Technology as Actors in Service Systems

Abstract

Service systems are defined as dynamic configurations of resources (people, organizations, technology and shared information), interconnected internally and externally by value propositions with other service systems. Resources are constantly evolving, as are the capabilities and roles of resources in service systems. Cognitive technologies incorporate rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Therefore, their roles are on a trajectory of increasing agency and self-directed interactions with other resources and service systems. With this in mind, a framework for service systems in which AI-based cognitive assistants (CAs) become responsible actors is the current research challenge. Because AI-based CAs have already started to play different roles in service systems. One contribution of this research is to clarify that service system entities are responsible actors, and address the question: Under what conditions does a technology such as a Cognitive Assistant (CA) become a responsible actor?

Technology has Agency too! Disentangling Technology's Causal and Structural Agency in a Service System

“…Our evaluation of the technology recognizes the focal actor's function of a separate conduit, with an ability to hold causal and structural agency, enabling diffusion. Scaffolding from S-D logic literature that recognizes technology as an operant resource (Akaka and Vargo 2014; Vargo, Wieland, and Akaka 2015, 2020) and early conceptual recognition of AI technology's potential agency (e.g., cognitive assistants, Siddike, Hidaka, and Kohda 2021), we offer additional clarity to the deliberation of technology's agency (Sharma et al 2020; Vargo 2018) and how it impacts changing values (Layton 2017). We illuminate the S-D logic perspective that agency determination is not constrained to conscious effort and decision-making (e.g., human agency) but is indicative of its impact on the actors and overarching structure.…”

“…Resultingly, the technology clearly holds structural agential status due to its impact on the system(s). This agency provides a greater bearing to higher-level structures that are not limited to the service system but may hold macro implications as well (Sayes 2014; Siddike, Hidaka, and Kohda 2021).…”

“…As the role of technology continues to evolve in systems, managers and policymakers face an increasingly complex environment shaped by multiple actors interacting through space and time (Layton 2019). Scholars argue that this research is necessary to recognize the rights and responsibilities of these actors (Sayes 2014; Siddike, Hidaka, and Kohda 2021).…”