Identifying Categories of Service Innovation: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature (New)

Lars Witell, Linköping University
Hannah Snyder, Linköping University
Anders Gustafsson, Karlstad University
Paul W. Fombelle, Northeastern University
Per Kristensson, Karlstad University

Service innovation is recognized as the engine of renewal in society and the reason for growth of service in all sectors of the economy. Despite the importance of service innovation it is still a fuzzy and poorly defined concept. The aim of this research is to investigate and explore how service innovation is defined and used in research. Consequently, this research builds on an extensive and systematic review of 1046 articles. Four unique service innovation categorizations are identified and these emphasize the following traits: (1) degree of change, (2) type of change, (3) newness, and (4) means of provision. The result of the review shows that most research focuses inward and views service innovation as something (only) new to the firm. Interestingly, service innovation categorizations appear to neglect both customer value and financial performance.

 

Witell, L., Snyder, H., Gustafsson, A., Fombelle, P.W., and Kristensson, P., “Identifying Categories of Service Innovation: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature,” Journal of Business Research.