Activities

Research-related activities and publications

As well as published output, the group has high involvement in the scholarly community. All members have professional links within their respective areas of expertise, providing a platform for state-of-the-art research.

Most hold several memberships of professional associations (eg the Chartered Institute of Marketing) and academic and learned societies (eg the British Academy of Management, European Marketing Academy, and Academy of International Business).

External collaborations

The group conducts collaborative research with national and international partners from countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands, UAE, and USA.

The group's collaborators within the UK are from a number of institutions including:

  • De Montfort University
  • University of Bournemouth
  • University of Leeds
  • Aston University
  • University of Nottingham
  • University of Warwick
  • Queen Mary University of London
  • University of Strathclyde
  • University of Glasgow.

International collaborators are from:

  • American University of Sharjah, UAE
  • Arizona State University, USA
  • Australian National University (ANU), Australia
  • Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
  • East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
  • EDHEC Business School, France
  • Federal University of Technology–Paraná, Brazil
  • Flinders University, Australia
  • Florida State University, USA
  • Fukui Prefectural University, Japan
  • Ghent University, Belgium
  • IÉSEG School of Management, France
  • Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
  • Karlstad University, Sweden
  • Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
  • Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
  • La Trobe University, Australia
  • LUT University, Finland
  • National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan
  • National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • Northeastern University, USA
  • Norwegian Business School, Norway
  • Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel
  • Queensland University of Technology, Australia
  • Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, Germany
  • RMIT University, Australia
  • Texas State University, USA
  • The University of Western Ontario, Canada
  • Universiti Utara Malaysia
  • University of Alabama, USA
  • University of Cologne, Germany
  • University of Eastern Finland
  • University of Granada, Spain
  • University of Groningen, The Netherlands
  • University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • University of Mannheim, Germany
  • University of Massachusetts, USA
  • University of New South Wales, Australia
  • University of Nicosia, Cyprus
  • University of Porto, Portugal
  • University of Queensland,
  • University of South Australia, Australia
  • University of Split, Croatia
  • University of Vienna, Austria
  • Yonsei University, Republic of Korea.

External esteem

Professor Thorsten Gruber

  • Guest editor (with Prof Jamie Burton and Prof Anders Gustafsson) of 'Design and Decision Making for Customer Experience at the Academic-Practitioner Interface', a special section in Journal of Business Research (Vol. 116, August 2020)
  • Guest editor (with Prof Jamie Burton, Dr Linda Nasr and Dr Helen L. Bruce) of 'Advancing Customer Experience and Big Data Impact via Academic–Practitioner Collaboration', a special section in Journal of Services Marketing (Vol. 31, Issue 2, 2017)
  • Anne-Marie and Gustaf Ander Foundation for Media Research Visiting Professor of Service Management at CTF – Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden (2014-2017)
  • Founding Advisory Board Member, ServCollab – Serving Humanity Through Collaboration
  • Founding Vice Chair of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Marketing for Higher Education Special Interest Group (2011-2014)
  • Editorial Board Member of Journal of Service Research and Journal of Service Management
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education (2010-2015)
  • Member of the 2021 AMA SERVSIG Christopher Lovelock Career Contributions Award Committee.
  • Member of the International Conference Committee for SERVSIG 2016, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • Member of the Scientific Committee for the 6th International Research Symposium in Service Management (IRSSM), UiTM Sarawak, Kuching, Malaysia.
  • Member of the Scientific Committee for the 5th International Research Symposium in Service Management (IRSSM), University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
  • Most cited academic currently affiliated with Loughborough University for business, management and accounting (Elsevier's SciVal, Top 500 authors list, over the period 2016-2019).
  • 2019 Journal of Service Management Robert Johnston Award (Highly Commended Award) for Wirtz, J., Patterson, P.G., Kunz, W.H., Gruber, T., Lu, V.N., Paluch, S. and Martins, A. (2018), 'Brave New World: Service Robots in the Frontline', Journal of Service Management, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 907-931.
  • 2019 AMA SERVSIG Best Service Article of the Year Finalist Award for Wirtz, J., Patterson, P.G., Kunz, W.H., Gruber, T., Lu, V.N., Paluch, S. and Martins, A. (2018), 'Brave New World: Service Robots in the Frontline', Journal of Service Management, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 907-931.
  • 2018 Best SERVSIG Conference Finalist Award for Wirtz, J., Patterson, P.G., Kunz, W.H., Gruber, T., Lu, V.N., Paluch, S. and Martins, A. (2018), 'Brave New World: Service Robots in the Frontline', Journal of Service Management, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 907-931.
  • 2018 EURAM Best Paper Award – Second Winner, Innovation Strategic Interest Group, EURAM 2018 for Verleye, K., Perks, H., Gruber, T. and Voets, J., 'Building Legitimacy for New Service Constellations with a Social Objective'.
  • 2016 Emerald Citations of Excellence Award for Bolton, R., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N., Kabadayi, S., Gruber, T., Komarova Loureiro, Y. and Solnet, D. (2013). 'Understanding Generation Y and Their Use of Social Media: A Review and Research Agenda'. Journal of Service Management, 24 (3), 245-267.
  • 2016 Journal of Services Marketing Best Service Consumer Paper for Nasr, L., Burton, J. and Gruber, T. (2016). 'Bring me Sunshine: Developing a Deeper Understanding of Positive Customer Feedback'. AMA SERVSIG International Service Research Conference.
  • 2014 Journal of Service Research Best Article Award, Finalist Award: Villarroel Ordenes, F., Theodoulidis, B., Zaki, M., Burton, J.andGruber, T. (2014). 'Analyzing Customer Experience Feedback Using Text Mining: A Linguistics-Based Approach'. Journal of Service Research, 17 (3), 278-295.
  • 2014 AMA SERVSIG Best Service Article Award, Runner Up Award: Villarroel Ordenes, F., Theodoulidis, B., Zaki, M., Burton, J. and Gruber, T. (2014). 'Analyzing Customer Experience Feedback Using Text Mining: A Linguistics-Based Approach'. Journal of Service Research, 17 (3), 278-295.

