Services 2.0.1: Advanced Thinking on the Nature of IT Services.

Abstract

Hello Colleagues, and welcome to another fine special issue of eService Journal. In keeping with the theme of the original special issue series, Services 2.0, we’re characterizing this last in a series of best papers from the AMCIS IT Services Track as Services 2.0.1, to commemorate the longevity and vitality this stream of research. In this issue we have several excellent offerings: Christoph Riedl, Jan Leimeister, and Helmut Krcmar examine characteristics of eServices that distinguish them from more mundane market offerings. We continue to assert that it is important to understand what makes eServices different and important, and this is why their excellent article, “Why e-Service Development is Different: A Literature Review,” makes a key contribution to the evolution of leading edge thinking on eServices research. Jason Kuruzovich and Henry Lucas examine one of the most critical characteristics of services, which is perishability, in their article, “The Impact of Electronic Commerce on Markets for Time-Sensitive Goods.” The point they make regards how best to be sure that the online sale of perishable events such as sporting events and airline flights takes place before the service becomes worthless owing the expiration. Daniel Beverungen, Ralf Knackstedt and Axel Winkelman combine theoretical perspectives of business process models with eServices sensibilities in providing a means for identifying the e-service potential of business processes. Such a theoretical approach can be diagnostic for researchers seeking to characterize various services for their “e” potential. Their paper, “Identifying e-Service Potential from Business Process Models: A Theory Nexus Approach,” is a must-read for theoretically-oriented researchers interested in eServices. This third in a series of special issues concludes our comprehensive process of seeking, developing and finding a journal home for outstanding conference papers on eServices. We certainly hope to have the chance to do so again, but ,in the main, and for now, we hope you find the contribution useful and interesting! Best regards from Memphis,