The Service Industries Journal

ISSN: 0264-2069 (Print) 1743-9507 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fsij20

What is truth?
Eileen Bridges
To cite this article: Eileen Bridges (2014) What is truth?, The Service Industries Journal, 34:1,
1-4, DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2014.880619
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2014.880619

Published online: 20 Jan 2014.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 418

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=fsij20
Download by: [University Of South Australia Library]

Date: 22 August 2016, At: 06:18

The Service Industries Journal, 2014

Vol. 34, No. 1, 1 4, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2014.880619

EDITORIAL
What is truth?
What kind of a truth is this that is bounded by a chain of mountains and is falsehood to the
people living on the other side? (Hofstede, 2001, p. 415). Geert Hofstede provides his own
translation of this quotation from the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, from
Essais II, XXII, 34: Quelle verite que ces montagnes bornent, qui est mensonge au
monde qui se tient au dela`?
This quotation is particularly relevant to theory-building academic research, because it
clarifies that the truth we seek should also be true for other people and in other places.
Although we might test our theories in one population, functional area, or the industry,
the relationships between constructs should continue to hold in others, unless there are
differences that cause the relationships to change. The point at which theory becomes
truly interesting occurs when we can ask under what conditions does the original
theory hold? and identify different conditions that lead to different relationships.
The Service Industries Journal (SIJ) is seeking manuscripts that pose interesting questions, that test new theory (new relationships between constructs) in services, and/or that
examine under what conditions a previously reported relationship continues to hold. Our
mission, which was recently updated, is:
The Service Industries Journal publishes research that contributes to the development of
theory and resulting best practices in services, including management, human resources, operations, marketing, entrepreneurship, innovation, finance, internet-related and interdisciplinary
approaches. Contributions are welcomed from around the globe and those that offer socially
responsible viewpoints are particularly encouraged.

In keeping with our mission, during 2013 we have published articles on many topics
that reach beyond our traditional themes, and an increasing proportion of those we process
offer substantial contributions to theory. As promised, we are accepting more articles in
underrepresented topic areas, especially healthcare, human resources, innovation, and
the use of social media in marketing. One of the highlights of 2013 was a special issue
[33(13/14)], guest edited by Juan Gabriel Cegarra Navarro and Gabriel Cepeda-Carrion,
on healthcare services. In the area of human resources, perhaps one of our best articles
of 2013 was by Jung and Yoon (2013), who showed a positive relationship between perceived organizational service orientation and person-organization fit among front line
service providers. Interesting contributions regarding innovation include that of Liu
(2013), who finds that innovativeness mediates the relationship between market orientation and innovative performance, and that of Moreno, Garca-Morales, and Montes
(2013), who identified drivers of customer participation in the innovation process,
finding greater participation in proactive firms having a lead over competitors in terms
of innovation. We also published articles on e-marketing, social media marketing, and
website design; perhaps the best of these focuses on use of online marketing tools
among small businesses (Eid & El-Gohary, 2013).
# 2014 Taylor & Francis

Editorial

In addition to the above-described articles featuring under-represented topics, the SIJ

