Transformative phygital service research (TPSR): an agenda for future research
Saadia Shabnam, Sanjit K. Roy, Yonathan Silvain Roten, Gaganpreet Singh, Taewon Suh, Hairong LiPurpose
This paper aims to develop a transformative phygital service research (TPSR) framework to explain how hybrid physical-digital service systems shape consumer well-being, autonomy, dignity and inclusion. While prior phygital service research (PSR) advances understanding of hybrid experiences and human-centred ecosystems, key ambiguities persist around agency, governance and interpretive labour in algorithmically mediated interactions. Existing frameworks address value co-creation but lack clarity on how digitally enforced rules and redistributed labour drive transformation. TPSR addresses this gap by theorising contradiction-driven processes through which human–AI arrangements and socio-technical dynamics produce both empowering and erosive outcomes in phygital service environments.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a theory synthesis approach (Jaakkola, 2020), this conceptual paper integrates literature from phygital services, PSR, transformative service research (TSR), service-dominant logic (SDL), socio-technical systems and activity theory (AT). AT is used as the explanatory foundation to conceptualise how mediated action, contradictions, algorithmic governance and expansive learning influence transformation in phygital ecosystems. The paper develops a conceptual architecture distinguishing antecedent system configurations, mediating mechanisms, transformative outcomes and failure conditions and advances theoretically grounded propositions to support future empirical investigation.
Findings
The TPSR framework shows that transformative outcomes in phygital environments arise from interactions among artefacts, governance rules, communities and labour divisions within hybrid activity systems. It identifies three discontinuities: algorithmic mediation of agency, digitally enforced rules and non-human interpretive labour. Transparent algorithms enhance autonomy and trust, while opacity reduces control. Adaptive governance fosters inclusion; rigid rules intensify exclusion. Immersive mediation can boost engagement or cause overload. Redistributed human–AI labour reshapes trust and well-being. Contradictions within these systems trigger learning processes that yield empowering or erosive outcomes, depending on governance quality, participation and context, extending TSR, SDL and PSR.
Originality/value
This paper advances the first contradiction-driven conceptual framework of TPSR. Rather than positioning phygitality solely as an experiential or operational phenomenon, TPSR conceptualises phygital services as evolving socio-technical activity systems that condition human capability, inclusion and dignity through mediated interactions. By specifying theoretical mechanisms, boundary conditions and potential reversal pathways, the framework extends PSR and transformative service scholarship and provides a robust conceptual foundation for future empirical research and the design of equitable, human-centred phygital service ecosystems.