Service portraits in service research: a critical review

Purpose – Focusing on one main research question: how is the phenomenon “service” portrayed within service research?, the aim is to describe and analyze how the concept of service is defined, how service characteristics express the concept, the relevance of the existing “service portraits”, and to suggest a new way of portraying service.Design/methodology/approach – A literature search was carried out in order to find definitions of the service concept and expressions about the service characteristics. Databases were searched and 34 articles were used for further analysis. The same procedure was carried out for service characteristics. The articles that were chosen by the databases were reviewed thoroughly and those most relevant to the search topic were chosen. Sixteen leading scholars who had been shaping the service research field were also asked two basic questions.Findings – The analysis of the concept of service and service characteristics shows that the definitions are too narrow and the characteri...

[1]  C. Jackson,et al.  Goods and services , 2019, Global Political Economy.

[2]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing , 2004 .

[3]  J. A. Fitzsimmons.  Service Management , 2003 .

[4]  C. Grönroos.  Service Management and Marketing: A Customer Relationship Management Approach , 2000 .

[5]  R. Fisk,et al.  Services Marketing Self-Portraits: Introspections, Reflections, and Glimpses from the Experts , 2000 .

[6]  B. Edvardsson.  Quality in new service development: Key concepts and a frame of reference , 1997 .

[7]  James A. Fitzsimmons,et al.  Service Management: Operations, Strategy, and Information Technology , 1997 .

[8]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm , 1996 .

[9]  S. Edgett,et al.  Marketing for Service Industries-A Revie , 1993 .

[10]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees: , 1992 .

[11]  K. B. Murray.  A Test of Services Marketing Theory: Consumer Information Acquisition Activities , 1991 .

[12]  K. B. Murray,et al.  The impact of services versus goods on consumers’ assessment of perceived risk and variability , 1990 .

[13]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Delivering quality service : balancing customer perceptions and expectations , 1990 .

[14]  John A. Czepiel,et al.  A role theory perspective on dyadic interactions: The service encounter. , 1985 .

[15]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing , 1985 .

[16]  Stephen W. Brown,et al.  Conceptual and theoretical developments in marketing , 1979 .

[17]  G. L. Shostack.  Breaking Free from Product Marketing , 1977 .

[18]  W. Sasser.  The Management of Service Operations. , 1974 .

[19]  J. M. Rathmell.  Marketing in the service sector , 1974 .

[20]  J. M. Rathmell.  What is Meant by Services? , 1966 .

[21]  R. C. Judd.  The Case for Redefining Services , 1964 .