Service Ecosystem Research Articles

Value-in-context: co-creation across different context levels in the service ecosystem

Purpose This study aims to provide in-depth insight into how value is co-created on different levels of context (i.e. dyads, triads and networks) within a service ecosystem, and thus examine the impact of indirect service-for-service exchanges on the value co-creation process, the interdependencies between different levels of context and the roles in the value co-creation process that the actors play depending on the context level. Design/methodology/approach Using the theoretical framework of service-dominant logic, the authors carry out a case study analysis of a service ecosystem built around a digital platform where independent confectioneries sell customised cakes to customers. Findings This paper provides evidence for the importance of a wider context extending beyond producer–customer dyad as well as indirect service-for-service exchanges in the process of value co-creation. This paper also conceptualises trans-contextual exchanges, that is, exchanges occurring between different context levels of the service ecosystem. The analysis also allowed us to establish that the same actors simultaneously play different roles in the service ecosystem, depending on the level of context. Research limitations/implications This study highlights the importance of indirect service-for-service exchanges and trans-contextual exchanges. Constituting discreet avenues of value co-creation, often obscured from a single actor of a service ecosystem, these two types of exchanges are nonetheless crucial to understanding the full scope of the ecosystem’s interconnectedness, the varying roles of its actors, as well as supporting the scaling up process of the service ecosystem. Originality/value Althogh there are studies examining value co-creation within wider contexts or ecosystems from the service-dominant logic perspective, usually little attention is paid to the indirect service-for-service exchanges and the interplay between different levels of context.

QUASIM: Quantum Computing Enhanced Service Ecosystem for Simulation in Manufacturing

AbstractQuantum computing (QC) and machine learning (ML), taken individually or combined into quantum-assisted ML (QML), are ascending computing paradigms whose calculations come with huge potential for speedup, increase in precision, and resource reductions. Likely improvements for numerical simulations in engineering imply the possibility of a strong economic impact on the manufacturing industry. In this project report, we propose a framework for a quantum computing-enhanced service ecosystem for simulation in manufacturing, consisting of various layers ranging from hardware to algorithms to service and organizational layers. In addition, we give insight into the current state of the art of applications research based on QC and QML, both from a scientific and an industrial point of view. We further analyze two high-value use cases with the aim of a quantitative evaluation of these new computing paradigms for industrially relevant settings.

Collaboration of Stakeholders and AI in The Implementation of New Public Service in The Digital Era

This study emphasizes the importance of applying the New Public Service (NPS) concept in public service management in the digital era through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of five articles from Scopus (2021-2024). The analysis indicates that NPS can enhance the quality of public services in an inclusive, collaborative, and responsive manner. NPS promotes stakeholder collaboration, AI integration in services, and citizen involvement in public value creation. The main challenges in implementing NPS are bureaucratic cultural resistance and insufficient policy dissemination. This study underscores the need for leaders to develop strong commitment, improve effective communication, strengthen cross-sector collaboration, and involve the community in the transition towards NPS. Furthermore, the research highlights the necessity of an integrated public service ecosystem framework to facilitate collaboration among the government, private sector, and society, providing innovative solutions to public service challenges in the digital era.

Cloud Computing in Insurance: Emerging Trends and Transformative Technologies

This article examines the transformative impact of emerging cloud computing trends on the insurance industry. As insurers increasingly adopt cloud-based solutions, several key technologies are poised to revolutionize operations, customer experiences, and business models. The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning is enhancing underwriting accuracy, claims processing efficiency, and fraud detection capabilities. Edge computing is enabling real-time data analysis and decision-making, while serverless architectures are optimizing resource allocation and reducing costs. Blockchain technology is improving data security, transparency, and trust in transactions. Additionally, hybrid and multi-cloud strategies are providing insurers with greater flexibility and regulatory compliance. This comprehensive analysis explores these trends, their interconnections, and their potential to drive innovation in insurance. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these advancements for insurers, policyholders, and the broader financial services ecosystem, offering insights into future research directions and industry adaptations.

