Special issue editorial: conceptual frameworks for e-service

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration 26: 265–266 (2009) Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.125

Special Issue Editorial: Conceptual Frameworks for e-Service Paul R. Messinger University of Alberta

Dennis Galletta University of Pittsburgh

We are pleased to introduce the first of two special issues on e-Service. The impetus for these special issues is the growing recognition of the dominant role of service in all of its forms in modern economies, and the fact that service enterprises have been transformed by new information technologies in general and by the Internet in particular. Indeed, we believe that service-focused implications of new information technologies and e-commerce are only beginning to command research attention in proportion to their economic importance. When we initially began work on the special issues on e-Service for the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, we did so with the hope that the research in these special issues would contribute to the thinking, conceptualization of issues, and subsequent knowledge in this emerging field. This current special issue, which consists of five papers, is devoted to conceptual frameworks helpful for strategic management of services. The subsequent special issue will be devoted to empirical tools and analyses relevant for the tactical management of services. The opening paper by Messinger, Li, Stroulia, Galletta, Ge and Choi identifies seven key challenges associated with managing hybrid human-automated service systems in the context of a conceptual framework used to organize some relevant considerations and past literature. The second paper by Zhu, Basil and Hunter shows that Canadian wineries have increasingly virtually integrated noncore services and products of other firms together with their own (expanded online) offerings as their Internet usage has progressed. Referring to this pattern of development as market integration, the authors argue for extending Rao, Metts, and Mora Monge’s (2003) webstage model, which states that small businesses progress through four stages of utilizing the web

Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

(presence, portals, transaction integration, and enterprise integration). In particular, the authors call for recognition that market integration increases in this four-stage process and suggests that the previously constituted transaction integration stage needs refinement. The third paper by Rolland, Patterson and Ward offers a framework for operationalizing dynamic capabilities theory (DCT) for e-Service and suggests that DCT is a logical extension of the well-known resourcebased view. This framework is useful for identifying strategic service opportunities in the face of changing circumstances. The fourth paper by Liebermann and Stashevsky describes the determinants of adoption of web services for consumers in early-stage online markets using data collected in Israel. The authors present a conceptual framework that identifies six classes of factors associated with consumer decisions to use e-commerce channels, including (1) the perceived costs and benefits of online shopping; (2) Internet usage behaviour; (3) shopping behaviour in traditional outlets; (4) attitudes toward online advertising; (5) the perceived need for online information search; and (6) consumer demographics. The fifth paper by Isckia applies the concept of “business ecosystem” to describe the development of Amazon.com from a cyber-bookstore, to a cyber-market, and now to an Application Service Provider. The theme of this descriptive business history is that web services, and web service providers, may play pivotal roles in shaping the evolution of business communities in industries. Three of these papers (Messinger et al., Zhu et al., and Isckia) offer complementary perspectives on the evolution of e-Service for businesses. The first paper notes a common progression for many businesses of incorporating automation in the service-delivery process, and

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Can J Adm Sci 26(4), 265–266 (2009)

SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORIAL: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS FOR E-SERVICE

reviewers for their detailed comments and constructive suggestions, Rick Hackett, Editor-in-Chief of CJAS, for encouraging this project throughout, and Melissa Corey and Tanuja Weerasooriya, Managing Editors, for conscientiously carrying out the numerous and often arduous tasks involved with this project.

discusses managerial challenges arising from this progression. The second paper describes the progression of web utilization of small businesses. The last paper describes the development of a key player, Amazon.com, as it progressed to form the hub of a business community. In contrast to the other papers, which look at eService from the perspective of the service provider, Liebermann and Stashevsky’s paper examines e-Service from the perspective of the consumer. A common theme of all of these papers is that eService exposes a firm to increased integration with the outside world—both with other firms and with consumers. Firms form alliances amongst themselves, and even with consumers, as they combine their resources toward common goals. The resource-based view takes prominence in this setting, and Rolland et al.’s paper is particularly explicit in developing this and related ideas. In a world of electronic service, communities of businesses (and consumers) increasingly operate in concert, and the development of industries takes new and often invigorated forms. We hope that this special issue informs and stimulates thinking about these and related themes. We would like to thank the contributors to these special issues for their insightful papers, the many

Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

MESSINGER & GALLETTA

Note The special issue editors are indebted to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the University of Alberta School of Retailing, IBM, and Walmart for support. We also express thanks to Sourav Ray for his work as coconvener of symposia on eRetailing at McMaster University and on eService at the University of Alberta; these two symposia prompted initial interest in this special issue project.1

Reference Rao, S.S., Metts, G., & Mora Monge, C.A. (2003). Electronic commerce development in small and medium sized enterprises: A stage model and its implications. Business Process Management Journal, 9(1), 11–32.

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