Service Science

Abstract

Service comprise of socio-technical (human and technological) factors which exchange various resources and competencies. Service networks are used to transfer resources and competencies, yet they remain an underexplored and ‘invisible’ infrastructure. Service networks become increasingly complex when technology is implemented to execute specific service processes. This ultimately adds to the complexity of a service environment, making it one of the most difficult environments to examine and manage. In addition, although the emerging paradigm of ‘Service Science’ calls for more theoretical focus on understanding complex service systems, few efforts have surfaced which apply a new theoretical lens on understanding the underlying trajectories of socio-technical dynamics within a service system. This paper presents a literature review on Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and discusses how it may be employed to examine the socio-technical nature of service networks. ANT offers a rich vocabulary to describe the interplay of socio-technical dynamics which influence the service system reconfiguration. Thus, this paper offers a discussion on how ANT may be employed to examine the complexity of service systems and service innovation.

Engagement Marketing: the Innovative Perspective to Enhance the Viewer’s Loyalty in Social Media and Blogging E-Commerce Websites

“…System operation related innovation → Trust → e-loyalty of website viewers: The Actor-network theory supports this relationship. Actor-network theory is discussed by (Law and Lodge, 1984) and (Carroll et al, 2012) in which they explained it as an approach to understanding social theory and research, instigating in the field of science and related studies, which tackles subject as an element of social networks. Although it is most known for its arguable persistence on the capability of nonhumans doing something or contribute in systems or networks or both in connection with the human interactivity.…”

Service Ecosystem Design for Improving the Service Sustainability: A Case of Career Counselling Services in the Italian Higher Education Institution

“…Whether service research or design research, the service actors are seen as an original and essential factor of service interactions, service delivery, and service value-creation. Within service science, services contain socio-technical determinants which exchange competencies and resources diversely [105]. In design research, it is further portrayed as the urgent need for developing a scientific understanding of the configuration In the complex service ecosystem structures, there is a need to identify the actors who are correlated with each single service or integrated services.…”

“…Since actors serve as an irreplaceable role in service design and development, the answer as to what are the service actor-networks, especially, in the complexity of service ecosystem context, is demanded. From the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), it proposes an angle to establish service networks from discerning the underlying tracks of socio-technical dynamics [105,107]. Yaneva [106], in her research, argued the ANT theory offers design research a way of clarifying how design can shape the social diversity, starting from designing encounters between humans and non-humans (environment and objects).…”

Evolving Obligatory Passage Points to Sustain Service Systems: The Case of Traditional Market Revitalization in Hsinchu City, Taiwan

“…ANT uses the concept of the actor (human) and actant (non-human) as units to trace their interactions, including the role of stakeholders and obligatory passage points (OPP). This theory has been effectively used to examine the socio-technical nature of service networks [41] and applied to assess projects at the organizational level [42].…”