published several other notable articles, with topics, including servicescape design, organizational learning culture, entrepreneurship, self-service innovations, social responsibility,
and productivity. The article on servicescape design by Mari and Poggesi (2013) provides
a systematic literature review and research agenda on this important topic. Kalyar and Rafi
(2013) examine how an organizational culture of learning can lead to innovation. In the
area of entrepreneurship, perhaps one of our best articles of 2013 was by Kraus (2013),
who showed a significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (especially
innovative behavior) and corporate performance. Finally, our special issue [33(3/4)]
from the RESER conference held in Hamburg, Germany, in 2011 provided several interesting articles on service productivity.
Articles published during 2013 have come from many parts of the world. In fact,
authors of the seven articles mentioned above represent eight countries, including
England, Korea, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, China, Italy, and Spain. By
including authors from many countries, we increase the total potential range of ideas,
with the aim of bringing new and creative thought to a broad range of services.
Continuing to publish excellent articles depends on the work of our Associate Editors,
who are charged with selecting reviewers, corresponding with authors, and making recommendations regarding submitted manuscripts. This team includes Youjae Yi of Seoul
National University in Korea, John Bryson of Birmingham University in the UK, Mark
Rosenbaum of Northern Illinois University in the USA, and Rita di Mascio of the University of New South Wales in Australia. Rita is new to our team: she holds her PhD in
systems engineering from Sydney University (Australia) and brings expertise in human
resources, service process design and operations, technology, customer experience and
customer relationship management. We also continue to benefit from a very strong
Editorial Board that is committed to the success of our journal. Members of our Board represent 20 countries and a wide range of functional areas related to services. (See the list of
members either inside our front cover, or on our website: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/
fsij20/current.) This outstanding editorial team will continue to work toward a positive
experience for submitting authors, including a fair review process and helpful comments,
regardless of the ultimate decision.
I am delighted to begin disseminating volume 34 of our Journal, as this is the first to
publish manuscripts accepted during my term as Editor. The first few issues of 2014 will
include several articles that discuss services in comparison to manufacturing, including servitization of manufacturing (Dachs et al., 2014), differences between exports, foreign direct
investments, and productivity in service and manufacturing firms (Wagner, 2014), and
entrepreneurial orientation and growth in services versus manufacturing firms (Kraus,
Rigtering, Eggers, & Jensen, 2013). We also have a nice literature review in the offing, covering service innovation research (Carlborg, Kindstrom, & Kowalkowski, 2013). Other
interesting topics in upcoming articles include: using customer lifetime value to plan
optimal promotions (Ekinci, Ulengin, & Uray, 2013), understanding declining firstmover advantage in mobile telecommunications markets (Sung, 2013), and managing
intangibles (Arancibia & Fernandez, 2013). We will also feature a special article by
Dorsch, Fisk, and Grove (in press) celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Frontiers in
Service conference.
Later in the year, we anticipate publication of our special issues on Creativity and
Innovation, guest edited by Marianna Sigala and Olivia Kyriakidou, and on Service
Process Design and Operations, guest edited by John Bryson, Helena Martins Goncalves,
and Margarida Duarde. We are also working toward three special issues, planned for 2015,

The Service Industries Journal

on social media in services (guest edited by Mark Durkin, Aodheen McCartan, and
Mairead Brady), on transformative services (guest edited by Mark Rosenbaum), and on
online financial services (guest edited by Des Laffey, Tony Gandy, and Ben Lowe).
Looking forward to 2016, we are anticipating a special issue on sport marketing, to be
guest edited by Rodoula Tsiotsou.
If you are thinking of submitting a manuscript to the SIJ, please bear in mind that we
seek articles that provide new understanding of services. Therefore, they should be conceptually grounded in the service literature, and may also be tied to theoretical findings
previously tested in other industries, such as manufacturing, and/or developed in other literatures, such as the social sciences. We plan to carefully review hypotheses proposed in
submitted manuscripts, to ensure that they test important relationships between constructs
that have not been previously examined. Research activities must be accurately labeled:
whereas hypotheses offer new relationships, replications test previously studied relationships in other settings and/or among other populations.
Another important issue related to design and reporting of research involves the constructs used in hypothesis design. Although it may be convenient to obtain and use demographic data as causal variables in hypotheses, typically customer demographics are
merely correlated with actual causes of observed differences. For instance, advanced
age may be correlated with a desire to reduce risk, but the actual cause of risk reduction
may be customer perceptions of time remaining or alternative choices. Similarly, female
respondents may not appear to be as aggressive as male respondents, but this may be due to
another cause, such as social conditioning, which may be correlated with gender. In studying theory, it is important to identify and measure true underlying constructs, because tests
of correlated demographics do not advance our understanding of actual causal
relationships.
To best highlight your contribution to the service literature, the title of your manuscript
should be short and focused on your findings. Do not use these precious words to state that
your research was in services, in a particular industry, or in a particular geographic
location. Your abstract should state clearly what makes your research interesting and
should detail your key findings. As noted by Kazdin (1995, p. 229), this is the only information most readers will have about the study. The title and abstract are available in
online databases worldwide and should entice readers to want more information about
your research. Similarly, keywords should be selected for their simplicity and widespread
usage, to assist researchers in locating your manuscript in an online search.
To improve the ease of use and usefulness of the SIJ, a new style sheet is now available. It emphasizes the necessity for authors to curtail use of acronyms, owing to our very
broad readership that represents many cultures and many functional areas, who do not
necessarily interpret various combinations of letters in the same way that authors might
intend. Other features of our improved style sheet include referencing that is more consistent with that of other journals, updated page and word count limitations, specifics of significance testing, and reminders that we do not publish footnotes, section numbers, or JEL
codes. Tables and figures must be easily readable and may not include acronyms. Finally,
to assist readers in finding your references, please refrain from citing works that have not
been widely disseminated, such as working papers and conference presentations.
We look forward to working with you, whether as an author or as a reviewer. Thank
you for your continuing interest in the SIJ.
Eileen Bridges, Editor-in-Chief

