Celebrating 10 Years of the Organizational Frontline Research Symposium
Join the 10-year anniversary of the Annual Organizational Frontlines Research (OFR) Symposium and explore the latest scholarly research and industry trends related to organizational frontlines. This event will take place on February 13-14, 2025, in Phoenix, AZ, before and in conjunction with the 2025 AMA Winter Academic Conference.
Over the past decade, research on the frontlines of organizations—where organizations connect, engage and service their customers—has fully established itself within the marketing academy. The annual OFR Symposium has primarily driven this accomplishment, which has integrated disparate fields exploring organizational boundaries, boundary-spanning roles, interface technologies, exchange platforms, customer contact touchpoints, interactions and service.
The 2025 event will be a celebration of the initiative’s 10th anniversary. Toward that end, we will reflect on and draw new insights from the progress made in researching organizational frontlines – and we will look ahead to managerial and academic priorities in the years to come.
Mark your calendar for this engaging pre-conference that brings together thought leaders in academia with industry leaders to share insights, discuss challenges and develop a productive path forward for organizational frontline research and practice.
Pricing
Are you interested in attending the AMA Winter Academic Conference right after this pre-conference? Learn more and register today!
AMA Event Policies
Thursday, February 13, 2025 (All Times in MST)
Introductions and Welcome
Colleen Harmeling (Florida State University) & Johannes Habel (University of Houston)
Keynote
Presentation:
“How Does Marketing Change the Marketer”
Rajesh Chandy, London Business School
Discussant:
Nita Umashankar (San Diego State University)
JSR-SI Paper Lightning Talks
10th Anniversary JSR-SI Presentations:
-Co-Chairs: Tom Brown (Oklahoma State University) & Ming-Hui Huang (National Taiwan University)
“How Frontline Employees Develop Customer Relationships in a Time of Inauthenticity”
Todd Donavan, Colorado State University
Jeremy Walter, Auburn University
Brad Carlson, St. Louis University
James G. Maxham, III, University of Virginia
“How Customer Rapport Impacts Employee Well-Being”
Gabriel Gazzoli, University of Texas at Permian Basin
Siddeeq Shabazz, University of Texas at El Paso
Jin Ho Jung, Ohio Northern University
Todd Arnold, Oklahoma State University
“Generative AI at the Frontline: Reshaping Value Co-Creation in Service Interactions”
Samby Fready, University of Wollongong
Venkat Yanamandram, University of Wollongong.
Michael Mehmet, University of Wollongong.
Roba Abbas, University of Wollongong.
“Why Customers Snap: Psychological Pathways to Incivility in Service Contexts”
Skyler Kim, Cornell University
Robert Kwrotnik, Cornell University
“Digital Technologies and Frontline Transformation in Retailing – A Cross-Country Frontend-Backend Theory-in-Use Investigation”
Jurgen Kai-Uwe Brock, Case Western Reserve
Manfred Krafft, University of Munster
Victoria Kramer, University of Munster
Madeleen van Veen, University of Munster
“AI Behavioral Control in Frontline Employee-Customer Interactions: Big Boss or Teammate?”
Avishek Lahiri, Bowling Green State University
Ayan Ghosh Dastidar, Clark University
Discussant:
Q&A moderated by Tom Brown, Oklahoma State University and Ming-Hui Huang, National Taiwan University
Lightning talks will be 6-8 minutes each.
