Guest editorial: The 24th excellence in services international conference – EISIC Conference

Nowadays, socio-economic contexts are more and more characterized by an increasing disruptiveness, vulnerability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (normally presented under the acronym DVUCA: disruptive, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). The extreme events coming from the opening years of 2020s such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the UK leaving the EU the USA–China trade war or the Ukraine war have demonstrated their complex and destructive compound shocks pointing out the interconnected environmental, economic, social and relational challenges that affect the dynamics of economic, political and social systems. The creeping character and deep uncertainty of such events have acted as catalysts for megatrends such as digital transformation, servitization and sustainability. These transformations are generally discussed as business opportunities. However, they also mean challenges that organizations must be prepared to address. In this regard, it is imperative for scholars to explore the possibilities offered by digital transformation, servitization and sustainability, turning them into opportunities to avoid the risk of becoming threats. This special issue presents high quality papers addressing and contributing to the debate about the main criticalities and opportunities of service quality management in the light of the emerging and inter-related socio-economic transformations.