Guest Editorial: Expanding service research in the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region
ISSN: 0887-6045
Article publication date: 20 October 2021
Issue publication date: 12 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this special issue is to advance discussions on how the richness, complexities and challenges of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) context can contribute to the understanding of under-researched, as well as newly emerging, phenomena within the service research field.
Design/methodology/approach
This special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing consists of eight articles that focus on different service research topics emerging from the MEA region. The eight papers cover a variety of research methods (e.g. interviews, focus groups, ethnography, case study, survey), participants (e.g. customers, executives, households, refugees, human trafficking survivors, NGO leaders, government officials), countries (e.g. Zambia, Turkey, Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Lebanon) and service industries (e.g. health care, finance, hospitality, faith-based services).
Findings
This editorial provides background information on the MEA context and proposes a unique research agenda for MEA development with a portfolio of intriguing research questions and inspiring opportunities for further research. Specifically, the editorial highlights six of the most promising and unique avenues for service research in the MEA context by considering the diversity and variations between the MEA nations: cultivate service inclusion; tackle service corruption and designing for justice; climate protection to mitigate further instability and conflict; closing the gap in digital technology: opportunities and challenges; prioritize essential service sectors (education, health care and tourism); and eradicate “service” poverty.
Originality/value
This special issue is a first attempt to explore the MEA region from a service research perspective. The editorial discusses unique challenges and opportunities from theoretical and managerial points of view and calls for embracing this region as the new frontier for service researchers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the coauthors of this special issue for their intercontinental collaborations and for their courage and creativity in exploring themes previously understudied in service research. We are also grateful for the numerous skilled reviewers who went above and beyond to guide the authors of all submitted manuscripts. Above all, we are incredibly grateful to the Journal of Services Marketing coeditors, Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett and Professor Mark Rosenbaum, for believing in the importance of addressing this highly understudied part of the world by supporting this special issue.
Citation
Alkire, L. and Hammedi, W. (2021), "Guest Editorial: Expanding service research in the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 35 No. 7, pp. 849-856. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-10-2021-543
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited