--- _id: '65476' abstract: - lang: eng 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. article_number: '37' article_type: original author: - first_name: Daniel full_name: Beverungen, Daniel last_name: Beverungen - first_name: Jens full_name: Poeppelbuss, Jens last_name: Poeppelbuss - first_name: Simon full_name: Hemmrich, Simon last_name: Hemmrich - first_name: Taskeen full_name: Iqbal, Taskeen last_name: Iqbal citation: ama: Beverungen D, Poeppelbuss J, Hemmrich S, Iqbal T. Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory. Electronic Markets. 2026;36(1). doi:10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w apa: Beverungen, D., Poeppelbuss, J., Hemmrich, S., & Iqbal, T. (2026). Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory. Electronic Markets, 36(1), Article 37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w bibtex: '@article{Beverungen_Poeppelbuss_Hemmrich_Iqbal_2026, title={Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory}, volume={36}, DOI={10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w}, 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} }' chicago: Beverungen, Daniel, Jens Poeppelbuss, Simon Hemmrich, and Taskeen Iqbal. “Service through Communication—Conceptualizing Service Systems with Luhmann’s Systems Theory.” Electronic Markets 36, no. 1 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w. ieee: 'D. Beverungen, J. Poeppelbuss, S. Hemmrich, and T. Iqbal, “Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory,” Electronic Markets, vol. 36, no. 1, Art. no. 37, 2026, doi: 10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w.' mla: Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Service through Communication—Conceptualizing Service Systems with Luhmann’s Systems Theory.” Electronic Markets, vol. 36, no. 1, 37, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2026, doi:10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w. short: D. Beverungen, J. Poeppelbuss, S. Hemmrich, T. Iqbal, Electronic Markets 36 (2026). date_created: 2026-04-21T13:13:02Z date_updated: 2026-06-11T13:18:09Z ddc: - '380' department: - _id: '195' - _id: '534' doi: 10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w file: - access_level: closed content_type: application/pdf creator: dabe date_created: 2026-04-21T13:14:30Z date_updated: 2026-04-21T13:14:30Z file_id: '65477' file_name: Service is Communication - EM Paper.pdf file_size: 2793039 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2026-04-21T13:14:30Z has_accepted_license: '1' intvolume: ' 36' issue: '1' jel: - L80 keyword: - Service system - Service ecosystem - Systems theory - Service research language: - iso: eng main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12525-026-00889-w.pdf oa: '1' project: - _id: '1250' name: 'SHAPE : Gestaltung von Dienstleistungsentwicklungsprozessen und lnnovationspartnerschaften mit Unternehmen' publication: Electronic Markets publication_identifier: issn: - 1019-6781 - 1422-8890 publication_status: published publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC quality_controlled: '1' status: public title: Service through communication—Conceptualizing service systems with Luhmann’s systems theory type: journal_article user_id: '59677' volume: 36 year: '2026' ... --- _id: '4516' 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. article_type: original author: - first_name: Daniel full_name: Beverungen, Daniel id: '59677' last_name: Beverungen - first_name: Hedda full_name: Lüttenberg, Hedda id: '60612' last_name: Lüttenberg - first_name: Verena full_name: Wolf, Verena id: '23633' last_name: Wolf citation: ama: Beverungen D, Lüttenberg H, Wolf V. Recombinant Service Systems Engineering. Business & Information Systems Engineering. 2018;60(5):377-391. doi:10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4 apa: Beverungen, D., Lüttenberg, H., & Wolf, V. (2018). Recombinant Service Systems Engineering. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 60(5), 377–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4 bibtex: '@article{Beverungen_Lüttenberg_Wolf_2018, title={Recombinant Service Systems Engineering}, volume={60}, DOI={10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4}, number={5}, journal={Business & Information Systems Engineering}, publisher={SpringerNature}, author={Beverungen, Daniel and Lüttenberg, Hedda and Wolf, Verena}, year={2018}, pages={377–391} }' chicago: 'Beverungen, Daniel, Hedda Lüttenberg, and Verena Wolf. “Recombinant Service Systems Engineering.” Business & Information Systems Engineering 60, no. 5 (2018): 377–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4.' ieee: 'D. Beverungen, H. Lüttenberg, and V. Wolf, “Recombinant Service Systems Engineering,” Business & Information Systems Engineering, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 377–391, 2018, doi: 10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4.' mla: Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Recombinant Service Systems Engineering.” Business & Information Systems Engineering, vol. 60, no. 5, SpringerNature, 2018, pp. 377–91, doi:10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4. short: D. Beverungen, H. Lüttenberg, V. Wolf, Business & Information Systems Engineering 60 (2018) 377–391. date_created: 2018-09-19T13:53:51Z