Abstract
Across industries, firms face the need to digitalize their service processes, i.e., transform the service delivery from a physical into a digital form or enhance it through digital technologies. Therefore, one important challenge can arise due to the inseparability of service processes, which describes the necessity for a customer to consume a service the moment which a service provider produces it. Since existing research has failed to examine inseparability as a predictor of service digitalization, this study aims to explore whether inseparability hinders the digitalization of service processes and whether internal support in form of innovation culture and external support from third parties can help to mitigate the influence of inseparability. Data from an online survey of 204 German service employees and managers confirm our hypotheses. These results demonstrate to practitioners that although it may be more difficult to digitalize service processes due to their inseparability, firms may rely on internal and external support for innovation to overcome this challenge.
Highlights
Firms in many different industries currently face the need to digitalize their services to stay competitive on the market (Hess et al 2016)
Since existing research has failed to examine inseparability as a predictor of service digitalization, this study aims to explore whether inseparability hinders the digitalization of service processes and whether internal support in form of innovation culture and external support from third parties can help to mitigate the influence of inseparability
Data from an online survey of 204 German service employees and managers confirm our hypotheses. These results demonstrate to practitioners that it may be more difficult to digitalize service processes due to their inseparability, firms may rely on internal and external support for innovation to overcome this challenge
Summary
Firms in many different industries currently face the need to digitalize their services to stay competitive on the market (Hess et al 2016). The digitalization of service processes can offer companies many benefits (Rust and Huang 2014), including efficiency gains (Sabherwal and Jeyaraj 2015), better geographical accessibility of services (Cho and Park 2003), improved service quality, and personalization of services with deeper customer communication (Rust and Huang 2014). Despite these potential benefits, the digitalization of service processes in many firms is still in its infancy (Overby et al 2010). Major reasons for this are the difficulties in digitalizing service processes that arise for service providers (Green et al 2016) and customers (Paluch and Blut 2013) due to inseparability
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
