The Service Industries Journal

While ethics in service industries has received more attention with the growth and globalization of the service sector (Rendtorff and Mattsson, 2009), new ethical issues and concerns are emerging with the recent changes in service industries. Service research has broadened its domain and focus as a response to fast-changing global challenges, emergence of various forms of new technologies, and the increasing impact of service industries and organizations on multiple stakeholders. However, with this evolving role and responsibility of services, and the changing societal pressures and expectations for businesses comes the need for more research on service ethics with an emphasis on serving human needs fairly (Fisk et al., 2020). While there has been some recent interest in studying moral limits and ethical considerations of services, the research is still sparse and does not full address the changing nature of services and service industries (Raciti 2021). Therefore, the need for research and discussion on ethics and ethical issues as applied to services and service industries is immediate (Belk 2021).

This special issue explores the ethical issues and challenges that the service organizations face due to the economic, social, and technological changes taking place in global service sectors. It aims to provide a deeper understanding of ethical principles and issues as applied in services and to offer novel perspectives how ethical challenges and dilemma are addressed by various stakeholders in service ecosystem. The special issue aims to bring together interdisciplinary scholars to consider, incorporate, and attend to the meanings, uses, and social consequences of ethical questions and considerations in services.

Therefore, the guest co-editors of this special issue welcome a range of papers, both conceptual and empirical papers including systematic literature reviews. The guest co-editors further encourage submissions based on collaborations between academics, practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders, using any methodology as long as it is rigorous, and follows ethical research guidelines. Submissions using theories, conceptual frameworks and novel approaches from other disciplines are strongly encouraged.

The potential themes and related topics for this special issue include, but not limited to:

Theme 1: Philosophical and Conceptual Approaches to Ethics in Services

Papers submitted for this theme should focus on the philosophical approaches and different ethical concepts and dimensions as applied to services and service ecosystems.

• Ethical implications of well-being creation efforts by services
• The ethics of justice in services
• The ethics of care and empathy in services
• Philosophical methods in service ethics
• Ethical challenges in service ecosystems

Theme 2: Ethics and the Service Business

In this theme, papers should focus on the ethical issues and considerations when it comes to the business operations of services and service organizations.

• Unethical behavior of service employees
• Unethical behavior of service employers
• Ethical considerations of virtual/distant work
• Ethical implications of displacement of humans in service jobs
• Ethical issues in the operation of service organizations, both profit and non-profit.
• Ethical evaluations and the role of dignity in services
• Ethics as a service and competitive advantage in services

 Theme 3: Ethical issues and the Use of New Technologies in Services

New technologies are changing the substance of services and modes of service delivery. In this theme, papers should focus on the ethical dilemmas toward customers, communities, and society that arise in service firms due to the implementation of new technologies.

• Ethical considerations in human-technology interactions
• Ethical implications of using robots and AI in services
• Ethical implications of smart services
• Ethical implications of using wearables like self-tracking devices
• Ethical implications of virtual services like virtual healthcare and distant/online education
• Newly emerging ethical issues with the proliferation of personal and other forms of data
• Social media and ethical considerations in their use and abuse

Theme 4: Ethical Issues in People Experiencing Vulnerabilities

The role of services in helping people and communities experiencing vulnerability has been recognized and documented. The papers in this theme should focus on ethical considerations and challenges that service organizations may face in such efforts.

• Ethical considerations in elderly care
• Ethical considerations in providing services for populations with vulnerabilities
• Ethical issues when serving based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion!

Theme 5: Environmental Ethics in Services

Papers submitted under this theme should focus on the ethical issues and challenges created by the use of environmental and ecological resources by service organizations with a specific attention to environmental ethics.

• Ethical considerations in the use (overuse) of ecological capital by service organizations.
• Feminist approaches to environmental ethics in services

• Please select "Service Ethics and Ethics as a Service: Principles, Issues and Dilemmas" special issue when submitting your paper to ScholarOne
• Both conceptual and empirical papers including systematic literature reviews are accepted for this special issue.
• On their cover letter, the authors should indicate to which theme of the special issue they submit their paper.

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