Wafa Hammedi: Impact as a Compass

Service marketing appealed to me because it directly touches people’s real lives: seeking medical care, learning, getting around, accessing public services, interacting with technology, or receiving support in times of vulnerability. Unlike product marketing, which focuses more on tangible goods, service marketing is concerned with experiences that are often intangible, subjective, and deeply human.

This field allows us to analyze what defines the quality of an experience: human or digital interactions, trust, emotions, the co-creation of value, as well as issues of social justice, ethics, inclusion, and dignity. The same experience can be perceived differently depending on the individual, their resources, their situation, and the context of their interaction. This is precisely what makes this field of research complex, fascinating, and essential. 

What motivates me today is understanding how organizations and institutions can design services that are not only effective or innovative, but also fairer, more humane, and more responsible. For me, service marketing is a tool for transforming people’s experiences and contributing, in very concrete ways, to people’s well-being and to a more inclusive society.

These questions are at the heart of my work. From this perspective, services are not reduced to a simple transaction but are situated within an ecosystem involving multiple stakeholders. For me, inclusion and equity are not abstract concepts: they prompt us to ask who is left out of certain services, who faces greater difficulties in being heard, understood, or served with dignity, and how to design interactions that strengthen autonomy rather than creating new forms of exclusion. My goal as a researcher is to address these issues and propose concrete recommendations in close collaboration with all stakeholders. In my view, academic research has a responsibility to engage with important societal issues and to help make the service system more inclusive and respectful of people’s dignity.

I also advocate for management research that is more open, more inclusive, and truly connected to the realities of the world. All too often, our field remains dominated by a Europe–United States lens, which leaves other contexts, other voices, and other experiences in the shadows. However, to remain relevant, management science must better integrate the diversity of human, social, cultural, and geographic realities. This commitment is not merely an intellectual conviction; it translates into concrete actions. For example, through the NEXSER program—an ambitious initiative supported by the European Union via Erasmus+—we have built a network of excellence with partners from the Global South. These collaborations—fueled by research stays, scholarly exchanges, and joint research projects—enable us to broaden our perspectives, challenge our established frameworks, and produce research that is more grounded, more accurate, and more useful. Whether through my institutional responsibilities, my international collaborations, or my engagement within my scientific community, I strive to contribute to academic ecosystems where scientific excellence, societal impact, and personal fulfillment advance hand in hand. For me, research without borders is also research that opens doors.

It is a true honor, and this recognition touches me deeply. This appointment serves as a reminder that academic impact is not measured solely by publications, but also by the ability to teach, support, and help others grow. It recognizes a central aspect of my academic identity: mentoring. 

I am convinced that supporting the next generation of researchers means shaping the future of research and society. It is essential, demanding work—yet often unseen. Helping young researchers find their voice in a highly competitive and demanding academic world, gain confidence, feel validated, and develop high-quality, meaningful research is, for me, just as important as conducting research myself. In a way, it means guiding them as they learn a demanding profession. This commitment is reflected in my participation in committees, thesis defense panels, and large-scale mentoring programs at the national and international levels.  When supervising my own doctoral students, I try to encourage them to nurture their passion for scientific research, to develop an academic mindset, to believe in their contributions, and to conduct research that transcends their individual trajectories to be of real benefit to society. For me, mentoring is not limited to the acquisition of scientific or methodological skills. It also involves passing on values that are fundamental to the academic world: integrity, rigor, responsibility, intellectual openness, respect for others… as well as a commitment to producing research that is useful, robust, and capable of meeting the highest scientific standards.

This nomination also holds special significance for me, as it comes from people I deeply respect, both in Belgium and elsewhere. The fact that senior colleagues and young researchers took the initiative to submit this nomination without my knowledge makes this recognition even more valuable and deeply personal. I sincerely enjoy interacting with young researchers. These interactions give great meaning to my academic mission. I enjoy taking the time to mentor them—whether they’re my Ph.D. students or not—with a level of expectation that I hope is always supportive. As I often tell them: “Small details make a big difference.” I am therefore deeply moved to see this long-term effort recognized by my peers.

My approach as a teacher aligns with the one I advocate as a researcher: helping students push themselves while bringing theoretical concepts to life. This approach shifts them from a mindset of simply absorbing content to one of active engagement. In this social innovation lab led by a highly dynamic team of instructors, students step into the role of “change makers” to develop solutions to pressing societal issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals, such as poverty, disability, and so on. We strive to bring them as close as possible to the issue at hand so they can shift their perspectives and better understand the realities experienced by others.  In this way, they learn to connect concepts to human realities, collaborate, experiment, take responsibility for their choices, and reflect on the consequences of their actions. We use innovative and immersive teaching methods. For example, we recently developed virtual reality scenarios that allow students to experience the daily life of a visually impaired person. In addition to stimulating their capacity for innovation, this course fosters their empathy—an essential quality for future leaders. I strongly believe in an educational approach that produces not only good students, but also citizens and future professionals capable of considering the impact of their actions. I am convinced that better training for our managers today contributes to building a better, fairer society that is more attentive to everyone.