date_updated: 2024-04-18T12:57:19Z department: - _id: '526' doi: 10.1007/s12599-018-0526-4 intvolume: ' 60' issue: '5' keyword: - Service engineering - Recombinant innovation - (Product-)service system - Design science research - New service development language: - iso: eng page: 377-391 project: - _id: '36' grant_number: O2K14A22O name: 'Digivation: Digitale Prozessinnovationen durch datenbasierte Dienstleistungen ' - _id: '1068' grant_number: 02K14A220 name: 'DIGIVATION: DIGIVATION - Dienstleistungsinnovationen durch Digitalisierung - Methoden, Potenziale und Transfer für Smart Services' publication: Business & Information Systems Engineering publication_identifier: issn: - 2363-7005 - 1867-0202 publication_status: published publisher: SpringerNature quality_controlled: '1' status: public title: Recombinant Service Systems Engineering type: journal_article user_id: '59677' volume: 60 year: '2018' ... --- _id: '2860' abstract: - lang: eng 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." author: - first_name: Daniel full_name: Beverungen, Daniel id: '59677' last_name: Beverungen - first_name: Hedda full_name: Lüttenberg, Hedda id: '60612' last_name: Lüttenberg - first_name: Verena full_name: Wolf, Verena id: '23633' last_name: Wolf citation: ama: 'Beverungen D, Lüttenberg H, Wolf V. Recombinant Service System Engineering. In: Leimeister JM, Brenner W, eds. Proceedings Der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017). St.  Gallen; 2017:136-150.' apa: Beverungen, D., Lüttenberg, H., & Wolf, V. (2017). Recombinant Service System Engineering. In J. M. Leimeister & W. Brenner (Eds.), Proceedings der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017) (pp. 136–150). St.  Gallen. 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} }' chicago: Beverungen, Daniel, Hedda Lüttenberg, and Verena Wolf. “Recombinant Service System Engineering.” In Proceedings Der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017), edited by Jan Marco Leimeister and Walter Brenner, 136–50. St.  Gallen, 2017. ieee: D. Beverungen, H. Lüttenberg, and V. Wolf, “Recombinant Service System Engineering,” in Proceedings der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017), St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2017, pp. 136–150. mla: Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Recombinant Service System Engineering.” Proceedings Der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017), edited by Jan Marco Leimeister and Walter Brenner, 2017, pp. 136–50. 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.' conference: end_date: 15.02.2017 location: St. Gallen, Switzerland name: 13 th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik start_date: 12.02.2017 date_created: 2018-05-24T09:26:21Z date_updated: 2022-01-06T06:58:10Z department: - _id: '526' editor: - first_name: Jan Marco full_name: Leimeister, Jan Marco last_name: Leimeister - first_name: Walter full_name: Brenner, Walter last_name: Brenner keyword: - Service engineering - recombinant innovation - (product - )service system - literature analysis - new service development language: - iso: eng page: 136-150 place: St. Gallen project: - _id: '36' grant_number: O2K14A22O name: 'Digitale Prozessinnovationen durch datenbasierte Dienstleistungen ' publication: Proceedings der 13. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2017) quality_controlled: '1' status: public title: Recombinant Service System Engineering type: conference user_id: '60612' year: '2017' ... --- _id: '3490' 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.
Information Systems and E-Business Management. 2017:781–787. doi:10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8 apa: Beverungen, D., Matzner, M., & Janiesch, C. (2017). Information systems for smart services. Information Systems and E-Business Management, 781–787. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8 bibtex: '@article{Beverungen_Matzner_Janiesch_2017, title={Information systems for smart services}, DOI={10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8}, journal={Information Systems and E-Business Management}, author={Beverungen, Daniel and Matzner, Martin and Janiesch, Christian}, year={2017}, pages={781–787} }' chicago: Beverungen, Daniel, Martin Matzner, and Christian Janiesch. “Information Systems for Smart Services.” Information Systems and E-Business Management, 2017, 781–787. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8. ieee: D. Beverungen, M. Matzner, and C. Janiesch, “Information systems for smart services,” Information Systems and E-Business Management, pp. 781–787, 2017. mla: Beverungen, Daniel, et al. “Information Systems for Smart Services.” Information Systems and E-Business Management, 2017, pp. 781–787, doi:10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8. short: D. Beverungen, M. Matzner, C. Janiesch, Information Systems and E-Business Management (2017) 781–787. date_created: 2018-07-06T10:34:55Z date_updated: 2022-01-06T06:59:19Z department: - _id: '526' doi: 10.1007/s10257-017-0365-8 keyword: - Information system - Smart service - Service system page: 781–787 publication: Information Systems and E-Business Management status: public title: Information systems for smart services type: journal_article user_id: '21671' year: '2017' ...