The phygital component (PHYCO) model: An integrative framework for designing phygital services

Purpose-This study aims to contribute to the academic discourse on the impact that digital technologies have on traditional models of service provision and consumption by providing an integrative framework for phygital (physical + digital) services: the phygital component (PHYCO) model, which systematizes and portrays the constituting elements of phygital offerings and their mutual and multidirectional connections. Design/methodology/approach-Due to its exploratory nature, this study adopts a phenomenological-, qualitative-type of research based on in-depth interviews analysis conducted through the grounded theory method in its constructivist shade. Findings-Phygital service offerings are integrative service ecosystems characterized by seamless physical-digital crossbreeding, ontological convergence, and mutualistic symbiosis where people, physical elements, and technology are coordinated and orchestrated to deliver hyper-personalized and empathy-based services that support customers in cocreating their desired experience. Originality-Considering phygital service as an ecosystem, this study transcends the limited view of this phenomenon provided by the literature and provides a model that portrays how the phygital service system components are integrated to cocreate value. Moving beyond the reductive view of seamlessness as an operational issue, this model assumes that seamlessness should be purposefully designed as a foundational component of the phygital service system. Despite the potential of phygital services, this study also identifies challenges that could impede the delivery of compelling phygital experiences, namely experience dehumanization, social interaction disruption, and annihilation of the customer's role in the cocreation process.