[{"doi":"10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w","article_number":"37","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w.pdf"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"publication_status":"published","date_updated":"2026-06-11T13:18:09Z","article_type":"original","intvolume":"        36","title":"Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory","year":"2026","publication_identifier":{"issn":["1019-6781","1422-8890"]},"author":[{"full_name":"Beverungen, Daniel","first_name":"Daniel","last_name":"Beverungen"},{"last_name":"Poeppelbuss","first_name":"Jens","full_name":"Poeppelbuss, Jens"},{"first_name":"Simon","last_name":"Hemmrich","full_name":"Hemmrich, Simon"},{"last_name":"Iqbal","first_name":"Taskeen","full_name":"Iqbal, Taskeen"}],"type":"journal_article","keyword":["Service system","Service ecosystem","Systems theory","Service research"],"department":[{"_id":"195"},{"_id":"534"}],"file":[{"file_id":"65477","content_type":"application/pdf","success":1,"relation":"main_file","date_updated":"2026-04-21T13:14:30Z","file_name":"Service is Communication - EM Paper.pdf","file_size":2793039,"access_level":"closed","date_created":"2026-04-21T13:14:30Z","creator":"dabe"}],"date_created":"2026-04-21T13:13:02Z","abstract":[{"text":"Service research has evolved into an interdisciplinary research field that bridges diverse disciplines, including information systems (IS) and marketing. Nearly two decades ago, the service system concept was introduced as a foundational abstraction in service research, drawing on ideas from the service-dominant logic (S-D logic) of marketing. Despite its widespread adoption in service research, particularly in the IS discipline, the service system concept lacks a solid theoretical foundation. This has resulted in conceptual ambiguity and overlap with related constructs, such as service ecosystems. Moreover, it has largely remained a static analytical lens, insufficiently capturing dynamic service phenomena, including value co-creation and co-destruction, as well as the emergence of institutional arrangements. To address these limitations, we propose Luhmann’s systems theory (LST) as a robust framework for conceptualizing service systems as autopoietic (self-creating) systems, in which communication serves as the fundamental mechanism that drives value co-creation. We derive five theoretical propositions from this re-conceptualization that clarify conceptual ambiguity and allow researchers to explore dynamic service phenomena in greater depth. Given LST’s general approach, our conceptualization provides a theoretically grounded, interdisciplinary foundation for advancing service research.","lang":"eng"}],"publication":"Electronic Markets","issue":"1","user_id":"59677","ddc":["380"],"volume":36,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","_id":"65476","has_accepted_license":"1","status":"public","jel":["L80"],"oa":"1","quality_controlled":"1","project":[{"name":"SHAPE : Gestaltung von Dienstleistungsentwicklungsprozessen und lnnovationspartnerschaften mit Unternehmen","_id":"1250"}],"file_date_updated":"2026-04-21T13:14:30Z","citation":{"mla":"Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Service through Communication—Conceptualizing Service Systems with Luhmann’s Systems Theory.” <i>Electronic Markets</i>, vol. 36, no. 1, 37, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w\">10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w</a>.","bibtex":"@article{Beverungen_Poeppelbuss_Hemmrich_Iqbal_2026, title={Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory}, volume={36}, DOI={<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w\">10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w</a>}, number={137}, journal={Electronic Markets}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Beverungen, Daniel and Poeppelbuss, Jens and Hemmrich, Simon and Iqbal, Taskeen}, year={2026} }","ama":"Beverungen D, Poeppelbuss J, Hemmrich S, Iqbal T. Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory. <i>Electronic Markets</i>. 2026;36(1). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w\">10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w</a>","ieee":"D. Beverungen, J. Poeppelbuss, S. Hemmrich, and T. Iqbal, “Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory,” <i>Electronic Markets</i>, vol. 36, no. 1, Art. no. 37, 2026, doi: <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w\">10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w</a>.","apa":"Beverungen, D., Poeppelbuss, J., Hemmrich, S., &#38; Iqbal, T. (2026). Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory. <i>Electronic Markets</i>, <i>36</i>(1), Article 37. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w</a>","short":"D. Beverungen, J. Poeppelbuss, S. Hemmrich, T. Iqbal, Electronic Markets 36 (2026).","chicago":"Beverungen, Daniel, Jens Poeppelbuss, Simon Hemmrich, and Taskeen Iqbal. “Service through Communication—Conceptualizing Service Systems with Luhmann’s Systems Theory.” <i>Electronic Markets</i> 36, no. 1 (2026). <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w</a>."}},{"status":"public","volume":60,"user_id":"59677","_id":"4516","publisher":"SpringerNature","page":"377-391","project":[{"name":"Digivation: Digitale Prozessinnovationen durch datenbasierte Dienstleistungen ","_id":"36","grant_number":"O2K14A22O"},{"name":"DIGIVATION: DIGIVATION - Dienstleistungsinnovationen durch Digitalisierung - Methoden, Potenziale und Transfer für Smart Services","_id":"1068","grant_number":"02K14A220"}],"quality_controlled":"1","citation":{"bibtex":"@article{Beverungen_Lüttenberg_Wolf_2018, title={Recombinant Service Systems Engineering}, volume={60}, DOI={<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4\">10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4</a>}, number={5}, journal={Business &#38; Information Systems Engineering}, publisher={SpringerNature}, author={Beverungen, Daniel and Lüttenberg, Hedda and Wolf, Verena}, year={2018}, pages={377–391} }","ama":"Beverungen D, Lüttenberg H, Wolf V. Recombinant Service Systems Engineering. <i>Business &#38; Information Systems Engineering</i>. 