Professor Piyush Sharma, Curtin University, Australia

Professor Piyush Sharma serves as John Curtin Distinguished Professor at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He is ranked among the top 0.2% researchers in the world across all fields of research, top 60 business researchers in the global P-rankings based on publications in ABDC journals since 2013 and top 90 business researchers in Research.com ranking based on D-index. He was also recognised as the only Rising Star from marketing area among Australia’s Top 40 researchers across all disciplines in 2019. He currently serves as a member of the prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts (2022-2024) and Associate Editor (Marketing and International Business) for Journal of Business Research. He has also served as Regional Editor (Asia) for Journal of Knowledge Management, Senior Editor (Marketing) for International Journal of Emerging Markets, Co-Editor of Marketing Intelligence & Planning and Associate Editor for Journal of Services Marketing in the past. He is also a member of the editorial boards of top journals, including Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, Industrial Marketing Management and European Journal of Marketing, among others.

Professor Sharma is a multi-disciplinary researcher covering services marketing, international business, cross-cultural consumer behaviour, self-regulation, branding and marketing strategy, marketing-finance interface, and emerging digital technologies, among others. He has published 130 articles in top international journals, including Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing (all ABDC-A* ranked), Journal of Business Research, Journal of Service Management, Psychology & Marketing, and other ABDC-A ranked journals. He has presented his work at more than 125 international conferences, delivered more than 60 keynote speeches and invited talks, and conducted dozens of research workshops around the world. He has also earned more than A$1.0 million in research income from diverse funding agencies and he advises many private, public and not-for-profit industry partners in community care, higher education, financial and healthcare services, and international business sectors, in Australia and overseas. He has also successfully supervised and continues to supervise 25 research students so far, besides mentoring many early and mid-career researchers in Australia and overseas. You may see his full profile here: https://staffportal.curtin.edu.au/staff/profile/view/Piyush.Sharma/

Title: Emerging digital technologies and professional services: Current and future research

Abstract: Despite the growing widespread interest in the emerging digital technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, blockchain, internet of things, machine learning, robotics, augmented, mixed and virtual reality), most current research focuses on their impact in the consumer services contexts (e.g., education, healthcare, retailing, and transportation). By contrast, there is little research on the impact of these new digital technologies on the professional services despite their important contribution to economic growth and employment around the world and significant differences with consumer services in their decision-making process. A recent special issue of the Journal of Service Theory and Practice special issue addresses this important research gap and extends growing research on the role of emerging digital technologies in professional services context. In this keynote talk, I will share my experience of managing this special issue and the key findings from the eight articles finally selected for publication in this special issue. These articles use diverse conceptual and empirical (qualitative and quantitative) approaches and are classified into three broad themes, a) Diverse theoretical perspectives, b) Challenges in digitalisation process, and c) Practical applications of digitalisation. I will conclude by suggesting an agenda for future research on this topic of growing importance for consumers, marketers, businesses, government agencies, investors and general public.