In the scientific literature, the concept of the “customer journey (CJ)” has only recently been introduced, and, accordingly, it lacks robust empirical evidence. Still, the number of papers concerning the CJ has increased exponentially in recent years. The aim of this paper is to fully represent the available CJ research in services and highlight its importance for service sustainability. Since the current CJ literature mainly includes qualitative data, this paper is a narrative review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis checklist. The systematic literature review conducted by the authors is based on peer-reviewed articles published up until 2019. The main findings mostly concern the conceptualization of the CJ at a theoretical and practical level—CJ definitions and evolution for the former and customer journey mapping for the latter—as well as to present new perspectives of the examined terms in the services peer-reviewed bibliography and verify their contribution to service sustainability. CJ monitoring helps the development of a more sustainable service because it advances service innovation and effective channel management. Furthermore, it leads managers to understand their customer decision-making process and better allocate their resources by establishing a sustainable service design throughout the various service phases.

The aim of this research is to examine the influence of customer experience on the customers’ emotions–customers’ behavioral intentions relationship. Moreover, this study seeks to obtain data that will help to address this research gap in the passenger transportation industry. A large-scale survey on the coastal line shipping industry was conducted. The random sampling methodology was employed, and the target respondents were ferry passengers. The anonymized questionnaires were completed by 840 passengers. The data were analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and regression analysis. The findings verified application of the adopted (customer experience, emotions) and adapted (behavioral intentions) measurement instruments in the examined customer journey in the passenger shipping sector and indicated the mediating role of customer experience in the relationship between customers’ emotions and customers’ behavioral intentions. A distinguishing feature of this work is that it measures and assesses emotions during the customer journey and not afterward based on recall journeys. Additionally, although academics have carried out extensive research on the emotions–behavioral intentions relationship, very little is known about the role of customer experience in this relationship. Thus, what is not yet clear is the impact of customer experience on the emotions–behavioral intentions relationship. Additionally, the measurement instruments used to test this research hypothesis were empirically tested for the first time in the passenger shipping service environment.

Purpose: Recent trends in total quality management (TQM) argue in favor of incorporating environmental concerns into TQM and considering external stakeholders. The aim of this study is to bring environmental consciousness in the soft TQM dimension of human resource management (HRM) and assess its interrelationship with stakeholder integration towards achieving a competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approach: An empirical study was conducted in the transportation sector, specifically targeting managers in Greek shipping companies involved in global cargo transport and vessel operations. A structured questionnaire was administered, yielding 109 responses. The collected data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.Findings: The findings reveal the positive effect of both green HRM (GHRM) and stakeholder integration on the innovation differentiation advantage and market differentiation advantage of shipping companies. Results confirm the complementary (partial) mediating effect of GHRM in the relationship between stakeholder integration and both types of competitive advantage.Research limitations/implications: The primary limitation resides in data collection exclusively from shipping companies in Greece. A longitudinal approach would be beneficial for examining how the relationship between variables changes over time.Practical implications: The findings of the study could assist shipping managers in their decisions to allocate resources for developing GHRM practices and for involving stakeholders in organizational practices to overcome competition.Originality/value: This study contributes to the discourse on TQM by empirically investigating the combined impact of GHRM and stakeholder integration on competitive advantage – an aspect that has been relatively overlooked in existing literature.

Throughout the last few years, the maritime sector has recognized the significance of strengthening seafarers’ well-being to ensure safe transportation services of high quality. The population of seafarers is quite heterogeneous regarding demographics and other working characteristics. Even though seafarers’ well-being is at the core of the academic agenda, company-specific factors associated with their well-being perceptions remain quite under-investigated. The current study aims to examine whether seafarers’ perceptions of their well-being are associated with the size of the company, which they work for, and with the vessel type of their employment. An empirical survey was performed on a sample of 872 seafarers and the data were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis and analysis of variance. According to the findings, it seems that company size (i.e., small, medium, and large/ very large) is associated with well-being perceptions (conceptualized as a multidimensional construct comprising the physical dimension, functional dimension, healthy dimension, communication and cultural dimension). However, these perceptions do not seem to be linked with the vessel type of seafarers’ employment (containerships, dry bulk carriers, tankers). The current study attempts to contribute to the literature that associates company-specific characteristics with employees’ perceptions and adds new knowledge to the maritime transportation literature regarding the understanding of the link between company-specific factors and seafarers’ well-being.