Towards a responsible gaming ecosystem: a call to action

Purpose Drawing from transformative service research (TSR) and service ecosystem perspectives, the author seeks to provide multi-level insights into gaming service systems and call to action how this knowledge can contribute to cultivating socially responsible gaming by addressing the following research questions: What insights from service ecosystem and TSR literature can help optimise value co-creation and cultivate socially responsible practices in digital gaming services? What future research directions could advance the understanding of digital gaming services and their potential to develop a responsible gaming ecosystem that balances social well-being with commercial success? Design/methodology/approach Adopting a conceptual approach of theory synthesis and adaptation, the author discusses four overarching themes alongside key research gaps and directions crucial for understanding the dynamics of gaming ecosystem. Findings The central themes – “Exploring individuals as game service consumers”, “Gaming service exchange dynamics among meso-level stakeholders”, “A macro lens to gaming service ecosystem” and “The complexities of multi-actor dynamics and interdependencies” – shed light on how responsible services can be fostered. Research limitations/implications Given the absence of a well-defined scope for understanding responsible gaming, future research should develop a typology to capture its multifaceted aspects. Expanding beyond micro-level analysis, conducting consultation interviews with industry practitioners and policymakers can contribute insights into promoting responsible gaming services. Social implications The author offers insights for the game players, designers and developers, service providers and policymakers to promote a healthy gaming culture. Originality/value Through this research, the author advances the understanding of gaming as a service by illuminating value co-creation and co-destruction within an interconnected gaming service ecosystem through the lens of TSR. Such understanding empowers businesses to prioritise consumer welfare in their decision-making and practices.

A Decision Support Framework for Resilient and Sustainable Service Design

AbstractResilient and sustainable service design is essential for ensuring the longevity and effectiveness of service systems. However, existing literature often neglects key aspects such as articulating resilience attributes and integrating sustainability dimensions. This study proposes a decision support model for a “resilient-sustainable service design” that merges service design principles with resilient system attributes and organizational sustainability goals. The framework incorporates a multi-objective mathematical programming model and a multi-phased Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach to derive Pareto optimal solutions using the Brute Force algorithm. Applied in the m-health service sector in Bangladesh, the study reveals significant challenges, including limited awareness of services and logistical inefficiencies. To address these issues, flexible strategies such as demand planning and service innovation are implemented. The findings have direct implications for the improvement of service delivery processes and underscore the importance of considering both resilience and sustainability. While focusing on Bangladesh’s m-health sector, the insights gained have broader relevance globally. The integration of resilience and sustainability principles into service design is crucial for addressing complex challenges across sectors and regions. Future research could involve longitudinal studies to capture evolving resilience strategies and explore resilient-sustainable service systems from a broader perspective. This entails examining various factors such as technological advancements and socio-economic dynamics shaping resilient and sustainable service ecosystems.

The impact of fintech on the profitability of Chinese commercial banks

This study assesses the transformative impact of financial technology (fintech) on the profitability of Chinese commercial banks, with a focus on addressing the challenge of endogeneity in financial data analysis. The study uses the systematic generalized method of moments (GMM) to compare the results with those from fixed-effects models in order to make the findings more reliable. The results reveal that fintech significantly impacts bank profitability, predominantly in a negative manner. This underscores the pressing need for banks to adapt and innovate, responding proactively to the fintech disruption. The practical implications of this study suggest that banks should not only invest in research and development within fintech but also tailor strategic responses according to bank types and establish a comprehensive financial services ecosystem to bolster their competitive edge and profitability. The findings are critical for bank executives and policymakers aiming to navigate the challenges posed by fintech innovations.

Challenges and Opportunities in Transitioning Autistic Individuals Into Adulthood.

Approximately 1.2 million autistic youth will reach the legal age of adulthood over the next decade. Given dynamic changes in the socioecological context of the transition to adulthood, we produced an updated transitions research agenda reflecting the perspectives of autistic young adults, care partners (parents), and professionals who use autism research. We conducted 9 focus groups: 4 young adult, 4 care partner, and 1 professional, with 59 total participants. Young adults were grouped by self-reported identity: (1) racial and ethnic minority, (2) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other identities, and (3) nonspeaking, in addition to a general group. We selected care partners who supported youth with varying intensity of support needs. We used rapid qualitative inquiry methods to extract key points from answers to semistructured interview questions. Delays in diagnosis and transition processes, and placement on wait lists resulted in significant obstacles to successful transitions. Parents assumed a dominant role by coordinating services, navigating systems and identifying opportunities for community participation, and providing direct supports. There was an overarching need for inclusion of autistic people in transitions research and consideration of cultural differences in priorities and values. Participants prioritized investigation of variation in transitions among autistic youth with intersecting identities, navigation support (eg, peer mentors), efficacy of services and supports (eg, transition and employment services), differences in available services by location, and problems within specific benefits programs. Research should focus on understanding population-level factors of system performance on outcomes and support needs, service delivery among marginalized groups, and transformation of complex service ecosystems.