Break
JSR-SI Workshop
All Attendees—Roundtable Breakouts to provide feedback on JSR-SI papers
Practitioner Live Case
Live Cases:
“Organization Frontline Challenges in Services Organizations”
Sonya Robinson, VP, Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer, State Farm
Lee Scanzano, former Vice President, Customer Care, Cox Communications
Discussants:
Martin Mende, Arizona State University
Thomas Hollmann, Center for Service Leadership, Arizona State University
Reception
OFR/Young Scholar Research Competition Award Ceremony:
Sponsored by Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Florida State University, Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M University, and University of Nebraska
Location Details: Rose Garden (101 North 1st Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85003)
Friday, February 14, 2025 (All Times in MST)
Breakfast
Sponsored by Florida State University
Re-Group and Discussion of OFR Initiatives and Agenda
Colleen Harmeling (Florida State University) & Johannes Habel (University of Houston)
Keynotes
Chair: Jagdip Singh, Case Western Reserve University
Keynote Presentations:
“AI and Econometrics in Frontline Research: Promise and Potential”
K. Sudhir, Yale University
“Sales Coaches in Action”
Arun Shastri, Principal, ZS Associates
Discussant:
Keith Smith, Research Director, Marketing Science Institute
Young Scholar Finalists' Presentations
Co-Chairs: Todd Arnold (Oklahoma State University) and Mary Jo Bitner (Arizona State University)
“Beyond the Boundary: How Platform Revenue Sharing Policies Shape the New Digital Frontlines”
Chengzhe Liu, Iowa State University
Andrew T. Crecelius, Iowa State University
Amir Zahedi, University of Kentucky
Shijie Lu, University of Notre Dame
“Driving Sales Cycle Progression in Videoconferencing”
Nicole M. Boylan, University of Alabama
Curtis S. Schroeder, Oklahoma State University
Sebastian Forkmann, University of Alabama
Clay M. Voorhees, University of Alabama
Bryan Hochstein, University of Alabama
“How Minority Frontline Employees Shape Solo Customers’ Service Experiences”
The Khoa Do (Bin), (Royal Holloway-University of London)
Kimmy Wa Chan, Hong Kong Baptist University
Discussant:
Q&A moderated by Todd Arnold, Oklahoma State University
Young Scholar Roundtable Breakouts
All Attendees
Coffee Break & ZS Hand-On Experience with AI coach
Lightning Talks
Presentations:
“Stuck in the Middle: Understanding the Well-Being of Frontline Middle Managers”
Colleen McClure, University of Alabama- Birmingham
Dayle Childs, Bournemouth University
Bruno Lussier, HEC Montreal
Nawar Chaker, Louisiana State University
“Speaking vs. Writing: How Communication Modality Shapes Effective Service Recovery”
The Koa Do, Royal Holloway, University of London
“Progress Equals Happiness? Unintended Consequences of AI Integration on the Well-being of Frontline Employees”
Kristina Brahmstaedt, Ingolstadt School of Management
Ilias Danatzis, King’s College London
Jens Hogreve, Ingolstadt School of Management
“Governing Relationships: Between Sharing-Economy Platforms and Service Suppliers”
Mark Houston, Texas Christian University
Gretchen Ross, Texas Christian University
Yashoda Bhagwat, Texas Christian University
“We Own That! Transferring Customer Gratitude from the FLE to the Firm”
Sebastian Forkmann, University of Alabama
Paolo Antonetti, EDHEC Business School
Thomas Baker, University of Alabama
Kris Lindsey Hall, Louisiana State University
“Bringing Employer Branding to the Service Profit Chain”
Teresa Proenca, University of Porto and CFE.UP
Joao Proenca, University of Lisbon
Jens Hogreve, Catholic University
Discussants:
Q&A moderated by Tom Brown (Oklahoma State University)
Lightning talks will be 5 minutes each.
Closing Comments and Special Session Reminder
Colleen Harmeling (Florida State University) & Johannes Habel (University of Houston)
OFR 10th Anniversary Special Session I on Academic-Practitioner Perspectives on OFR at the 2025 AMA Winter Academic Conference
Presentations:
“Toward a Standard Model of Customer-Firm Interactions”
Gary Bridge, SVP Cisco [Ret.]
“No Frontlines, No Business”
Doug Herman, Executive Director – Global Data Scientist, Ingram Micro
“The Customer as a Window into Strategy: Leveraging Customer Insight as a Prompt for AI-driven Innovation”
Sherry Sanger, EVP Strategy and Marketing, Penske Transportation Solutions
“Putting the Marketing Concept into Practice”
Arun Shastri, Principal, ZS Associates
Discussants:
Ming-Hui Huang, National Taiwan University
Ajay Kohli, Georgia Tech
Xueming Luo, Temple University
K. Sudhir, Yale University
Co-Chairs: Mike Brady (Florida State University) and Jagdip Singh (Case Western Reserve)
Room Location: Encanto A
This session is open to all OFR pre-conference registrants!
