Coming Up with Relevant Research Ideas

Winter AMALinking Scholarship to

PracticePre-Conference Program

February 13, 2015Mary Jo BitnerProfessor of Marketing and Executive DirectorCenter for Services LeadershipArizona State University

• What is Relevant Research?

• Where do Relevant Research Ideas Come From?

• My Personal Idea Path as an Example

Relevant research is theoretically and academically rigorous, but also addresses issues

of importance to business and organizational practice

or to society more broadly.

Relevant research is generalizable beyond a single applied context.

Relevant research has clear implications for practice or society.

My thoughts on relevant research..

• New (relevant) substantive topic areas

• Ideas that build on important gaps in published research (that is relevant)

• Research that explores new (relevant) dependent variables

Relevant Research focuses on…

• What is Relevant Research?

• Where do Relevant Research Ideas Come From?

• My Personal Idea Path as an Example

• Interacting with and listening to practitioners, attending their conferences, bringing them to your campus

• Reading the business press and other outlets, looking for common challenges, issues, and trends

• Reviewing the leading journals, looking for relevant articles that you like

• Choosing a relevant business or social topic, industry focus, or context on which to become an expert

• Screening research ideas you may have against the “relevance criteria” before you start

• Look for published research priorities in relevant areas that interest you

Where do relevant ideas come from?

• Published priorities and directions from respected groups that focus on relevant research – for example–Marketing Science Institute (MSI)– Institute for the Study of Business

Markets (ISBM), Penn State– Center for Services Leadership (CSL),

Arizona State University – Others

Examples of Published Research Priorities

MSI Research Priorities 2014-2016

ISBM - B2B Research Priorities

• Three areas that will be the ISBM's highest research priority programs for the foreseeable future—(1)Marketing's Role in B2B Innovation (2)B2B Buying Behavior (3)B2B Customer Analytics

Journal of Service Research, February 2010

CSL Business Report, February 2010

Science of Service Research Priorities Publications

*Amy L. Ostrom, A. Parasuraman, David Bowen, Lia Patricio, and Chris Voss, “Service Research Priorities in a Rapidly ChangingContext,” Journal of Service Research, forthcoming, May 2015

Service Research Priorities 2015*

• What is Relevant Research?

• Where do Relevant Research Ideas Come From?

• My Personal Idea Path as an Example

My Service Research “Idea Path” (from 1982-2015)

• Customer Satisfaction with Services• Expanded Marketing Mix for Services– People – service encounters/roles– Process – service blueprinting– Physical evidence – servicescapes

• Role of Employees in Service Encounters– Effort, adaptability, motivation,

attachment styles, branded customer service

My Service Research “Idea Path” (from 1982-2015)

• Technology-delivered self-service– Adoption, usage, satisfaction

• Customer participation in service– Co-creation over time, contextual factors,

satisfaction

• Service growth strategies in manufacturing and technology companies

• The role of service in wellbeing, not just satisfaction

Thank you!

Mary Jo BitnerProfessor of Marketing and Executive DirectorCenter for Services LeadershipArizona State University