Dr Mohamad Abou-Foul

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies has opened new opportunities for manufacturers to maintain their technological edge and address pressing societal challenges. This research investigates the nature of the relationships between AI capabilities, servitization, and the role of absorptive capacity. Building on dynamic capabilities literature, we developed and empirically tested a model using structural equation modeling (SEM) and further applied a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Through the construct of AI capabilities and its four sub-dimensions, we find supportive evidence from our model estimates employing data from 185 manufacturing firms in the US and EU. The study findings highlight the positive impact of AI capabilities on servitization; this relationship is positively moderated by absorptive capacity. Furthermore, the road to servitization is through advancing AI capabilities related to internal process and resource optimization coupled with AI for social innovation services. The study’s theoretical and pragmatic implications are discussed.

Purpose

The paper aims to investigate how customer satisfaction can be achieved in the context of digital platform services, its influence on electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and how such relationships can be moderated by perceived technological innovativeness (PTI).

Design/methodology/approach

The research framework was developed and empirically tested using an online survey and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Data were gathered from 501 Uber customers in London, UK.

Findings

The study recognises and confirms that trust and cost saving enhanced customer satisfaction in Uber mobility services, which has a positive impact on eWOM. There are other findings regarding users who share rides vs those who do not share. Furthermore, it has been found that PTI moderates the relationship between customer satisfaction and eWOM.

Originality/value

The research draws on collaborative consumption literature and contributes to the antecedents of customer satisfaction in digital economy literature: trust, environmental impact, cost saving and utility. The study offers an empirical validation of the role of PTI in enhancing eWOM. The paper breaks new ground for a better understanding of how PTI can moderate the influence of customer satisfaction and eWOM in digital platforms.

Manufacturing firms have vigorously pursued opportunities for profitability and growth through servitization and digitalization processes. However, the current body of research provides contradictory results on the impact of servitization and digitalization on firm financial performance. This paper seeks to address how manufacturing companies can turn technology into business process transformation. To address this gap this paper develops and tests a framework for assessing the impact of servitization and digitalization on firm financial performance. This study analyses a survey of 185 U.S. and European manufacturing firms showing empirical evidence that digitalization and servitization had a direct positive effect on a firm’s financial performance. This research gives managers some insights to better understand the digital transformation in servitization process. These results also have significant theoretical implications to the servitization literature, since achieving superior bottom-line results is contingent on the integration of the digital and service-specific capabilities that reinvent the nature of an offering.