Attend more sessions at the 2025 AMA Winter Academic Conference. Secure your registration today!
OFR 10th Anniversary Special Session II on Academic-Practitioner Perspectives on OFR at the 2025 AMA Winter Academic Conference
Presentations:
“Creative AI for Frontline Engagement”
Ming-Hui Huang, National Taiwan University
“Dilemmas on the Frontlines”
Ajay Kohli, Georgia Tech
“How AIML Transforms Frontline Service Employee Job Design and Management in the Future of Work”
Xueming Luo, Temple University
“Leveraging LLMs in Frontline Practice through Knowledge Distillation and Satisfaction Alignment”
K. Sudhir, Yale University
Discussants:
Gary Bridge, SVP Cisco [Ret.]
Doug Herman, Executive Director-Global Data Scientist, Ingram Micro
Sherry Sanger, EVP Strategy and Marketing, Penske Transportation Solutions
Arun Shastri, Principal, ZS Associates
Co-Chairs: Mike Brady (Florida State University) and Jagdip Singh (Case Western Reserve)
Room Location: Encanto A
This session is open to all OFR pre-conference registrants!
Attend more sessions at the 2025 AMA Winter Academic Conference. Secure your registration today!
Saturday, February 15, 2025 (All Times in MST)
Special Session: Organizational Frontlines Research SIG | The Future of Frontlines in the Age of GenAI
Presentations:
“Saving Lives by Increasing Short- and Long-Term Blood Donations: A Longitudinal Comparison of Public and Private Events”
Riley Krotz, Florida State University
Carl-Philip Ahlbom, University of Bath
Stephanie M. Noble, University of Tennessee
Dhruv Grewal, Babson College
“Improving Customer Outcomes Through Building Confidence in AI Content Moderation”
Narendra Bosukonda, Florida State University
“Implementing Data Privacy Regulation at the Service Frontline”
Lena Steinhoff, Paderborn University
Kelly Martin, Colorado State University
“How to Welcome Nurse “Robot”? Fostering Collaborative Human-Robot Service Teams”
Fancesca Lombardo
Jana Holthower
Jenny Van Doorn, University of Groningen
Jia Li, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
“Customer-Chatbot Rapport via Chatbot-Brand Congruity”
Sijun Wang, Loyola Marymount University
Mandy Korpusik, Loyola Marymount University
Sharon Beatty, University of Alabama
“Status Awards: When and How Do They Affect Performance?”
Martin Kraemer, University of Houston
Sascha Alavi, University of Oldenburg
Johannes Habel, University of Houston
Heinrich Rusche, Ruhr-University Bochum
Britta Schaefer, Ruhr-University Bochum
Christian Schmitz, Ruhr-University Bochum
“Headspace Divided: Understanding Identity-Based Cognitive Preoccupation at the Frontline”
Elizabeth G. McDougal, Louisiana State University
Ripinka K. Patil, Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
Candice L. Marti, Louisiana State University
Co-Chairs: Mike Brady (Florida State University) and Jagdip Singh (Case Western Reserve)
Room Location: Estrella
This session is open to all OFR pre-conference registrants!
Attend more sessions at the 2025 AMA Winter Academic Conference. Secure your registration today!
Sheraton Phoenix Downtown
340 N 3rd St
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: (602) 262-2500
Room Rate:
We’ve secured an AMA room block at a special rate of $279.00 for single/double occupancy per night (this rate does not include tax, which is currently 12.57%). An additional fee of $20/per person per night applies for triple and quadruple occupancy. These fees are subject to change.
To make reservations, Reserve online or call the Hotel at 602-262-2500 and reference the American Marketing Association Winter Academic Conference.
Cancellations must be made at least three business days prior to arrival to avoid a penalty of one night’s room and tax.
Please reserve your overnight accommodations early as there are a limited number of AMA special rates available. The discount rate cut-off date is January 20, 2025.
Please know that any hotel room booked outside the AMA negotiated block may not be eligible for the discounted rate. Those reservations may also have a different cancellation policy and will not be eligible for reimbursement in the case of event cancellation.
Session Locations:
All OFR academic sessions will be held in Encanto A (except the Saturday Special Session during the AMA Conference in Estrella).
