Expansion and refocusing: two alternative trajectories for service marketing research

In this concluding chapter, we take a longer-term perspective and discuss two different trajectories for the evolution of the service research domain. As illustrated in the previous chapters, service research is a dynamic and prolific discipline that has undergone substantial transformations over the past 30 years. However, discerning the future evolution in this research domain might be a challenge, given the different trajectories such an evolution could take. First, we present the methodology developed by Furrer and others (2020) to identify the two trends of service research, and the recent update by Furrer and others (2023). Second, we briefly summarize Furrer and others’ (2020) findings on the evolution of service literature between 1993 and 2019. Third, we detail the two future evolution trajectories of service research and illustrate them with research published between 2019 and 2023. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of how key research themes could be studied in ways that are consistent with the two possible trajectories for service research.