Accelerating Employee-Related Scholarship In Service Management Research Streams, Propositions, And Commentaries

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to accelerate research related to the employee-facets of service management by summarizing current developments in multiple research streams, providing propositions, and articulating new directions for theory and empirical inquiry.Design/methodology/approach - Seven scholars provide short reviews of the core topics and findings from four employee-related research streams - collective turnover, service climate, emotional labor, and occupational stress; and generate propositions to guide future theoretical and empirical work. Four distinguished service scholars - David Bowen, Ray Fisk, Christian Gronroos, and Jochen Wirtz comment upon these research streams and provide future directions for accelerating employee-related research in service management.Findings - All four research-streams yield insights that have the potential to advance service management research. Commentaries from the distinguished scholars further integrate this work with key concerns within service management including technology-enablement, transformative services, and service strategy.Originality/value - This paper is unique in its scope of coverage of management topics related to service and its aim to promote interdisciplinary dialog between service management scholars and researchers conducting employee-related research relevant to services.