of organizational and innovation criteria given more weight will lay the groundwork for future Industry 4.0 implementation guidelines in service industries.

Our research is novel since, to our knowledge, no previous study has investigated the potential critical factors from organizational, environmental, innovation and cost dimensions. Thus, the potential critical factors identified are the contributions of this study.

As the restaurant industry is a representative service industry, long-living restaurants could carry the secrets of key factors that are needed to establish “sustainable business models” in service industry. The authors aim to answer the following question: How can restaurants innovate business model sustainably to last for more than 50 years through the era of digital transformation with open innovation dynamics?

Five long-lived restaurants from Daegu, Kyoto and Naples were selected separately by using the snowballing approach, and were analyzed through in-depth interviews and participatory observations.

Restaurants in Daegu have lived long mainly because of adding value to their recipes. Restaurants in Kyoto have lived very long, primarily by decoupling their original services, ingredients and recipes. Restaurants in Naples have enjoyed long lives by coupling or recoupling their ingredients, services and recipes.

The implication is that long-living restaurants or service firms could maintain their own sustainability by dynamically circling the following services: (1) adding and boning recipes (focusing on special menus or products), (2) coupling of ingredients (creative recoupling of original ingredients) and (3) decoupling of services (disconnecting the value chain and rebalancing it).

This paper aimed to identify the impact that Industry 4.0 can have on the service sector and how its combination can generate benefits for Sustainability 4.0 in the context of the Triple Bottom Line.

A Systematic Literature Review (RSL) was developed using the following combinations of keywords on the Web of Science and Scopus databases: Industry 4.0 And Sustainability, Industry 4.0 And Service, and Industry 4.0 And Sustainable Development, in which 24 papers were selected.

As a result, the authors found 100 benefits for sustainable development, which were further categorized into 54 advantages for the economic area, 25 for the social segment and 21 for environmental aspects. In this way, the results can help private companies understand the use of these technologies aimed at sustainable growth, plus bolstering the government to conduct public policies to encourage these practices in technology organizations.

As a practical implication, this study offers insight into the evolution of sustainable development. It enables the emergence of works that wish to explore the service sector, providing relevant information for decision-making and influencing managers and policymakers on the importance of applying Industry 4.0 toward the sustainability of the service sector and its applications.

The originality of this study lies in expanding the understanding generated by 4.0 technologies, by diverting attention from the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, which have abundant literature on the subject. With this, this work demonstrated that modern technologies have greater possibilities of an action directed at the service sector, in addition to being able to contribute to Sustainability 4.0 from the perspective of the sustainability tripod.

Based on the research of free trade agreements on alleviating service trade policy heterogeneity and its impact on manufacturing exports, this article aims to not only provide a basis for China's strategy of promoting regional economic integration, but also provide a policy reference for the manufacturing industry to expand the export market space.

This study uses the two principles of “answering” and “scoring” to quantify the indicators of service trade policy heterogeneity to test the relationship between heterogeneity of service trade policy, free trade agreement and manufacturing export.

According to empirical study, the export of Chinese manufacturing firms is severely hampered by the variety of service trade regulations, and the bigger the enterprise, the more hampered it is. In comparison to communications, transport and commerce, the financial industry's policy heterogeneity has a greater negative impact on certain industries. The major methods used to reduce the impact of service trade policy heterogeneity on manufacturing exports are product price increases and product quantity reductions. Also, by reducing the heterogeneity of service trade regulations and fostering industrial exports, the free trade agreement that China has signed can be quite successful. The open commitment in the area of national treatment, however, can reduce policy heterogeneity and advance manufacturing.

In the area of market access, the effect of export is superior to the open promise. Thus, in order to effectively support the stabilization of international trade, China should actively encourage the negotiation and signing of higher-quality and mutually beneficial free trade agreements.

The manufacturing industry and the producer service industry have a high degree of industrial correlation, and their integration will cause changes in the complex industrial network topology, which is an important reason for the synergistic effect. This paper describes the topology of industrial systems using complex network theory; further, it discusses how to identify the criticality and importance of industrial nodes, and whether node characteristics cause synergistic effects.

Based on the input-output data of China in 2007, 2012 and 2017, this paper constructs the industrial complex network of 30 Chinese provinces and cities, and measures the regional network characteristics of the manufacturing industry. The fixed-effect panel regression model is adopted to test the influence of agglomeration degree and centrality on synergies, and its adjustment mechanism is explored.

