This document summarizes a presentation on relevant research ideas. It defines relevant research as rigorous work that addresses important business or social issues and has clear implications for practice or society. The presentation discusses where good research ideas come from, such as interacting with practitioners, reading industry publications, and reviewing priority areas identified by respected research groups. Examples of priority areas are provided from the Marketing Science Institute, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, and the Center for Services Leadership. The presenter then gives their personal research path as an example, from early work on customer satisfaction with services to current focus on the role of service in wellbeing.

1. Coming Up with
Relevant Research Ideas
Winter AMA
Linking Scholarship to Practice
Pre-Conference Program
February 13, 2015
Mary Jo Bitner
Professor of Marketing and Executive Director
Center for Services Leadership
Arizona State University

2. • What is Relevant Research?
• Where do Relevant Research Ideas Come
From?
• My Personal Idea Path as an Example

3. 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..

4. • 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…

5. • What is Relevant Research?
• Where do Relevant Research Ideas Come
From?
• My Personal Idea Path as an Example

6. • 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?

7. • 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

8. MSI Research Priorities 2014-2016

9. 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

10. Journal of Service Research, February 2010
CSL Business Report, February 2010
Science of Service Research
Priorities Publications

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

12. • What is Relevant Research?
• Where do Relevant Research Ideas Come
From?
• My Personal Idea Path as an Example

13. 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

14. 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

15. Thank you!
Mary Jo Bitner
Professor of Marketing and Executive Director
Center for Services Leadership
Arizona State University