Services Marketing Quarterly

Phygital Value Creation (PVC): Reimagining Service Marketing Models, Human-Technology Interactions, and Blended Physical-Digital Consumer Journeys

Phygital Value Creation (PVC) stands at the forefront of an evolving research landscape where physical and digital realms intertwine (Batat, 2024a) to create immersive, human-centric experiences across converging service spaces. This special issue seeks to examine this emergent field, addressing the intricate dynamics and multifaceted impacts of phygital integration on human experience design, consumer behavior, and empathetic marketing frameworks. As we navigate through an era marked by rapid technological advancements and shifting consumer expectations (Verhoef et al., 2015), PVC offers a fertile ground for rigorous scholarly inquiry that places human experiences, rather than technological transactions, at the center of practical service innovation.

The philosophical roots of PVC lie in the phygital research paradigm (Batat, 2024b) and phygital service research (Batat, 2025), which advocates for a holistic ecosystem blending tangible and virtual interactions to drive deeply meaningful service encounters. This paradigm necessitates a human-centric rethinking of traditional service models and theories (Bitner, 1992; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). The special issue aims to establish a robust academic framework for PVC, emphasizing the significance of human-technology interactions and comprehensive experience-design approaches and experiential marketing mix models (Batat, 2024c) that prioritize relational and psychological value realization for all actors involved in the servicescape. By exploring the phygital value creation process through a critical, human-first lens, we seek to uncover how hybrid environments reshape customer journeys, enhance interpersonal service interactions, and unlock authentic engagement in contemporary enterprises. Central to this inquiry is the examination of how phygital interactions alter consumer perception and subjective service experiences. Human-centric design principles play a pivotal role in creating service encounters that are not only seamless but also deeply resonant and supportive of consumer agency within the hybrid servicescape. This involves a comprehensive analysis of strategies and methodologies that facilitate the translation of physical and digital elements into cohesive, human-first service delivery systems across multiple platforms. By placing the human experience at the absolute core of phygital services, we can better understand, measure, and optimize the subjective interplay between these blended environments. Technological integration is another cornerstone of PVC, where extended reality technologies, artificial intelligence, automation, and smart sensors (Flavián et al., 2019; Batat and Hammedi, 2023) serve as catalysts for experiential innovation. However, an applied marketing perspective requires that we move beyond the mere deployment of technology as a standalone tool for operational speed or cost reduction (Hoyer et al., 2020). Embracing PVC necessitates considering technology interaction with humans from an empathetic, multi-level approach, evaluating the deeper emotional, sensory, and identity-driven implications of smart servicescapes. This holistic approach addresses the diverse effects of phygital value creation on all involved parties, ensuring technology acts as an enabler of human connection rather than an instrument of cold isolation. Moreover, methodological diversity is crucial for advancing the study of human-centric phygital value mechanics. This special issue encourages the development and application of innovative, emic research methods suitable for blended physical-digital settings to capture the nuanced, lived realities of phygital service interactions.

Moreover, this special issue seeks to identify emerging trends and address the challenges associated with creating sustainable, meaningful, and managerially sound phygital service environments. The transformative potential of PVC lies in its ability to reconfigure service experiences in ways that are both technologically advanced and profoundly human. Through interdisciplinary research and critical analysis, this special issue aims to provide valuable, translational insights into the future of service marketing delivery in a phygital world. By focusing on these comprehensive, human-centric, and experiential aspects, we hope to significantly enhance the theoretical foundations and real-world applications of Phygital Value Creation. We invite contributions that offer groundbreaking perspectives and solutions, driving forward the discourse on how phygital channel integration can lead to reimagined service marketing models and optimized consumer journeys. A list of the topics includes, but is not limited to:

• How can design principles within the Phygital Value Creation (PVC) framework enhance human-centric experience design and subjective well-being in hybrid environments?
• What specific marketing strategies can effectively integrate physical and digital service elements within the PVC framework to protect consumer agency and human connection across customer journeys?
• In what ways do human-technology interactions (HTI) impact the emotional and sensory dimensions of consumer behavior within phygital servicescapes, and how can these encounters be humanized?
• How can the deployment of advanced technologies (AI, AR/VR, IoT, and smart sensors) within the PVC framework contribute to deeper service brand empathy, trust, and consumer engagement rather than mere transactional efficiency?
• What are the psychological and ethical impacts of phygital service models on the consumer, particularly regarding the privacy-convenience paradox and perceived loss of control in highly automated smart spaces?
• How can we develop innovative, human-centric research approaches such phyginography (phygital ethnography) to capture the lived experiences of value creation in blended servicescape?
• What role do frontline employees play as critical human anchors in managing transitions toward technology-infused phygital service environments?
• How do phygital service environments influence non-transactional service metrics, such as experiential satisfaction, relational trust, and customer connection?
• What are the future trends in human-centric phygital service design, and how can the experiential marketing mix (7Es) be harnessed to build empathetic and managerially actionable value models?
• How can interdisciplinary research enhance our understanding of PVC and contribute to the development of innovative, industry-responsive phygital service marketing applications that prioritize the human element?

(contact Guest Editor for list of references)