Creating hospitable service systems for refugees during a pandemic: leveraging resources for service inclusion

Abstract

PurposeThe overarching goal of this paper is to increase awareness among researchers and practitioners that refugees are disproportionally impacted by COVID-19, which increases their suffering. Second, it extends a recently introduced transformative refugee service experience framework by integrating and conceptualizing refugees' resource and service inclusion during a pandemic. Third, it explores lessons learned and implications from the COVID-19 pandemic for the future of service research and practice.Design/methodology/approachThis study synthesizes approaches on refugees, resources and transformative service research to develop an extended framework for addressing one of society's pressing issues during and after pandemics.FindingsRecognizing refugees as providing resources rather than just needing or depleting resources can enable more inclusion. It facilitates refugees' integration into society by drawing on their skills and knowledge. This requires hospitable refugee service systems that enable service inclusion and opportunities for refugee resource integration.Research limitations/implicationsThis article focuses on one vulnerable group in society. However, the extended framework presented warrants broader application to other contexts, such as subsistence marketplaces.Practical implicationsManagers of service businesses and public policymakers should create more inclusive and hospitable service systems for refugees. This may result in redesigning services, changing consumer behavior and reformulating public policy.Social implicationsBetter inclusion and integration of refugees and their resources should increase their individual well-being, reduce social issues in society, increase overall societal well-being and productivity.Originality/valueThis article presents a novel extended framework for service scholars and service providers to increase resource and service inclusion of refugees in a disaster context.

Learning from Pandemics Past and Present for Service Theory and Practice

“…The four manuscripts published in this issue consider pandemics as transformational periods and combine to describe both the unique challenges of a pandemic as well as offering unique opportunities for both businesses and individuals to rethink how they operate. The manuscripts in this SI focus on service businesses (Mele et al, 2021), lean service implementation (Tortorella et al, 2021), health care services (Brodie et al, 2021) and service to marginalized groups of people (Finsterwalder et al, 2021).…”

“…The final article is a conceptual piece, recognizing the difficulties of vulnerable groups by focusing on the conditions of refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic (Finsterwalder et al 2021). The authors detail a consumer point of view, taking a transformative service research perspective to argue that refugees are especially vulnerable consumers during a crisis such as a pandemic.…”

“…Their reasoning is that refugees are less likely than other consumers to have lowerorder needs met, and hence, they are more likely to suffer in terms of physical, social and psychological well-being. In summary, Finsterwalder et al (2021) express overwhelming concern that as there is a greater need for health care during a pandemic, it is less available for refugees to access. In order to deal with the potential risks of exclusion, the authors propose recognizing that refugees can provide resources as well as utilize them.…”

Co-creating dementia care: manoeuvring fractured reflexivity in service design

“…Davey and Grönroos, 2019; Virlée et al , 2020). However, there is still little knowledge on how to relate the conceptual work to practical approaches (Finsterwalder et al , 2020; Fisk et al , 2018; Patrício et al , 2018). As a response, service design is regarded as well suited for enabling TSR because of the methods' action-oriented design (Anderson et al , 2018; Patrício et al , 2018).…”

Balancing service inclusion for primary and secondary customers experiencing vulnerabilities

“…Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has concretely highlighted how access to services and access to the customers within services is not self-evident. In particular, some individuals experiencing vulnerabilities have suffered from the pandemic and from service exclusion (Finsterwalder et al , 2020). The inclusion or exclusion of family members of customers who are experiencing vulnerabilities is not explicitly addressed in the emergent service inclusion theory from the TSR paradigm, which Fisk et al (2018, p. 835) conceptualise as “an egalitarian system that provides customers […] with fair access to a service, fair treatment during a service and fair opportunity to exit a service”.…”