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Purpose - This paper aims to investigate how orchestration mechanisms characterizing meta-organizations can support sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) leveraged by digital transition. Design/methodology/approach - This study adopted a qualitative approach. The authors collected qualitative data from 41 in-depth interviews with key informants, participatory longitudinal observations and secondary data analysis related to a digital innovation hub (DIH) and its network. Findings - The findings reveal how meta-organizations, such as DIHs, advance SOI - considering the potentialities of digital technologies - through four orchestration mechanisms: collaboration platform setup, SOI resource arrangement, SOI process enablement and SOI scale-up. Each mechanism is founded on recurrent SOI practices identified as aligning, assembling and progressing, and each is characterized by specific activities that depend on meta-organizations' evolutionary purposes related to the stages of the creation process. The activation of mechanisms concerns a process outlining three sequential evolutionary trajectories: for assessing and regulating interaction, for promoting and coordinating collective action and for creating a collective identity. Originality/value - This study contributes to meta-organization and orchestration research oriented toward SOI and leveraged by the digital transition, and considers the distinctive orchestration mechanisms and practices required to support SOI leveraged by the digital transition. Differently from previous research on orchestration and meta-organizations, this study considers the time perspective, and thus, the sequentiality of mechanisms (evolutionary trajectories) to achieve the purposes characterizing the stages of meta-organizations' creation process

Purpose - Sustainability transitions (STs) refer to large-scale step changes in complex systems required to face sustainability issues. We aim to delineate how they can unfold in service ecosystems, especially when inspired by regenerative thinking. Design/methodology/approach - We develop a conceptual framework based on a processual view of STs and provide a propositional inventory based on literature leveraging deductive reasoning. Moreover, we contextualize our conceptualizations by showing illustrative examples of cities coping with STs. Findings - We connect the perception of unsustainability with the shift toward service-dominant (S-D) logic and identify them as triggers of an ST; we focus on the role of nested service ecosystems and the adoption of regenerative thinking in STs; finally, we highlight the domino effect that can drive continuous change towards sustainability in service ecosystems. Future research could be focused on (loss of) sensemaking for driving STs, practical approaches to deal with institutional tensions in nested service ecosystems and the possible fractality of ST processes in service ecosystems. Originality/value - This study supports the understanding of STs in cities and other systems such as industries, markets and organizations. It contributes to ST literature by suggesting the adoption of S-D logic and system lenses to identify, drive and cope with system changes toward sustainability, showing implications for policymakers and practitioners. Furthermore, it contributes to S-D logic by unfolding the self-adjustment of service ecosystems and the focus of sustainability initiatives on nested service ecosystems to sustain the broader systems. Finally, it contributes to transformative service research by identifying how the procedural and inspirational principles characterizing regenerative thinking can support design for STs.

Hoteliers and companies are asked to optimize their budgets and, at the same time, gifting unforgettable experiences to customers who are freely able to express their feedbacks, readable by thousands of potential guests. In addition, the rise of corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, environmental and social issues leads to the necessity to investigate more systematically new business models that respond to these emerging concerns. In order to investigate the impact of sustainability in tourism marketing, a multimethod neuroscientific approach was used to record individuals’ neural activity (electroencephalography, EEG) and autonomic system responses during the exploration of four different environments of a green hotel adopting a sustainability approach. EEG findings showed an increase of beta and theta frequency band activity during individuals’ environments exploration, underlying the presence of cognitive and emotional elaboration processes. Moreover, from autonomic activity, an increase of pulse volume amplitude (PVA) and heart rate (HR) response emerged during the exploration of hotel environments, highlighting emotional engagement and positive emotional response. This research, therefore, contributes to show how responsiveness to sustainability concept within consumer services can improve individuals’ experience enjoyment and customers' well-being condition.

Emotions, feelings, attitudes, and beliefs play a pivotal role in consumer decision-making. The literature shows that psychological concepts with opposing valence coexist in people's shopping experience. This consumer ambivalence is relevant in hedonic contexts, where cognitive and affective elements play a central role in consumer outcomes (e.g., satisfaction, loyalty, and patronage). However, there is a paucity of consumer ambivalence literature focused on hedonic retail settings; thus, this study focuses on consumer ambivalence in luxury shopping experiences. Using a multi-method approach, the study investigated luxury shoppers' psychological concepts, both positive and negative, in order to better understand consumer ambivalence and its impact on consumer outcomes. Thus, this paper makes two main contributions. First, it revealed three types of consumer ambivalence: awe and pride; uncertainty and contentment; guilt and pleasure. Second, the combination of negative and positive cognitive and affective elements in the luxury shopping experience positively impacted consumer outcomes and led to specific shopping behaviors. On these bases, luxury brands should leverage consumer ambivalences that are embedded in and signify the overall shopping experience.

