How Can Service Management Research Address “Grand Challenges” to Create Social Impact?
DETAILS
Call for Papers
How Can Service Management Research Address “Grand Challenges” to Create Social Impact?
Journal: Journal of Service Management
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30 March 2027
Submission Opens: 01 December 2026
Journal of Service Management invites submissions for its Special Issue on How Can Service Management Research Address “Grand Challenges” to Create Social Impact?
About the Special Issue
This Special Issue explores how service management research can contribute to addressing major societal challenges such as poverty, inequality, refugee crises, public health emergencies, climate-related challenges, and social exclusion.
The issue seeks to broaden service management research beyond traditional organizational outcomes such as profitability, satisfaction, value, and efficiency toward research that creates measurable social impact and improves individual, community, and societal well-being.
Particular emphasis is placed on applied research that demonstrates actual change in service management phenomena. The Special Issue encourages practical frameworks, processes, and strategies that translate large-scale societal challenges into actionable service management solutions. Authors are also encouraged to adopt a strength-based approach to vulnerability rather than a deficit perspective.
Topics of Interest
Submissions may include, but are not limited to:
Service management processes and practices for creating social impact
Service management approaches to addressing grand challenges
Metrics and evaluation methods for measuring social impact
Service design for equity, accessibility, and inclusion
Service ecosystems supporting marginalized groups and customers experiencing vulnerability
Resilient multi-stakeholder service systems
Service responses to pandemics, climate disasters, and societal crises
Scaling successful social service innovations
Service efficiency and resource optimization for societal challenges
Frameworks that prioritize societal well-being alongside organizational value
Cross-sector service delivery involving government, nonprofit, and private organizations
Governance and operational mechanisms for socially impactful service systems
Preferred Article Focus
The Special Issue particularly encourages:
Applied service management research
Conceptual and empirical research
Social impact-oriented research
Service design and service ecosystem studies
Research developing social impact metrics and evaluation approaches
Cross-sector and multi-stakeholder research
Submission Information
Submission Opens: 01 December 2026
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30 March 2027
Submissions must be made through ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Authors must strictly follow the journal's official author guidelines.
Authors should select the relevant Special Issue during the submission process.
Submitted manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere.
Author Guidelines – Journal of Service Management
Guest Editors
Prof. Rebekah Russell-Bennett
Prof. Joy Parkinson
Prof. Dr. Silke Boenigk
Posted on ServiceSetu Academics — Premier Platform for Academic Opportunities & Research Collaboration.
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