According to service-dominant logic (S-D logic), all providers are service providers, and service is the fundamental basis of exchange. Value is co-created with customers and assessed on the basis of value-in-context. However, the extensive literature on S-D logic could benefit from paying explicit attention to the fact that both service exchange and value co-creation are influenced by social forces. The aim of this study is to expand understanding of service exchange and value co-creation by complementing these central aspects of S-D logic with key concepts from social construction theories (social structures, social systems, roles, positions, interactions, and reproduction of social structures). The study develops and describes a new framework for understanding how the concepts of service exchange and value co-creation are affected by recognizing that they are embedded in social systems. The study contends that value should be understood as value-in-social-context and that value is a social construction. Value co-creation is shaped by social forces, is reproduced in social structures, and can be asymmetric for the actors involved. Service exchanges are dynamic, and actors learn and change their roles within dynamic service systems.

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Resource integration has become an important concept in marketing literature. However, little is known about the systemic nature of resource integration and the ways the activities of resource integrators are coordinated and adjusted to each other. Therefore, we claim that institutions are the coordinating link that have impact on value cocreation efforts and are the reference base for customers' value assessment. When conceptualizing the systemic nature of resource integration, we include the regulative, normative, and cognitive institutions and institutional logics. This article provides a framework and a structure for identifying and analyzing the influence of institutional logics on resource integration in service systems.

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While service design has been highlighted as a promising approach for driving innovation, there are often struggles in realizing lasting change in practice. The issues with long-term implementation reveal a reductionist view of service design that ignores the institutional arrangements and other interdependencies that influence design efforts within multi-actor service systems. The purpose of this article is to build a systemic understanding of service design to inform actors’ efforts aimed at intentional, long-term change in service systems. To achieve this aim, we inform the conceptual building blocks of service design by applying service-dominant logic’s service ecosystems perspective. Through this process, we develop four core propositions and a multilevel process model of service ecosystem design. The conceptualization of service ecosystem design advances service design theory by illuminating previously taken for granted aspects; explaining how intentional, long-term change emerges; and expanding the scope of service design beyond projects. Furthermore, this research offers a foundation for future research on service design that involves extending the systemic conceptualization of service design, conducting more holistic empirical investigations, and developing practical methods and approaches for the embedded, collective processes of designing.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to conceptualize service innovation through a service‐dominant logic (S‐D logic) lens and a service system foundation.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper offers a service‐dominant logic lens and a structuration theory approach emphasizing an actor perspective on service innovation. Since the value of innovation unfolds in practice, this paper will use customer to denote the key actor in co‐creating value in context.FindingsThe paper shows how a resource constellation in a service system is reconfigured and thus explains service innovation from the lens of S‐D logic, emphasizing customers' value co‐creation of value in practices. The focus is on the interdependencies between the configuration of resources in a service system and schemas that shape customers and other actors when integrating resources and co‐creating value.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need to discuss service innovation in a social constructivist view to better understand the guiding principles or schemas that enable actors to co‐create value.Originality/valueService innovation is understood as sourced by changes in either resources or schemas (norms and rules) or a combination, resulting in structural changes in a service system. The conceptualization provides: a new definition of service innovation; a new framework describing the interdependency between changes in resources and schemas as a basis for an innovative configuration or reconfiguration of a service system; and three propositions illustrating the relevance of this new framework.

Purpose: This study investigates pre-complaint situations and has a threefold purpose: (i) to identify a set of negative emotions experienced in unfavourable service experiences, (ii) to examine the patterns of these negative emotions and (iii) to link these negative emotions to complaint behaviour. Design/methodology/approach: To fulfil the threefold purpose previously outlined, the study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. A critical incident technique is applied. The empirical data are derived from 25 in-depth interviews and the results of a questionnaire survey of 3104 respondents. Findings: Twenty observed negative emotions are reduced to a second-order construct with five latent categories of negative emotions: (i) shame, (ii) sadness, (iii) fear, (iv) anger and (v) frustration. These categories coincide with three categories of negative emotions in the agency dimension: (i) other-attributed, (ii) self-attributed and (iii) situational-attributed. The study finds that the negative emotion of frustration is the best predictor for complaint behaviour towards the service provider. Research limitations/implications:The results are limited by the fact that the data are entirely self-reported. Moreover, the generalisabilty of the results is limited by the fact that the findings relate to one service industry in one country. Originality/value: The study provides a comprehensive conceptual understanding of both pre-complaint negative emotions and how these emotions affect customer complaint behaviour.

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