Don’t Forget About the Frontline Employee During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Insights and a Research Agenda on Market Shocks

Voorhees, Clay M.; Fombelle, Paul W.; Bone, Sterling A.

doi:10.1177/1094670520944606

Cited by 87 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Patterns of customer demand related to various forms of services, as well as firms’ ability to meet these demands, appear to be increasing in their unpredictability due to environmental disruptions, including pandemics (Voorhees, Fombelle, and Bone 2020), climate change (Besiou and Van Wassenhove 2020), volatile labor markets, unraveling trade relations between nations, and significant societal changes (Previte and Robertson 2019). Our Phase 1 analyses indicated that service providers are under increased pressure to reconfigure, and then deploy, the necessary resources and capabilities to respond to these changes in real time.…”

Section: Service Research Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service Research Priorities: Managing and Delivering Service in Turbulent Times

Ostrom

Fotheringham

et al. 2021

Journal of Service Research

188

169

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Transformative changes in the societal and service context call out for the service discipline to develop a coherent set of priorities for research and practice. To this end, we utilized multiple data sources: surveys of service scholars and practitioners, web scraping of online documents, a review of published service scholarship, and roundtable discussions conducted at the world’s foremost service research centers. We incorporated innovative methodologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, and qualitative analyses, to identify key service research priorities that are critical to address during these turbulent times. The first two priorities— technology and the changing nature of work and technology and the customer experience—focus on leveraging technology for service provision and consumption. The next two priorities— resource and capability constraints and customer proactivity for well-being—focus on responding to the changing needs of multiple stakeholders. Further, we identified a set of stakeholder-wants from the literature and include research questions that tie key stakeholder-wants to each of the four priorities. We believe the set of research priorities in the present article offer actionable ideas for service research directions in this challenging environment.

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Section: Service Research Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service Research Priorities: Managing and Delivering Service in Turbulent Times

Ostrom

Fotheringham

et al. 2021

Journal of Service Research

188

169

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, while much focus has been placed on first responders and healthcare personnel during this time, less attention has been paid to frontline employees (FLEs) in other traditional services (e.g. retail, hospitality), who are referred to as 'forgotten' FLEs (Voorhees et al, 2020). In this regard, the best way to protect the workforce in these essential and highcontact services from getting sick and being at risk is to minimize the dissemination of the infection in the environment where they serve Berry & Stuart, 2020), and practicing physical distancing is thus necessary to secure frontline employees' health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using regulatory focus to encourage physical distancing in services: when fear helps to deal with Mr. Deadly COVID-19

Wang

Guchait

2020

The Service Industries Journal

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Although physical distancing is the key to reducing the risk of virus infection, the commonly used signs to spur physical distancing in services seem ineffective as many customers still refrain from practicing physical distancing. This research therefore suggests using regulatory focus (prevention vs. promotion) to improve the persuasiveness of these appeals. Study 1 creates and validates one multiple-item scale for measuring physical distancing in services, which is then adopted in two subsequent scenariobased experiments. Study 2 proves the superior effect of prevention-focused message to both promotion-focused message and conventional message in encouraging physical distancing compliance, which is explained by perceived fear as the underlying psychological mechanism. Study 3 further unveils the boundary condition of anthropomorphism in strengthening this superiority (i.e. Mr. Deadly COVID-19, scary face). Given a great deal of uncertain future caused by this epidemic, this research provides relevant implications for fostering the engagement in physical distancing in services.

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“…A study of service workers, likewise, requires a deeper appreciation of well-being issues in both challenging and so-called normal times. Indeed, as noted earlier, while the COVID-19 pandemic has increased public attention on issues related to the vulnerability and precariousness of service work, frontline service work has been characterized even in the best of times by job insecurity, low pay and benefits, and emotional exhaustion (Voorhees, Fombelle, and Bone 2020). Closer to home, our own academic jobs and institutions are undergoing significant changes with diminished opportunities for tenure and job security, increased cost pressures on colleges and universities, and a reframing of what constitutes education (e.g., competencies supplanting diplomas).…”

Section: A Deeper Look At Service Workers’ Experiencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enacting Service Work in a Changing World: Time for a Dialogue

Subramony

Groth

2021

Journal of Service Research

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Service work is rapidly evolving as a result of technological innovations, changing employment norms, and a variety of environmental challenges. Yet, the scope of service work scholarship appears to be restricted to traditional frontline employees occupying boundary-spanning positions in formal private-sector service organizations. Given the “perfect storm” of multiple disruptions, we believe that the time is ripe for service scholars to reexamine how service work is being (and will be) enacted in a changing world. In this editorial, we propose an expansion of the “service worker” construct, recommend a deeper exploration of the experiences of service workers, and call to situate these experiences within an evolving service work ecosystem. Our aim is to spark interdisciplinary dialogue related to service work in order to foster service scholarship and practice that are responsive to the changing world.

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Don’t Forget About the Frontline Employee During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Insights and a Research Agenda on Market Shocks

Cited by 87 publications

References 7 publications

Service Research Priorities: Managing and Delivering Service in Turbulent Times

Service Research Priorities: Managing and Delivering Service in Turbulent Times

Using regulatory focus to encourage physical distancing in services: when fear helps to deal with Mr. Deadly COVID-19

Enacting Service Work in a Changing World: Time for a Dialogue

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