The Influence of Human–GenAI Hybrids on Service System Transformation Mechanisms

Service research has typically treated technology as a tool directed by human actors to influence service systems; however, the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) challenges this assumption and our understanding of service system transformations. Drawing on information systems (IS) research, we examine how GenAI’s unique capabilities influence service system transformation mechanisms—particularly emergence and phase transitions—yielding three contributions to service research. First, we theorize how human–GenAI hybrids give rise to hybrid intelligence and influence transformation through unplanned, stabilized, and intelligent forms of delegation in service exchange, and through GenAI-enabled capacities of autoreflexivity and autoreformation. Second, we refine the understanding of service system transformation mechanisms by showing how the compound effects of first-order and fourth-order emergence explain the frequency of phase transitions, while heightened reflexivity and reformation influence their speed. Third, we extend service system design research by demonstrating how GenAI can enhance human reflexivity and reformation, challenging human-centric assumptions by positioning human–GenAI hybrids as contributors to service system design. We discuss how managers can strategically mobilize GenAI to influence markets and institutional arrangements. We conclude with future research directions addressing empirical, ethical, and design-oriented questions related to human–GenAI hybrids in service system transformation.