Citation
Llosa, S. and Orsingher, C. (2007), "Editorial", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 18 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijsim.2007.08518eaa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Editorial
The 9th International Research Seminar in Service Management founded by Pierre Eiglier and Eric Langeard in 1990 was held in La Londe, France, in Spring 2006. It was a success in terms of the quality of the papers presented, and the number of scholars who attended it.
The conference formula is unique: only two competitive sessions are opened and each author has 45 minutes to present the paper and to discuss constructively with the room. By enabling thorough and fruitful exchange, between some hundred or so participants from more than 15 different countries, this formula has proved itself.
This special issue of the International Journal of Service Industry Management features five stimulating papers that were presented at the Seminar. They reflect the spirit as well as the content of the Seminar. They include a mix of conceptual thinking and field research; a mix of nationalities and a mix of disciplines, marketing, human resources management, strategy, and operations which constitute the heart and the wealth of services as a research area.
Aurier and Siadou-Martin address the issue of service recovery; namely the role of perceived justice in service consumption/purchase experiences. Carrilat, Jaramillo and Mulki provide a quantitative overview of the service quality issue: they conduct a meta-analysis to investigate the difference between SERVQUAL and SERVPERF's predictive validity of service quality. Graf's paper discusses the implications and consequences of changes in customer roles and involvement on HRM within a service context. Ngoala's purpose is to better understand why customers resist switching service provider when critical incident occurs. He investigates the role of perceived equity, trust and relationship commitment on customer switching resistance.
Specht, Fichtel and Meyer analyze the impact of effort and abilities of employees in a service encounter on customer satisfaction.
All these issues are challenging because many solutions are yet to be discovered both from academics and practitioners.
Finally, we would like to thank Rosemary Calazel for her continuous support, Ingrid Hansson for guiding us throughout the production of this special issue, and Bo Edvardsson for having encouraged and supported this special issue.
Sylvie Llosa and Chiara OrsingherGuest Editors