International activities

2017

  • Keynote presentation, 2017: 'Conducting Academic Research with Companies', 6th Let’s Talk About Service (LTAS) Workshop, University of Antwerp, Belgium - Thorsten Gruber
  • Invited participant, 2017: Thought Leadership Conference - 'Theorizing beyond the horizon: Service research in 2050,' University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia - Thorsten Gruber

2016

  • Invited participant, 2016: CTF – Service Research Center 30th anniversary event, Karlstad University, Sweden - Thorsten Gruber
  • Invited participant, 2016: 2nd International Network of Service Researchers event, CTF – Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden - Thorsten Gruber
  • Invited lecture, 2016: 'Service Failure & Recovery', CTF – Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden - Thorsten Gruber
  • Invited lecture, 2016: 'Revealing the Preferred Characteristics of Frontline Employees Dealing with Customer Complaints', CTF – Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden - Thorsten Gruber

2015

  • Invited presentation, 2015: 'Mät inte effektivitet – mät hälsa och glädje - Do Not Measure Effectiveness - Measure Health and Happiness', Biannual conference on quality in public sector and society (Kvalitetsmaessan), Gothenburg, Sweden - Thorsten Gruber
  • Invited presentation, 2015: 'Understanding the Publication Game - How to Measure and Improve Citations Scores', CTF-Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden - Thorsten Gruber

2014

  • Invited participant, 2014: 1st International Network of Service Researchers event, CTF – Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden - Thorsten Gruber

Journal editorships and editorial board editorships

Professor Thorsten Gruber

  • Guest Editor: Journal of Business Research (Vol. 116, August 2020)
  • Guest Editor: Journal of Services Marketing (Vol. 31, Issue 2, 2017)
  • Editorial Board Member of Journal of Service Research and Journal of Service Management
  • Associate Editor: Journal of Marketing for Higher Education (2010-2015).

Research grants

Professor Thorsten Gruber

  • Society for the Advanced of Management Studies (SAMS) 2020, 'Developing the Management Studies Community' funding scheme
  • Loughborough Business School, International Seedcorn Grants 2014/15

Professor Anne Souchon

  • British Academy Small Research Grant: £10,000 – 'Managerial decision-making styles, innovation and economic performance: A cross-national examination', co-investigator, 2018

Visiting positions and external roles

Professor Thorsten Gruber

  • Anne-Marie and Gustaf Ander Foundation for Media Research Visiting Professor of Service Management (2014-2017), CTF – Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden
  • Founding Advisory Board Member, ServCollab – Serving Humanity Through Collaboration
  • Founding Vice Chair of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Marketing for Higher Education Special Interest Group (2011-2014)