Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to explore innovations in customer experience at the intersection of the digital, physical and social realms. It explicitly considers experiences involving new technology-enabled services, such as digital twins and automated social presence (i.e. virtual assistants and service robots). Design/methodology/approach-Future customer experiences are conceptualized within a three-dimensional spacelow to high digital density, low to high physical complexity and low to high social presenceyielding eight octants. Findings-The conceptual framework identifies eight "dualities," or specific challenges connected with integrating digital, physical and social realms that challenge organizations to create superior customer experiences in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. The eight dualities are opposing strategic options that organizations must reconcile when co-creating customer experiences under different conditions. Research limitations/implications-A review of theory demonstrates that little research has been conducted at the intersection of the digital, physical and social realms. Most studies focus on one realm, with occasional reference to another. This paper suggests an agenda for future research and gives examples of fruitful ways to study connections among the three realms rather than in a single realm. Practical implications-This paper provides guidance for managers in designing and managing customer experiences that the authors believe will need to be addressed by the year 2050. Social implications-This paper discusses important societal issues, such as individual and societal needs for privacy, security and transparency. It sets out potential avenues for service innovation in these areas. Originality/value-The conceptual framework integrates knowledge about customer experiences in digital, physical and social realms in a new way, with insights for future service research, managers and public policy makers.

Academics as well as managers have long been interested in the role of satisfaction with complaint handling (SATCOM) in shaping customers' attitudes and repurchasing decisions. This interest has generated a widespread belief that SATCOM is driven by the perception that the complaint handling process is just. To test how SATCOM is modulated by distributive, interactional, or procedural justice, we performed a meta-analysis of 60 independent studies of the antecedents and consequences of SATCOM. Results indicate that SATCOM is affected most by distributive justice, then by interactional justice, and only weakly by procedural justice. We also find that SATCOM mediates the effects of justice dimensions on word-of-mouth. However, contrary to common belief, SATCOM does not mediate the effects of justice dimensions on overall satisfaction and return intent. We draw on our results to suggest several avenues for further research.

Service failures represent temporary or permanent interruptions of the customer's regular service experience. Although the literature identifies an extensive set of organizational alternatives for recovering from service failures, researchers have approached these responses as discrete organizational actions that are loosely connected to the dynamic nature of the recovery experience. In this paper, we address this shortcoming by introducing the idea of the service recovery journey (SRJ). We first conceptualize the SRJ as the outcome of a service failure that is composed of three phases: pre-recovery, recovery, and post-recovery. We then synthesize the organizational responses to service failures reported in 230 journal articles and integrate them with the novel SRJ perspective. Thereafter, we provide an extensive set of questions for future research that will expand our knowledge about the pre-recovery, recovery, and post-recovery phases, and address the interaction between the customer's regular journey and the SRJ. Finally, we outline six considerations for recovery research seeking to affect business practice and discuss the managerial implications of adopting an SRJ perspective.

When they experience service failures, customers look for causes. They seek to understand whether the service firm could have prevented the failure (controllability attribution) and whether the cause of the failure is temporary or constant over time (stability attribution). To understand such attributions, we perform a meta-analysis. We find that causal attributions are related to emotional and cognitive reactions in several ways. First, controllability attributions elicit stronger negative emotions than do stability attributions. Second, controllability attributions directly affect only transaction-specific satisfaction, whereas stability attributions directly affect customers’ transaction-specific and overall satisfaction. Third, both attributions affect loyalty and negative word of mouth through negative emotions, overall satisfaction, and transaction-specific satisfaction. Finally, contextual (i.e., cultural values), methodological (i.e., type of failure), and measurement factors (i.e., measurement scale) partly explain studywise variation in the effects of attributions on customer outcomes. We recommend that companies manage reactions to service failure thrice: before customers formulate attributional beliefs, using fast and accurate communication; when the attributional beliefs are formed, offering employee assistance and compensations; and well after the attributional beliefs are established, providing feedback on process improvements by the company.

Service recovery captures the organizational actions of seeking and dealing with a failure in the service delivery. Although many studies have examined the outcomes of organizational efforts in managing service recovery, there is a lack of a comprehensive framework embracing the focal constructs, the causal relationships, the interdisciplinarity, and the levels of theory in service recovery. In this paper we synthesize theoretical and empirical studies examining the operations, marketing, and human resources management views on service recovery, offering three contributions to the literature. First, we develop an interdisciplinary and multilevel framework linking organizational investments in service recovery to organizational, employee, and customer outcomes, within and across levels of theory. Second, we integrate conceptual and empirical propositions from previously separate research. Third, we offer scholars a research agenda highlighting several issues that are in need of interdisciplinary research on service recovery. . The effect of management commitment to service quality on employees' affective and performance outcomes.