Many core marketing concepts (e.g., markets, relationships, customer experience, brand meaning, value) concern phenomena that are difficult to understand using linear and dyadic approaches, because they are emergent. That is, they arise, often unpredictably, from interactions within complex and dynamic contexts. This paper contributes to the marketing discipline through an explication of the concept of emergence as it applies to marketing theory. We accomplish this by first drawing on the existing literature on emergence in philosophy, sociology, and the theory of complex adaptive systems, and then link and extend this understanding to marketing using the theoretical framework ofservice-dominant (S-D) logic,particularly as enhanced by its service-ecosystems and institutionalization perspectives. Our work recognizes both emergence and institutionalization as integral or interrelated processes in the creation, maintenance, and disruption of markets and marketing phenomena. We conclude by discussing implications for marketing research and practice.

Purpose: Given the growing attention on service ecosystem and the role played by technology and institutions in shaping of actors’ relations and interactions, the purpose of this paper is to examine a tourism environment with the lens of service ecosystem in order to derive a deeper understanding on the underlying mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed methodology was used. First, literature review based on service ecosystems framework was conducted to critically analyze the roles of technology and institutions to shape a tourism service ecosystem. Then a case study was conducted. Findings: Two main findings are described: the role and the characteristics of physical and virtual engagement touchpoints in the emergence of a tourism service ecosystems; and the relationship between technology and institutions in the resource integration. In particular, the authors conclude that institutions can shape the usage of technology which, in turn, can enable and imply the emergence of new institutions, continually adjusting the system of the tourism service ecosystem. Practical implications: The analysis contributes to deepening the knowledge about value co-creation processes and engagement expedients in tourism destination, explaining the role of institutions and technology in helping actors to integrate resources and exchange services. The study can also be useful for practitioners in search for powerful tool to increase the competitiveness of a tourism destination. Originality/value: The study is one of the first attempts to conceptualize and operationalize a tourism destination in a service ecosystem framework. In this way it contribute to enhance scientific knowledge in a tourism management literature.

While companies are investing increasingly in sustainability measures, the effects of firms’ sustainability actions on consumer perceptions should not be taken for granted and deserve to be investigated. By adopting the interpretative lens of consumer culture theory, this paper defines a set of cognitive dimensions which can describe consumer perceptions of sustainability actions and the behaviors of small–medium enterprises (SMEs), with the aim of identifying the relationships between firms’ sustainability actions and the economic performance of SMEs. To this extent, the cognitive dimensions proposed by Green & Petre (1996) are re-elaborated to define a set of customer cognitive dimensions in the sustainability domain (resilience, wholeness, mapping, coding, and engagement). Thus, the relationships between SMEs’ sustainability actions and behaviors, the defined cognitive influencers and SME performance is empirically tested. In particular, a survey of a sample of 1137 customers of 175 Italian SMEs is analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings show that the adoption of certain sustainability actions influences consumer perceptions, which in turn impacts the economic performance of SMEs.