Guest editorial

Abstract

High tech and high touch: the future of human service Over the last decade, the nature of services has rapidly evolved as technological advancements have become embedded in the service experience (Garry and Harwood, 2019;Bolton et al., 2018;Van Doorn et al., 2017). Service customers can be greeted in a physical servicescape by robots (Lu et al., 2020), digitally assisted by chatbots (Sangle-Ferriere and Voyer, 2019) and robo-advisors (Wexler and Oberlander, 2021), use supportive digital tools (Bocking et al., 2021) or be attended by human service agents (Volkers, 2021). Service encounters now encompass "any customer-company interaction that results from a service system that is comprised of interrelated technologies (either company-or customerowned), human actors (employees and customers), physical/digital environments and company/customer processes" (Larivi ere et al., 2017, p. 239).In this special issue of the Journal of Service Theory and Practice, we consider the nexus of high tech/high touch and its contribution to optimising the customer experience. When technology and customer experience converge, a range of opportunities and challenges present themselves. Ostrom et al. (2021) identified that connections, actor roles and context matter deeply to the customer experience when technology is embedded. Leveraging technology for service consumption can result in unintended consequences, so service organisations are challenged to maintain a humanised, high-touch approach to complement roboticization and automation and increase consumer well-being (Ostrom et al., 2021). The four manuscripts published in this issue consider these challenges and opportunities for the customer experience by focussing on the emerging areas of haptic touch in retailing (Mulcahy and Riedel), mHealth services (Schuster and Parkinson), smart technology (Mele, Marzullo, Di Bernardo, Russo-Spena, Massi, La Salandra and Cialabrini) and blended human-technology realities (Dodds, Oertzen, Russell-Bennett, Salvador-Carulla, Hung and Chen). This special issue is affiliated with the SERVSIG 2020 Conference, which was due to be held in Brisbane, Australia prior to its cancellation due to COVID-19. An open call for papers was publicised through SERVSIG organisational and conference channels (including a video introducing the special issue), the ELMAR listserv, the Journal of Service Theory and Practice's website, as well as to authors with papers accepted to the SERVSIG 2020 Conference.The first manuscript by Mulcahy and Riedel, titled "Going on a Sensory Adventure, a Touchy Subject?: Investigating Haptic Technology and Consumer Adventure Orientation", investigates haptic technology in retailing and its role in consumer experiences. Using affect as information theory, the authors examine the effect of tactile haptic technology on consumer emotions through sense of adventure in the context of female fashion retailing. Mulcahy and Riedel adopt a two study, 2 3 2 experimental approach tested using ANCOVAs and Hayes PROCESS macro to investigate how hap...