PurposeThe ongoing pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus has severely influenced lives and livelihoods. As service organizations either face hibernation or continuity of their business operations, the impact of social distancing measures raises major concerns for the well-being of service employees. In this paper, the authors develop a conceptual framework to examine how different social distancing practices impact an organization's service continuity or service hibernation, which in turn affects different dimensions of their employee subjective well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on macroeconomic data and industrial reports, linking them to theoretical concepts to develop a conceptual framework and a research agenda to serve as a starting point to fully understand the impact of this pandemic on employee well-being.FindingsThis article develops an overarching framework and research agenda to investigate the impact of social distancing practices on employee well-being.Originality/valueThe authors propose two opposing business concepts – service continuity and service hibernation – as possible responses to social distancing measures. By bridging different theoretical domains, the authors suggeste that there is a need to holistically examine macro-, meso- and micro-level factors to fully understand the impact of social distancing–related measures on employee well-being.

Purpose This paper aims to synthesize the widespread economic impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 and presents a new concept, service mega-disruptions (SMDs), which refers to fast moving market disturbances at a massive scale caused by a pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework to recognize the impact of SMDs on service ecosystems and a call to action for service researchers in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents an overview of massive market disturbances that is observed across multiple service sectors based on current news reports. It then develops themes for timely and actionable research for service scholars. Findings The outbreak of COVID-19 demonstrates that both service industries and the service research community face a new reality, something that we are not well-prepared to handle. A new framework is needed to understand the impact of such virus outbreaks, and current service marketing concepts need to be re-investigated from a new perspective. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature and service research community by addressing the phenomenon of SMDs by curating a framework and collection of research themes to understand what we observe and what we need to learn to do better in the future.

PurposeAs service robots increasingly interact with customers at the service encounter, they will inevitably become an integral part of employee's work environment. This research investigates frontline employee's perceptions of collaborative service robots (CSR) and introduces a new framework, willingness to collaborate (WTC), to better understand employee–robot interactions in the workplace.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on appraisal theory, this study employed an exploratory research approach to investigate frontline employees' cognitive appraisal of service robots and their WTC with their nonhuman counterparts in service contexts. Data collection consisted of 36 qualitative problem-centered interviews. Following an iterative thematic analysis, the authors introduce a research framework of frontline employees' WTC with service robots.FindingsFirst, this study demonstrates that the interaction between frontline employees and service robots is a multistage appraisal process based on adoption-related perceptions. Second, it identifies important attributes across three categories (employee, robot and job attributes) that provide a foundation to understand the appraisal of CSRs. Third, it presents four employee personas (supporter, embracer, resister and saboteur) that provide a differentiated perspective of how service employee–robot collaboration may differ.Practical implicationsThe article identifies important factors that enable and restrict frontline service employees' (FSEs’) WTC with robots.Originality/valueThis is the first paper that investigates the appraisal of CSRs from the perspective of frontline employees. The research contributes to the limited research on human–robot collaboration and expands existing technology acceptance models that fall short to explain post-adoptive coping behavior of service employees in response to service robots in the workplace.

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Purpose -Following the perspective of frustration theory customer frustration incidents lead to frustration behavior such as protest (negative word-ofmouth). On the internet customers can express their emotions verbally and non-verbally in numerous web-based review platforms. The purpose of this study is to investigate online dysfunctional customer behavior, in particular negative "word-of-web" (WOW) in online feedback forums, among customers who participate in frequent-flier programs in the airline industry. Design/methodology/approach -The study employs a variation of the critical incident technique (CIT) referred to as the critical internet feedback technique (CIFT). Qualitative data of customer reviews of 13 different frequent-flier programs posted on the internet were collected and analyzed with regard to frustration incidents, verbal and non-verbal emotional effects and types of dysfunctional word-of-web customer behavior. The sample includes 141 negative customer reviews based on non-recommendations and low program ratings. Findings -Problems with loyalty programs evoke negative emotions that are expressed in a spectrum of verbal and non-verbal negative electronic word-of-mouth. Online dysfunctional behavior can vary widely from low ratings and non-recommendations to voicing switching intentions to even stronger forms such as manipulation of others and revenge intentions.Research limitations/implications -Results have to be viewed carefully due to methodological challenges with regard to the measurement of emotions, in particular the accuracy of self-report techniques and the quality of online data. Generalization of the results is limited because the study utilizes data from only one industry. Further research is needed with regard to the exact differentiation of frustration from related constructs. In addition, large-scale quantitative studies are necessary to specify and test the relationships between frustration incidents and subsequent dysfunctional customer behavior expressed in negative word-of-web. Practical implications -The study yields important implications for the monitoring of the perceived quality of loyalty programs. Management can obtain valuable information about program-related and/or relationship-related frustration incidents that lead to online dysfunctional customer behavior. A proactive response strategy should be developed to deal with severe cases, such as sabotage plans. Originality/value -This study contributes to knowledge regarding the limited research of online dysfunctional customer behavior as well as frustration incidents of loyalty programs. Also, the article presents a theoretical "customer frustration-defection" framework that describes different levels of online dysfunctional behavior in relation to the level of frustration sensation that customers have experienced. The framework extends the existing perspective of the "customer satisfaction-loyalty" framework developed by Heskett et al.