The gloomy side of value co-creation for service employees

PurposeThere is a paucity of published research regarding service employees’ side of gloomy consequences emanating from value co-creation (VCC). The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the activities and interactions of VCC that can result in negative well-being for service employees.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a theory synthesis paper and, as such, seeks to accomplish conceptual integration of multiple theories and literature streams.FindingsThe origins of negative outcomes of VCC are infinite, and for the purpose of this study, the potential triggers of negative outcomes are limited to typical processes and behaviours initiated by VCC of services. For the purposes of this paper, dysfunctional customer behaviour, customer incivility, value co-destruction, boundary-spanning activities, organisational structure and policies and resource integration are investigated as sources of negative well-being for service employees.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation is the focus on offline transactions. Although the accepted definition of a service ecosystem provides for it to be a “self-adjusting system” a need could emerge for some formal management structure to cope with the increasing complexity of service transactions. A theoretical implication of this paper is that it includes a few lesser researched elements in the context of VCC. A starting point to deal with undesirable VCC interactions is to distinguish between undesirable interaction outcomes that originated inside the firm (own service employees) and those that originated from outside the firm (dysfunctional customers).Practical implicationsA first suggestion on how managers could deal with undesirable VCC interactions is to distinguish between undesirable interaction outcomes that originated inside the firm (e.g. own service employees, firm policies and structure) and those that originated from outside the firm (e.g. customer incivility and dysfunctional customers), as these two types of interaction outcomes require different interventions. Firms will need to bring together, study, analyse and assess all service employee experiences and challenges generated by VCC interactions. The frequency and significance of negative incidents should indicate the amount of effort and time to be spent on types of negative incidents.Social implicationsA challenge for service ecosystems is how they will adjust to comply with novel and traditional non-business objectives in the light of transformational, upliftment and other calls from society, whilst at the same time improving the well-being of the entire service ecosystem (i.e. providers, users and society). The improvement of well-being versus reducing suffering/losses/risks is not an option. The words of Hammedi et al. (2024, p. 159) “we move towards the conceptualization of service ecosystem health as a harmonious state in which private, public and planetary well-being merge” are exceptionally fitting here.Originality/valueThe negative consequences of VCC impact the well-being of service employees and are costly for a firm. Suggestions to prevent or limit the impact of undesirable or harmful consequences are made. This study is of value for service businesses, service academics and society. A greater awareness of the destructive nature of negative consequences of VCC will hopefully transpire from this study.

Co-creation of value in a cultural organizations’ ecosystem

From the perspective of Service Dominant Logic (Vargo and Lusch 2018), this research analyzes how co-creation of value develops in a Peruvian cultural ecosystem through analyzing its actor’s engagement, embeddedness, and value-in-context. The findings obtained aim to contribute to the dialogue between S-D logic and Arts Marketing, and to put light on the mechanisms that activate and restrict cultural participation in a service ecosystem. The research consists of a multiple case study which analyzes the Peruvian Puntos de Cultura Network (PPDCN) through 9 of its organizations. Participants include organizational leaders, users, and Network central headquarters’ managers. The instruments were an exploratory survey, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group. The analysis included codification, inter-rater reliability, ‘making-strange tool’ and a meta-matrix. Through the study of the co-creation of value in the PPDCN, findings revealed the following mechanisms for cultural participation: (1) Activation mechanisms: co-production between organizations and users; high leader engagement; cultural identity activities; educative, affective and entertainment-oriented activities. (2) Restriction mechanisms: different institutional logics at any level of interaction: organizations and Headquarters managers, organizations and socio-cultural environment, Headquarters managers and state actors; misalignment of platforms.

