Purpose: The publication of papers in scholarly journals is an important channel for the dissemination of academic knowledge. Analyzing academic content provides useful insights into how services marketing evolves over a selected time frame. The purpose of this paper is to determine key trends published in the Journal of Services Marketing during the recent 11-year period from 1998 to 2008. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a content analysis of the papers published in the Journal of Services Marketing during the period 1998-2008. A total of 417 papers, excluding book reviews, were analyzed. Descriptive statistics provide an overview of the research contributions. Findings: The main finding is that most of the papers published in the Journal of Services Marketing during the recent 11-year period are researchbased papers. Other findings include a trend towards co-authorship, the use of surveys and empirical data, adults as research subjects, factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and analysis of variance as the most popular statistical techniques. Based on a keyword analysis most papers are related to service quality and customer service. Practical implications: Researchers who wish to publish in this journal can use the findings as a guideline in preparing for their submission. The study gives an overview of the types of papers published in this journal. The analysis also shows that there is no preference for a particular topic for publication which stimulates new and varied contribution from researchers. Originality/value: This is the first content analysis conducted of the scholarly contribution to this journal that shows the trends in services research topics

The rise in interactive digital media has catapulted faculty-student contact abilities from the traditional Web 1.0 model to a post-Web 2.0 world where students and faculty can have much more interaction in classroom exchanges. Since business cases have long been a pedagogy of choice among professors concerned with training the next generation of decision makers, the intent of this exploratory teaching execution was to gain insight into the case teaching experience in Second Life (SL). SL is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that enables its users to interact with each other through avatars (virtual representations of the self). While online classrooms in SL are not new (a number of universities throughout the world have set up virtual campuses), business education scholarship is lacking as related to the use of virtual worlds for educational purposes. The aim of the execution was not to suggest that SL case teaching should displace the traditional case classroom interactions. Rather, the exercise found that a case-based class can be held and attended independent of time, distance, and location should the need arise. Case teaching in SL offers an availability alternative or supplement to the traditional case teaching and learning approach.

Interactive digital media are revolutionizing the marketing landscape. The virtual world is a dominant player in this new panorama, with exchanges in the virtual marketplace approaching $2 billion annually. While virtual, like real world, exchanges require buyers and sellers, there is little or no understanding of this disembodied sales process. The current study seeks to address this gap in knowledge by employing an ethnographic methodology in which researchers incarnate in Second Life to explore the personal selling process. Specifically, the various notions of the "self" that constitute the avatar salesperson are explored. Findings from this exploratory study suggest a relationship between the nature of the self and the type of exchange. From this, a conceptual model for the study of the virtual selling self is presented, propositions developed, and managerial implications for the virtual sales force suggested. © 2010 PSE National Educational Foundation

Winner of the Pearson Education Prize for the Best Case Study, for Halvorson, W., Bal, A.S., Pitt, L.F., and Parent, M. (2010) Cashing in on the Green Dots: Marketing Ireland in Second Life, Academy of Marketing Conference, Coventry University, UK. July 2010

businesses operating in online virtual world environments. The study drawsmotivation from increasing anecdotal evidence reporting on high profile corporatebrands withdrawing from operations in Second Life - citing low visitor traffic astheir motivation. Early adopter corporations that established business operationsin Second Life did so anticipating benefits from the new technology akin to thequantum leap made when they embraced the World Wide Web. Whiledisappointingly low visitor numbers left many virtual world operations looking likedesolate ghost towns, there are businesses enjoying active repeat customers.Drawing on Oldenburg’s Theory of Third Place, this study seeks to quantify thereasons for high customer retention in successful virtual communities. To thiseffect, a questionnaire is developed and administered by a team of avatarresearchers who interviewed over 250 avatars in Second Life. Website stickinessmeasures are reviewed and applied to virtual world sites. Conclusions are drawnand future research directions proposed