The degree of network agglomeration in the manufacturing industry exerts a negative impact on the synergistic effect, while the centrality of the network exerts a significant promoting effect on the synergistic effect. The results of adjustment mechanism test show that enhancing the autonomous controllable ability of the regional industrial chain in the manufacturing industry can effectively reduce the effect of network characteristics on the synergistic effect.

Based on input-output technology, this paper constructs a complex industrial network model, however, only basic flow data are used. Considerable in-depth and detailed research on the economic and technological connections within the industry should be conducted in the future. The selection of the evaluation index of the importance of industrial nodes also needs to be further considered. For historical reasons, it is also difficult to obtain and process data when carrying out quantitative analysis; therefore, it is necessary to make further attempts from the data source and the expression form of evaluation indicators.

In a practical sense this has certain reference value for the formulation of manufacturing industrial policies the optimization of regional industrial layout and the improvement of the industrial development level. It is necessary to formulate targeted and specialized industrial development strategies according to the characteristics of the manufacturing industry appropriately regulate the autonomous controllable ability of the industrial chain and avoid to limit the development of industries which is in turn limited by regional resources. Industry competition and market congestion need to be reduced industry exchanges outside the region encouraged the industrial layout optimized and the construction of a modern industrial system accelerated.

The above research results hold certain reference importance for policy formulation related to the manufacturing industry, regional industrial layout optimization and industrial development level improvement. Targeted specialized industrial development strategies need to be formulated according to the characteristics of the manufacturing industry; the autonomous controllability of the industrial chain needs to be appropriately regulated; limitation of regional resources needs to be avoided as this restricts industrial development; and industry competition and market congestion need to be reduced. Agglomeration of production factors and optimization of resource allocation is an important part of a beneficial regional economic development strategy, and it is also an inevitable choice for industrialization to develop to a certain stage under the condition of a market economy. In alignment with the research conclusions, effective suggestions can be put forward for the current major industrial policies. In the process of promoting the development of the manufacturing industry, it is necessary for regional governments to carry out unified planning and guidance on the spatial layout of each manufacturing subsector. Regional governments need to effectively allocate inter-industry resources, better share economies of scale, constantly enhance the competitive advantages and competitiveness of development zones and new districts and promote the coordinated agglomeration and development of related industries with input industries. Industrial exchanges outside the region should be encouraged, the industrial layout should be optimized and the construction of a modern industrial system should be accelerated.

Complex network theory is introduced to study the industrial synergy effect. A complex industrial network of China's 30 regions is built and key network nodes are measured. Based on the dimensionality of the “industrial node – industrial chain – industrial complex network”, the research path of industrial complex networks is improved.

The purpose of this study is to understand the situation of hotels and tourism industry in Malaysia during and in post Covid-19 and to mitigate indirect damage caused by COVID-19 to the hotel business and tourism industry by examining the factors that have an influence on hotel’s customer satisfaction rating and revisit intention through an integration of service quality (SERVQUAL) framework and expectation-confirmation theory (ECT).

The SERVQUAL and ECT were considered the underpinning theoretical models but are integrated and extended by including a few additional variables. Data were collected from 458 respondents of travelers and hotel customers in Malaysia and analysed by applying partial least squares structural equation model technique.

The empirical results established that significant positive relationships exist between the three newly emerged independent variables (IVs), namely, hygienic practice, greenness of service and digitalization and hotel customer satisfaction towards hotel revisit intention, and only two variables from SERVQUAL, namely, reliability and assurance, have a significant relationship with hotel customer satisfaction towards hotel revisit intention. The results reveal that customer satisfaction has significant direct effect between above-mentioned IVs and customers revisit intention.

The use of purposeful sampling method in only one country might limit the generalizability of the results. Future research should be planned to duplicate the current study using a sizable sample of participants from multiple countries and include other related factors related to the pandemic phenomena such as safety, hotel location and health value offered.

Theoretical findings imply that service quality is a dynamic theory that should be examined continuously to achieve sustainable and resilient performance in today’s competitive business environment, as some modifications inevitably occur over time and new factors could be emerged. Regarding practical implications, study findings proved the great significance of assurance, reliability, digitalization, greenness and hygienic practices on customer satisfaction towards intention to revisit to hotel. Therefore, it is critical for hotel management to retain hotel business industry in a way that fits and matches customer’s health protection, meets customer’s newly prompted expectations and needs and ensures resilience during unsettled times.