A digital service standardization model for Nigeria: The role of NITDA in regulatory compliance

The digital transformation in Nigeria has accelerated the need for effective standards and regulations to ensure quality and interoperability of digital services. The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) plays a crucial role in this context by overseeing regulatory compliance and fostering a conducive environment for digital innovation. This review presents a comprehensive model for digital service standardization tailored to Nigeria's unique socio-economic and technological landscape. The proposed model emphasizes the importance of regulatory frameworks established by NITDA in promoting consistency, reliability, and security across various digital platforms and services. The model outlines key components necessary for effective standardization, including policy formulation, compliance monitoring, and stakeholder engagement. It integrates best practices from international standards while adapting them to local needs and challenges. Central to the model is the role of NITDA in developing and enforcing standards that align with global benchmarks, thereby ensuring that Nigerian digital services are competitive and secure. A significant aspect of the model is its focus on regulatory compliance, which is vital for maintaining the integrity of digital services and protecting user data. The review discusses how NITDA's regulatory initiatives address common issues such as data privacy, cybersecurity, and service quality. By examining case studies and industry feedback, the review highlights the impact of NITDA's efforts on improving the overall digital service ecosystem in Nigeria. The model also addresses the need for continuous evaluation and adaptation of standards in response to technological advancements and emerging threats. It proposes mechanisms for regular updates and revisions to standards, ensuring that they remain relevant and effective. Additionally, the review explores the role of collaborative partnerships between NITDA, industry stakeholders, and academic institutions in advancing digital service standardization. The proposed digital service standardization model provides a structured approach to enhancing regulatory compliance and fostering a robust digital environment in Nigeria. It underscores the pivotal role of NITDA in driving these efforts and offers a framework for ongoing improvement and adaptation to the dynamic digital landscape.

AI-enabled smart manufacturing boosts ecosystem value capture: The importance of servitization pathways within digital-intensive industries

Understanding successful pathways for manufacturers to capture value within the service ecosystem framework is a recent and still nascent area of research that requires further investigation and growth. Within industrial settings, artificial intelligence (AI) constitutes an enabling technology that can be integrated across a network of products and systems, driving the transformation of these service ecosystems. From this perspective, this study proposes that the symbiotic convergence between AI-enabled smart manufacturing, which facilitates process and product enhancements, and servitization, which enables product availability and customization, contributes to a higher level of ecosystem value capture. To address this issue, a research model employing Smart Partial Least Squares was developed to examine the interplay between these constructs. By using survey data from a purposively selected sample of servitized manufacturing firms, the findings reveal the synergistic effects of integrating AI-enabled smart manufacturing and servitization. Furthermore, the results indicate variances across industrial sectors, and highlight that in digitally-intensive industries, service business models have undergone more substantial transformations, fostering accelerated ecosystem development streamlined by customization. Conversely, in digitally-augmented industries, where inputs are digital but products are predominantly analog, digital capabilities are primarily confined to production processes.

Assessing sediment dynamics and retention services in the vulnerable mountain ecosystem of the Indian Himalayas.

Sediment loss and export pose significant global environmental issues, profoundly affecting water quality, soil fertility, and ecosystem stability, particularly in vulnerable mountain ecosystems like the Indian Himalayas. The present study used remote sensing data and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) sediment delivery ratio (SDR) model to analyze spatial-temporal variations in soil loss (SL), sediment export (SE), and sediment retention (SR) capabilities in the South Shimla watershed, Himachal Pradesh, India, from 1993 to 2023. The findings showed significant changes in land use and land cover (LULC): evergreen forest and scrub land decreased sharply by 11.53% and 36.43%, respectively, while agricultural areas and built-up areas increased notably by 71.16% and 215.76%, respectively. Despite a decline of 19.18% in SL and 24.43% in SE, sediment loss and export varied across the study area, highlighting the heterogeneous nature of sediment dynamics. The overall retention capacity increased by 2.59%, with scrub forests playing a critical role in SR, while built-up areas showed the lowest retention. Northern and central sub-watersheds (SWs) experienced a significant decrease in retention capacity (from - 1.92 to - 11.6%), whereas those in the southern and eastern regions saw an increase in SR (from 3.69 to 28.24%). These results underscore the complex interactions between LULC changes, sediment dynamics, and retention services, highlighting the importance of preserving natural ecosystems and informing policy for landscape-based conservation and development planning in the vulnerable Himalayan region.

