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QUIS 11: Moving Forward with Service Quality
Edited by Bernd Stauss
1. Introduction
The mental models guiding not only managers but also researchers in service settings have lately been eagerly discussed in terms of underlying "logics" ([12] Edvardsson et al. , 2005; [19] Grönroos, 2006; [24] Holbrook, 2006; [22] Gummesson, 2007; [54], [56] Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008b; [57] Vargo et al. , 2008). A goods-dominant (GD) logic has been contrasted with a service-dominant (SD) logic. This debate has its roots in earlier contributions to the marketing literature ([17] Grönroos, 1982; [31] Normann, 1984; [33] Normann and Ramirez, 1993), but has been rephrased and repackaged in several papers by [54], [55], [56] Vargo and Lusch (2004, 2006, 2008a, b) with additional comments and suggestions from other researchers in the field of service research ([19], [20], [21] Grönroos, 2006, 2008a, b; [22] Gummesson, 2007). The debate has largely stayed on a general conceptual level, with few elaborations on the suggested key concepts. It has been characterized by a rather limited positioning of the body of earlier research in service managements well as a narrow view on the implications for management. Thus, the discussion has primarily been based on philosophical reasoning without substantial empirical data. The main focus has been on distinguishing service in terms of process (SD logic) from goods and services in terms of outcome (GD logic).
Over time marketing thinking has developed from goods-focused approaches to the service- and interaction-focused approaches of SD logic ([54], [55], [56] Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008a, b). We argue that, even though the SD logic has widened the scope of understanding the function of marketing, the view on SD logic is still very production- and interaction-focused, i.e. service provider-dominant (provider-dominant logic), not customer-dominant (CD). For example, approaches in service research are either focused on analyzing an individual service system from the company's point of view (service blueprinting, see for example [6] Bitner et al. , 2008) or on customer-provider interactions over time ([40] Payne et al. , 2009). In both cases, service is viewed as co-creation dominated by and from the perspective of the service provider. However, when other researchers argue that the ultimate goal for service should be to facilitate value for the customer ([21], [20]...