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Service research offering a view of both the dark and bright sides of smart technology remains scarce. This paper embraces a critical perspective and examines the conflicting outcomes of smart services on the customer experience (CX), with a specific focus on chatbots.

This study uses empirical research methods to examine a single case study where an online retail service provider implemented a chatbot for customer service. Using discourse analysis, we analysed 7,167 conversations between customers and the chatbot over a two-year period.

The analysis identifies seven general themes related to the effects of the chatbot on CX: interaction quality, information gathering, procedure literacy, task achievement, digital trust, shopping stress and shopping journey. We illuminate both positive (i.e. having a pleasant interaction, providing information, knowing procedures, improving tasks, increasing trust, reducing stress and completing the journey) and negative outcomes (i.e. having an unpleasant interaction, increasing confusion, ignoring procedures, worsening tasks, reducing trust, increasing stress and abandoning the journey).

The paper develops a comprehensive framework to offer a clearer view of chatbots as smart services in customer care. It delves into the conflicting effects of chatbots on CX by examining them through relational, cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions.

This study aims to build on the dynamic capability view by examining dynamic capabilities associated with public value in public procurement.

A qualitative case study approach is used in this study. The interview and secondary data consist of eight cases of value-creating procurement from four public organizations.

The findings connect dynamic capabilities and public value in terms of innovation generation and promotion, well-functioning supplier markets, public procurement process effectiveness, environmental and social sustainability and quality and availability of products or services.

Dynamic capabilities in public procurement are necessary to improve public procurement.

This study extends understanding of how sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities contribute to public value creation in both innovative and less innovative (i.e. ordinary) procurement scenarios.

The user experience during the use of activities and services is a fundamental aspect for sports managers and can provide a competitive advantage. The purpose of this study was to identify the dimensions of experiential quality and the relationship of this construct with customer trust and customer satisfaction in achieving behavioral intention.

Using a convenience sampling technique, a total of 322 gym users in Turkey participated. A two-step approach was used to test both the model and the research hypotheses [confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM)].

The interaction quality, physical environmental quality, outcome quality and enjoyment quality were positively related to experiential quality. Similarly, the experimental quality was positively related to customer satisfaction and customer trust. Finally, customer satisfaction was related to behavioral intentions.

This study provides empirical evidence about the importance of experiential quality to gain a competitive advantage in the context of fitness centers.

Improving service quality, student satisfaction and student loyalty is important to higher education institutions’ sustainable growth. The objectives of this study are a twofold: first, the study seeks to determine the dimensions of higher education service quality with a specific focus on Vietnam. Second, it examines how the service quality dimensions impact student satisfaction and student loyalty, with the moderating role of the university image.

This study followed a rigorous procedure, including interviews, a survey, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis to identify higher education service quality dimensions and their measures. After that, using the data obtained from 1,550 university students in Vietnam, confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the identified dimensions and structural equation modeling was used to test a proposed model explaining the outcomes of higher education service quality.

The findings reveal five dimensions of higher education service quality: academic aspect, nonacademic aspect, programming issues, facilities and industry interaction. Most of these factors have a positive influence on student satisfaction. In addition, the university image moderates the positive relationship between student satisfaction and student loyalty.

This study’s findings highlight the complexity of service quality in the higher education context and encourage higher education institutions to improve their service quality in image to enhance student satisfaction and loyalty.

This study suggests a unique measure of higher education service quality dimensions and provides fresh insights into how they impact student satisfaction and loyalty in Vietnam.

The paper aims to investigate the practices facilitating the transformation of healthcare services, understanding the resulting outcomes in terms of well-being and uplifting changes. a systematic literature review (SLR) focusing on analyzing the healthcare sector under the transformative service research (TSR) theoretical domain is conducted to achieve this goal.

Employing a structured SLR developed based on the PRISMA protocol (Pickering and Byrne, 2014; Pickering et al., 2015) and using Scopus and WoS databases, the study identifies and analyzes 49 papers published between 2021 and 2022. Content analysis is used to classify and analyze the papers.

The SLR reveals four transformative practices (how) within the healthcare sector under the TSR domain, each linked to specific well-being outcomes (what). The analysis shows that both practices and outcomes are mainly patient-related. An integrative framework for transformative healthcare service is presented and critically examined to identify research gaps and define the trajectory for the future development of TSR in healthcare. In addition, managerial implications are provided to guide practitioners.

This research is among the first to analyze TSR literature in the context of healthcare. The study critically examines the TSR’s impact on the sector’s transformation, providing insights for future research and offering a roadmap for healthcare practitioners to facilitate uplifting changes.

This study aims to assess service quality in sport child camps among both participants and parents and its effects on satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

Data were collected from participants (n = 258) and parents (n = 226) of a sport child camp. A confirmatory factor analysis analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs, and a subsequent structural equation model examined the effects of service quality on satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

The results indicate a multi-dimensional construct of service quality that influences satisfaction and behavioural intentions differently among parents and participants. For participants, Service Failures and Recovery, Safety and Food influenced satisfaction, while Service Failures and Recovery and Fun influenced Behavioural Intentions. For parents, Management Commitment to Service Quality, Staff, Food and Contact with Physical Environmental influenced satisfaction, while Management Commitment to Service Quality and Staff influenced Behavioural intentions.