Developing a Secure Service Ecosystem to Implement the Intelligent Edge Environment for Smart Cities

In the future, smart cities will provide key services including seamless communication, intelligent transport systems, advanced healthcare platforms, urban and infrastructure management, and digital services for local and regional government. Therefore, a new service and networking paradigm, called the Intelligent Edge Environment, has been specified. As a key part of this system, a new secure service ecosystem must be developed to provide the secure real-time movement of services on different High-Performance Edge Cloud Systems. This paper explores these issues by introducing the following mechanisms: a Resource Allocation Algorithm, a Resource Allocation Secure Protocol and finally a Secure Service Protocol. These systems were integrated into the Basic Capability System Library and a multithreaded FUSE client connected to the Service Management Framework. Docker was used as the migration mechanism. A prototype was developed and implemented using a FUSE-Network Memory System in which the Network Memory Server was migrated as users moved around. The result shows that this approach was safe and could be used to develop new applications and services for smart cities.

A Security Analysis Model for IoT-ecosystem Using Machine Learning-(ML) Approach

Introduction: The attacks on IoT systems are increasing as the devices and communication networks are progressively integrated. If no attacks are found in IoT for a long time, it will affect the availability of services that can result in data leaks and can create a significant impact on the associated costs and quality of services. Therefore, the attacks and security vulnerability in the IoT ecosystem must be detected to provide robust security and defensive mechanisms for real-time applications. Method: This paper proposes an analytical design of an intelligent attack detection framework using multiple machine learning techniques to provide cost-effective and efficient security analysis services in the IoT ecosystem. Result: The performance validation of the proposed framework is carried out by multiple performance indicators. Conclusion: The simulation outcome exhibits the effectiveness of the proposed system in terms of accuracy and F1-score for the detection of various types of attacking scenarios.

Organisational Listening as a Means to Create More Citizen-Centric Well-Being Public Policies

ABSTRACT The aim of well-being public policy (WPP) is to create policies and services that improve citizens’ well-being, which requires an understanding of what citizens value. Bringing citizens’ subjective experiences into the policy equation is challenging, but organisational listening has great potential as a solution. This article presents a single-case study demonstrating how public organisations can use organisational listening as a tool to create better WPPs and how this approach has helped organisations to better realise what being more citizen-centric means. This article thus demonstrates the importance of strategic communication in organisations, how citizen-centric service ecosystems can be operationalised in the context of WPPs, and how WPP creation can be approached by understanding what constitutes a good everyday life from the citizens’ perspective, thus extending well-being as a concept.

IT Service Well-being, in the Higher Education Ecosystem

The holistic and systematic comprehension of service well-being is garnering increasing attention among scholars. The holistic understanding of Service well-being is significant since it helps to clarify the multi-actor and multi-level nature of complex services, such as IT services. The majority of research conducted in the IT service field primarily examines individual and micro-level interactions, neglecting the significance of a comprehensive and systemic perspective on service well-being. The study discussed in this article aims to overcome these constraints by examining the well-being of IT services from a “service ecosystem” standpoint. The research used an interpretative approach to construct a middle-range theory using a case study and grounded theory methodology within a higher education institution. The results uncover the factors that contribute to well-being and the effects on several levels of the IT service ecosystem (Micro, Meso and Macro) including Service encounter, Service facilitation, and Service integration levels. This study enhances the existing research on well-being in the IT service context by presenting a holistic framework for service ecosystem well-being which has significant theoretical and practical contributions.

Developing collaborative ecosystem platforms to trigger sustainable “place-based” value creation: a dynamic performance governance approach

PurposeThis paper aims to illustrate how service ecosystem governance may provide a suitable ground to pursue holistic resilience to “wicked” socio-economic and ecological problems, for enhancing “place-based” sustainable performance outcomes through an organizational, interorganizational and context setting.Design/methodology/approachThis work suggests the use of “place-based” collaborative ecosystem platforms driven by a dynamic performance governance approach as a setting where facilitated performance dialogue is carried out among networked stakeholders. This fosters a holistic view of performance sustainability where intangibles, inertial, cultural and behavioral factors play a key role in policy analysis.FindingsThe paper illustrates how different research streams framing stakeholder relationships under a business, hybrid organization and public sector perspective converge toward the “service ecosystem” construct, as a common field for sustainable “place-based” value creation. This performance governance perspective frames accountability for achieving sustainable outcomes through interconnected viewpoints, i.e. (1) time (short vs long-term), (2) subject (single organization, “theme-focused” service ecosystem and “place-based” service ecosystem) and (3) field (socio-economic, cultural and ecological).Originality/valueThis work has an interdisciplinary track. It recommends feedback and “stock-and-flow” modeling to enhance framing counterintuitive patterns of behavior of dynamic complex socio-economic, cultural and ecological subsystems within “place-based” collaborative ecosystem platforms. Combining an inside-out with an outside-in view triggers sustainable outcome-based dynamic performance governance through an organizational, interorganizational and context setting.

