Service Systems

The rapid progression of technological innovations, the realization of the inherent value of data, and the growth in data literacy are transforming our understanding of being a 'data-driven' enterprise. As we move forward, effortlessly integrating human and machine interactions may become standard practice. Both enterprises and employees will strive to use data and tools to improve every facet of their work. In navigating this emerging landscape of data-driven enterprises, I see much research potential in both harmonizing and integrating data and steering the design of socio-technical work systems to realize this envisioned future.

As such, my research interest within Service Systems can be divided into two major research streams: The first focuses on a formal model of directed hypergraphs as a foundational structure for value creation within Enterprises and its applications. The second delves into the nuanced design challenges of data-driven service systems within the work context. These include but are not limited to issues on data scarcity within data sharing platforms or leveraging LLM applications to train and implement frontline service chatbots within SMEs. Both research streams mirror my interests in finding foundational research applications, while not losing focus of the human factor in today’s day and age of artificial intelligence or digitalization.

This section is primarily driven by my dissertation, which was successully defended in November 2021 (Li, 2023). I use a lot of concepts that might quickly lead to information overflow in this section. As is typical in research, terms evolve over time. The same holds true for my research on this topic. In my latest iteration the Service System Model entails both a value structure that is based on a novel directed hypergraph, also referred to as a value graph. This structure is the basis for different application structures and poisit a theory for value-driven information systems.