Ecological validity as a foundation for service research rigor

Ecological validity refers to how well research reflects the conditions, interactions, and behaviors of the real-world setting its findings address. This study examines it as a core criterion for evaluating real-world evidence in service research. Generative AI operates in the research process, where it produces explanations, scenarios, stimuli, and synthetic respondents at near-zero cost. Distinguishing ecological validity from internal and external validity, extending it beyond experiments, and clarifying its service-specific relevance, the study reconceptualizes it around context, interactivity, temporality, and Generative AI mediation. It then specifies four functions through which multi-study designs accumulate real-world evidence and derives one design principle from each element, with a checklist that researchers, reviewers, and editors apply. A comparison with prior calls for relevance, ecological value, and impact in marketing, consumer research, public policy, and tourism locates what is specific to the service case.