In numerous studies, information and communications technology (ICT) has been shown to be an enabler of service innovations in human-centered service systems (HCSSs). The resulting findings, however, have not been presented in a systematic way. Therefore, we present an integrated and representative overview of the literature on ICT-enabled service innovation in HCSSs. To show the existing findings, we reviewed papers from top journals in the fields of management science, information systems, service research, and innovation management. By using a systematic literature review, we identified 37 relevant papers. We systematically assessed the papers based on an analytical framework that consists of a four-phase management process and the components of service systems. We showed that the research background and the research methods used in the papers are very diverse, representing a large research field with a varying degree of knowledge. Based on our findings, we derived a specific agenda for future research.
Purpose
While scaling is a viable approach to respond to growing demand, service providers in contact-intensive services (CIS) – such as education, healthcare and social services – struggle to innovate their offerings. The reason is that the scaling of CIS – unlike purely digital settings – has resource limitations. To help ease the situation, the purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the practices used in scaling CIS to support ICT-enabled service innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws on an in-depth analysis of three CIS to examine service innovation practices. The analysis informs model development for service scaling.
Findings
The analysis uncovers three practices for service scaling – service interaction analysis, service pivoting and service validation – and their related activities that are applied in a cyclic and iterative logic.
Research limitations/implications
While the findings reveal that the scalability of CIS is limited and determined by the formative characteristic of personal interaction, this study and its findings describe how to leverage scalability in CIS.
Practical implications
The insights into the practices enable service providers of CIS to iteratively revise their service offerings and the logic of creating value with the service.
Originality/value
This research identifies and describes for the first time the practices for the scaling of CIS as an operationalisation of ICT-enabled service innovation.
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