Reconsidering services marketing as a discipline

Abstract

This viewpoint suggests that foundational theories and concepts which characterize the services marketing discipline may no longer be valid due to the global pandemic. The authors discuss the impact of the Great Resignation on both consumers and organizations and posit that many consumers now accept lower levels of service offerings and performance. They further question whether organizations will ever return to pre-pandemic service levels. Further, the authors contend that the discipline’s focus on employee-customer relationships has now shifted to customer-technology exchanges and that human interactions, in many service exchanges, are diminishing in importance. The authors put forward future research questions.