The Service Research Center (CTF)

What is it that makes something feel valuable to us – and how does it influence our everyday choices and habits? These are questions explored by Sture Nöjd in his licentiate thesis “Understanding value in service as a psychological process – a consumer perspective.”

In his licentiate thesis, Sture Nöjd shows how the experience of value shapes our behaviour – from shopping in-store to everyday habits.

– Value is not just something that exists in a product or a service, but something we create ourselves in our thoughts, feelings and behaviours – a psychological process, says Sture Nöjd.

Food packaging is currently one of Europe's most resource-intensive material flows. The SABOR project aims to advance recycling, digital traceability, and circular business models to meet the EU's new requirements.
– SABOR is an example of how research, innovation, and industry can work together to support Europe's circular transition, says Mikael Johnson.

The Service Research Center (CTF) is participating in the European project SABOR (Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands Advancing Traceability and Recycling Solutions for Safe Food Packaging). The project brings together eleven universities, research institutes, companies, and cluster organizations from Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands to develop safer, more traceable, and more circular food packaging solutions.

Many companies in Sweden and Norway are already testing circular solutions such as take-back systems, repair and reuse, but few succeed in scaling them up. A new project at the Service Research Center (CTF) at Karlstad University will help companies move from pilot initiatives to viable business models.

– What is missing today is not technology, but workable business arrangements around it. When several actors need to share data, responsibilities and revenues, uncertainty arises, which prevents initiatives from being taken forward, says Mikael Johnson, senior lecturer and project leader at CTF and Karlstad Business School.

The summer and holiday season is approaching after yet another intensive and eventful half-year – and there is much to celebrate. CTF’s research has continued to contribute to important discussions, collaborations and research on societal development, ranging from international research arenas to local partnerships.

How does AI affect the way we work, how does disinformation spread – and how do we build resilient organizations? These were some of the questions at the center of Customer Innovation Day 2026 in Karlstad.

Customer Innovation Day 2026 brought together researchers and professionals around the theme of tomorrow’s services. During the afternoon, a clear picture emerged: organizations of the future must combine technological curiosity with critical thinking and the ability to navigate an increasingly uncertain world.

Do you feel abandoned when you’re expected to handle everything on your own in a store? You’re not alone. Amie Gustafsson, a newly minted PhD in Business Administration at Karlstad Business School and researcher at CTF, has studied the state we find ourselves in when technology fails and we are left with a rigid digital source code as our only companion.
– Self-service strips away the human relationship, and without human touchpoints that can repair trust after a machine failure, customer loyalty to the brand becomes very short-lived.

How do unmanned stores and self-service affect customers’ sense of service and trust?