The goal of the paper is to investigate how sustainable hospitality companies accomplish the transformative potential of their business for improving the individual and collective well-being in the tourism and hospitality industry. Hence, we took into consideration the case of the Albergo Diffuso (AD), an innovative Italian model of hospitality. We adopted a case study approach based on 17 semi-structured interviews with key informants and a netnographic study analysing 1302 comments of previous guests - 286 in English and 1016 in Italian - on the popular booking website Tripadvisor. From the data analysis, five recurring themes emerged: Sustainability Concerns, Reciprocal Exchange, Mutual Network, Cultural Views, and Authentic Experience. These represent the Transformative Factors that impact on the individual and collective well-being from a hedonic and eudaimonic perspective in hospitality organisations.

L’obiettivo principale di questo studio è di analizzare l’imprenditorialità di seconda generazione. In questo caso ci riferiamo, dunque, agli “imprenditori per opportunità”. Seguendo il modello di Dheer (2018), e impiegando un metodo di ricerca qualitativa basata su casi di studio con interviste semi-strutturate, cercheremo di far luce sui principali driver (antecedenti) ed effetti (sui processi d’integrazione) dell’imprenditoria cinese nel settore alimentare a Milano e in Lombardia. Nel fare ciò, miriamo a contribuire alla letteratura analizzando come imprenditori straniera di seconda generazione sono in grado di innovare i modelli di business tradizionali al fine di far evolvere non solo la loro attività di impresa, ma anche di produrre effetti positivi sulla società ospitante.

L’obiettivo principale di questo studio è di analizzare l’imprenditorialità di seconda generazione. In questo caso ci riferiamo, dunque, agli “imprenditori per opportunità”. Seguendo il modello di Dheer (2018), e impiegando un metodo di ricerca qualitativa basata su casi di studio con interviste semi-strutturate, cercheremo di far luce sui principali driver (antecedenti) ed effetti (sui processi d’integrazione) dell’imprenditoria cinese nel settore alimentare a Milano e in Lombardia. Nel fare ciò, miriamo a contribuire alla letteratura analizzando come imprenditori straniera di seconda generazione sono in grado di innovare i modelli di business tradizionali al fine di far evolvere non solo la loro attività di impresa, ma anche di produrre effetti positivi sulla società ospitante.

Little is presently known about customers' expectations and the unspoken relevant factors which lead them to prefer or not sustainable luxury products. This study aimed to deepen the understanding of luxury consumers' implicit intentions towards sustainability by using, for the first time, a neuroscientific approach applied to the luxury fashion domain. A greater cortical activity related to cognitive and emotional aspects was hypothesized for luxury sustainability-oriented consumers than for non-sustainability-oriented subjects when presented with sustainability-related cues. Sixteen luxury consumers were divided into two groups according to their sensitivity towards sustainability issues. They were asked to observe a set of 10 stimuli depicting sustainability issues and then to interact with a salesperson while their cortical activity was recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG). Frequency band analysis revealed higher levels of beta, delta, and theta band EEG activity in temporoparietal than frontocentral areas when observing pictures related to sustainability and a specific right temporoparietal theta band activation for the Nonsustainable Group. An increased level of knowledge of sustainability themes was confirmed by the correct detection of stimuli valence and a significant presence of delta power when the salesperson explained the brand's sustainable policy. The specific brain responses related to sensitivity towards sustainability and the different effect of knowledge on sustainability topics based on group differences are discussed here in light of emotional behavior.

This article advances a conceptualization of service innovation as socially constructed through resource integration and sensemaking. By developing this view, the current study goes beyond an outcome perspective, to include the collective nature of service innovation and the role of the social context in affecting the service innovation process. Actors enact and perform service innovation through two approaches, one that is more concerted and another that emerges in some way. Each approach is characterized by distinct resource integration processes, in which the boundary objects (artifacts, discourses, and places) play specific roles. They act as bridge-makers that connect actors, thereby fostering resource integration and shared meanings.

