Table 2 Sample verbatim extracts... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Sample verbatim extracts concerning theory development, methodological variety and practical relevance

Key areas	Specific issues	Main suggestions
Theory development	Too much focus on the context. (Assistant Professor 11) …Too much useless theory, the necessity of always publishing novel proposals ‘inventing’ the connection to new procedures. (Professor 12) …Theories used to address different parts of the phenomenon and not taking a holistic approach. (Associate Professor 3) There should be more theoretical foundations to servitization research. Also, lots of research presents a discrepancy between conceptual argumentation and methodological application by not considering causal complexity. (Assistant Professor 4) Research works should be more strongly grounded in the theoretical perspective/perspectives they seek to adopt. (Assistant Professor 9) …Not linking the insights to fundamental disciplinary insights, such as service operations management (in general). (Associate Professor 13) The research is not using existing theoretical backgrounds, creating distance with other management communities. There are no conceptual papers published in top American journals, indicating that the research is still focusing on empirical questions. (Associate Professor 6) A major limitation comes from the way the current academic system works; people need small victories all the time to succeed, rather than reward from major leverage of ground-breaking research. (Associate Professor 16)	Bringing the different perspectives together. Theoretical openness. Let us use theory for explanation and relevance. (Professor 10) To contribute to discipline-based theory, servitization would need to be positioned as a context for study, but this rarely is the case in prior research. I Suggest teaming up with discipline-based scholars and adopting discipline-based theory to address the topic to be studied. (Assistant Professor 3) To solve this, do what you are doing by having a special issue that makes authors return to these baseline theories and build upwards, rather than 'bolt on' a theory to some empirical data. (Associate Professor 4) I believe the field has a lot to gain from a wide array of economic and sociological theories. Also, the field itself would strongly benefit if it would move from the somewhat descriptive servitization case studies to look at the phenomenon through different theoretical lenses. (Assistant Professor 4) …To discriminate what really works, and to understand the whys, in order to move from descriptive and diagnostic research to predictive/prescriptive and normative frameworks. (Associate Professor 12) Building on psychological theories to better understand the underlying psychological assumptions. (Professor 6) …Trying to better use existing theories (from outside servitization) also seems important to receive attention from prestigious journals.... (Associate Professor 4) …More efforts could be developed for conceptual papers that systematize (rather than just review) the knowledge developed so far. (Assistant Professor 9) Theoretical development and the use of more rigorous techniques. (Associate Professor 6)
Methodological variety	…Methodological rigor, lack of mixed methods. (Assistant Professor 11) There is already enough descriptive qualitative research on the phenomenon. (Assistant Professor 1) …Over-reliance on case studies due to difficulty of access to data. (Associate Professor 3) …Hard to measure the effect/success of servitization initiatives, as it is a large and long-lasting transformational process. (Associate Professor 12) Challenges in finding good and reliable measures/informants for quantitative studies (due to the complexity of the transformation). (Associate Professor 5) Availability of quantitative data and measures. (Associate Professor 8) Too many papers based on case studies. Limited number of quantitative papers. Lack of scales (no agreement of definition). (Associate Professor 9) Conducting quantitative studies with secondary sources due to the lack of a good proxy for servitization activities. (Professor 13)	Longitudinal and cross-level research. (Professor 6) Many of the models are static in nature – we need more processual models and therefore need more longitudinal studies. (Professor 7) In my view, that requires doing more extensive studies – either by numbers or depth. To not only talk about new phenomena, but actually study in-depth data. (Professor 8) We need more rigorous methods that have high explanatory power. (Assistant Professor 3) More rigorous application of methods, adopting of experiments. (Professor 6) We need to do more extensive studies – where the positive bias in results is not evident. More critical studies – where we embrace results that are not positive towards servitization. (Professor 8) …Data access; an agreed common framework; and agreed measurement/indicators. (Associate Professor 3) More empirical (quantitative) studies needed. Measurement scales developed and widely adopted. (Associate Professor 9) Developing empirical analysis with large samples in different countries. Longitudinal analysis to base tendencies. (Assistant Professor 6)
Practical relevance	Managerial relevance is under pressure. (Professor 10) Further evidence is still needed to convince practitioners of the basic premise of servitization: That it has implications for firm strategic and financial outcomes. (Associate Professor 2) Finding novel and practically relevant research questions to explore. (Assistant Professor 9) Managers often want to see ‘numbers’ and ‘hard evidence’ when you argue a point. (Assistant Professor 3) …Most learning on servitization stems from fairly articulated/bigger firms with a structured organigram and financial resources, either internally or with access to external financial resources. A lot of smaller to micro-firms in the industrial realm have difficulties emulating lessons from such companies. (other 1) Scientific journals are not read by the business community. (Associate Professor 9)	Making it suitable for day-by-day actions. The topic is still studied with a theoretical perspective. (Associate Professor 15) Aligning to emerging topics of high practical value such as AI, smart cities, the sharing economy, etc. (Associate Professor 5) …More focus on real problems, less focus on ‘publish or perish’ academic imperatives; more initiatives for bridging the academia-industry gap, working together on real servitization projects. (Associate Professor 12) …The research needs to involve more managers actively. (Assistant Professor 6)