2018;60(5):377-391. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4\">10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4</a>","mla":"Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Recombinant Service Systems Engineering.” <i>Business &#38; Information Systems Engineering</i>, vol. 60, no. 5, SpringerNature, 2018, pp. 377–91, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4\">10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4</a>.","chicago":"Beverungen, Daniel, Hedda Lüttenberg, and Verena Wolf. “Recombinant Service Systems Engineering.” <i>Business &#38; Information Systems Engineering</i> 60, no. 5 (2018): 377–91. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4</a>.","short":"D. Beverungen, H. Lüttenberg, V. Wolf, Business &#38; Information Systems Engineering 60 (2018) 377–391.","ieee":"D. Beverungen, H. Lüttenberg, and V. Wolf, “Recombinant Service Systems Engineering,” <i>Business &#38; Information Systems Engineering</i>, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 377–391, 2018, doi: <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4\">10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4</a>.","apa":"Beverungen, D., Lüttenberg, H., &#38; Wolf, V. (2018). Recombinant Service Systems Engineering. <i>Business &#38; Information Systems Engineering</i>, <i>60</i>(5), 377–391. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4</a>"},"article_type":"original","intvolume":"        60","publication_status":"published","date_updated":"2024-04-18T12:57:19Z","author":[{"id":"59677","full_name":"Beverungen, Daniel","first_name":"Daniel","last_name":"Beverungen"},{"id":"60612","first_name":"Hedda","last_name":"Lüttenberg","full_name":"Lüttenberg, Hedda"},{"id":"23633","full_name":"Wolf, Verena","last_name":"Wolf","first_name":"Verena"}],"publication_identifier":{"issn":["2363-7005","1867-0202"]},"title":"Recombinant Service Systems Engineering","year":"2018","doi":"10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Although many methods have been proposed for engineering service systems and customer solutions, most of these approaches give little consideration to recombinant service innovation. Recombinant innovation refers to reusing and integrating resources that were previously unconnected. In an age of networked products and data, we can expect that many service innovations will be based on adding, dissociating, and associating existing value propositions by accessing internal and external resources instead of designing them from scratch. The purpose of this paper is to identify if current service engineering approaches account for the mechanisms of recombinant innovation and to design a method for recombinant service systems engineering. In a conceptual analysis of 24 service engineering methods, the study identified that most methods (1) focus on designing value propositions instead of service systems, (2) view service independent of physical goods, (3) are either linear or iterative instead of agile, and (4) do not sufficiently address the mechanisms of recombinant innovation. The paper discusses how these deficiencies can be remedied and designs a revised service systems engineering approach that reorganizes service engineering processes according to four design principles. The method is demonstrated with the recombinant design of a service system for predictive maintenance of agricultural machines."}],"issue":"5","publication":"Business & Information Systems Engineering","department":[{"_id":"526"}],"type":"journal_article","keyword":["Service engineering","Recombinant innovation","(Product-)service system","Design science research","New service development"],"date_created":"2018-09-19T13:53:51Z"},{"status":"public","conference":{"end_date":"15.02.2017","location":"St. Gallen, Switzerland","name":"13 th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik","start_date":"12.02.2017"},"user_id":"60612","editor":[{"first_name":"Jan Marco","last_name":"Leimeister","full_name":"Leimeister, Jan Marco"},{"first_name":"Walter","last_name":"Brenner","full_name":"Brenner, Walter"}],"page":"136-150","_id":"2860","quality_controlled":"1","project":[{"grant_number":"O2K14A22O","_id":"36","name":"Digitale Prozessinnovationen durch datenbasierte Dienstleistungen "}],"citation":{"ieee":"D. Beverungen, H. Lüttenberg, and V. Wolf, “Recombinant Service System Engineering,” in <i>Proceedings der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017)</i>, St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2017, pp. 136–150.","apa":"Beverungen, D., Lüttenberg, H., &#38; Wolf, V. (2017). Recombinant Service System Engineering. In J. M. Leimeister &#38; W. Brenner (Eds.), <i>Proceedings der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017)</i> (pp. 136–150). St.  Gallen.","short":"D. Beverungen, H. Lüttenberg, V. Wolf, in: J.M. Leimeister, W. Brenner (Eds.), Proceedings Der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017), St.  Gallen, 2017, pp. 136–150.","chicago":"Beverungen, Daniel, Hedda Lüttenberg, and Verena Wolf. “Recombinant Service System Engineering.” In <i>Proceedings Der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017)</i>, edited by Jan Marco Leimeister and Walter Brenner, 136–50. St.  Gallen, 2017.","mla":"Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Recombinant Service System Engineering.” <i>Proceedings Der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017)</i>, edited by Jan Marco Leimeister and Walter Brenner, 2017, pp. 136–50.","bibtex":"@inproceedings{Beverungen_Lüttenberg_Wolf_2017, place={St.  