Cultivating resilience for sustainable service ecosystems in turbulent times: evidence from primary health care

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why some service ecosystems are more resilient and, consequently, more sustainable than others during turbulent times, and how resilience can be cultivated to enable pathways to service ecosystem sustainability. Design/methodology/approach This work integrates disparate literature from multiple service and sustainability literature streams, iterating through constant comparison with findings from 44 semistructured interviews conducted in the context of primary health care clinic service ecosystems. Findings The authors offer a novel conceptual framework comprising pillars (shared worldview, individual actor well-being and multiactor interactions), changing practices to cultivate resilience through resilience levers (orchestrators, individual actor effort, actor inclusivity and digitaltech–humanness approach), and pathways to service ecosystem sustainability (volume vs value, volume to value, volume and value). The authors demonstrate that service ecosystems need to change practices, integrating resources differently in response to the turbulent environment, emphasizing the importance of a shared worldview across the ecosystem and assessing different pathways to sustainability. Originality/value This paper offers new insights into the important intersection of service marketing, sustainability and health care. The authors provide guidance to practitioners aiming to cultivate resilience in service ecosystems to achieve pathways to sustainability in primary health care clinics. Finally, implications for theory are discussed, and directions to guide future service research offered.

The possibilities of resilience for service organisations

“…, 2023); at the level of the service organisation; the wider set of actors that they interact with (e.g. this may be envisaged with respect to B2B networks and/or the wider community, which may be especially significant for public service organisations) (Tang and Blocker, 2022; McColl-Kennedy et al. , 2023; Toufaily and Zalan, 2023; Velotti et al.…”

“…, 2021; Shen et al. , 2023; McColl-Kennedy et al. , 2023), as well as at a range of other scales (Asadzadeh et al.…”

“…Resilience for service organisations can therefore be envisaged at the scale of individual consumers, customers and employees and the co-creation of service between them (Giovinazzi et al, 2016;Huang et al, 2019;Näswall et al, 2019;Daniels et al, 2020;Partouche-Sebban et al, 2021;Sharma, 2021;Yi et al, 2023;Le et al, 2023); at the level of the service organisation; the wider set of actors that they interact with (e.g. this may be envisaged with respect to B2B networks and/or the wider community, which may be especially significant for public service organisations) (Tang and Blocker, 2022;McColl-Kennedy et al, 2023;Toufaily and Zalan, 2023;Velotti et al, 2023;Leino et al, 2024); and other scales. For example, institutions such as regulatory bodies, financial organisations and insurers have also been demonstrated to be incredibly significant for organisational resilience in the case of crises and disasters, with decisions at this level often having far-reaching implications at the organisational scale (Hall et al, 2016).…”

Editorial: Service resilience in an increasingly ambiguous, dynamic and complex world – absorb, adapt and transform

“…In the process, the concept has become synonymous with describing an organization’s ability to cope with a highly competitive service environment. In organizational psychology (Powley, 2009), supply chain management (Sheffi and Rice, 2005), strategic management (Annarelli and Nonino, 2016) and services marketing (Bolton, 2020; Fehrer and Bove, 2022; McColl-Kennedy et al. , 2023; Sok et al.…”

“…Importantly, environmental uncertainty, increased complexity, ambiguity and unpredictability of change put pressure on service organizations and service systems to adapt, innovate (Engen, 2020; Skålén et al. , 2014), retrench, balance resources or acquire new resources (Fehrer and Bove, 2022; McColl-Kennedy, Breidbach et al. , 2023; Ungar, 2021).…”