Both parents and participants' perceptions of service quality in sport child camps were captured and its effects on satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The study provides sport child camp managers with critical information about service delivery and its outcomes among the two key consumers (participants and parents).

This study offers new ideas to advance knowledge on sport child camps by capturing the perceptions of two key stakeholders and providing useful insights into how different attributes of service quality influence the levels of satisfaction and behavioural intentions among parents and participants.

The involvement of clients in service encounters and service development has become a central principle for contemporary health and social care organizations. However, in day-to-day work settings, the shift toward client involvement is still in progress. We examined how health and social care professionals, together with clients and managers, co-develop their conceptions of client involvement and search for practical ways in which to implement these in organizational service processes.

The empirical case of this study was a developmental intervention, the client involvement workshop, conducted in a Finnish municipal social and welfare center. The cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) framework was used to analyze the development of client involvement ideas and the modes of interaction during the intervention.

Analysis of the collective discussion revealed that the conceptions of client involvement developed through two interconnected object-orientations: Enabling client involvement in service encounters and promoting client involvement in the service system. The predominant mode of interaction in the collective discussion was that of “coordination.” The clients' perspective and contributions were central aspects in the turning points from coordination to cooperation; professionals crossed organizational boundaries, and together with clients, constructed a new client involvement-based object. This suggests that client participation plays an important role in the development of services.

The CHAT-based examination of the modes of interaction clarifies the potential of co-developing client-involvement-based services and highlights the importance of clients' participation in co-development.

Lean Six Sigma in public and private healthcare organisations has received considerable attention over the last decade. Nevertheless, such process improvement methodologies are not generalizable, and their effective implementation relies on contextual variables. The purpose of this study is to explore the readiness of Italian hospitals for Lean Six Sigma and Quality Performance Improvement (LSS&QPI), with a focus on gender differences.

A survey comprising 441 healthcare professionals from public and private hospitals was conducted. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine the mean scores on the LSS&QPI dimensions based on hospital type, gender and their interaction.

The results showed that public healthcare professional are more aware of quality performance improvement initiatives than private healthcare professionals. Moreover, gender differences emerged according to the type of hospital, with higher awareness for men than women in public hospitals, whereas for private hospitals the opposite was true.

This study contributes to the Lean Six Sigma literature by focusing on the holistic assessment of LSS&QPI implementation.

This study informs healthcare managers about the revolution within healthcare organisations, especially public ones. Healthcare managers should spend time understanding Lean Six Sigma as a strategic orientation to promote the “lean hospital”, improving processes and fostering patient-centredness.

This is a preliminary study focussing on analysing inter-relationship between perceived importance of soft readiness factors such as gender dynamics as a missing jigsaw in the current literature. In addition, the research advances a holistic assessment of LSS&QPI, which sets it apart from the studies on single initiatives that have been documented to date.

This study aims to evaluate the loyalty formation model on e-grocery service incorporating food quality, e-grocery quality and relationship quality as determinants of loyalty.

The quantitative approach was used by using 353 data from young Indonesian customers with purchasing experience of local food through e-grocery service. The hypothesized relationships between variables were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results confirm that local food quality, e-grocery service quality and the relationship quality elements of a sense of community and attitudinal attachment, are all loyalty drivers. Next, mediation tests reveal that local food quality and e-grocery service quality influence customer loyalty through customers’ attitudinal attachment and a sense of community.

This study recommends that managers of e-grocery services of local food businesses could benefit from the development of attachment and a sense of community among their young clients. Furthermore, to develop loyalty among young customers, offering high-quality local food as well as e-grocery services is suggested.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first examination of the e-grocery service loyalty in the context of local food.

Sustainable tourism is becoming more popular all over the world. Eco-friendly (green) hotels are properties that are friendly to the environment and are becoming increasingly popular among green travellers. Electronic word-of-mouth is a technique of communicating with consumers in order to share their experiences, and it is a significant marketing tool for hotels. This paper aims to identify the main themes shared in online reviews by tourists visiting eco-friendly hotels, and which of these themes were associated with satisfaction and dissatisfaction ratings.

The research used qualitative content analyses to analyse 1,202 user-generated content of the top 10 hotels in UK shared by guests on an online platform.

The analyses revealed nine themes in descriptions of airline travel experiences. These are “hotel amenities”, “services”, “location”, “staff”, “eco” (eco-friendly activities), “value” and “recommend/revisit” (intentions). Negative comments are associated with the “bathroom”, “mattress”, “water”, “bed”, “price”, “shower”, “Wi-Fi” and “restaurant” concepts.

This study differs from previous research in which it aims to address a void in the literature on the shortcomings of research focused on finding the dominant themes expressed in online reviews by tourists visiting eco-friendly hotels, and it does so using data mining approach.