Transportation
Please visit Valley Metro Services for more information.
Area Attractions, Events and Tourism
- Please explore Sheraton Phoenix Downtown’s Experiences page for local events and highlights.
- For additional information on the area, please visit Downtown Phoenix’s Tourism Page.
ADA
The AMA is committed to providing equal access to our meetings for all attendees. If you are an attendee with a disability and require program accommodations, please contact the AMA Support Center at (800) AMA-1150. A member of our staff will ensure that appropriate access arrangements are made. If you have specific disability-related needs for your hotel sleeping room, please be sure to communicate those directly to the hotel when you make your reservation. In an effort to provide the highest quality of service to all attendees, we require that details of all access requests be communicated to our office at least 14 days in advance of the beginning of the meeting.
Organizational Frontlines Research (OFR) began as a grassroots initiative to unite scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplines, all sharing a common enthusiasm for innovations and opportunities at the organizational frontlines.
Ten years later, we invite you to join us in celebrating the 10th anniversary as we reflect on the past and look to the future, which will include several exciting activities to mark this milestone:
- The Journal of Service Research (JSR-SI) has dedicated a Special Issue to commemorate OFR’s 10th anniversary. We encourage OFR members interested in submitting their work to the JSR-SI to submit for consideration between March 31 and April 30, 2025. Authors interested in submitting to the JSR-SI should email todd.arnold@okstate.edu and jagdip.singh@case.edu with their submission.
- Authors planning to submit to the JSR-SI are invited to submit early drafts to the 2025 OFR Symposium for consideration for presentation and feedback. See the information below regarding the 2025 OFR Symposium call for papers.
- OFR members unsure about submitting to the JSR-SI are also welcome to submit their work for consideration at the OFR Symposium.
2025 OFR Symposium: Call for Research Presentations
Full Paper Presentations Intended for Journal of Service Research Special Issue
The symposium is intended to promote scholarship in the area of OFR. We welcome submissions from any field or discipline that tackles issues of organizational frontlines. To align with the call for the JSR-SI to commemorate the 10th OFR anniversary, the call for Symposium presentations is as follows:
Submission Format
A double-spaced manuscript, no longer than 20 pages (all inclusive), detailing the authors’ study thesis, approach, and results/findings. Please also include a 2-page statement outlining the intended contribution to OFR theory and/or practice.
Presentation Format
Selected authors will make a brief presentation of their work, followed by a roundtable- feedback session. Participation in the symposium does NOT guarantee publication in the JSR special issue. The purpose is to provide feedback to interested authors to help increase the publication probabilities of their contribution (in the event they wish to do so).
How to Make a Submission
Interested authors should send their submissions per the above instructions to todd.arnold@okstate.edu and jagdip.singh@case.edu.
Submission Deadline
December 2, 2024
Participants will be notified by early to mid-January, 2025
2025 OFR Symposium: Call for Research Lightning Talks
Like in the previous symposium, we hope to include more OFR scholars in the program and invite you to submit a research proposal for consideration as a brief presentation at the OFR preconference event.
Submission Format
If you are interested in participating, please submit a brief PowerPoint proposal.
- Title Slide – identify the title of the presentation, all co-authors and their affiliations
- Problem/Research Questions – identify the problem and why it is important for OFR
- Approach – outline your approach (e.g., framework, research design, data)
- Results – highlight your key results
- Implications for Practice – specify how your results can help practitioners make decisions
Presentation Format
Our plan is that final presentations will be no more than 7 minutes and designed to encourage lively discussion among OFR attendees. All presenters will have the opportunity to revise slides before the event. Still, we plan to strictly enforce the 7-minute proposal requirement as it will help bolster confidence that all presenters are committed to the spirit of “lightning talks.”
Submission Guidelines:
Submissions should include the names of all co-authors and their university affiliations. Please note that submission to the conference does not preclude your work from being published by any journal.
How to Make a Submission
Submissions can be sent directly to this year’s pre-conference co-chairs: Colleen Harmeling (charmeling@business.fsu.edu) and Johannes Habel (jhabel@bauer.uh.edu) with any questions regarding the event or submissions.
Submission Deadline
December 2, 2024
Participants will be notified by early to mid-January, 2025