Service environment research opportunities
ISSN: 0887-6045
Article publication date: 1 June 2020
Issue publication date: 19 June 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the evolution of the service environment literature and speculates about future research in this area. This paper focuses on studies regarding how the interior and exterior environments of physical service settings (including retail stores) influence consumer response. Web atmospherics are not covered in this paper. In addition, while a number of studies have been conducted on retail and service atmospherics elements in other disciplines, such as environmental psychology and leisure and hospitality, the focus is on research published in marketing and consumer-related journals.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports the results of empirical studies; however, as there are few empirical studies on the effects of exterior environmental characteristics (e.g. storefronts) in marketing, two conceptual papers on this topic will be reviewed to set the stage for future research on exterior design.
Findings
Over the past 40 years, there has been a proliferation of articles on how service environments influence consumer responses. The review covers illustrative examples of articles in several categories of environmental topics. The areas for future research based on the review are suggested.
Originality/value
An up-to-date review of service environment research that is broad in scope is provided. The authors also propose 41 different research questions based on the review that services scholars can use to take this area of inquiry forward.
Keywords
Citation
Baker, J., Bentley, K. and Lamb, Jr, C. (2020), "Service environment research opportunities", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 335-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-02-2019-0077
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited