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Understanding Service Design and Design Thinking Differences Between Research and Practice: An Empirical Study

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Exploring Service Science (IESS 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 377))

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Abstract

Service Design (SD) and Design Thinking (DT) evolved in the last decade and have become popular in the research field of service science. However, the application of SD and DT research outcomes into practice is still scarce. To help understanding the differences between research and practice, we conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with professionals and trainees from four organizations that are involved in service innovation projects. The results reveal several similarities and complementarities, (dis)advantages, requests and obstacles, which hinder companies from implementing and using structured SD and DT approaches. The findings present some challenges for both researchers and practitioners on actions they could take to overcome barriers and foster the SD and DT practice within organizations.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to interviewees from Porto Design Factory, IBM, Microsoft and BIT Sonae for their collaboration in the data gathering of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LIAAD - INESC TEC and Polithecnic Institut of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Ana Torres

  2. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Cátia Miranda

Authors
  1. Ana Torres
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  2. Cátia Miranda
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Correspondence to Ana Torres .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Henriqueta Nóvoa

  2. University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Monica Drăgoicea

  3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

    Niklas Kühl

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Torres, A., Miranda, C. (2020). Understanding Service Design and Design Thinking Differences Between Research and Practice: An Empirical Study. In: Nóvoa, H., Drăgoicea, M., Kühl, N. (eds) Exploring Service Science. IESS 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 377. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38724-2_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38724-2_19

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38724-2

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