Key areas	Specific issues	Main suggestions
Theory development	Too much focus on the context. (Assistant Professor 11)…Too much useless theory, the necessity of always publishing novel proposals ‘inventing’ the connection to new procedures. (Professor 12)…Theories used to address different parts of the phenomenon and not taking a holistic approach. (Associate Professor 3)There should be more theoretical foundations to servitization research. Also, lots of research presents a discrepancy between conceptual argumentation and methodological application by not considering causal complexity. (Assistant Professor 4)Research works should be more strongly grounded in the theoretical perspective/perspectives they seek to adopt. (Assistant Professor 9)…Not linking the insights to fundamental disciplinary insights, such as service operations management (in general). (Associate Professor 13)The research is not using existing theoretical backgrounds, creating distance with other management communities. There are no conceptual papers published in top American journals, indicating that the research is still focusing on empirical questions. (Associate Professor 6)A major limitation comes from the way the current academic system works; people need small victories all the time to succeed, rather than reward from major leverage of ground-breaking research. (Associate Professor 16)	Bringing the different perspectives together. Theoretical openness. Let us use theory for explanation and relevance. (Professor 10)To contribute to discipline-based theory, servitization would need to be positioned as a context for study, but this rarely is the case in prior research. I Suggest teaming up with discipline-based scholars and adopting discipline-based theory to address the topic to be studied. (Assistant Professor 3)To solve this, do what you are doing by having a special issue that makes authors return to these baseline theories and build upwards, rather than 'bolt on' a theory to some empirical data. (Associate Professor 4)I believe the field has a lot to gain from a wide array of economic and sociological theories. Also, the field itself would strongly benefit if it would move from the somewhat descriptive servitization case studies to look at the phenomenon through different theoretical lenses. (Assistant Professor 4)…To discriminate what really works, and to understand the whys, in order to move from descriptive and diagnostic research to predictive/prescriptive and normative frameworks. (Associate Professor 12)Building on psychological theories to better understand the underlying psychological assumptions. (Professor 6)…Trying to better use existing theories (from outside servitization) also seems important to receive attention from prestigious journals.... (Associate Professor 4)…More efforts could be developed for conceptual papers that systematize (rather than just review) the knowledge developed so far. (Assistant Professor 9)Theoretical development and the use of more rigorous techniques. (Associate Professor 6)
Methodological variety	…Methodological rigor, lack of mixed methods. (Assistant Professor 11)There is already enough descriptive qualitative research on the phenomenon. (Assistant Professor 1)…Over-reliance on case studies due to difficulty of access to data. (Associate Professor 3)…Hard to measure the effect/success of servitization initiatives, as it is a large and long-lasting transformational process. (Associate Professor 12)Challenges in finding good and reliable measures/informants for quantitative studies (due to the complexity of the transformation). (Associate Professor 5)Availability of quantitative data and measures. (Associate Professor 8)Too many papers based on case studies. Limited number of quantitative papers. Lack of scales (no agreement of definition). (Associate Professor 9)Conducting quantitative studies with secondary sources due to the lack of a good proxy for servitization activities. (Professor 13)	Longitudinal and cross-level research. (Professor 6)Many of the models are static in nature – we need more processual models and therefore need more longitudinal studies. (Professor 7)In my view, that requires doing more extensive studies – either by numbers or depth. To not only talk about new phenomena, but actually study in-depth data. (Professor 8)We need more rigorous methods that have high explanatory power. (Assistant Professor 3)More rigorous application of methods, adopting of experiments. (Professor 6)We need to do more extensive studies – where the positive bias in results is not evident. More critical studies – where we embrace results that are not positive towards servitization. (Professor 8)…Data access; an agreed common framework; and agreed measurement/indicators. (Associate Professor 3)More empirical (quantitative) studies needed. Measurement scales developed and widely adopted. (Associate Professor 9)Developing empirical analysis with large samples in different countries. Longitudinal analysis to base tendencies. (Assistant Professor 6)
Practical relevance	Managerial relevance is under pressure. (Professor 10)Further evidence is still needed to convince practitioners of the basic premise of servitization: That it has implications for firm strategic and financial outcomes. (Associate Professor 2)Finding novel and practically relevant research questions to explore. (Assistant Professor 9)Managers often want to see ‘numbers’ and ‘hard evidence’ when you argue a point. (Assistant Professor 3)…Most learning on servitization stems from fairly articulated/bigger firms with a structured organigram and financial resources, either internally or with access to external financial resources. A lot of smaller to micro-firms in the industrial realm have difficulties emulating lessons from such companies. (other 1)Scientific journals are not read by the business community. (Associate Professor 9)	Making it suitable for day-by-day actions. The topic is still studied with a theoretical perspective. (Associate Professor 15)Aligning to emerging topics of high practical value such as AI, smart cities, the sharing economy, etc. (Associate Professor 5)…More focus on real problems, less focus on ‘publish or perish’ academic imperatives; more initiatives for bridging the academia-industry gap, working together on real servitization projects. (Associate Professor 12)…The research needs to involve more managers actively. (Assistant Professor 6)