Enhancing inclusion through a service infrastructure of kindness

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Hamilton, Kathy and Wilson, Juliette and Porteous, Holly (2026) Enhancing inclusion through a service infrastructure of kindness. Marketing Theory. ISSN 1470-5931 (https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931261428729)

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Abstract

We introduce the concept of a service infrastructure of kindness, defined as the underlying features of an organisation that embed kindness into service delivery. Our findings identify four features of a service infrastructure of kindness: culture, materialities, socialities, and imaginaries. Drawing on in-depth research with a non-profit organisation, our theorisation demonstrates the cumulative and exponential power of seemingly minor aspects of the service encounter that have significant value for supporting inclusion. Our contributions reveal kindness as an animating force underpinning service inclusion, the tensions that can emerge in implementing a service infrastructure of kindness, and the micropolitical consequences of kindness that can be re-humanising for excluded consumers.

ORCID iDs

Hamilton, Kathy ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5342-6166, Wilson, Juliette ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4932-0473 and Porteous, Holly ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9243-7709;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)