Commentary: The moral limits of service markets - Just because we can, should we?

Maria Raciti; Abigail Foluke Badejo; Josephine Previte; Michael Schuetz

doi:10.1108/JSM-06-2021-0212

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Commentary: The moral limits of service markets - Just because we can, should we?

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Commentary: The moral limits of service markets - Just because we can, should we?

Maria Raciti, Abigail Foluke Badejo, Josephine Previte and Michael Schuetz

Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.36(2), pp.89-96

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2021-0212

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Abstract

Marketing

service experience

morals

marketing ethics

service ethics

moral ecology

health services

well-being

transformative

Purpose: This commentary extends our 2020 11th SERVSIG Panel The moral limits of service markets: Just because we can, should we?, inspired by Michael J. Sandel’s book What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. In Sandel’s (2012) book, the pursuit of “the good life” is a common motivation for pushing the moral boundaries of markets and “the good life” is dominated by service consumption. Design/methodology/approach: Like Sandel (2012), this commentary begins with a provocation regarding the need for moral development in services marketing. Next, we present three real-life case studies about a modern slavery survivor service, aged care services and health-care services as examples of moral limits, failings and tensions. Findings: The commentary proposes four guidelines and a research agenda. As service marketers, we must reignite conversations about ethics and morality. Taking charge of our professional moral development, exercising moral reflexivity, promoting an ethics of care and taking a bird’s-eye perspective of moral ecologies are our recommended guidelines. Morality is an essential condition – a sine qua non – for service marketers. Hence, our proposed research agenda focuses first on the service marketer and embeds a moral gaze as a universal professional protocol to engender collective moral elevation. Originality/value: This commentary highlights the need for a moral refresh in services marketing and proposes ways to achieve this end.

Details

Title: Commentary: The moral limits of service markets - Just because we can, should we?
Authors: Maria Raciti (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre - Legacy
Abigail Foluke Badejo (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Josephine Previte (Author) - The University of Queensland
Michael Schuetz (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Publication details: Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.36(2), pp.89-96
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Date published: 2022
DOI: 10.1108/JSM-06-2021-0212
ISSN: 2054-1651; 0887-6045
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries; Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99576608902621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Business