The actor engagement concept highlights the reciprocal, social, and collective nature of engagement, aimed at enhancing value co-creation processes in service ecosystems. This chapter explores the evolution of the service ecosystem in retailing contexts, with the development of new retail formulas derived from the effective interaction between corporate stances and engaged actors, in particular customers, social movements, and suppliers. In the analysis, the authors focus on two interlinked cases: Eataly, a new venture that emerged from a mutual organizational commitment between corporate power and the Slow Food social movement; FICO-Eataly World, the subsequent evolution of Eataly, which derived from the reshaping of the service ecosystem due to increasing supplier engagement in the retail format. Eataly and FICO represent interesting settings to better understand how forms of resource integration can occur, how and to what extent the community and corporate stances mutually adjust during the value co-creation process, and how a service ecosystem can evolve as a result of actor engagement.

Boundary objects consist of devices, artifacts, and images that support the construction of meaning by different actors (Carlile, 2002, 2004). By acting and interacting, people even transform subjective meanings into artifacts, assigning meaning to reality, and thereby constructing it. Boundary objects translate, coordinate, and align the perspectives of different parties (Klimbe et al., 2010), but with their plasticity, they remain both adaptable to local needs and robust enough to maintain a common identity across different uses (Mele, Sebastiani and Corsaro, 2018). This paper explores the role of cognitive technologies as boundary objects in digital space. An interactive, qualitative, case-study approach is adopted to gain insights into the phenomena described. Starting from the idea that social construction and sensemaking process that transform spaces and create a “sense of place” (Parsons et al., 2017: 143), we show the way cognitive technologies perform inmost cases as boundary objects enacting actors’ interactions and sensemaking in digital space.

Around the globe, retailers are investing in IoT technologies to redefine their operations and the shopper experience. Merchants are reinventing their supply chains with upgrades that enable automated, real-time inventory visibility via IoT, such as RFID, which can boost inventory accuracy levels to as high as 95%. This book explores how companies are facing these changes and the impact on the provider-retailer relationships.

Digitalization of is one of the most important phenomena characterizing the last decade. It opens new possibilities that lead people to be the driving forces of change. Through technologies individuals are gaining growing spaces of autonomy and initiative everywhere: in production, in consumption and in social life in general. The effects of digitalization are manifolds: growing number of touch points among interacting actors, greater fluidity of information, dematerialization of contents, almost infinite cognitive chains, and many others. All these elements are generating complexity which, in turn, requires higher coordination. Starting point of this study is that service innovation in digitalized contexts increasingly occurs in space and cross-boundary movements and is enabled by the improved role of boundary objects. Boundary objects have been defined as “objects that live in multiple social worlds and which have different identities in it” (Star and Griesemer, 1989: 438). These objects, which can be either abstract (conceptual) or concrete (physical), serve to communicate and coordinate the perspectives of various actors. Boundary objects translate, coordinate, and align the perspectives of the different parties. They allow coordination without consensus or shared goals and make available an actor’s local understanding to be reframed in the context of a wider collective activity. An interactive, qualitative, case-study approach is adopted to gain insights into the phenomena described. The research follows an abductive research approach, where data collection and analysis, on the one hand, and the search for complementary theories. on the other hand. constituted parallel iterative processes. In order to pursue the aim of the research several cases have been selected. The study identifies the main functions of boundary objects for service innovation in digitalized contexts. It also sheds light on the importance of representing and displaying boundary objects in or

Despite the recent economic regression, the global luxury goods sector seems not to give evidence of slowing down. Even though the role of the salesperson is a critical component in the process of enhancing customer shopping experience, there is few research investigating sales assistants’ attitudes and behaviors toward luxury shoppers. Moreover shoppers often experience consumer ambivalence in their relationship with salespeople (Bush et al., 2015). They are becoming more and more omnichannel-oriented, utilizing all available company touchpoints, both online and offline, before and after direct contact with sales assistants. However, personal selling still maintains his centrality in the purchasing process. There are only few studies investigating consumer ambivalence emerging from buyer-seller relationships, in particular in the luxury shopping experience, although brand ambassadors offer shoppers extra-ordinary experiences created in the store that are less meant to please the customer than to impress him/her and generate awe (Dion, et al. 2011). This research aims at contributing to the literature on personal selling in the omnichannel context understanding to what extent luxury sales assistants are conscious of the consumer ambivalence that they can generate in luxury shoppers. Additionally, we investigate how they identify and react to these multiple emotional states across different types of luxury shoppers. Through focus groups with 12 luxury sales ambassadors, I argue that sales assistants recognize consumer ambivalence in luxury shoppers. Four luxury shopper typologies – which experience diverse consumer ambivalences that sales assistants contribute to generate – are identified. For each category, sales assistants classify appropriate personnel reactions to manage the shopper’s mixed emotional state with the purpose of achieving their sales goals. The elicited shopper typologies emerged through the intersection of two main variables: intrinsic/extrinsic as

