Service Productivity: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Until now, there exists no universal approach for measuring the productivity of services. Various factors have different impacts on service productivity, ranging from the relationship between service providers and customers to service quality. So far, only some of these factors have been investigated in detail. The purpose of this paper is to describe, synthesize, evaluate, and integrate the results of prior research on service productivity by conducting a literature review. We selected 13 leading management and economic journals, covering the period of time from 1980 to date. We created an initial catalogue of existing approaches focusing on the measurement, validation, and controlling of service productivity. We categorize, consolidate, and discuss the relevant papers accordingly. Based on this, we highlight open issues and possible venues for investigation. As our final result, we develop an agenda for further research on the productivity of services.