Call for paper: Advancing Sustainable Services: Circular Economy, Technology, and Future Directions

Advancing Sustainable Services: Circular Economy, Technology, and Future Directions

The Special Issue aims to enrich the existing literature on the intersection of service quality, sustainability, and the circular economy by providing a comprehensive overview of key themes, research gaps, and empirical insights. It explores how service design, innovation, and delivery can integrate quality, sustainability and circularity to address challenges such as climate change, resource depletion, and social equity. The goal is to showcase how service systems can drive sustainability transitions and contribute to a regenerative future. To this end, the issue welcomes research on sustainable and circular service design, stakeholder engagement, digital technologies enabling sustainable services, and impact measurement across economic, environmental, and social dimensions.

The concept of service quality is evolving to include sustainability, balancing efficiency, customer satisfaction, and positive environmental and social impacts. Sustainable services not only fulfil user expectations but also contribute to long-term well-being and ecosystem preservation.

This Special Issue seeks to address this gap by exploring how services can foster sustainable practices, enhance resource efficiency, and create value for both society and the environment, providing relevant insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

It will address critical societal challenges and aligns with several UN SDGs. Indeed, it will support Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) by exploring strategies for resource optimization and waste reduction. It aligns with Goal 13 (Climate Action) by examining the role of services in mitigating climate change. Additionally, the focus on enhancing well-being through sustainable services links to Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). It informs discussions related to Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 14 (Life Below Water), and Goal 15 (Life on Land) through the promotion of practices that preserve natural ecosystems.

List of Topic Areas

The special issue will cover a wide array of topics related to service systems and circular economy. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Design of sustainable and well-being-centric services;
Circular service design;
Quality and innovation in service business models;
Circular and sustainable value creation in services;
Sustainability and stakeholder engagement in service systems;
Integrating circular economy and service systems;
Digital technologies (Ai, IoT, Blockchain,…) enabling sustainable services;
Measuring the economic, environmental and social impact of services;
Smart and sustainable cities;
Sustainable service operations.

Guest Editors

Veronica Ungaro, Roma Tre University, Italy, veronica.ungaro@uniroma3.it

Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion, Roma Tre University, Italy, roberta.guglielmettimugion@uniroma3.it

Jaylan Azer, University of Glasgow, UK, jaylan.azer@glasgow.ac.uk

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Author guidelines must be strictly followed.

Submit via ScholarOne

Author Guidelines

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.