Transformative Service Initiatives: Enabling Access and Overcoming Barriers for People Experiencing Vulnerability

Abstract

Transformative service initiatives (TSIs) refer to activities by organizations (public, private, nonprofit) or volunteers to serve people experiencing vulnerabilities, including long-term challenges (e.g., refugees, homeless people, undocumented immigrants, ex-convicts) and try to improve their well-being. To advance the concept of TSI, this study proposes a 3A (Awareness, Alignment, Access) Integration Process Framework that can facilitate empirical tests of whether participation in TSIs affects people’s access to critical services. The empirical evidence affirms a positive influence of TSI participation on two TSR outcomes (application and access to higher education), according to data from a longitudinal study of 2,068 refugees (Study 1) that relies on propensity score matching and regression analysis. Study 2 uses qualitative data from six focus groups and identifies 16 barriers to successful refugee integration; it also identifies four individual strategies to overcoming those integration barriers. From academic and public policy perspectives, the findings demonstrate that efforts to plan and implement TSIs should follow a stepwise process to achieve the intended transformative outcomes. These findings can help academic, public policy, and civil society actors design and implement TSIs in various contexts to benefit people experiencing vulnerability.

Service Research Priorities: Designing Sustainable Service Ecosystems

“…Recent research has added a service lens to the extant public policy literature on disadvantaged populations, such as research on consumers in low-access subsistence marketplaces (Viswanathan et al 2021), consumers experiencing natural disasters (Cheung, McColl-Kennedy and Coote 2017), refugees (Cheung and McColl-Kennedy 2019), elderly consumers (Khaksar et al 2017), and those in prison (Hill et al 2015), with special issues devoted to vulnerable consumers and communities (Rosenbaum, Seger-Guttmann and Giraldo 2017; Sandberg et al 2021). Several reviews, research agendas (e.g., Anderson et al 2013; Boenigk et al 2020; Bolton 2020; Fisk et al 2016, 2018; Grier et al 2019), and new frameworks (Boenigk Silke et al, 2021; Poole Sonja Martin et al, 2021) have been proposed to guide this important stream of research and bring to the forefront questions of social justice, inequalities, and inequitable treatment related to “race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, and intersectionality” in the marketplace (Mende and Scott 2021; Scott et al 2011; Wiener, Ellen and Burton 2020, 373). Notably, Fisk et al (2018) spotlighted the need to create inclusive service systems and design services so that they meet the needs of all consumers, including not just service access but also choice, fair treatment during the service experience, and services that reduce suffering and increase happiness and well-being for all.…”

How does relationship length influence donation amount over time for regular members of nonprofit organizations – the moderating role of donation frequency

“…This study contributes to recent research on services that create relevant work that responds to societal challenges, both by enhancing the active participation of the actors forming the entire service ecosystem (Finsterwalder et al, 2021;Ostrom et al, 2021) and by improving the well-being of the most vulnerable groups in society (Boenigk et al, 2021;Rosenbaum et al, 2017). As entities providing essential community services, nonprofits play an important role in this context, and obtaining sufficient economic resources has become critical to the fulfillment of their missions.…”

“…, 2021; Ostrom et al. , 2021) and by improving the well-being of the most vulnerable groups in society (Boenigk et al. , 2021; Rosenbaum et al.…”

Commentary: the unintended consequences of digital service technologies

“…Consumers have a right to understand the potentiality for harm that underlies each digital technology and then decide whether the technology’s benefits outweigh its consequences. However, this will only occur when corporations understand their digital responsibilities and enact transformative service initiatives (Boenigk et al , 2021) that will help reduce digital technology users experiencing vulnerabilities.…”