Theory and Research in Service Management (7,5 ECTS)

Theory and Research in Service Management (7,5 ECTS) gives doctoral students an overview of the evolution and most recent development within service research, and highlights the recent “systems turn” in service research and focuses on a theme of “Service System Transformation”. 

Aim and content

This course aims to give doctoral students, working with service research and related fields, an overview of the evolution and most recent developments within the field. More specifically, the course content highlights the recent “systems turn” in service research and focuses on a theme of “Service System Transformation”. From the course, doctoral students will gain an understanding of the theoretical foundations, key perspectives and emerging concepts within the field of service research and service management in particular. 

More specifically the following topics will be discussed in-depth during the course:

  1. The theoretical foundations and evolution of service research toward a systems turn 
  2. Perspectives on change and transformation in service systems
  3. Systemic approaches to service innovation and design
  4. Service systems, technology and platformization
  5. Service perspective on sustainability – environmental and social responsibility

The course is organized by Karlstad Business School in association with CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad
University.

Active and contributing participation is required from the doctoral students during the lectures and seminars. The pedagogical philosophy of the course is designed to support the attending doctoral students informulating research problems and conducting their own research. The method resembles problem-based learning in that the students are responsible for reading and analyzing the assigned literature in-depth before the lectures to be able to discuss and problematize the literature during the course.The reading material will be provided to the participants well in advance and must be read before the lectures and seminars.

The course will include teaching faculty from CTF, Service Research Center, as well as several visiting guest lectures.

Schedule and venue

  1. Lecture and seminar week: December 9-13, 2019. 
    All lectures and seminars will be held at CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University (no remote participation). Some of the sessions will be open lectures and some of them closed discussion seminars only available for the participating doctoral students.
     
  2. Course paper presentations: February 25-26, 2020. 
    Presentations will be held at CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University (remote participation can be made available).  

The detailed program with a list of the reading materials will be provided to the participants by mid-October, 2019.

How to apply

The course is targeted for doctoral students in Business Administration and related disciplines. The maximum number of participants is 20. If more apply, the selection is based on the course’s relevance to the applicants’ doctoral thesis topic and their previous studies.

Please send your application to britt-marie.shandrew@kau.se by September 27.

The application should include your name, university, address, e-mail, information on the current phase of the studies (incl. number of earned credit units), a short summary of the PhD research that indicates the area in which the research is conducted, and the key issues that are examined in more detail, and a motivation for taking part in the course (max. 500 words).