Purpose. The aim of this paper is to empirically apply the Transformative Service Research (TSR) framework developed by Anderson et al. (2013) to the hospitality industry. This approach highlights how the interaction between service entities and consumer entities influences the well-being outcomes of both. Methodology. We adopted the TSR framework to empirically investigate the case of the “Albergo Diffuso”, an innovative Italian model of hospitality that promotes sustainable tourism (Confalonieri, 2011), by applying a multi-method approach through in-depth interviews with key informants and participant observations. Findings. The main outcome of our study is the modification and development of the TSR framework with regard to the tourism industry. Practical implications. The Albergo Diffuso is an ideal case of Transformative Service Organization (TSO) (Fisk et al., 2016) because of its positive economic and social implications on the local communities, consumers and employees. In fact, the goal of a TSO is to create uplifting changes and improvements in the well-being of the individuals, communities and the ecosystem. Originality/value. The originality of this study lies both in the investigation of an innovative Italian hospitality formula through the lens of TSR, and in providing new research avenues for service scholars interested in individual and collective well-being in the tourism industry.

Consumer research on emotions confirms their pivotal role in consumer decision. This is the reason why marketing practitioners have long made attempts to target consumers’ emotions (Garg, Wansink, & Inman, 2007). Traditionally, people look for positive emotions and avoid negative emotions (Higgins, 1997). However literature shows that a coexistence of emotions of opposite valence is present in people’s experience (Larsen & Green, 2013). Research on emotion co-occurrence has examined cases where people look voluntary for positive and negative emotions (such as fear and happiness) during the same consumption experience and integrate them into overall evaluative judgments (Cohen, 2007; Larsen, McGraw, & Cacioppo, 2001; Priester, Petty, & Park, 2007; Williams & Aaker, 2002). This consumer ambivalence evidence is particularly relevant in hedonic experiences (Otnes, Lowrey, & Shrum, 1997), where emotions play a central role for consumers’ outcomes (e.g. satisfaction, loyalty, shopping behavior and consumption). Indeed, luxury embodies characteristics such as exclusivity and conspicuousness (Vigneron & Johnson, 2004) that can evoke contextually both positive and negative emotions. Given the paucity of consumer ambivalence literature in hedonic retail experience, luxury stores (boutiques) represent a fitting example of hedonic retail environments to be investigated. Through a multiple qualitative method approach, including Shopping With Consumer technique and Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, luxury shoppers emotions, both positive and negative, were investigated to better understand consumer prepurchase, purchase and postpurchase attitudes, behaviors and consumer outcomes in the hedonic retail experience. Three types of consumer ambivalence emerge: Awe & Self-esteem, Uncertainty & Comfort and Guilt Ridden & Pleasure. Negative emotions active or reinforce the positive ones leading to positive consumer outcomes and specific shopping behaviors. A new perspective of cons

This investigation brings two main theoretical insights into how organizations can bridge CS and CI and articulate them at strategic and instrumental levels. Firstly it focuses on the understanding of how CS may be part of CI. At the strategic level, CS is embedded and is usually part of the definition of CI. The way this bridge is established sets the differentiation of the company’s business model and way of doing things. Secondly, CI’s dimensions through their management allow for the implementation of the organization’s ethos. Companies embed CS strategies in the CI management, conveying main supporting guidelines. There are patterns on the way organizations bridge both concepts and those patterns are distinct depending on the stage of the development of the CS strategy and its implementation.

Transformative Service Research (TSR) emphasizes the role of services and service systems in affecting the individual and collective well-being (Ostrom et al. 2015). TSR has focused primarily on the micro-level, meaning the interactions among and between customers, service providers, partners, and other customers. To extend TSR further, we propose the concept of a Transformative Service Organization (TSO) to provide a theoretically-driven assessment of what is required for service organizations to truly transform the lives and well-being of their customers, employees, stakeholders, and society.

Sustainability issues are becoming a major concern for consumers and, accordingly, businesses. The latter are striving to engage consumers in new sustainability product/service offerings, which are increasingly in demand. A meaningful example of a business model offering sustainable services is represented by the car sharing business. The aim of the paper is to explore how car sharing can influence consumers’ attitudes toward sustainable consumption. The study shows that users mainly join the service for functional benefits, yet symbolic benefits that address sustainability stances also emerge. Hence, the service seems to implicitly heighten consumers’ sustainability attitudes. Managerial implications are drawn