Self-Service Recovery : Towards a Framework for Studying Service Recovery in a Self-Service Technology Context from a Management and IT Perspective

Sammanfattning: The infusion of information technology (IT) into the service industry has been apparent in many respects. Positive aspects, such as greater flexibility, shorter lead-times and the improved use of resources, belong to the advantages gained by infusing IT into services. However, there are some negative aspects as well. Services, by their very nature, are seldom error free. This has not changed as a result of the infusion of IT. What has changed, however, is the role of the customer. Many of the services of today, which have been developed in close association with IT, do not offer customers the possibility to obtain face-to-face help from the service provider. One example is the software industry, where customers very often need to identify the failure, search for a solution and then apply it. And, most importantly, they do this unaided.



This study describes the process that occurs when a customer solves a problem with an IT-based service when the service provider offers no human interaction. This process is labelled self-service recovery. This is achieved by developing a framework that describes self-service recovery from a management and IT perspective. The framework is developed on the basis of three research studies, plus additional literature studies.



Niklas Johansson is a doctoral student at Karlstad University and member of the Swedish research school of Management and IT (MIT)