Open this publication in new window or tab >>2025 (English)Licentiate thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]
This thesis explores how services shape human capabilities and well-being by integrating the Choice Framework (Kleine, 2013) into Transformative Service Research (TSR). While TSR promotes the capability approach as a means to assess how services influence well-being, it often lacks practical analytical tools. To address this gap, this thesis adopts and adapts the Choice Framework as a structured method for analyzing how services influence individual agency and structural conditions, ultimately enabling or constraining people’s capabilities. Drawing on two empirical studies - one focusing on hedonic well-being in the digital transformation of the Swedish music market (hedonic well-being) and the other on eudaimonic well-being through free educational services for marginalized children in Pakistan (eudaimonic well-being) - this research demonstrates how service characteristics interact with contextual conditions to influence varying degrees of empowerment. The thesis employs a qualitative research design, using semi-structured interviews in both studies, complemented by ethnographic observations in the second. The findings contribute to both theory and practice by offering a capability-oriented analytical framework for TSR and providing nuanced insights into how service characteristics such as accessibility, affordability, flexibility, and mentorship influence well-being. In doing so, the thesis proposes a rigorous yet adaptable model for evaluating how services operate as mechanisms for transformative value, offering guidance for both scholars and practitioners in designing inclusive and empowering services.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Karlstads universitet, 2025. p. 73
Series
Karlstad University Studies, ISSN 1403-8099 ; 2025:27
Keywords
Transformative Service Research; Capability Approach; Choice Framework; Well-Being; Human Capabilities; Service Characteristics; Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being; Empowerment; Digitalization; Music Services; Educational Services
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Business Administration
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-104536 (URN)10.59217/ygkp6630 (DOI)978-91-7867-590-6 (ISBN)978-91-7867-591-3 (ISBN)
Presentation
2025-08-22, 11C269, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
2025-06-302025-05-272026-02-12Bibliographically approved