Gallen}, title={Recombinant Service System Engineering}, booktitle={Proceedings der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017)}, author={Beverungen, Daniel and Lüttenberg, Hedda and Wolf, Verena}, editor={Leimeister, Jan Marco and Brenner, WalterEditors}, year={2017}, pages={136–150} }","ama":"Beverungen D, Lüttenberg H, Wolf V. Recombinant Service System Engineering. In: Leimeister JM, Brenner W, eds. <i>Proceedings Der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017)</i>. St.  Gallen; 2017:136-150."},"place":"St.  Gallen","date_updated":"2022-01-06T06:58:10Z","title":"Recombinant Service System Engineering","year":"2017","author":[{"id":"59677","full_name":"Beverungen, Daniel","first_name":"Daniel","last_name":"Beverungen"},{"id":"60612","first_name":"Hedda","last_name":"Lüttenberg","full_name":"Lüttenberg, Hedda"},{"full_name":"Wolf, Verena","first_name":"Verena","last_name":"Wolf","id":"23633"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"abstract":[{"text":"Although many methods have been proposed for engineering services and  customer  solutions,  most  of  these  approaches  give  little  consideration  to recombinant service innovation. In an age of smart products and \r\nsmart data, we can, however, expect that many of future service innovations need to be based on adding,  transferring,  dissociating,  and  associating  existing  value  propositions. The  purpose  of  this  paper  is  to  outline  what  properties  constitute  recombinant service innovation and to identify if current service engineering approaches fulfill \r\nthese   properties.   Based   on   a   conceptual   in-depth   analysis   of   24   service engineering  methods,  we  identify  that  most  methods  focus  on  designing  value propositions  instead  of service  systems,  view  service  independent  of  physical goods,  are  linear  or  iterative,  and  incompletely  address  the  mechanisms  of  recombinant innovation. We discuss how these deficiencies can be remedied and propose  a  first  conceptual  model  of  a  revised  se\r\nrvice  system  engineering approach.","lang":"eng"}],"publication":"Proceedings der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017)","keyword":["Service engineering","recombinant innovation","(product - )service  system","literature analysis","new service development"],"type":"conference","department":[{"_id":"526"}],"date_created":"2018-05-24T09:26:21Z"},{"keyword":["Information system","Smart service","Service system"],"type":"journal_article","department":[{"_id":"526"}],"date_created":"2018-07-06T10:34:55Z","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Digital interactions among businesses and consumers through powerful information systems and omnipresent connected devices establish today’s networked society. In this light, Service Science continues to take root as a research discipline that focuses on the integration of (digital) resources by service providers and service customers for value co-creation in service systems. Rapid advances in information technology allow for designing novel information systems that enable entirely new configurations of service systems. In turn, Service Science also leaves its mark on the design, adoption, and use of information systems and technology. With this special issue, we compile a set of timely papers that investigate selected facets of the complex interplay between information technology, information systems, and Service Science to design innovative IT artifacts for smart service. This editorial opens this special issue by elaborating on our understanding of smart service.<br"}],"publication":"Information Systems and E-Business Management","citation":{"chicago":"Beverungen, Daniel, Martin Matzner, and Christian Janiesch. “Information Systems for Smart Services.” <i>Information Systems and E-Business Management</i>, 2017, 781–787. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8</a>.","short":"D. Beverungen, M. Matzner, C. Janiesch, Information Systems and E-Business Management (2017) 781–787.","ama":"Beverungen D, Matzner M, Janiesch C. Information systems for smart services. <i>Information Systems and E-Business Management</i>. 2017:781–787. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8\">10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8</a>","bibtex":"@article{Beverungen_Matzner_Janiesch_2017, title={Information systems for smart services}, DOI={<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8\">10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8</a>}, journal={Information Systems and E-Business Management}, author={Beverungen, Daniel and Matzner, Martin and Janiesch, Christian}, year={2017}, pages={781–787} }","apa":"Beverungen, D., Matzner, M., &#38; Janiesch, C. (2017). Information systems for smart services. <i>Information Systems and E-Business Management</i>, 781–787. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8</a>","mla":"Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Information Systems for Smart Services.” <i>Information Systems and E-Business Management</i>, 2017, pp. 781–787, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8\">10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8</a>.","ieee":"D. Beverungen, M. Matzner, and C. Janiesch, “Information systems for smart services,” <i>Information Systems and E-Business Management</i>, pp. 781–787, 2017."},"user_id":"21671","doi":"10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8","page":"781–787","_id":"3490","date_updated":"2022-01-06T06:59:19Z","title":"Information systems for smart services","status":"public","year":"2017","author":[{"full_name":"Beverungen, Daniel","last_name":"Beverungen","first_name":"Daniel","id":"59677"},{"full_name":"Matzner, Martin","last_name":"Matzner","first_name":"Martin"},{"full_name":"Janiesch, Christian","first_name":"Christian","last_name":"Janiesch"}]}]