The value of green and blue space: Walkability and house prices

Urban green and blue spaces are important amenities within highly urbanised areas which offer social, economic and ecological benefits and provide a number of valuable direct and indirect ecosystem of services to surrounding land uses, urban households integral to sustainable urban development. Existing research has revealed that green and blue spaces are not uniform environmental amenities, but rather a set of distinct goods comprising aesthetic and hydro-morphological characteristics therefore which can influence property values. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the heterogeneity of green and blue spaces using 4985 sales transactions applying quantile regression to investigate the proximity effects of these urban amenities on property prices within the Belfast Metropolitan area, Northern Ireland. The findings show premiums for green features range between 3.0 % and 3.6 %, with blue space proximity to the coastline and lakes commanding premiums of 7.3 % and 5.3 %. Conversely, walking distance to large rivers shows a negative pricing effect of 3.8 %. The results further reveal some evidence of distance decay effects with proximity for green and blue space amenities. The quantile findings show empirical evidence of a U-shape relationship for a number of the green space amenities, indicating that lower and higher priced houses value proximity to these urban amenities differently. For urban blue spaces, the findings reveal that living near to a lake or the coastline observes larger premiums for higher priced properties. Moreover, the highest priced dwellings exhibit a higher negative pricing effect with walkability to urban rivers than those in the lowest priced properties. Overall, the findings provide empirical evidence to inform urban design and planning in line with sustainable development goals and biodiversity strategies for inclusive, and accessible public spaces within cities.

Organizational resiliency through practice innovation: forced brand evolution in a prolonged exogenous service ecosystem disruption

PurposeThis paper aims to explore practice innovation and organizational resiliency during exogenous service ecosystem disruptions. This inquiry focuses on the extreme disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required service firms to recodify long-established service scripts, adapt digital and physical material elements of the service encounter and ultimately reconfigure a system of practices. The specific context is forced practice innovation in Starbucks servicescape (kiosks and coffeehouses). Starbucks is best known for its custom beverages and third-place strategy. Their strict adherence to a complex service script and unique ordering practices altered during pandemic stay-home disease prevention mandates.Design/methodology/approachThematic coding consistent with prior research on practice innovation and diffusion and a grounded theory methodology was conducted. Data were triangulated and analyzed within and across a variety of sources. These include field notes from direct observation, interviews, focus groups, firm-authored collateral in the form of marketing communications and third-party authored secondary sources such as news, social media, blogs and forums.FindingsData reveal how practice innovation occurs through the reconfiguration of a system of practices, which support organizational resiliency and can force brand evolution, in prolonged exogenous service ecosystem disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic required service industries to adapt and recodify service scripts and alter physical and digital elements of service encounters. While the pandemic affected all firms in the sector, we argue that Starbucks' established scripts and third-place strategies, which characterized the brand experience, were particularly vulnerable. We find that practice innovation occurs through the reconfiguration of practice elements – competences, meanings and materiality – and restructures the service encounter. Practice codification, transposition, adaptation and stabilization support organizational resiliency and brand evolution. We find that Starbucks' brand experience emphasis on the third place is reconceptualized from an in-person community-based retailscape to a platform-based strategy necessitating script recodification and practice adaptation. Our analysis of Starbucks' kiosks and coffeehouses illuminates how a distinctly branded service encounter is constituted by a system of practices that can be reconfigured and diffused anew in the face of disruption.Originality/valueThe conceptualization of practice innovation as systems reconfiguration establishes a novel approach to understanding innovation in service ecosystems. The COVID-19 pandemic is a unique context to study a sector-wide exogenous extended service disruption. We focus on a firm with an elaborate pre-pandemic service script and commitment to a third-place brand experience guiding its system of practices. We reveal unique insights on practice innovation within service ecosystems during exogenous prolonged disruptions in which brands evolve through the recodification of service scripts and sustained reconfiguration of systems of practice.