This study is unique as the newly emerged variables are included in the research framework, and thus it helps to close the literature gap by introducing an integrated SERVQUAL and ECT theoretical model, which rarely performs in this context and can be replicated or extended with validated scales. This study contributes to enhancing hotel and tourism sustainable service quality performance to achieve myriad economic and health values.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of perceived healthcare service quality (human aspects, technical aspects and tangible aspects) on satisfaction and guest loyalty in the hotel industry in the COVID-19 pandemic era.

A total of 130 guests in the hotel were selected purposively in Iraq. Data from self-administered questionnaires were analyzed through the VB-SEM statistical technique using Smart-PLS software towards testing the hypotheses.

The findings indicated that perceived service quality influences satisfaction and guest loyalty of guests in the hotel. This study reveals that human aspects, technical aspects and tangible aspects directly positively affect satisfaction and guest loyalty in the hotel industry.

This study highlights that perceived service quality (human aspects, technical aspects and tangible aspects) are vital and practical strategic tools that could be positioned to accelerate guest loyalty in the hotel industry. Furthermore, satisfaction mediates the relationship between human aspects, technical aspects, tangible aspects and guest loyalty.

This study aims to develop an empathetic and user-centric customer support service design model. Though service design has been a critical research focus for several decades, few studies focus on customer support services. As customer support gains importance as a source of competitive advantage in the present era, this paper aims to contribute to industry and academia by exploring the service design model.

The study adopted a theories-in-use approach to elucidate mental models based on the industry’s best practices. In-depth interviews with 62 professionals led to critical insights into customer service design development, supported by service-dominant logic and theory of mind principles.

The ensuing insights led to a model that connects the antecedents and outcomes of empathetic and user-centric customer service design. The precursors include people, processes and technology, while the results are user experience, service trust and service advocacy. The model also emphasises the significance of the user’s journey and the user service review in the overall service design.

The model developed through this study addresses the critical gap concerning the lack of service design research in customer support services. The key insights from this study contribute to the ongoing research endeavours towards transitioning customer support services from an operational unit to a strategic value-creating function. Future scholars may investigate the applicability of the empathetic user service design across cultures and industries. The new model must be customised using real-time data and analytics across user journey stages.

The empathetic and user-centric design can elevate the customer service function as a significant contributor to the overall customer experience, loyalty and positive word of mouth. Practitioners can adopt the new model to provide superior customer service experiences. This original research was developed through crucial insights from interviews with senior industry professionals.

This research is the original work developed through the key insights from the interview with senior industry professionals.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) favorable attitude toward the financial sector’s digital transformation and the development of FinTech due to the rise of financial technology. FinTech blends innovation and technology to provide financial inclusion to stakeholders through various new products and services such metaverse and artificial intelligence.

A quantitative research approach was used to empirically validate the suggested research model by using 260 Emirates-based banking authorities and administrators’ data.

The findings indicate that FinTech adoption had a substantial impact on the competitiveness and performance of the UAE banking industry during COVID-19 times. The research indicates that adequate FinTech implementation and alignment with technology management directly influence the performance of the UAE’s banking sector in difficult times.

This study is critical because the UAE banking sector serves diverse nationalities, and its success is contingent on FinTech and its competitive edge.

The purpose of this study is to provide insights and guidance for practitioners in terms of ensuring rigorous ethical and moral conduct in artificial intelligence (AI) hiring and implementation.

The research employed two experimental designs and one pilot study to investigate the ethical and moral implications of different levels of AI implementation in the hospitality industry, the intersection of self-congruency and ethical considerations when AI replaces human service providers and the impact of psychological distance associated with AI on individuals' ethical and moral considerations. These research methods included surveys and experimental manipulations to gather and analyze relevant data.

Findings provide valuable insights into the ethical and moral dimensions of AI implementation, the influence of self-congruency on ethical considerations and the role of psychological distance in individuals’ ethical evaluations. They contribute to the development of guidelines and practices for the responsible and ethical implementation of AI in various industries, including the hospitality sector.

The study highlights the importance of exercising rigorous ethical-moral AI hiring and implementation practices to ensure AI principles and enforcement operations in the restaurant industry. It provides practitioners with useful insights into how AI-robotization can improve ethical and moral standards.

The study contributes to the literature by providing insights into the ethical and moral implications of AI service robots in the hospitality industry. Additionally, the study explores the relationship between psychological distance and acceptance of AI-intervened service, which has not been extensively studied in the literature.