Editorial

References
Arancibia, S., & Fernandez, A. (2013). How to support the management of intangibles. The Service
Industries Journal. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/02642069.2013.778250
Carlborg, P., Kindstrom, D., & Kowalkowski, C. (2013). The evolution of service innovation
research: A critical review and synthesis. The Service Industries Journal. Advance online
publication. doi:10.1080/02642069.2013.780044
Dachs, B., Biege, S., Borowiecki, M., Lay, G., Jager, A., & Schartinger, D. (2014). Servitisation of
European manufacturing: Evidence from a large scale database. The Service Industries
Journal, 34, 523. doi:10.1080/02642069.2013.776543
Dorsch, M., Fisk, R., & Grove, S. (in press). The Frontiers in Service Conference: A twenty-year
retrospective. The Service Industries Journal. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/
02642069.2014.870160
Eid, R., & El-Gohary, H. (2013). The impact of e-marketing use on small business enterprises
marketing success. The Service Industries Journal, 33(1), 31 50.
Ekinci, Y., Ulengin, F., & Uray, N. (2013). Using customer lifetime value to plan optimal
promotions. The Service Industries Journal. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/
02642069.2013.763929
Hofstede, G. (2001). Cultures consequences, (2nd ed., p. 415). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Jung, H. S., & Yoon, H. H. (2013). The effects of organizational service orientation on person-organization fit and turnover intent. The Service Industries Journal, 33(1), 7 29.
Kalyar, M. N., & Rafi, N. (2013). Organizational learning culture: An ingenious device for promoting firms innovativeness. The Service Industries Journal, 33(12), 11351147.
Kazdin, A. E. (1995). Preparing and evaluating research reports. Psychological Assessment, 7(3),
228 237.
Kraus, S. (2013). The role of entrepreneurial orientation in service firms: Empirical evidence from
Austria. The Service Industries Journal, 33(5), 427444.
Kraus, S., Rigtering, C., Eggers, F., & Jensen, S. (2013). Entrepreneurial orientation and growth in
service and manufacturing firms. The Service Industries Journal. Advance online publication.
doi:10.1080/02642069.2013.778978
Liu, S. (2013). The role of service innovativeness in the relationship between market orientation
and innovative performance: Moderator or mediator? The Service Industries Journal,
33(1), 51 71.
Mari, M., & Poggesi, S. (2013). Servicescape cues and customer behavior: A systematic literature
review and research agenda. The Service Industries Journal, 33(2), 171199.
Moreno, A. R., Garca-Morales, V. J., & Montes, F. J. L. (2013). Determinants of proactive innovative behavior in new services: Empirical investigation of service versus manufacturing firms.
The Service Industries Journal, 33(11), 977 1002.
Sung, N. (2013). Declining first-mover advantage in mobile telecommunications markets. The Service
Industries Journal. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/02642069.2013.763931
Wagner, J. (2014). Exports, foreign direct investments, and productivity: Are service firms different?
The Service Industries Journal, 34(1), 24 37.